#A NATIVE GAME PIT SERIES#

For example, lightning strikestend to come in a rapid succession of bolts, but there is no evidence to suggestthat the strike order is anything other than chance.

Although these events follow one another chronologically,there is no implication that they can be linked.

#A NATIVE GAME PIT SERIES#

In the original statement, the use of the word series implies a numberof sequential events. Ifthis was the case, it certainly had its intended effect and served as anexcellent starting point for our definition. Meier expected his original definition to be used for anythingmore than the off-the-cuff comment it was probably intended to beВ—astatement designed to challenge and spur further thinking on the subject. On the surface, this does not seem that far removed from Sid Meier'soriginal definition (although it's not quite as good of a sound bite).However, our statement is more precise and rigorous. Wetake this statement one step further with our formal definition of gameplay: One or more causally linked series of challenges in a simulatedenvironment. Sid Meier oncedefined gameplay as 'a series of interesting choices.' This is anexcellent starting point and forms the basis of our definition of gameplay. To do this,we need to state a player-independent definition of gameplay. We examinethe core concepts of gameplay, which are invariant with the player. Tocontinue, we examine gameplay independent of the player experience. Although we briefly discussed (and loosely defined) gameplay in Chapter 2,'Game Concepts,' we did so in terms of the player experience.

A native game pit