In my opinion the best book out there on game design right now is Rules of Play by Eric Zimmerman and Katie Salen. The heavy yet somehow still refreshingly succinct text lays out the most thorough and consistent framework for the analysis of computer game design today.

With the creation of Meaningful Play as a strategy, we scoured many texts on games and learning to figure out what two words we could use to describe our philosophy. By the time we came round to actually figuring it out, we realized it had been staring us in the face for a while (albeit in need of some reworking) right out of the pages of Rules of Play. You see Eric and Katie are also big on the concept of Meaningful Play, which they define on three different levels, according to the relevance or impact of an interaction which takes part between the player and the game:

Rules: An action is immediately interpreted and fed back by the system
Play: That action has a consequence within the closed game system
Culture: That action has a consequence to the player outside of the game

So we’re thieves right? Well I suppose we are actually (although not purposefully) but I’d like to think it’s in more of a Remix Generation context than outright snatching. Our definition of Meaningful Play sits within their Culture layer, requiring that the player walks away from the game with new skills, knowledge, or perspectives.

So thanks for the awesome text Eric and Katie, hopefully we havent butchered your brilliant framework