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What Is a Game Mechanic?

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Entertainment Computing – ICEC 2021 (ICEC 2021)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNISA,volume 13056))

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Abstract

The term “game mechanic” is often used when discussing games, but are we all talking about the same thing? While game studies and related fields have produced several notable definitions, there is currently no accepted standard for the term within the broader community. Through a systematic literature review spanning six academic venues and several prominent books, we identify and analyze 49 explicit definitions for the concept of “game mechanics”. Though some of the definitions are similar, they are all fundamentally distinct. Our work demonstrates the importance of providing or citing a definition when discussing game mechanics, and we provide a wide range of options to choose from.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    PDF proceedings were downloaded directly from publisher or venue-hosted libraries online. Links to the first two years of FDG, then called GDCSE, were unfortunately down at the time of writing, and hard copies could not be obtained.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. RISE Research Group, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, K1S 5B6, Canada

    Priscilla Lo & David Thue

  2. Reykjavik University, Reykjavik 102, Iceland

    David Thue

  3. University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064, USA

    Elin Carstensdottir

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  1. Priscilla Lo
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  2. David Thue
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  3. Elin Carstensdottir
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Correspondence to Priscilla Lo .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Bremer Institut für Produktion und Logistik GmbH (BIBA), Bremen, Germany

    Jannicke Baalsrud Hauge

  2. University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

    Jorge C. S. Cardoso

  3. University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

    Licínio Roque

  4. Complutense University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    Pedro A. Gonzalez-Calero

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Lo, P., Thue, D., Carstensdottir, E. (2021). What Is a Game Mechanic?. In: Baalsrud Hauge, J., C. S. Cardoso, J., Roque, L., Gonzalez-Calero, P.A. (eds) Entertainment Computing – ICEC 2021. ICEC 2021. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 13056. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-89394-1_25

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-89394-1_25

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