“The only difference between programming and games is that games have win conditions.”

  • Lmaydev@programming.dev
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    1 year ago

    Games by their literal definition have win conditions.

    One without win conditions is just a virtual toy. Like sim city.

    I wrote a paper on this when studying games technology at university. It’s actually a really interesting area of study.

    • MajorHavoc@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Your point seems obvious - except that Minecraft still had no win condition in beta and was already well on it’s way too becoming the most popular video game of all time.

      Makes it feel like the accepted definition of “game” is changing.

      • Lmaydev@programming.dev
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        1 year ago

        I think the term “virtual toy” applies really well for Minecraft.

        Like Lego you can set goals for yourself but there aren’t strict win or lose conditions.

        But the diversity of what’s possible with video games certainly muddies the waters compared to classic games.

    • fubo@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      A game has a set of goals, and you can quit it without dying.

      If there’s no set of goals, it’s not a game, it’s a toy.

      If you can’t quit it without dying, it’s not a game, it’s real life.

      (Does real life have a set of goals? Depends who you ask.)

      • chatokun@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        1 year ago

        Huh. Turns out I use most of my games as toys, not games. I rarely finish games, usually getting a lot of stuff done, high leveled, etc, then just enjoying it until I decide ro start over. I also regularly go back to games like Ark, 7 days, City Skylines, Civ VI(but often strip out ein conditions so I can keep playing), FFXIV, etc.

        Sure I make short term goals that I complete, but usually not done everything and complete story to win unless doing so gives me something else to do, like New Game+.