Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals
Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals
Facebook Applications and playful mood: the construction of Facebook as a "third place"
Proceedings of the 12th international conference on Entertainment and media in the ubiquitous era
Hardcore Classification: Identifying Play Styles in Social Games Using Network Analysis
ICEC '09 Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Entertainment Computing
Neither playing nor gaming: pottering in games
Proceedings of the International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games
Analysis of motivational elements of social games: a puzzle match 3-games study case
International Journal of Computer Games Technology
Social Network Games: Players' Perspectives
Simulation and Gaming
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Social Games, built and played on social networks such as Facebook, have rapidly become a major force in the world of game development, and the top social games today claim more players than any other online game on any format. As social games begin to mature from their roots as simple playful social toys and into the products of big business, the patterns and mechanics used in the design have begun to be formalised. In this paper, it is argued that experimentation and playfulness is still a very important part of the play experience and a valuable source of fun. As game designs explore the space opened by the new genre of social games, it is vital for designers to leave "gaps" in the design to allow for playful and serendipitous experiences to emerge from the activities of the players. To support this argument, Caillois' classification of play is used as a lens through which social games can be examined. Examples of paidic, playful and emergent play are presented from popular social and offline games, and a detailed case study of paidic play in a new social game is presented from the designer's perspective. Interviews from participants to an open trial are discussed, and their experiences in creating their own playful experiences and goals within the formal structure of the social game design are explored.