The Rule Book The Building Blocks of Games

Contents
On Thinking Playfully
Acknowledgments
Introduction
	Rules
	Method
	Understanding Rules through Constructionist Ludology
	Structure of This Book
1. Formal Rules
	Formal Foundations
	The Formalist Ideal
	Play Instructions
	Ambiguity and Contextuality of Formal Rules
	Arbitration
	Constitutive and Regulative Formal Rules
	Formal Goals
	Beginning and Ending
	Conclusions
2. Internal Rules
	Setting Rules for Oneself
	First-Person Audience
	Story Worlds, Interpretation, and Diegesis
	Role-Playing as Internal Rule-Setting
	Antisocial Internal Rules
	Conclusions
3. Social Rules
	Playing Games the Right Way
	Fair Play and Sportspersonship
	Playing Nice
	Social Rules in Board Games
	Peer Rules in Virtual Spaces
	Conclusions
4. External Regulation
	Consent to Play
	Legal Regulation of Games
	Rules Invoking the Law
	Players’ Rights in Games
	Commercial Control as External Regulation
	Moral Judgment as External Regulation
	Conclusion
5. Material Rules
	Digital “Games”
	Game State and the Material World
	Code as Law
	Formal Competition through Material Games
	Primacy of Rules
	The Body as a Rule
	May the Best “Man” Win
	Conclusions
Conclusions
	Ephemeral Games
	Extended Temporalities of Rules
	Breaking Rules
	Making Meta
	The Paradox of Liberation
	The Beauty of Rules
Notes
	Introduction
	Chapter 1
	Chapter 2
	Chapter 3
	Chapter 4
	Chapter 5
	Conclusions
References
Index