The game, the player, the world: looking for a heart of gameness

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This paper attempts a definition of games. I describe the classic game model, a list of six features that are necessary and sufficient for something to be a game. The definition shows games to be transmedial: There is no single game medium, but rather a number of game media, each with their own strengths. The computer is simply the latest game medium to emerge. While computer games are therefore part of the broader area of games, they have in many cases evolved beyond the classic game model.