The Parlance of Play

Abstract This chapter outlines general interaction design fundamentals, exploring the notion of interactivity, defining interaction in games, and discussing what contributes to the quality of a game’s interactions. It delivers a player-centric view of game interaction, looking at how in-game actions support players’ short- and long-term goals. Readers are presented with advice on how to think critically about game interactions, in assessing commercial games or their own work. As additional background, related fields are discussed briefly, alongside jobs in the games industry connected to interaction design. This chapter also introduces a model of game interaction as a cycle of communication between a game and its players, serving as a foundation for discussion throughout the rest of the book.