The word "game" is very hard to define. There is, at best, a loose collection of properties that make things "gamey" - but not all games necessarily abide by any one property. We play games because we enjoy them, but we enjoy movies. Games have rules, but so do taxes. Games are played with others, but sometimes we just shoot baskets alone. > [!cite] Oxford Language > "A form of play or sport, especially a competitive one played according to rules and decided by skill, strength, or luck" A company called "SCVNGR" came up with a list of "47 game mechanics" - but those are extremely arguable. I heard this argument exactly in the [[Play at Work]] book, but also I vaguely recall hearing this line of thinking somewhere else years ago. Perhaps a [[Freakonomics Radio]] episode. **** # More ## Source - [[Play at Work]] - https://techcrunch.com/2010/08/25/scvngr-game-mechanics/ - https://www.quora.com/What-in-the-scvngr-list-of-game-mechanics-are-actually-game-mechanics