❤️‍🔥 Games [Verb] Values

Dear reader,

As promised, today's letter is on the more theoretical side of game design.

A couple blog posts about the function of rules in games have really gotten my brain noodling over the past few weeks. First, Seraphina wrote What do we mean when we say a game “supports” play?, arguing that a more interesting question is “What structure does X have that shapes Y?” In response, OtspIII wrote Books [Verb] Play, providing a taxonomy of the different ways in which RPG books can shape play at the table.

I’m running the Mutual Aid TTRPG Jam right now, and I’m curious about the question of how we can design games informed by values of mutual aid. But these posts have brought up a more foundational question: How do games express values at all?

For my purposes here, I’m defining “games” as both “rules texts that explain how to play” and “products that are produced and sold;” D&D is simultaneously the text that tells you how far your character can jump and the object of the Player’s Handbook. I’m defining “values” as “guiding principles,” but not necessarily positive ones; a game can value collective care, a game can value white supremacy, a game can value inscrutability.

This post is my attempt at answering the question of how games express values using the format of Books [Verb] Play. I appreciate that Books [Verb] Play doesn’t set out to be an all-encompassing list, and this post won’t either; I’m sure there are things I’m missing that I would love to hear about!

Games prioritize values.

Games show you which values they find important by devoting space in the text to them — and by contrast, which values are not important because they are not given space.

• A game about traveling adventurers doesn’t have any rules for combat, implying that the adventurers will have to overcome obstacles in other ways.
• My character sheet has skills related to fighting and sneaking around, but no skills related to setting up our camp or cooking our meal — those things aren’t important in this game.

For an alternate take on this idea, check out The Princess’s Riddle by Jay Dragon! Jay argues that this isn’t how values in a game work at all — I think she’s right, but I still wanted to include this option.

Games mechanize values.

Games show you how to enact their values by providing rules that attach mechanical importance to those values.

• A storytelling game about an equitable community has each person take a turn answering a prompt each round, expressing the value that everyone should be treated the same way.
• A game with the value that each person has something unique to contribute to their community gives each player a different set of rules for play.

Games challenge values.

Games can ask you to consider alternate points of view or engage in modes of thinking that you normally wouldn’t outside the space of the game.

• A simple game about quickly completing tasks turns out to be demonstrating how easy it is to comply with authoritarianism. 
• If you’re so anti-colonialist, why do you love Settlers of Catan so much? (To be clear, this is a joke.)

Games fund values.

The money that games make might be explicitly tied to a specific value, or spent according to designers’ values.

• This game costs $5, but if you buy it for $10, I’ll add 5 more copies to the community pool.
• I’ll redistribute the profits from this game to my local mutual aid fund.
• This game about my experience as a trans person is free for other trans people, and $5 for everyone else.

Games materialize values.

Whether they’re physical or digital objects, the production of games signifies attention to different values. 

• A game about oral storytelling traditions is primarily distributed in audio format.
• A game about a solarpunk community is printed on recycled paper, with a note inside encouraging players to pass it along to someone else or recycle it when they’re done with it.

Games literalize values.

This is similar to materialize, but in my mind, still distinct; materialize gets at the production of the game, where literalize is more about the conception of it. Games can express values through the processes by which they are made.

• A game with the value of learning from mistakes is frequently updated to express evolving ideas, with a changelog included.
• A game about collective problem-solving brings on guest writers to contribute alternate modes of gameplay.

Going back to my original definitions of “game,” I think I’m missing “experiences played out at the table.” I’m curious about what verbs you would add to my two definitions, as well as this more nebulous third one.

Thanks for reading!