Is Illyriad a Game or a Playground?

In any case, a game usually has a definition of "winning."   A game is, most of the time, a competition with rules about how the competition will go and what is allowed and what is not.  And usually a game has a point at which it ends.  In what ways is Illyriad a game?

On the other hand, it's also been suggested that Illyriad is a playground.  A playground is a place where people come to play, sometimes games, sometimes imaginative adventures, sometimes to chat and all sorts of things.  On a playground there are more or less permanent areas where things take place (basketball courts, baseball diamonds, etc...), sometimes temporary areas where things take place (sandboxes to dig and make up games in, sidewalks for hop scotch and four square, etc) and in some of those areas are resources for different kinds of activities.  In what ways is Illryriad a playground?

And finally, are there different social rules governing a game and a playground?  Remember this is not about LC's and do try to keep your comments on the question at hand: "Is Illyriad a Game or a Playground?"

AJ

Edited out the first part. Do not call out GMs by name just to say they are doing something. Thanks.

Edited by GM Rikoo - 24 Jul 2015 at 02:15

It is a strategy game in a fantasy world. You can play it many ways and for many aims but they are not separated there is only one world.  There is no definite or absolute rules unless its written down as code or by otherwise by Illyriad games ltd.

Ps. Never heard of simulator games?


Edited by Thexion - 23 Jul 2015 at 17:02

It does hing upon how one defines game and playground.  I'm asking what you think because, as people have noticed, if you define it as a game in the traditional sense then you will view the meta game differently than if you define it as a gaming environment, which is, I think a better definition of this type of game.

I truly appreciate JeJune's reliance upon evidence, something that is often lacking in these discussions, but as has been pointed out, there are games of competition and games of cooperation as well.  If you have an open ended game with only the barest of structures and a maximum amount of freedom to play it as you and your friends wish, is it still a game.

A reasonable example may be I invite you over for cards.  You know before you come what cards are but you don't necessarily know which of the thousands of versions of card games I am suggesting.  Even if you play poker you sometimes arrive and find that you are playing Texas Hold 'em or Draw or some other variation where the rules are different and even the procedures are different.  You don't say that poker has to be played a certain way or that even the term Poker means only a particular type of poker.  Further, if you have more than one table you may be playing different games at each table or even each hand!  Is poker a game?  If it is then the term "game" may be applied to Illy and Illy may still be a playground of sorts.

So Illy is a MMORG with all kinds of possible sub-games that can be played.  At least that's how I see it.

AJ

Illyriad is a game about empires. It might not have a developer-defined endgame, but it is still a MMORTS or "grand strategy" game.