Mary McKenzie

Play-to-Learn:  Play is crucial for human growth and development. It allows us to explore and expand our creativity, connect with others and nurture our intrinsic motivators through getting in tune with an inner sense of purpose. One of the most effective and popular methods of play is through games.

Now, the previous four factors are critical to game design. Flow is perhaps the least understood. Flow is the intense and focused concentration on the present. Flow is so absorbing that we don’t worry about the past or think about the future. Flow is so demanding that we don’t care about what others think about us. Flow is so easy that we always kn... See more

Are toys the same as games? We play with toys, but we play games. A ball is a toy, but baseball is a game. As it turns out, the best games are made with toys. And then they are fun on multiple levels, the level of the toy and of the game itself.

As it turns out, there is no unifying theory of game design. To create games, we have to draw upon the art and science of psychology, mathematics, interaction design, and storytelling.

When you strip away the genre differences and the technological complexities, all games share four defining traits: a goal, rules, a feedback system, and voluntary participation.

The truth is this: in today’s society, computer and video games are fulfilling genuine human needs that the real world is currently unable to satisfy. Games are providing rewards that reality is not. They are teaching and inspiring and engaging us in ways that reality is not. They are bringing us together in ways that reality is not.