Kramer: 2000. Further, Hadfield 1990: v says that a game is an activity with rules, a goal elements of fun.
Harmer 2001: 272 states that games which are designed to provoke communication between students frequently depend on an information gap so that
one students has to talk to a partner in order to solve a puzzle, draw a picture describe and draw, put things in the right order describe and arrange, or find
similarities and differences between pictures. From the definitions stated by the experts above, it can be said that game is an
activity in which there are rules designed for and goal achieved by the participants in order to have pleasure.
b. Characteristics of Games
Games are unique. They have some characteristics that have to be known by the game users. All games have these four characteristics as stated by Peter Hastie in
his Student-Designed Games: Strategies for Promoting Creativity, Cooperation, and Skill Development accessed from http:www.humankinetics.com.
1 All games have a goal.
When Suits speaks of “a specific state of affairs,” he is referring to the goal of the games. The goal here is not winning, per se, but it relates more to a situation
where players use their skills to achieve a particular end point. 2
All games have rules. The second necessary condition is that a game must have rules, and these
rules provide both descriptive and defining frameworks for how the goal is to be
achieved. The descriptive framework describes the setup of the game and its equipment, while defining framework stipulates what means of play is required and
permitted. The descriptive and defining frameworks i.e., rules also serve to differentiate between different games.
3 All games have restrictions.
Games will also include rules about what is not allowed in the course of play. Nearly all games include rules that flavour less efficient over more efficient ways to
achieve the goal. Indeed, sometimes the most logical and easiest solution is not available.
As Suits quotes, “In anything but a game, the gratuitous introduction of unnecessary obstacles to the achievement of end is regarded as a decidedly irrational
thing to do, whereas in games it appears to be an absolutely essential things to do” Suits, 1978: 39. And so these limits are put in games in order to make them fun and
challenging. Whereas in work and daily life we try to avoid all unnecessary obstacles, in games we do exactly the opposite.
4 Games require the acceptance of rules by the players.
The fourth necessary condition to legitimize a game is the acceptance of the constitutive rules. Unless all players are operating from the same set of rules and
agree to these, the game cannot exist. Although fair play is defined as conduct that adheres to the rules, it is still preceded by the acceptance of these rules in spirit so as
to make the game possible.
