On Making Good Games: Using Player Virtue Ethics and Gameplay Design Patterns to Identify Generally Desirable Gameplay Features

Björk's paper argues that a good game is one that supports its intended use, which is to cultivate good players, and it adopts Sicart's six player virtues (Sense of Achievement, Explorative Curiosity, Socializing Nature, Balanced Aggression, Care for Game Balance, and Sportsmanship) as the framework for judging that goodness. Its central contribution is the observation that prominent game definitions and design frameworks, including MDA, the Game Ontology Project, and the 400 rules project, do not explicitly connect design guidance to what makes games good. To fill that gap, the author maps gameplay design patterns onto the virtues. An initial scan identified 24 patterns relating to three or more virtues, with a further 161, 131, and 50 patterns relating to one, two, and three virtues respectively.

The core analysis applies a three-pass method to the 24 most broadly supportive patterns, along with 7 patterns that push players toward virtue extremes. The social dimension of play emerges as the most pervasive virtue: Socializing Nature is absent from only 7 of the 24 supportive patterns, while Sense of Achievement relates to all but 9. Player control over gameplay and meaningful choice recur as unifying design themes across the set. When the analysis is restricted to true single-player games, the relevant pool narrows to 10 patterns, and RISK/REWARD stands out as the only pattern supporting all virtues in that context.

The scope of the work is conceptual and framework-driven rather than empirical, centering on the mapping between established player virtues and documented design patterns within the game studies literature. Its conclusions therefore rest on the coherence of the virtue framework and the pattern catalogue rather than on player data or cross-cultural testing. The paper's supporting references draw on game ethics and analysis scholarship, including work on player communities, ethically notable games, and ontological approaches to game analysis, situating the argument within existing debates about how design shapes player conduct.