The Gaming Landscape: A Taxonomy for Classifying Games and Simulations

This paper develops a taxonomy for classifying games and simulations, aiming to give gaming communities a common language and a meta-disciplinary framework that reduces confusion across theory, design, research, training, and entertainment. Its central argument is that existing classifications, which tend to emphasize function (what a game is for) and format (how it is presented), miss the underlying architecture of games. The author instead treats games as socially constructed systems built from actors, rules, and resources, analyzed through a semiotic lens of syntax, semantics, and pragmatics. Grounding the work in Huizinga's account of play and Barth's "three faces of knowledge," the paper maps the gaming landscape as a matrix of five foci of interest against twelve application areas, and separates games used for instrumental learning from those valued for play itself.

A key conceptual contribution is the contrast between two metaphors of learning: the acquisition metaphor, which treats knowledge as an owned commodity transferred to learners, and the interaction metaphor, which treats learning as participation within a system. The paper proposes that games can be distinguished by whether they are allopoietic, steered by external control, or autopoietic, capable of reproducing and sustaining themselves. Framing games in these terms, the author argues, offers a more coherent basis for separating gaming from simulation and for explaining how learning occurs through play than classifications based on genre or medium.

The final taxonomy is multi-dimensional, organized around design, social system, and key dimensions such as rule structure (rule-driven versus open), resources, and actors. It spans a continuum from rigid-rule games to fully developed role-play gaming. A notable finding is that the distinction between computer-based and manual games is not fundamental at the level of architecture, although it remains significant for media representation and player experience.

The taxonomy has been applied in practice to an intellectual property arbitration, to game design work, and to the analysis of existing games, and users report that it improves mutual understanding among professionals and students. Its scope is broad, addressing games and simulations across application areas rather than a single market, platform, or era, which positions it as a foundational reference for shared vocabulary within the field.