What is a game?

Some people think games are defined by their rules; Others define them by the behaviors of the players. This can lead to some misunderstandings, so I think it could be helpful foreach type of player to understand the other perspective.Two Definitions Here is the way that I would choose to define a game:A game has one or more teams of players and some set of rules. Players choose actions according to the rules to try to achieve the goals of their team.Often the goal is to win, but you can also have games that allow ties, multiple teams winning, degrees of victory/loss, etc. Let’s call players operating under this definition the mathematicians.For a long time this seemed so obvious to me that I failed to recognize a second definition:A game is some activity performed by some players. The players perform the activity while constrained by rules. Usually there is some way for players to win or lose.Let’s call the players operating under this definition the sociologists.The mathematicians have a stricter definition than the sociologists: the activity the mathematicians are performing is “plan for victory within these rules”, while for the sociologists, planning for victory may be only one component of the activity.ExamplesAlice and Carol are mathematicians, Bob and Dave are sociologists. I won’t give a complete description of the rules of each game, but hopefully you can mostly tell what is going on.CandylandIn candyland there is a path with colored spaces. Players take turns drawing cards from a deck and advancing to the next space that matches the color of the card. The first player to the finish wins. There are some other rules that I’m forgetting, but the point is that there is no room for choice from the players.Bob: …If I draw red then yellow I can win with only two cards.-Bob draws a red-Bob: Ha! Alice, I passed you!Alice: This game is sooo boring! We may as well just use a random number generator to pick the winner and save ourselves some time.Bob: Not every game i