Legal Games

A legal game is a game in which players change the rules while the game is in progress, virtually or completely without limit, and frequently as the main act of the game. There are two major ones to speak of: Calvinball, which is typically expressed as a chaotic physical sport, and Nomic, which, over time, tends to resemble a fictional government.

Legal games are extremely difficult to analyze from a game design perspective (though this may change as the craft matures), because more than just the state is constantly changing. Or because the state and the rules are one and the same. Or because there is no state, only rules. There is only one constant in a legal game, and that same thing is the thing that makes it a game: everybody is assumed to be trying to win.

Legal games present a unique challenge for players, by calling upon them to be designers. They face the difficulty of attempting to make a rule which is fair and interesting and brings them closer to victory and will be accepted by the other players. Balancing points two and three is the most difficult part, as in many games, the challenge - the very thing that keeps them away from victory - is the most interesting part. This dichotomy is the same one that all game designers face, so a study of what strategies are effective and enjoyable in legal games constitutes a valuable study for us.

It is worth noting that games seem to touch on every field - in addition to mechanical skills and knowledge that can come from a variety of sources, there are strong links between game design and education, philosophy, the arts, psychology, mathematics, and, as demonstrated most thoroughly by this sort of game but which any game with rules exemplifies, law. This is why people with diverse backgrounds often make effective game designers.