The lusory attitude is the

psychological Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between t ...

attitude required of a

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who is ...

entering into the play of a

game A game is a structured form of play (activity), play, usually undertaken for enjoyment, entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator s ...

. To adopt a lusory attitude is to accept the arbitrary rules of a game in order to facilitate the resulting experience of play. The term was coined by

Bernard Suits Bernard ('' Bernhard'') is a French and West Germanic masculine given name. It is also a surname. The name is attested from at least the 9th century. West Germanic ''Bernhard'' is composed from the two elements ''bern'' "bear" and ''hard'' "bra ...

in the book ''The Grasshopper: Games, Life and Utopia'', first published in 1978, in which Suits defines the playing of a game as "the voluntary attempt to overcome unnecessary obstacles". He also offers a fuller definition: :"To play a game is to attempt to achieve a specific state of affairs relusory goal using only means permitted by rules usory means where the rules prohibit use of more efficient in favour of less efficient means onstitutive rules and where the rules are accepted just because they make possible such activity usory attitude" For example, when two individuals play the

pen-and-paper Paper-and-pencil games or paper-and-pen games (or some variation on those terms) are games that can be played solely with paper and pencils (or other writing implements), usually without erasing. They may be played to pass the time, as icebreak ...

game Hangman, they aim to arrive at the same word through contrived means, thereby accepting the lusory attitude required by the game's rules.

References

{{reflist Game design

See also

References