Congratulations! Do you have any idea at this point whether it will be available as ebook, physical book, both, or neither (direct brain transfer)? It sounds really interesting.
Actually it does!
The first consideration is always what each player thinks the rules are. If everyone agrees that a mulligan is okay, then the mulligan is okay.
Things get trickier when mulligans aren’t considered in advance. Mulligans tend to be allowed in situations where the mulligan makes the game more interesting for other players: “The move you just made gives me an advantage, but it also makes the play space boring. I’m willing to sacrifice that advantage to make things fun again.” What constitutes “an interesting play space” is what the heuristics address.
I actually spend some time analyzing how we cheat at solitaire. Some solitaire cheats are acceptable: peeking at a card, for example. While others aren’t: just taking a card and putting it somewhere. The characteristics of what constitutes an acceptable solitaire cheat are very interesting.
I dunno, I don’t read much fiction…any bodices being ripped, or pale white chests heaving?
Congrats!
Okay… Now that’s fucking cool. 
Ya-HOO! Congratulations!
Do you delve into strategy play or balancing the rules RE: advantages over shortcomings in any way?
I talk about strategy and tactics only in the sense of how balancing long-term goals against short-term goals makes for interesting decisions.
I don’t really talk about balance at all. It’s a very theoretical book, and there are some practical challenges in game development that I don’t go into.
Congratulations! That sounds really interesting, and I’d like to read it when it’s out.
I’ve read several times that ‘play’ is actually practice for learning about the world. Do you get into that kind of evolutionary role of play?
(Is the score still Q to 12? 
)
Waves hand in the air. I want to read it too. I’ve heard that the best way to help a book’s success is not to mob the book stores when its released, but to pre-order it. Apparently, that tends to bump the numbers better, and ensures that there is a copy waiting for the eager reader.
Please bump this thread to let us know when we can pre-order it.
And Congrats! I know a lot of hard work went into that.
Have you heard of Scott Nicholson?
Brian
Congratulations!
I’m jealous.
Actually … I spend a fair number of pages arguing against that position. (It’s a hypothesis that Raph Koster advances in his book A Theory of Fun, and I think he’s wrong.) There are lots of playful activities that don’t teach us much of anything. And there are lots of examples of learning that don’t involve play.
Instead, I claim that play is a side-effect of how our brains form knowledge about the world. Play didn’t evolve to help us learn; rather, play is a consequence of HOW we evolved to learn.
I have now! He seems to be coming more from the childhood development/education side of the field, while I’m coming from the critical theory/game design side of the field. Thanks for the link.
Interesting. Now I really want to read your book. Will it be available on the Kobo store?
No idea. I don’t have a contract yet, just a verbal commitment.
Well, that’s your theory.
But there’s another paradigm and hypothesis to consider:
If my little brother didn’t agree that a mulligan is okay… I beat him up.
Until Mom came upstairs…
What’s the technical term for the “influence of the Mom factor” in games ?
Was this the book we talked about several years ago? I’m glad it’s actually come to light! Would love to read it, is there any way I can pre-order it?
Also, do you reference Sirlin’s play to win at all?
Wow, I’d forgotten that I’d posted about it before! Yes, it’s the same book. It was rejected by the same press in 2011, prompting a very extensive rewrite.
No idea on pre-orders yet. Assuming things proceed as planned, it will probably be available in spring 2015. (Academic publishing is slow.)
Yes, I do reference Sirlin. Although I was chagrined to discover that a lot of the material in Play To Win should properly be credited to a designer named Seth Killian. Sirlin was a bit … casual … with his attributions.
Cool! I thought Play to win was a great piece of writing but certain assertions seemed overly didactic and somewhat arbitrary (mainly around what can and cannot constitute acceptable rules imposed by the players). It’s especially personally interesting to me recently because I helped discover a new tactic in Civ:Rev, a now 6 year old 4X game and it’s interesting watching the debate as community members try to parse whether it constitutes a legitimate tactic or a cheat.
Also, Do you talk at all about Eric Berne’s Games people play? I found that book to be maddeningly frustrating to read and I’d love to see an alternate take on it.
That was an interesting read. FWIW, I don’t think you’re a cheater. If the rules allow it, it’s fair game. Saying “it’s not what the designers intended” is an untenable position. The most interesting parts of most games are things their designers didn’t anticipate.
Now, if a particular tactic turns out to be a game-breaker in the long run, then the community may decided to ban it in the interests of keeping the game fun. But banning a new tactic just because it changes how the game plays? Not cool.
I took a look at it. A more appropriate title would be “How People Manipulate Others”. He doesn’t have much useful to say about how people play for entertainment.