Definition
The ludics are interactions as signs. They allow us to think of a game at a finer grain than game mechanics. A ludic can be an idea, an interaction, a rule, or any compound of those. The word comes from the Ludic Framework, where the ludics are the micro level, below the mechanics and the aesthetics.
Explanation
Why signs. Signs allow a game designer to understand better what a possibility in the game world signals to their players. They can help make sense of the procedural rhetoric of a game, and they also let the designer think about the emotional impact that those possible interactions can have on a player.
Three kinds: actum, tactum, factum. An actum is an interaction-sign triggered directly by an input of the playing agent: for a human player, moving a character with the analog stick is a basic actum. A factum is an interaction controlled by an input from the game state itself, so it is not related to the player’s input: an NPC waving a hand at your character. Between the two, a tactum appears from the contact of two game objects: grabbing, pushing, hitting, any interaction between two or more game objects. These three categories are mainly mnemonic tools. They give a perspective on the different kinds of actions in the feedback loops of a game. Because factums are signs, the player can interpret them to deduce meaning or intentions. And because actums are in-game representations of the player’s intent, the game or other playing agents can interpret them too.
Three levels of the sign. Each kind of ludic can be looked at through the three trichotomies of Peirce. The idea behind separating signs by three levels of involvement of the interpretant is to allow game designers to stop thinking in absolutes and to start thinking about what a sign means for an agent, human or non-human. Firstness is the trichotomy of the object, the layer of the code. Its signs are qualisigns (mere concepts or ideas), sinsigns (existent signs) and legisigns (rules or conventions). It allows the designer to think in reductionist abstractions, such as a single rule of a game mechanic. Secondness is the trichotomy of the sign, the layer of the game, the meat of what the experience is made of. Its signs are icons, indices and symbols. It allows the designer to manipulate the tangible constituents of a sign. Thirdness is the trichotomy of the interpretant, the layer of play, where the ludic experience is open to interpretation. Its signs are rhemes (the decontextualised possibilities of interpretation), dicisigns (assertions that something is true or false) and arguments (ways to retrieve meaning by abduction, induction or deduction). It allows the designer to deal with complexity. Crossing the three kinds with the nine signs gives the taxonomy below.
The Peircean taxonomy of the ludics
| Actum | Tactum | Factum | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Firstness | Qualiact: possibility of an agent action. Sinact: an existent agent action. Legiact: an agent-related convention or rule. | Qualitact: possibility of an interaction between objects. Sintact: an existent interaction between objects. Legitact: a convention or rule for object interaction. | Qualifact: possibility of an external event. Sinfact: an existent external event. Legifact: an external convention or rule. |
| Secondness | Acticon: iconic representation of an agent’s action. Actindex: proof or indice as an agent’s action. Actosymbol: the meaning derived from an agent’s action by virtue of a rule. | Tacticon: iconic representation of an interaction between objects. Tactindex: proof or indice as an interaction between two objects. Tactosymbol: the meaning derived from an interaction between objects by virtue of a rule. | Facticon: iconic representation of an external event. Factindex: proof or indice as an external action. Factosymbol: the meaning derived from an external action by virtue of a rule. |
| Thirdness | Actorheme: all possible meanings of an agent’s action. Actodicent: a statement of truth made through an agent’s action. Actument: an agent’s action in the game world allowing for meaning to derive abductively, inductively, or deductively. | Tactorheme: all possible meanings of an interaction between objects. Tactodicent: a statement of truth made through an interaction between objects. Tactument: an interaction between objects in the game world allowing meaning to derive abductively, inductively, or deductively. | Factorheme: all possible meanings of an external event. Factodicent: a statement of truth made through an external event. Factument: external action in the game world allowing meaning to derive abductively, inductively, or deductively. |
Examples
The jump. Take a very common game action. The mere possibility of a jump controlled by the player is a qualiact. An existent jump of an NPC, with a given direction and height, is a sinfact. A convention stating that touching a poisoned object cancels your jump ability is a legitact. A player-triggered jump animation is an acticon, because it shares characteristics with the idea of a jump, whether it is realistic or cartoonish. The dust rising when a giant monster lands is a tactindex: it indicates that the monster has just landed, even if we did not see it. A specific jump that an NPC makes to show allegiance to a guild is a factosymbol, a sign by convention. The complete jump mechanic of an NPC, taken out of context, carries all the possible meanings of a jump (toward the player or away from them), and is a factorheme. A cracking noise and a hurt animation after a failed landing are a tactodicent: they assert that the player was hurt, without giving a reason. And the limping animation that follows is an actument: from it, the player can deduce that his left leg got broken.
A rheme for an agent. Building an ontology system, or a baked language network, for a local game agent that has its very own updatable rheme associated with a certain game state. A rheme is a collection of possibilities of meaning that the agent can search before deciding what to do.
Beyond the designed game. Interactions can also come from outside the designed game, for example from external intelligent agents. I call them xenoludics; they will have their own note.
See also
- The Ludic Framework (concept note), where the ludics are the micro level of the framework.
- Ludophrases: Ludics Before Mechanics (2016), on complex ludics.
- The Intrinsic Semiotics of Video-Games (2014), where the actums, tactums and factums first appear.
- Emergent Languages: Game Design for Communication with Artificial Agents (thesis), sections 5.4.2 and 5.4.3, “Actum, Tactum, Factum: Ludics with a Perspective” and “The Ludics and Peircean Semiotics”.