Editing Game mechanics (section)

=== Game mechanics vs. gameplay ===
{{See also|Emergent gameplay|Game balance}}
Some [[game studies]] scholars distinguish between game mechanics and [[gameplay]]. In ''Playability and Player Experience Research'', the authors define gameplay as "the interactive gaming process of the player with the game."<ref name="nackeDiGRA">{{cite journal |last1=Nacke |first1=Lennart E. |last2=Drachen |first2=Anders |last3=Kuikkaniemi |first3=Kai |last4=Niesenhaus |first4=Joerg |last5=Korhonen |first5=Hannu |last6=van den Hoogen |first6=Wouter |last7=Poels |first7=Karolien |last8=IJsselsteijn |first8=Wijnand |last9=de Kort |first9=Yvonne |display-authors=8 |date=September 1, 2009 |title=Playability and Player Experience Research |url=http://www.digra.org/dl/display_html?chid=http://www.digra.org/dl/db/09287.44170.pdf |url-status=live |journal=Proceedings of DiGRA 2009: Breaking New Ground: Innovation in Games, Play, Practice and Theory |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111112141834/http://www.digra.org/dl/display_html?chid=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.digra.org%2Fdl%2Fdb%2F09287.44170.pdf |archive-date=November 12, 2011 |access-date=May 15, 2019 |quote=''playability'' is the evaluative process directed toward games, whereas ''player experience'' is directed toward players. More precisely, playability methods evaluate games to improve design, whereas player experience methods evaluate players to improve gaming.(p.1) |df=mdy-all}}</ref> In this definition, gameplay occurs when players interact with the game mechanics. Similarly, in ''Dissecting Play – Investigating the Cognitive and Emotional Motivations and Affects of Computer Gameplay'', the authors define gameplay as "interacting with a game design in the performance of cognitive tasks".<ref name="C">{{cite book |last1=Lindley |first1=Craig |url=http://www.bth.se/fou/forskinfo.nsf/8ea71836fbadac09c125733300214ab9/f336e780df204cf4c125753d003d3b45!OpenDocument |title=Dissecting Play – Investigating the Cognitive and Emotional Motivations and Affects of Computer Gameplay |last2=Nacke |first2=Lennart |last3=Sennersten |first3=Charlotte |date=November 3–5, 2008 |publisher=University of Wolverhampton |isbn=978-0-9549016-6-0 |location=Wolverhampton, UK |quote=The experience of gameplay is one of interacting with a game design in the performance of cognitive tasks, with a variety of emotions arising from or associated with different elements of motivation, task performance and completion |access-date=2010-10-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923195055/http://www.bth.se/fou/forskinfo.nsf/8ea71836fbadac09c125733300214ab9/f336e780df204cf4c125753d003d3b45!OpenDocument |archive-date=2015-09-23 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Video games researcher Carlo Fabricatore defines gameplay as:
* What the player can do
* What other entities can do, in response to player's actions.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Fabricatore |first1=Carlo |year=2007 |title=Gameplay and Game mechanics Design: A Key to Quality in Videogames |url=http://www.oecd.org/education/ceri/39414829.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180329020912/http://www.oecd.org/education/ceri/39414829.pdf |archive-date=2018-03-29 |work=OECD |page=5 |location=Rome, Italy}}</ref>
In ''Ernest Adams and Andrew Rollings on game design'', the authors define gameplay as the combination and interaction of many elements of a game.<ref name="A">{{cite book |last1=Adams |first1=Ernest |title=Andrew Rollings and Ernest Adams on game design |last2=Rollings |first2=Andrew |publisher=New Riders Publishing |year=2003 |isbn=1-59273-001-9 |quote=One or more causally linked series of challenges in a simulated environment"; "Gameplay is the result of a large number of contributing elements. .. gameplay is not a singular entity. It is a combination of many elements, a synergy that emerges from the inclusion of certain factors. .. The gameplay emerges from the interaction among these elements, .. |ref=AdRol}}</ref> 

However, popular usage sometimes elides the two terms. For example, gamedesigning.org defines gameplay as the core game mechanics that determine a game's overall characteristics.<ref>{{Cite web |title=What are Video Game Mechanics? (Learn for Free) |date=11 March 2017 |url=https://www.gamedesigning.org/learn/basic-game-mechanics/}}</ref>