Show me five gamers, and I'll show you five different definitions of the word "mechanic."
Benjamin Horn from the University of Hong Kong released a paper with four other academics, investigating the usefulness of a term with no agreed-upon meaning, and they point out that even the original MDA framework gives two vague definitions that are perhaps even contradictory.
We discuss how we got to this place, in which all sides of the industry rely so heavily on a word that means nothing, and whether the word can be salvaged, or whether it's time to abandon it altogether.
Timecodes:
00:00 - Intro
02:00 - What is a mechanic?
08:30 - The MDA framework
09:50 - Categorical terms
15:55 - Banning terms
18:00 - Talking about games is hard
26:00 - Abandon "mechanics"?
28:10 - The worst use of "mechanics" Ben's seen
30:50 - "Mechanics" in the esports realm
33:40 - FPS games as a study case
35:20 - The Witcher 3's mechanics
36:20 - Passion can interfere with game studies
38:20 - Games criticism and toxic positivity
45:25 - Ben's paper on Baldur's Gate 3
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The Unbearable Vacuity of Game Mechanics:
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3815598.3815641
The MDA framework:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228884866_MDA_A_Formal_Approach_to_Game_Design_and_Game_Research
Benjamin's paper on Baldur's Gate 3 and Goblins:
https://gamescriticism.org/2025/12/03/horn-6-1/
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Get grokludo in your inbox at grokludo.com, or catch it on the big podcast platforms!
I always write a bit more on the grokludo website:
https://grokludo.com/
YouTube Playlist:
youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3cxb6pzUE9Z7PXjIVbmr5qiohoq5wTdo
Follow on X:
https://x.com/TheJunglist
Follow on BlueSky:
https://bsky.app/profile/thejunglist.bsky.social
Podcast:
https://open.spotify.com/show/6GMbpa2aTZi8dBa0VVbsU1
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/grokludo/id1736667050
