A game is an activity in which participants engage for amusement or entertainment, usually competing against each other. Games are a form of play and have existed since the beginning of human civilization. They may be purely competitive, as in the case of games like chess that require strategy and intellectual acumen, or they may be solely or partially luck-based, as with games played with dice, cards, or Monopoly pieces.
Game theory is a branch of mathematics that examines the interactions between players in a game. A game is formally defined in a mathematical model that specifies the players, the information available to each player at each decision point, and the payoffs associated with each outcome of the game. A game theorist is able to use this information to deduce a set of equilibrium strategies that, when employed by both players, will lead to a stable state in which one outcome or a fixed number of outcomes occur with known probability.
A video game is a digital or electronic simulation of a real-world activity that provides interactive entertainment, challenge, or training. A video game can be a standalone product or a component of an online service, and it may be played on a personal computer, mobile phone, or television. Video games are an increasingly prevalent form of entertainment, and they are used by both children and adults.
Games are typically organized into categories based on the type of equipment needed to play them, with some requiring little more than imagination and a playing surface (e.g., a table). Other games have more specialized tools that are required to play them, such as the pieces in a board game or the cards in a deck of playing cards. Some of these tools are widely distributed and recognizable, such as the pawns in a game of chess or the Monopoly hotels and jacks of a table game. Others are idiosyncratic to a particular game, such as the dominoes tiles or the Monopoly money used in a game of Monopoly.
The development of video games is a complex process, with many factors contributing to the success or failure of a given title. The industry is highly competitive and requires a large financial investment from both developers and consumers. Many new studios and independent game developers fail to make a profit, and even those that do manage to breakeven often are not able to generate enough revenue to cover their costs. The success of a video game can be attributed to its design, popularity, and marketing.
Although departments of computer science have long studied the technical aspects of video games, theories that analyze games as a medium are comparatively recent. The two most prominent schools of thought are ludology and narratology. While ludologists focus on the social and cultural contexts of video games, narrativists view video games as a storytelling medium, similar to the Holodeck from the Star Trek franchise. They contend that the immersive experience of a video game allows the player to assume another persona and act out in a virtual world.