In this series of posts, I’ve alluded to a theory that has actually annoyed a few people when they’ve heard me speak of it. This is the principle of organized chaos that is inherent in all forms of play, especially so in play that has meaning. The concept of organized chaos goes beyond containing the event or curbing its growth. Structured chaos here represents the guiding principles that underlie the basic meaning games try to communicate. It’s a lot like a trellis used for viney plants that controls the general direction, but not the manner in how the plant spreads along it.
The lattice structure is an apt metaphor as game rules provide a stabilizing framework that directs the game flow and provides the necessary limits that keep the variables in manageable ranges. Unplanned for runaway mathematical effects and unwieldy formulae make a game unplayable at worse and an unenjoyable experience on subsequent play. This is why the rules of a game are designed to guide play without interfering with the math. A good example of this is the rolling doubles rule in Monopoly. Mathematically it can’t be sustained indefinitely, but it can last long enough to negatively affect the economics that govern the game. Hence the rule for going to jail for rolling three consecutive doubles.
This rule might not stand out as an example of organized chaos, but once you see it in numerous games, it will hopefully become clear that all games employ this theory. In many ways, how this concept works is that there are often two rules that create both the chaos and the bounds in which it is allowed to exist. Another example is from Risk. There are actually two sets of such rules governing attacks. The first is the rule that only adjacent territories can be attacked. Now, as many territories have at least two others connected to them, you have numerous ways in which to attack an opponent. Nothing dictates which route you can take, opening the probability to a larger set. The second covers the dice rolls themselves and in the most familiar random mechanic for the game.
The player-controlled elements are still a form of chaos as the other participants are not privy to the thought process that lead to choices made. The method may not appear as random as a roll of the dice, but the results aren’t always predictable. Chess and checkers are prime examples of games like this. Their randomness stems from the number of pieces available combined with the number of possible moves. While deduction will help focus on the likely moves, it won’t give enough details to necessarily reduce the number to one.
The structured nature of the rules is the environmental factors used to develop strategies. As such, the explorable space is where the chaos reigns freely. Looking at the trellis, you can see a similar pattern in action. The plant growing on the lattice will have no choice but to follow the form of the frame. What varies, however, is on which side any particular vine may be on as befits the inherent advantage in available sunlight and how the plant winds along the frame, assuming the structure is free standing.
The same rules apply to sporting events. The field contains the game played as well as areas outside the play space as not all participants are needed to play every moment. Such areas are not out of bounds and using them is a form of cheating (except for returning a ball to play in many sports or catching a foul ball in baseball). Yet within all that available space, anything can happen after all have been set and the ball/puck/flag is set in motion or a signal/starting pistol tells the participants the game can proceed. Those procedures are the latticework that directs the chaos of possibility.
Thus, when I refer to organized chaos, I am describing the framework of control that makes a game possible without it devolving into a form without meaning. That’s just play and it isn’t a rules bound activity and does not have to produce a meaning. It has value in and of itself, but doesn’t have the restrictions games do: something meaningful was created or accomplished from the chaos.
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Anatomy of Game Design: What do Dice do?
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Anatomy of Game Design: Distinctions with a Difference