The latest issue of the Escapist, which is chock-full of good pieces, features an article by EA’s Rod Humble on the role of rulesets as art, a topic which holds a special place in my heart.
The article begins by talking about Senet, the oldest known board game in existence, dating back to Egyptian times. The cool thing about Senet is that while tomb paintings indicate the number of players, and archaeological digs have uncovered the toolset of board, sticks, and pieces, the rules of Senet were not preserved and remain unknown, rendering the game virtually unplayable.
(I say “virtually,” because there are several historians who have, through their research, devised potential rules for Senet. A version of the game — operating under one of these theorized rulesets — appears online, thanks to the British Museum.)
On the topic of rulesets, I’ve also recently found the blog of Greg Trefry, student at NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program, and designer at Gamelab (formerly gameLab). Greg describes himself as a man obsessed with rulesets, which he uses to create a series of Urban Mini Games. These are big games with very minimal toolsets, and simple but specific rules, allowing for spontaneous play in urban environments. My personal favorite is Parasite, a race to a fixed destination made intriguing by several provisos in the rules of movement.
Rod Humble’s Escapist article, the story of Senet, and Greg Trefry’s Urban Mini Games all demonstrate not only the importance of rulesets in game design, but also the crucial role they play in the role of game design as artistic expression. Arguably, the most important facet of interactivity is its constraints. Just as boundaries help define our everyday world, limitations on interaction make one game distinct from another.
Absolute freedom is absolutely boring, and in games we rely on rules, on boundaries, to allow us to discover new ways of interacting. It is through rules — and not through their abolition — that players realize freedoms.
Coming Soon: Queer Interactivity and the Gothic in Video Games, Reinventing the Forum, My (Abridged) Ludography, and An Awesome Mind Puzzle.
Japanese developers continue to understand the importance of simplicity in portable game titles, even when most American developers don’t. This explains why a series like Nintendo’s “bit Generations” can go completely unmentioned in North America. At least we have 
York was also home to England’s National Railway Museum, which features a large number of actual trains from the country’s long history of… trains. I forgot to mention that before, but it was still worth mentioning.
London’s home to a lot of very big museums, most of which are free, so it was a great opportunity to see a lot of wild and crazy stuff. The British Museum is home to a lot of imperial acquisitions, including the Rosetta Stone, which I was pretty jazzed about seeing.
Returning to the city, we saw the standard sights of London, like Big Ben, and Parliament (“Isn’t that Parliament? Isn’t that what they blew up in V for Vendetta?). We took a trip up in the London Eye, which is essentially a giant ferris wheel, except taken much more seriously. It offered a beautiful view of London, from around 130 metres (about 425 feet) in the air.
Our last stop in Britain was the city of Cardiff, in Wales. Cardiff’s a coastal city, but weather and developing sickness kept us from enjoying it to the fullest extent. As such, we had a great excuse to take it easy on our last few days in Britain. We found an amazing little Indian diner across from our hostel, and spent our last evening eating ice cream in front of a TV, watching episodes of Friends, and a documentary on The Dark Side of Hippos. It was so nice.
It figures that I finally remove 
Of course, five years down the line, the situation hasn’t changed. The New York industry scene is still dry, with only a 
Game design veteran Warren Spector has parts one and two of a four-part piece up on the Escapist, available