Books as author
The Rule Book: The Building Blocks of Games
How games are built on the foundations of rules, and how rules—of which there are only five kinds—really work.
Board games to sports, digital games to party games, gambling to role-playing games. They all share one thing in common: rules. Indeed, rules are the one and only thing game scholars agree is central to games. But what, in fact, are rules? In The Rule Book, Jaakko Stenros and Markus Montola explore how different kinds of rules work as building blocks of games. Rules are constraints placed on us while we play, carving a limited possibility space for us. They also inject meaning into our play: without rules there is no queen in chess, no ball in Pong, and no hole in one in golf.
Stenros and Montola discuss how rules constitute games through five foundational types: the explicit statements listed in the official rules, the private limitations and goals players place on themselves, the social and cultural norms that guide gameplay, the external regulation the surrounding society places on playing, and the material embodiments of rules. Depending on the game, rules can be formal, internal, social, external, or material.
By considering the similarities and differences of wildly different games and rules within a shared theoretical framework, The Rule Book renders all games more legible.
“Going way beyond abstract philosophical arguments, The Rule Book connects the fundamental element of rules to contemporary debates around gambling, disability, gender, harassment, the ethics of EULAs, and so much more. A Game Studies must read.”
Eric Zimmerman, game designer; Arts Professor, NYU Game Center
“Both scholarly and practical, The Rule Book provides a long-overdue analysis of the nature and role of rules, a chronically overlooked topic of study in the medium we call games.”
Celia Pearce, Professor of Game Design, Northeastern University; author of Communities of Play and IndieCade; coauthor of Ethnography and Virtual Worlds
“A brilliant distillation of a huge subject into a tight and very readable book. If there could be a rulebook for the whole field of games, this is it.”
James Wallis, game designer; author of Everybody Wins
Stenros, Jaakko & Montola, Markus (Forthcoming in 2024): The Rule Book: Building Blocks of Games. The MIT Press. Website.
Playfulness, Play, and Games: A Constructionist Ludology Approach
This dissertation presents a framework for understanding playfulness, play, and games. The framework presented is developed for the needs of a constructionist ludology, rooted in realist social constructionism. The work is situated in the field of game studies.
The contribution of this work is threefold: firstly, it presents a foundational theoretical framework for understanding and separating playfulness, play, and games. Secondly, contributions to mid-level theory as models for understanding social play are presented.
Thirdly, with the help of these tools, more practical insights are examined, in three substudies.
Stenros, Jaakko (2015): Playfulness, Play, and Games: A Constructionist Ludology Approach. Doctoral dissertation. University of Tampere.
A free pdf is available here.
Pervasive Games. Theory and Design
Quickly emerging from the fast-paced growth of mobile communications and wireless technologies, pervasive games provide a worldwide network of potential play spaces. Now games can be designed to be played in public spaces like streets, conferences, museums and other non-traditional game venues, and game designers need to understand the world as a medium - both its challenges and its advantages.
This book shows how to change the face of playwho plays, when and where they play and what that play means to all involved. The authors explore aspects of pervasive games that concern game designers: what makes these games compelling, what makes them possible today, how they are made and by whom. For theorists, it provides a solid theoretical, philosophical and aesthetic grounding of their designs.
Pervasive Games covers everything from theory and design to history and marketing. Designers will find 13 detailed game descriptions, a wealth of design theory, examples from dozens of games and a thorough discussion of past inspirationsdirectly from the game designers themselves.
“This book is the definitive guide to the past, present, and future of stories and games that jump out of their cages and into your real life. Whether its characters that call you on the phone or game play that happens on the bus on your way to work, this kind of immersive entertainment will define the culture of the next century as surely as the movies dominated the last one.” Sean Stewart.
“Standing at the intersection of games, design and theory, the authors of Pervasive Games: Theory and Design, bring fresh air into game studies with this look at the field of ubiquitous play. Deeply connected to critical game studies, and filled with design case studies, this book is an excellent source for those involved in the design, study or play of pervasive games.” Tracy Fullerton.
Montola, Markus, Stenros, Jaakko & Waern, Annika (2009): Pervasive Games. Theory and Design. Morgan Kaufmann.
Available at most online book shops. Buy it for example at Amazon or Book Depository. There is also a blog that continued the discussion for a few years.
Books as editor
Pelit kulttuurina
Pelit ovat kulttuurimuoto, jolla on pitkät juuret ihmisen historiassa ja joka näkyy nykypäivänä kaikkialla arjessamme. Pelejä suunnitellaan ja kehitetään kaikenikäisille ja niitä pelataan lähes kaikissa ikäryhmissä, yksin ja yhdessä. Pelaamista harrastetaan vapaa-ajalla, harjoitetaan ammattina ja hyödynnetään niin oppimistilanteissa kuin työelämässä koko ajan enemmän.
Suomalaiset ovat pelikansaa. Melkein kaikki pelaavat Suomessa jotain, oli se sitten Lottoa, Mölkkyä, Returnalia tai Clash of Clansia. Suomi kuuluu myös pelinkehityksessä Euroopan kärkikastiin, ja suomalaiset kilpapelaajat niittävät menestystä maailmalla. Pelialan sankaritarinoiden siivittämänä peleihin kohdistuu myös monenlaisia yhteiskunnallisia toiveita ja huolia. Miten pelien Suomea pitäisi ymmärtää?
Kirjassa Pelit kulttuurina neljätoista Suomen eturivin pelitutkijaa kuvaa pelien kulttuurista ja yhteiskunnallista merkitystä Suomessa ja kansainvälisesti. Kirjoittajat kertovat, miten pelejä tehdään, pelataan ja tutkitaan, millaisia yhteisöjä niiden ympärille rakentuu, ja millaisiin yhteiskunnallisiin ilmiöihin ne liittyvät. Digitaalisten viihdepelien lisäksi kirja käsittelee urheilua, rahapelejä ja pelien suhdetta taiteeseen ja leikkiin.
Friman, Usva, Arjoranta, Jonne, Kinnunen, Jani, Heljakka, Katriina, Stenros, Jaakko (Eds.) (2022): Pelit kulttuurina. Vastapaino; Tampere.
Larp Design. Creating role-play experiences
How do you create a new and original larp from scratch? How do you go from idea to execution and to debriefing? What do you need to know about designing workshops, character creation, worldbuilding, the soundscape, meta-
techniques, debriefing, and all the other parts of creating a role-play experience?
More than 60 larpwrights from ten countries contribute concise and informative advice on bespoke larp design to this practical and instantly useful book. Larp Design explores the tools and principles of designing collaborative, rules-light larp. Today this tradition, originating in the Nordic countries and centred on the annual Knutepunkt conference, is an international movement.
Koljonen, Johanna, Stenros, Jaakko, Grove, Anne Serup, Skjønsfjell, Aina D. and Nilsen, Elin (Eds.) (2019): Larp Design. Creating role-play experiences. Landsforeningen Bifrost, Copenhagen.
A free pdf is available here.
Seikkailuja ja sankareita: Katsauksia suomalaisen roolipelaamisen historiaan ja nykyhetkeen
Suomessa on poikkeuksellisen vireä roolipelikulttuuri. Täällä on tehty pöytäroolipelejä yli 30 vuoden ajan ja niitä on pelattu sitäkin kauemmin. Maassamme on pelisuunnittelun ja kotimaisen julkaisun kulttuuri, joka tuottaa omaleimaisia ja itsensä näköisiä pelejä tasaisella tahdilla. Vaikka englanninkieliset pelit ovat täälläkin merkittävässä asemassa, suomalainen roolipeli elää ja voi hyvin.
Seikkailuja ja sankareita esittelee suomalaisen roolipelaamisen historiaa ja nykypäivää. Kirjan yhdeksän artikkelia käyvät läpi kotimaista julkaisutoimintaa, pelikulttuuria, järjestötoimintaa, tapahtumia, vähittäiskauppaa ja tutkimusta asiantuntevasti ja kuvien tukemana.
”Tämä teos on pakkohankinta jokaiselle kotimaisesta roolipelaamisesta kiinnostuneelle ja muillekin taatusti erinomainen tiedonlähde ja ainutkertainen lukuelämys.” Risto ”Nordic” Hieta, pelisuunnittelija
Stenros, Jaakko & Särkijärvi, Jukka (toim.) (2018): Seikkailuja ja sankareita: Katsauksia suomalaisen roolipelaamisen historiaan ja nykyhetkeen. Tampereen museoiden julkaisuja 153.
Digitaalinen versio kirjasta on jaossa ilmaiseksi.
Minun pelihistoriani. Henkilökohtaisia tarinoita suomalaisten pelaamisesta ja leikkimisestä
Jokaisella meistä on oma, arvokas pelihistoria. Lapsuudesta nuoruuteen ja aikuisuudesta vanhuuteenkin asti vietämme aikaa lelujen, leikkien ja pelien parissa. Pelaamme ja leikimme yksin ja yhdessä, vanhempiemme, lastemme, sukulaistemme, ystäviemme ja tuntemattomien kanssa. Pelit eivät ole koskaan olleet elämästä irrallaan oleva saareke, vaan osa arkea.
Kaikilla meistä on erilaisia kokemuksia peleistä. Jos historiankirjoituksessa kerrotaan vaan tietyistä nimekkeistä, laitteista, lajityypeistä tai pelitavoista, se voi alkaa arvottamaan myös yksityisiä kokemuksia. Julkiset narratiivit yksinkertaistavat ja polkevat alleen kokemuksia, jotka eivät ole helposti kerrottavissa tai tuntuvat liian poikkeavilta.
Minun pelihistoriani esittelee yli kahdenkymmenen suomalaisen peli-, leikki- ja leluhistoriaa omin sanoin ja kuvin. Kirja kertoo millaiselta pelien pelaaminen tuntuu, millaiset toimet ovat merkityksellisiä, kenen kanssa leikkiminen tapahtui ja mikä henkilökohtaisessa pelihistoriassa seuraa lapsuudesta aikuisuuteen. Minun pelihistoriani haastaa vallalla olevat historiikit pelien kokemuksellisuutta ja henkilökohtaisuutta painottaen.
Annakaisa Kultima & Jaakko Stenros (eds.) (2018): Minun pelihistoriani. Henkilökohtaisia tarinoita suomalaisten pelaamisesta ja leikkimisestä. TRIM Research Reports.
Digitaalinen versio kirjasta on jaossa ilmaiseksi.
College of Wizardry: The Magic of Participation in Harry Potter Larps
Would you like to spend a weekend in the world of Harry Potter?
This book documents College of Wizardry, a larp where participants live and study for three days in the Czocha College of Witchcraft and Wizardry. What is it like to study at a magic school? How is spellcasting best taught today? How is it possible to design, simulate, and enact an enchanted world that feel reals through co-creation and trust?
In this book, two dozen player accounts and a cornucopia of images open up the experiences from the first three runs of the larp. Special sections are devoted to addressing player experience, analysis of larp design, and the practice of teaching magic.
Stenros, Jaakko: & Montola, Markus (eds.) (2017): College of Wizardry: The Magic of Participation in Harry Potter Larps. Pohjoismaisen roolipelaamisen seura.
Download the free electronic edition.
Nordic Larp
In the Nordic countries, live-action role-playing has developed into a unique and powerful form of expression. Nordic larps range from entertaining flights of fancy to the exploration of the intimate, the collective and the political. This incredible tradition combines influences from theatre and performance art with gamer cultures, in order to push the boundaries of role-playing.
Nordic Larp presents a critical cross section of this vibrant culture through 30 outstanding larps, combining stories told by designers, players and researchers with over 250 photographs of play and preparations. In addition the book contains two essays that explain the history and rhetorics of Nordic larp, and contextualizes it in relation to theatre, art and games.
”Nordic Larp is a rare and vivid glimpse into a fascinating gaming tradition. If anyone knows how to imagine better worlds and build a more engaging reality, its larpers.” Jane McGonigal
”The rise of the ars ludorum is not confined to the bombastic power fantasies of the videogame but is manifest all over the globe in diverse ways, from the doujin games of Japan to the passionate intensity of the indie games movement to the rise of the Euro-style board game. Not least among these movements is larp, brought to its apotheosis in the Nordic countries, where vast, imaginative works of enormous artistic ambition receive attention not only from game geeks but from their national cultures as well. This vital phenomenon is now accessible to English speakers through this landmark work, an anthology of articles describing some of the most impressive and compelling works of the form. Anyone seriously interested in role-play, interactive narrative, and the collision between games and theater will find it of enormous interest.” Greg Costikyan
”Now evolved far from its roots in genre consumption and modification, the progressive Nordic live roleplaying scene is building the tools for participatory performance that artists internationally will be using for generations to come. Nordic Larp is the first book to put the communitys key pieces in one easily digestible and visually seductive format.” Brody Condon
Stenros, Jaakko & Montola, Markus (eds.) (2010): Nordic Larp. Fëa Livia.
First printing has sold out. The digital edition is available for free. There is also a blog that documented the process of creating the book and which continues the conversation.
Playground Worlds. Creating and Evaluating Experiences of Role-Playing Games
Playground Worlds is a collection of articles on role-playing games by leading researchers, artists and other experts. The book documents the theory and practice of the Nordic role-playing scene one of the most vibrant in the world and presents numerous methods and techniques that are directly applicable to larp design and production. It also offers a peek into some Anglo-American role-playing cultures.
The book is divided into three sections. Community and Journalism includes articles on role-player communities written particularly with an eye for approachability. Art and Design covers role-play as the product of a creative process, exposing philosophies and intentions behind specific role-playing works while providing advice and guidance for prospective designers. The Research and Theory section focuses on recent advances in analytic and academic thought on role-play.
Montola, Markus & Stenros, Jaakko (eds.) (2008): Playground Worlds. Creating and Evaluating Experiences of Role-Playing Games. Jyväskylä, Ropecon. The book for Solmukohta 2008.
Printed version is sold out. Download the free electronic version.
Beyond Role and Play. Tools, Toys and Theory for Harnessing the Imagination
Beyond Role and Play is a collection of articles by researchers and role-playing game enthusiasts from seven countries, made for the Nordic role-playing convention Solmukohta 04. The book offers practical tools, analytical viewpoints, inspirational game reviews and fresh methodological ideas for all who take role-playing seriously. The book covers both tabletop and live-action role-playing as an artform, a political tool, an educational method and as great entertainment.
The theory section consists of articles that are mostly of interest to researchers, practice includes tried and true tools for both game designers and players. Games holds descriptive reviews of coompleted projects and analyses of a number of Nordic larps, and finally openings provokes with radical new ideas that are of equal interest to both researchers and game masters.
“[E]xtra effort must be taken to underline the significance of larp and role-playing — as art, as popular culture, as something that not only the small core group of the initiated, but a much wider audience can learn and profit from. This is an important book, indeed.”Frans Mäyrä
Montola, Markus & Stenros, Jaakko (eds.) (2004): Beyond Role and Play. Tools, Toys and Theory for Harnessing the Imagination. Ropecon, Helsinki.
Printed version is sold out. A free pdf is available online.