Everyone is a Game Designer

One thing I notice more and more is that everyone is a game designer. You probably did it all the time when you were a kid. Give some people a deck of cards and some drinks... You'd be amazed at what kinds of games are designed, by people that don't even consider themselves game designers.

-On the court you played PIG instead of HORSE to make the game go a little quicker, and to make it easier for a younger brother to play.

-In school you changed the fortune's of your cootie catcher so they would be more interesting to your friends (e.g. "You will marry Zack Morris when you grow up!")

-Tetherball may devolve to everybody hitting the ball clockwise, just to see how fast you can make it go.

Let's look more closely at this process. Say you have 5 people and you want to play a game of football. Doesn't sound very realistic, not to mention a huge problem staring you right in the face: the group can't split into evenly sized teams.

So everybody in the group without realizing it puts on their game designer hat and someone presents the following new rule:

"One person plays quarterback for both teams"

Making some progress, but this presents a couple of new problems. Immediately one of the other players uses his game designer intuition and presents the following amendments

"The quarterback is not allowed to run the ball."

"The defenders aren't allowed to touch the quarterback"

These even the field quite a bit more, even though the teams are lopsided. They are pretty common sense rules. While not as fun as a full game of football, they've at least put in enough utility to get the game started.

The rules and goals in these examples have been modified by the players themselves. They have been modified for a specific purpose and situation, making the game more enjoyable for the majority of players involved. You as a "video game designer" should take heed of their example, put yourself into the game and become a player first, game designer second. The end product will be all the better for it.

Here are the questions:

-What are some more examples of game designs you've created or modified as a game player?

-If everyone is a game designer, what tools and skills do you bring to the table that makes your involvement so crucial to the game's success?