itch.io

As someone who had to do considerable research about games and toys, I have to say you explained perfectly why I believe it's way more complex than it's made to be. Maybe not complex, but less straightforward at least. The general consensus of a "game" versus a "toy" feels at least outdated, as it still values experience a lot while disregarding experience diversity. A game, or a toy, may be the exact same and provoke very different experiences for different users. I think that can be very noticeable between children (a phase we often quickly forget about our specific feelings and habits): it's very common for kids to take a toy and turn the experience into the definition of a "game" (for example, take a car toy and turn the play into a race between friends). The opposite also happens but less often, I think, and I personally live it a lot: if a game contains exploration, I most likely will end up not playing it as a game, but as a toy, with no goal besides going around. Minecraft is also a good example of how blurry the lines are, as you can just update what would be defined as a "toy" with elements that barely change the experience, but it's suddenly by definition a "game". It seems like an abrupt meaning change to something that barely changed. A personal dilemma I've faced in academical circumstances is that things can go as far as defining MMORPGs as "not games" depending on how strict we are with our definitions - because the formal discussion didn't fully follow the changes in game development nor the cultural aspects of those changes.