Notice the practical rules players invent for themselves
Technical terms: Convention, Positional convention, Directional convention, Conventions tree
A convention is a practical rule of thumb that guides a decision without calculating every possibility. A positional convention evaluates the current state; a directional convention recommends how to improve or move from it. A conventions tree shows how simple rules support more advanced ones and where exceptions or contradictions appear.
See it in Wordle
“Use an opening word with common letters” is directional. “Repeated letters are less useful while many letters remain untested” evaluates a feature of the current choice. More advanced play qualifies both rules according to feedback, remaining answers, and mode.
What you can do with it
Design systems that let players discover useful conventions and eventually outgrow them. A rule of thumb should guide attention without becoming the one mandatory procedure.
Ask a player
What rule of thumb did you invent, and when did you discover that it was incomplete?
Nearby ideas
- Mastery — refine and revise understanding over time.
- Perceived action space — act from possibilities the player can see.
- Strategic collapse — lose variety when one convention becomes compulsory.
- Feedback — learn whether a convention was useful.
Richard Garfield, Skaff Elias, and Robert Gutschera, Characteristics of Games (2012), discussion of conventions and convention structure. ---