Toys And Games

tim-cain game-design toys games fun-friday minecraft skyrim design-philosophy

Abstract

Problem: What is the difference between a toy and a game, and why does it matter for game design?

Approach: Tim Cain explores his personal definitions of toys versus games, illustrates how each can become the other, and reflects on what this means for designing better games.

Findings: Games have rules, goals, scores, winners, and endings; toys are open-ended things you play with. The best games incorporate toy elements — goalless, endless, free-form play — and many beloved games (Minecraft, Skyrim) are frequently played as toys rather than games.

Key insight: If old Tim could advise young Tim, he'd say: put more toy features in your games — goalless, endless elements that let players simply exist in the world.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-FahKBaiG0

Definitions: Games vs Toys

Tim offers a concise distinction:

  • A game is something you play. It has rules, goals, and frequently scores, winners, and endings. Board games, card games, tabletop RPGs, and video games all fit this category.
  • A toy is something you play with. It has none of those things — no rules, no goals, no win state. Dolls, action figures, and original Legos are toys.

The Lego Tangent

Tim notes that original Legos — basic building blocks with free-form construction — were clearly toys. Modern Lego sets, which come with instructions to build one specific thing, have drifted toward being three-dimensional jigsaw puzzles. He personally prefers the original open-ended Legos.

Games Played as Toys

Some games are overwhelmingly played as toys:

  • Minecraft is technically a game (you can die, there's an end goal), but the vast majority of players treat it as a toy — building, crafting, and surviving with no particular objective.
  • Skyrim is Tim's "comfort game," his "macaroni and cheese of games." He frequently plays it with no goals at all — no min-maxing, no quest-following, just wandering the world, exploring caves and ruins. In one playthrough, he collected gems purely because he liked the art, made piles of sapphires and rubies in his house, and would move them around as physics objects just to admire them.

Toys Played as Games

The reverse also happens. Growing up with plastic army men or basic Legos, Tim and his brother would invent rules, assign unit abilities, and define win conditions — turning toys into improvised games. Similarly, when board game pieces went missing (lost, vacuumed up, or eaten by the dog), toy box items like Legos became stand-in game pieces.

The Design Takeaway

Tim argues the best games have toy elements — free-form, goal-free play:

  • When players say they want "exploration off the beaten path" or gameplay that "isn't quest-driven," what they really want is toy features inside a game.
  • When players ask for endless post-game play after all quests and achievements are done, they're asking for toy elements.
  • Tim's advice to his younger self: Try to put more toy features in your games. Make more things that are goalless and endless.

He acknowledges the practical constraint: adding toy features to a game costs money, just as designing a toy with game potential requires additional thought and resources. But the investment is worth it.

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