Frames, Game Taxonomy and Diegesis

Caillois taxonomy of game pleasures - what pleases us about games and play - seems to provide helpful guidance in designing UIs for different types of games. This model can be connected to frames and diegesis, according to the sketched figure below.


First of all, the player frame is the frame we adapt to understand and make use of the rules of the game - how we reason as players of the game. Since rules are a vital part of every computer or console game (or indeed any other game as well), playing a game will always involve adapting the player frame in one way or another. However, depending on what elements (competition/mimicry/vertigo) the game uses to make us feel engaged and engrossed, playing a game will also involve adapting the person frame (reasoning as a person in the real world) and/or the character frame (reasoning as character in the game world). In other words, playing a game involves switching between frames, which is a rather strong argument against the possibility of achieving full immersion.

The competition element of games involves switching back and forth between the person frame (sense of achievement, competing against oneself or other individuals) and the player frame (making use of and exploiting the game rules to achieve ones goals). Here, rather than focusing on an UI that immerses the player into the game world, the UI should support the competitive spirit and make sure that the game rules are clear to the player.

The mimicry element of games instead involves the player frame (adapting the game rules in order to take part of the game world) and the character frame (being immersed into the game world). Here, the diegesis of the UI should be an important tool to push the player into the character frame rather than being reminded by distracting non-diegetic UI elements that the game is "just a game".

The vertigo element of games involves the person frame on a perceptual level, and the player frame on a game-rule level. The goal of pure vertigo games is to achieve a sensory-rich experience (skiing, mountain-climbing, etc.). In FPS games, this can be reflected in platforming, the chaos that follows intense battle and explosions, scare and fright, or as in Mirror's Edge applied to character movement itself by parkour. From a vertigo point of view, the UI should try to push the player into the person frame, to try to connect the game to the player's primary framework of senses.


In most FPS games, all three elements of competition, mimicry and vertigo exist, however one element will be in more focus than the others. Hence, the UI should support the element most dominant. In Mirror's Edge, this could be the element of vertigo (the act of parkour). In Battlefield: Bad Company single player, the dominating element could instead be mimicry (taking the role as one of the squad soldiers). In the multiplayer part of Bad Company, the dominating element is competition (competing against rivaling team, competing internally by getting higher scores than teammates).