Well Played Journal

What makes a game good? or bad? or better?

Well Played is a concept of providing in-depth close readings of games that parse out the various meanings to be found through the experience of playing a game. The term “well played” is used in several senses. Initially it was in two ways. On the one hand, well played is to games as well read is to books. So, a person who reads a lot of books is “well read” and a person who plays a lot of games is “well played.” On the other hand, well played as in well done. So, a hand of poker can be “well played” by a person, and a game can be “well played” by the development team. Jose Zagal has articulated a third way of considering well played in an ethical sense. So, players should consider how to play well in terms of not cheating, and developers should consider how to make games that treat players respectfully. And Bernie De Koven’s The Well Played Game, is a spiritual precedence to joys of playing well.

The Well Played Journal is a forum for in-depth close readings of games that parse out the various meanings to be found in the experience of playing a game. It is a reviewed journal open to submissions that will be released on a regular basis with high-quality essays.

Contributors are encouraged to look at games through all three senses of “well played,” analyzing sequences in a game in detail in order to illustrate and interpret how the various components of a game can come together to create a fulfilling playing experience unique to this medium. Through contributors, the journal will provide a variety of perspectives on the value of games.

The goal of the journal is to continue developing and defining a literacy of games as well as a sense of their value as an experience. Contributors are invited to also discuss games in general (ranging from tabletop, to big games and more) and how they are often designed for different fields (education, entertainment, etc.) as we more fully develop a literacy around games and play. Contributors are encouraged to consider using screenshots and video of their gameplay in order to help illustrate their ideas. And we’re open to suggestions on themed issues around a specific game or a topic across games.

Games are a complex medium that merits careful interpretation and insightful analysis. By inviting contributors to look closely at games and the experience of playing them, we hope to expand the discussion, and show how games are well played in a variety of ways.

The Well Played Journal will be published regularly. We won’t develop a set schedule until we have a good sense of the amount of quality submissions. Our goal is to publish as often as we have great essays. There won’t be a subscription, although as with all our publications, all issues will be available for download for free, and we’ll offer print versions for sale through Lulu.com.

All submissions and any questions should be sent to:

Well Played Journal Issues


Well Played on post-mortems on ar & vr games: volume 13 number 1 2024 Introduction Drew Davidson Paws and Presence: The Impact of a Quadrupedal Avatar on Virtual Reality Locomotion Laureline C...Book Details
Author : Drew Davidson
Publish : 2024
Publisher : Play Story Press
Download : Free PDF
Well Played on post-mortems on ar & vr games: volume 13 number 1 2024
Well Played on esports and community: volume 12 number 1 2023 Barry Joseph, Stan Altman and Nick Fortugno The City College of New York Introduction: Esports as Community Barry Joseph Gaming Pathw...Book Details
Author : Barry Joseph
Publish : 2024
Publisher : Play Story Press
Download : Free PDF
Well Played on esports and community: volume 12 number 1 2023
Well Played on ethics: volume 11 number 1 2022 José P. Zagal To Ethically Play Well José P. Zagal The Dilemmas of a Disco Cop 5: Ethically Well Played Experiences in Disco Elysium Mia Consalvo,...Book Details
Author : Drew Davidson
Publish : 2024
Publisher : Play Story Press
Download : Free PDF
Well Played on ethics: volume 11 number 1 2022
Well Played on playable theatre: volume 10 number 2 2021 Celia Pearce and Nick Fortugno Introduction: Building a Plane in Mid-Air Celia Pearce TPK in Elsinore: The Larp Inside Hamlet (2015) Evan ...Book Details
Author : Celia Pearce
Publish : 2024
Publisher : Play Story Press
Download : Free PDF
Well Played on playable theatre: volume 10 number 2 2021
Well Played on escape rooms: volume 10 number 1 2021 Clara Fernández-Vara and Ira Fay Introduction Clara Fernández-Vara and Ira Fay A Descriptive Schema for Escape Games Mirek Stolee Players...Book Details
Author : Clara Fernandez-Vara
Publish : 2024
Publisher : Play Story Press
Download : Free PDF
Well Played on escape rooms: volume 10 number 1 2021
Well Played on the sporting mindset: volume 8 number 3 2019 John Sharp Introduction John Sharp Exploring the Sporting Metagames of Competitive Android: Netrunner Sean C. Duncan Playing the Cross...Book Details
Author : Drew Davidson
Publish : 2024
Publisher : Play Story Press
Download : Free PDF
Well Played on the sporting mindset: volume 8 number 3 2019
Well Played on intergenerational play: volume 8 number 2 2019 Eric Klopfer Introduction Eric Klopfer Games, Play, Meaning and Minecraft Diane Carr & Cheesycat Puff It is dangerous to play al...Book Details
Author : Drew Davidson
Publish : 2024
Publisher : Play Story Press
Download : Free PDF
Well Played on intergenerational play: volume 8 number 2 2019
Well Played connected learning summit: volume 8 number 1 2019 The Logical Journey of Reimagining “Zoombinis:” Adventure, Research, and Computational Thinking Jodi Asbell-Clarke, David Libby, Sar...Book Details
Author : Drew Davidson
Publish : 2024
Publisher : Play Story Press
Download : Free PDF
Well Played connected learning summit: volume 8 number 1 2019
Well Played on meaningful play and games for social and emotional learning: volume 7 number 2 2018 Susan E. Rivers and Heidi McDonald iThrive Games Founder’s Letter Dorothy N. Batten Introductio...Book Details
Author : Drew Davidson
Publish : 2024
Publisher : Play Story Press
Download : Free PDF
Well Played on meaningful play and games for social and emotional learning: volume 7 number 2 2018
Well Played on analog games: volume 7 number 1 2018 Ira Fay Introduction Ira Fay Distribution, Deckbuilding, and Design in Star Wars: The Card Game Nick Bestor No Time to Waste: Kairos in T.I.M....Book Details
Author : Drew Davidson
Publish : 2024
Publisher : Play Story Press
Download : Free PDF
Well Played on analog games: volume 7 number 1 2018
Well Played: volume 6 number 3 2017 Agency, Identity, Sex, Gender, and Pokémon Go Allison Bannister So Close You Can Feel Her Prostitution, Proximity & Empathy in Grand Theft Auto 5 Elena Ber...Book Details
Author : Drew Davidson
Publish : 2024
Publisher : Play Story Press
Download : Free PDF
Well Played: volume 6 number 3 2017
Well Played on european videogames of the 1980s: volume 6 number 2  2017 Clara Fernández-Vara & Bennett Foddy European Videogames of the 1980s Clara Fernández-Vara & Bennett Foddy Pac-M...Book Details
Author : Bennett Foddy
Publish : 2024
Publisher : Play Story Press
Download : Free PDF
Well Played on european videogames of the 1980s: volume 6 number 2 2017
Well Played let's play: volume 6 number 1 2017 Moses Wolfenstein and Drew Davidson Introduction Moses Wolfenstein Well Played let's play: 6.1 Videos Who Needs Video Games? South Park Stick of Tru...Book Details
Author : Drew Davidson
Publish : 2024
Publisher : Play Story Press
Download : Free PDF
Well Played let’s play: volume 6 number 1 2017
Well Played: volume 5 number 2 2016 PART 1: DIGRA EVE is Real: How conceptions of the 'real' affect and reflect an online game community Marcus Carter, Kelly Bergstrom, Nick Webber, Oskar Milik Pl...Book Details
Author : Drew Davidson
Publish : 2024
Publisher : Play Story Press
Download : Free PDF
Well Played: volume 5 number 2 2016
Well Played: volume 5 number 1 2016 A Narrative Dream: The Unfinished Swan Eric Guadara Handling Differences in Skills between Parents and Children Playing Trine and Little Big Planet Wolmet Baren...Book Details
Author : Drew Davidson
Publish : 2024
Publisher : Play Story Press
Download : Free PDF
Well Played: volume 5 number 1 2016
Introduction Celia Pearce From Pixel Babes to Active Agents – How to Fix the Lack of Diversity in Female Digital Game Characters Usva Friman I Choose You! Diversity in the Design of Pokémon Am...Book Details
Author : Clara Fernandez-Vara
Publish : 2024
Publisher : Play Story Press
Download : Free PDF
Well Played on diversity in games: volume 4 number 3 2015
Well Played on learning and games: volume 4 number 2 2015 Stephen Jacobs and Ira Fay Introduction Stephen Jacobs Medulla: A 2D sidescrolling platformer game that teaches basic brain structure and ...Book Details
Author : Drew Davidson
Publish : 2024
Publisher : Play Story Press
Download : Free PDF
Well Played on learning and games: volume 4 number 2 2015
Well Played DiGRA & GLS: volume 4 number 1 2015 Sean Duncan and Caro Williams PART ONE: DIGRA Where’s BattleTech in MechWarrior Online? A Case Study in Game Adaptation Hans-Joachim Backe Ca...Book Details
Author : Caro Williams
Publish : 2024
Publisher : Play Story Press
Download : Free PDF
Well Played DiGRA & GLS: volume 4 number 1 2015
Well Played seriously weird: volume 3 number 2 2015 Emily Flynn-Jones Introduction Emily Flynn-Jones Part One: Out of Control Weird WarioWare Instructional Dissonance and Characterization ...Book Details
Author : Drew Davidson
Publish : 2024
Publisher : Play Story Press
Download : Free PDF
Well Played: volume 3 number 2 2015
Well Played: volume 3 number 1 2014 Assassin’s Creed III: The Complete Unofficial Guide, a Teacher’s Limited Edition Wade Berger, Patrick Staley Fiasco and Failure: Uncovering Hidden Rules ...Book Details
Author : Drew Davidson
Publish : 2024
Publisher : Play Story Press
Download : Free PDF
Well Played: volume 3 number 1 2014
Well Played on theories: volume 2 number 2 2013 John Sharp Introduction John Sharp Inhabiting Games Well (If not Uncomfortably...) Casey O’Donnell Critical Literacy: Game Criticism for G...Book Details
Author : Drew Davidson
Publish : 2024
Publisher : Play Story Press
Download : Free PDF
Well Played on theories: volume 2 number 2 2013
Well Played: volume 2 number 1 2012 Stories from the Seats of Power: Chopper versus Chopper as dueling Travelogues Matthew Thomas Payne, Michael Fleisch Unbroken Immersion: The Skyrim Experienc...Book Details
Author : Drew Davidson
Publish : 2024
Publisher : Play Story Press
Download : Free PDF
Well Played: volume 2 number 1 2012
Well Played on romance: volume 1 number 4 2012 a special issue on the theme of romance in games Jane Pinckard Technology and emotion: Playing for the love of the game Richard E. Ferdig & Kri...Book Details
Author : Drew Davidson
Publish : 2024
Publisher : Play Story Press
Download : Free PDF
Well Played on romance: volume 1 number 4 2012
Well Played: volume 1 number 3 2012 Time Tech and Tales: The fall and rise of the popularity of narration in games seen through Monkey Island 2 and Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Emmanuel Eytan Q...Book Details
Author : Drew Davidson
Publish : 2024
Publisher : Play Story Press
Download : Free PDF
Well Played: volume 1 number 3 2012
Well Played: volume 1 number 2 2012 BioShock and Portal: A Discussion of Poetics Yotam Haimberg We should be heroes… A case study of community building as a dominant strategy Simon Egenfeldt...Book Details
Author : Drew Davidson
Publish : 2024
Publisher : Play Story Press
Download : Free PDF
Well Played: volume 1 number 2 2012
Well Played: volume 1 number 1 2011 These essays were part of the Well Played Sessions at GLS 7.0, the 2011 Games+Learning+Society Conference in Madison, WI. The Well Played Journal is a forum for ...Book Details
Author : Drew Davidson
Publish : 2024
Publisher : Play Story Press
Download : Free PDF
Well Played: volume 1 number 1 2011