Costikyan : I have no words I must design

'A game is an interactive structure of endogenous meaning that requires players to struggle towards goals'

Firstly, what a great quote. To those who agree, it can sum up what a game is in a sentence, which as budding young games designers we are already learning is incredibly challenging.
Costikyan explores the definition of games by categorising certain elements, such as the ones italicised in the quote.
He firstly mentions 'Interactive', which by his definition in the article means that the state of the gameplay can change, due to choices or decisions made by the player, something you might not find in a puzzle. He uses Monopoly as an example this but I will choose another game; Scrabble.
I choose Scrabble because the gamestate is in constant change, all down to the players decisions, what letters to place, where to place them. This practically gurantees a different outcome for every single game you play when you think about the letters the players are given randomly, the places that they can put the letters, the amount of words in the english language. . .It goes on and on.
Structure is also mentioned, defined by Costikyan as being the way a game is played by the players under the same rules and restrictions. A game without rules or boundaries cannot work as the player would not be limited in their means to win, severely damaging the purpose behind the whole game.
Endogenous meaning refers to how value is interpreted inside a game and in the real world. For example, if a player from World of Warcraft goes on a raid and collects some rare weapons and armour, physically this means nothing. The player cannot touch the items, cannot merit their existence in the real world, yet in the game it might make them that much stronger, make their character amazing. . .but only in the game world.
Struggle is mentioned and is compulsory in giving a game some character. To win a game in one move is no fun, so struggle is enforced to pose an obstacle that the player must overcome in order to achieve their goals.
Which brings us to goals! Goals are the reason behind games. What does the player get out of all this struggle and interaction? Where is the player heading with the decisions they've made? And ultimately, what is the player achieving. This is dependant on the game being played, but the concept remains the same.

So according to each definition, the original quote stands to reason. I agree with Costikyan and once again respect his ability to answer the question, "What is a game?".