ABSTRACT
This chapter explains that although the game rules of different videogame displays may vary the identity of the work that allows for these varied displays remains the same because they are generated from a "complete game algorithm" (CGA). The CGA specifies this degree of variance of the rules, the perceptual properties, and potentially the artistic properties of a videogame, and is an ontological idea that make more intelligible. Both games studies and analytic aesthetics have important contributions to make to the study of videogame ontology. The chapter presents a detailed account of the CGA and describes how it individuates one video-game from another. It presents Suits' account of rules and explains game identity. The chapter discusses the algorithmic ontology and the role it plays in videogame identity. It outlines a few problems between games and artworks, followed by some solutions to those worries and addresses the CGA as it relates to the properties it bears and the games they entail.
