Permissions
The boundaries of interface, contact, system, and mechanic. What the videogame allows, requires, and forbids.
What Permissions Are
Permissions are the boundaries of the experience. They define what's allowed, what's required, and what's forbidden within the videogame's systems.
Every videogame has Permissions, whether the designers intended them or not. Some are explicit (you cannot go through this wall). Some are implicit (you would never think to try). Some are designed. Some are accidents. All of them shape the experience.
Three Types of Permissions
Allowed
What the videogame lets you do. The possibility space. Can you jump over any wall? Can you talk to that random NPC? Can you save your game anytime anywhere?
Required
What the videogame wants you to do. What are the demands for progression through the system of the videogame. Must you defeat the boss... Can you defeat the boss? Can you skip the cutscene? Is your playtime on a timer?
Forbidden
What the videogame refuses you from doing. The boundaries. Cannot harm the NPCs. Cannot skip the tutorial. Cannot return to the previous areas.
Discovering Permissions
We often don't know the Permissions preemptively. We discover them through play, through the 4 A's. It's like feeling in the dark.
The Action shows us what we can do. The Art signals what might be possible. The Arc reveals what's required to progress. The Atmosphere hints at what kind of experience this is. Through all of these, we come to understand the Permissions.
Sometimes we know the Permissions before playing: from genre conventions, from marketing, from other players. But even then, the specific boundaries are felt out through the Gesture itself.
Permissions and Meaning
Permissions carry meaning. What a videogame allows, requires, and forbids communicates values, priorities, and worldview.
A videogame that forbids killing communicates something different than one that requires it. A videogame that allows nonlinear exploration communicates something different than one that requires linear progression. These are not neutral technical decisions. They are statements.
Exercise
Pick a videogame. List:
- 3 things the videogame allows (but doesn't require)
- 3 things the videogame requires
- 3 things the videogame forbids
For each: How did you discover this Permission? Through what Action, Art, Arc, or Atmosphere?
Why Teach Permissions
Students often focus on what they're building (features, content) without thinking about what they're constraining. Permissions reframes design: you're not just adding possibilities, you're defining a space of possibility.
Teaching Sequence
- Start with "Forbidden." It's often invisible but powerful. Ask: what can't you do in [videogame]?
- Move to "Required." What must you do to progress? What has no alternative?
- End with "Allowed." This is the space between Required and Forbidden. The space of agency.
The "Permissions Remix" Exercise
Have students take a videogame and change one Permission:
- What if Mario couldn't jump? (Forbidden something that was Allowed)
- What if Dark Souls let you pause? (Allowed something that was Forbidden)
- What if Tetris didn't require pieces to fall? (Removed a Requirement)
Discuss: How does this single change affect the whole experience?
Common Pitfalls
"More Allowed = better"
Students may assume more player freedom is always good. Counter this: constraints create meaning. A videogame that allows everything requires nothing and often feels empty.
"Required = bad"
Students may feel Requirements are limitations to avoid. Counter this: Requirements are how videogames create shared experiences. Without them, there's no guarantee any two players experience the same thing.
Assessment
Have students write a "Permissions document" for a videogame they're designing. Look for: Do they articulate all three types? Do they explain why each Permission exists?
Permissions and Agency
Agency exists in the space between Required and Forbidden. If everything is Required, there's no agency. If nothing is Forbidden, agency may feel meaningless (there are no stakes to choosing one path over another).
The art of Permission design is finding the right constraints: enough Required and Forbidden to give choices weight, enough Allowed to give players room to express themselves.
Permissions vs. Affordances
Affordances (what objects suggest you can do with them) are not the same as Permissions (what the system actually allows). A door may afford opening (it looks like a door) but be Forbidden (the system won't let you open it).
Good design often aligns affordance and Permission. When they diverge, players feel frustrated ("why can't I open this door that looks openable?").
Permissions and the 4 A's
Permissions are not separate from the Gesture. They are discovered through it. The 4 A's are how we come to understand what's allowed, required, and forbidden.
This means Permissions are not purely abstract rules. They are felt, encountered, tested. A Permission you never bump against might as well not exist. A Permission you discover through play becomes part of the experience.
References
- Sicart, Miguel. Beyond Choices: The Design of Ethical Gameplay (2013)
- Anthropy, Anna & Clark, Naomi. A Game Design Vocabulary (2014)