A Mathematical Framework for Interpreting Playing Environments as Media for Information Flow

This paper proposes a novel strategy of designing play equipments. The strategy introduces two loose constraints as a guideline for designers. The first constraint is "describing unit of play action chain" (O,S,V) based on Barthes' semiology, and the second is the infomorphism between designer, play equipment, and players based on channel theory. We provide detailed explanation of the strategy through an example of a designing process of playing environment where the players usage of the play equipment cannot be foreseen. Copyright (C) 2008 Tatsuo Motoyoshi et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.