-> *Robin Hunicke talked about this during a Lift talk: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xa8b8g* MDA (Mechanics, Dynamics, and Aesthetics) was described in a [paper](https://users.cs.northwestern.edu/~hunicke/MDA.pdf) by Robin Hunicke, Marc LeBlanc, Robert Zubek: "MDA: A Formal Approach to Game Design and Game Research". > MDA is a formal approach to understanding games - one which attempts to bridge the gap between game design and development, game criticism, and technical game research. We believe this methodology will clarify and strengthen the iterative processes of developers, scholars and researchers alike, making it easier for all parties to decompose, study and design a broad class of game designs and game artifacts. Simply put, it looks at three stages of a game interacting with a player: * **Mechanics**: The particular components of the game, at the level of data representation and algorithms - What the player does (Rules) * **Dynamics**: The run-time behavior of the mechanics acting on player inputs and each others' outputs over time - What happens and what it does to the player (Systems) * **Aesthetics**: The desirable emotional responses evoked in the player, when she interacts with the game system - What it leaves the player with ("Fun") In this case the game designer goes top down while the player experiences it bottom up. > From the designer's perspective, the mechanics give rise to dynamic system behavior, which in turn leads to particular aesthetic experiences. From the player's perspective, aesthetics set the tone, which is born out in observable dynamics and eventually, operable mechanics. So, if "customer centricity" is your goal, then you need to think about the aesthetics. And MDA gives you a framework to evaluate how aesthetic requirements might introduce mechanical changes, which in turn might require new systems.