ludology

noun

Etymology: From the Latin ludus (“game”) + -ology. By surface analysis, ludo- + -logy, although the prefix ludo- apparently derives from this word.

1. The study of games and other forms of play.

   “It also included Gonzalo Frasca's paper, “Ludologists Love Stories Too: Notes from a Debate that Never Took Place”, in which he comes out in defence of ludology and rejects the most extreme critiques by arguing that ludology's raison d'être is not at all to reject stories, but to focus on games.”