Great article. I think a lot of very good games are smaller games nested within a larger meta-game, and there is often some degree of self-similarity. there’s something pleasing about it when it’s there, and players noticing it and acting on it can get a lot of satisfaction. I think when people find examples of how life is like a specific game, we’re seeing something like that, for example when people talk about life with reference to football or boxing analogies. Great take-away, to up or down scale games that work at one level.

I love fractals, and I often delight when I find something that is self-similar or self-referential in life. My favourite joke, which most people don’t get (maybe because you have to know that Benoit Mandelbrot is sort of the father of fractals), is:

“What does the ‘B’ in Benoit B. Mandelbrot stand for?”
—“Benoit B. Mandelbrot.”
Sorry. :)

It’s not exactly about fractals (more about self-reference), but given your interest in the above and in playfulness, have you read ‘I am a Strange Loop’ or ‘Godel, Escher, Bach’ by Douglas Hofstadter? I think you might really like them. they involve a fair bit of maths, but you can get a lot out of them even if you’re not that mathematical, and particularly Godel, Escher Bach is one of the most illuminating yet playful books I’ve ever come across.