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In improvisational theatre there is a rule called “Yes And.” The rule of “Yes And” states that you must never say “no” to another actor’s offer. Following just this one rule goes pretty far toward ensuring a successful improv scene. “Yes And” should also be the number one rule of game design.

Here’s how “Yes And” works. Teddy and Johnnie are doing an improv scene. Teddy says, “Welcome to Quickie-Mort funeral home,” in his best Transylvanian accent. Johnnie was hoping to do a scene about the beach. He can say “no” to Teddy’s offer: “Actually, we’re at the beach,” but because of the “Yes And” rule, he knows that denying Teddy’s offer will kill the scene. So Johnnie says, “Strange place for a funeral home, right here on the beach like this.” Essentially he is saying, “Yes we are in a funeral home. And it is on the beach.” Comedy gold, that.

This rule can be applied to games as well. Look at every player action as an offer the game must “Yes And.” Great games are the ones that never deny a player’s offer because doing so breaks the illusion of the game. Here’s an example. In Grand Theft Auto, there are prostitutes on the street corners. If a player makes an offer by pulling up next to one of these prostitutes, the game will “Yes” that offer by having the prostitute get in the car and do what prostitutes do, “And” the encounter adds health while draining cash.

An example of when a game breaks the “Yes And” rule is the classic indestructible locked door. The player’s character might be an Ahnold type, blasting his way through countless enemies with all manner of destructive power at his fingertips, yet when the game designer doesn’t want him to enter an area the door is locked and no amount of destruction could open it. This breaks the illusion by taking the player’s offer—“I want to blow down that door with my +3 Grenade Launcher of smashening.”—and responding to it with a resounding “No.”

Games are different from movies and books in so far as they are interactive. Interactivity presents challenges to the designer who wants to control the player’s experience. A linear medium, like a book, allows the author total control. In a game, the events unfold in unpredictable and potentially unique paths, depending on the player’s decisions. At its worst, this could become the breakdown in authorial control that Ebert insists is preventing games from reaching the status of “high art.” At its best it allows the medium to do things that movies and books can never do.

Improv theatre, like game design, is a collaborative authorial effort. In an improv scene no one has total authorial control; it is split more or less evenly between the actors. In game design, the authorial duties are split between the designer(s) and the player(s). Game designers could learn a lot from improv theatre.

“If the player ever asks himself ‘I wonder if I can do X?’, the answer had better be ‘Yes’.”