reference axis

The reference axis orders the four quantities of a game - who plays (Ludic Agent), what happens (Ludic Process), what is determined for it (Ludic Corpus) and in what it is realised (Ludic Form) - in this order. Every concept is placed on it: at one quantity, on a pair, or outside. It is not a fifth quantity.

Overview

A game has four quantities: who plays (Ludic Agent), what happens (Ludic Process), what is determined for it (Ludic Corpus) and in what it is realised (Ludic Form). In this order they form the reference axis AGENT – PROCESS – CORPUS – FORM.

An evening of Werewolf, laid on the axis:

Quantity	Werewolf at the table
AGENT	the seven players and the narrator - each decides for herself whom she suspects
PROCESS	this match, tonight, with everything that happens: who falls in the first night, who accuses whom
CORPUS	the role cards and the rules: night and day, the seer may look at one card at night, the vote takes place by day
FORM	analogue, face to face: cards, voice, closed eyes; nobody computes along, the narrator is the controlling instance

The same axis for other games: in Minecraft the form is digital, and the process writes back into a persistent world. In Pandemic Legacy every match changes the corpus for the next. Children romping around who make up that the floor is lava and who may jump where have no corpus: they determine while they play - free play. When playing against a chess computer, a Ludic Robot sits on AGENT.

The four quantities

Quantity	is	Question	needs	optional
Ludic Agent	an independent decider who takes part in a Ludic Process	Who decides in the game?	participation in a process	Ludic Sovereignty - the authority to change determinations
Ludic Process	the happening that at least one agent makes into play - “this is play”	What happens?	at least one agent who makes it and takes part in it; a form	a corpus
Ludic Corpus	the body of determinations that hold for a process, and the material in which they are laid down	What is determined?	a form	-
Ludic Form	the medial, material and interactional condition under which a game is realised	In what is it realised?	nothing - it exists before any game	-

The process is constitutive: without a process, no game. The corpus is optional: a process without a corpus is free play. Determinations become a corpus only when a second process could be started from them (corpus threshold). The corpus differs from the process by its status, not by the point in time: a determination fixes what is to hold; an event is what happens. A house rule made in the middle of a match is a determination too.

Agent and process presuppose each other - the only mutual dependency on the axis: a human is a Ludic Agent by taking part in a process; a process is a process because at least one agent makes it one. The form depends on no other quantity.

Type and token. “The Ludic Process” is the principle, “a Ludic Process” this match. The ontology models types; individual matches are not modelled.

Two readings

The axis can be read in both directions, and both hold at once.

From outside in - conditioning. Each quantity spans the space in which the next is possible:

Quantity	spans	Example
Form	the space of possibilities for corpora - which determinations and which material can be realised	A board game can only do what the players compute by hand; a digital game can determine complex physics
Corpus	the space of possibilities for processes - which courses it allows	The rules of chess allow countless matches, but none in which the rook jumps
Process	in every state the action space of each agent - what it can do next	In the starting position White has twenty possible moves; after each move there are different ones

From inside out - constituting and changing.

Quantity	acts outward	Example
Agent	makes what happens into a process (framing)	“Let’s play” - or the scheduled match by convention, like the league game
Agent	changes the corpus through determination, as far as its Sovereignty reaches	the house rule, the variant, the self-set goal in the sandbox
Process	writes back into the corpus	Pandemic Legacy, campaigns, persistent worlds

The agent stands at both ends. It acts at the innermost point, in its action space, and at the same time comes from outside: what it can do, how it tends to play and why it plays, it brings along. That is where the design asymmetry lies (see place and design access).

The eight relations

In the knowledge graph each relation is an edge between the concepts of the four quantities (luna-architecture.md §1.1).

#	Relation	Edge	Reading
1	Form → Corpus: no corpus without a form; it spans the space of possibilities for corpora	constitutes	conditioning
2	Form → Process: conditions what can happen - even without a corpus	determines_space_of	conditioning
3	Corpus → Process: spans the space of possibilities for processes; optional	determines_space_of	conditioning
4	Agent → Process: makes what happens into a process (framing); optional for the individual agent	constitutes	constituting
5	Process → Agent: presupposes participation; determines the action space	requires	conditioning
6	Corpus → Agent: addresses it and regulates its behaviour, but does not determine how it decides	addresses	conditioning
7	Agent → Corpus: determines, as far as its Sovereignty reaches; optional	operates_on	changing
8	Process → Corpus: writes back; optional	modulates	changing

Two edges between agent and process are two statements: participation (Process requires Agent - every process has agents, human, animal or robot) and framing (Agent constitutes Process - only human agents can frame; animals and the Ludic Robot take part but do not frame). Framing is really three-place - an agent applies the play frame to a happening - and is mapped as two-place.

Common misconceptions

Misconception	Correct
”The corpus contains the process.”	The corpus conditions the process (determines_space_of); until 2026-10-03 the graph held the reverse part-of edge.
”The corpus comes before the process in time.”	It differs by status, not by the point in time. Determinations also arise during play.
”Whoever designed the game made it a game.”	Framing is an act of an agent and refers to this happening. An intention deposited in the artefact does not frame; an unobserved run that nobody scheduled is not a process.
”The axis divides into SYSTEM and AGENTS.”	The division was given up together with the term system. The word pole is dropped; place and access take its place.
”The axis is a ladder from important to unimportant.”	It orders by reference, not by rank. The middle, the process, is constitutive.

Between and outside the quantities

Not every concept stands at one of the four quantities. Some stand between two, on a pair; one stands outside. A concept touches at most two places, and pairs follow the order of the axis.

Place	Concepts	why here
AGENT–PROCESS	Ludic Fabula, Ludic Experience, Ludic Ductus, Ludic Effectus	arise in the process, carried by the agent - each agent has its own fabula
	Ludic Agent Situation	the given context of an agent for this process - on the bus, under floodlights
AGENT–CORPUS	Ludic Frame	a cultural schema that the corpus calls up and the agent brings along for reading - not a coupling
	Ludic Sovereignty	the agent’s authority over determinations; its scope is set in the corpus
AGENT–FORM	Ludic Operation	the coupling Form ∩ Capacitas: the form opens up what can be carried out, the agent’s ability limits it. “Button A” and “kicking with the leg” can trigger the same action - this is where accessibility becomes modellable
outside (INTENT)	Ludic Desiderata	the design intentions - what is to be achieved in Fabula, Experience, Ductus, Effectus. They belong neither to the game nor to the agents; they aim at AGENT–PROCESS

The pairs AGENT–PROCESS, AGENT–CORPUS, AGENT–FORM are those in use. Further pairs are possible; adding one is a deliberate schema change.

At the quantities themselves stand: on AGENT Ludic Agent, Ludic Robot, Human Agent Capacitas, Habitus, Motivation; on PROCESS only the Ludic Process; on CORPUS the Ludic Corpus and everything that is determined - the RAF triad, the bearers, the patterns (framework concept RAF triad); on FORM the Ludic Form. The complete list is in luna-architecture.md §12.

Place and design access

Every concept carries two indications that the word pole used to carry in one:

• Place on the axis - where it stands: at one quantity or on a pair.
• Design access - how designers can get at it.

Access follows the three-step from luna-architecture.md §1:

What is designed is the determination. What is enabled is the process. What is hoped for is the experience.

Access	means	Concepts (selection)
designable	determine	everything on CORPUS and FORM; Operation, Frame
targetable	enable and check in playtesting	Ludic Process; Fabula, Experience, Ductus, Effectus
addressable	address and regulate, not control	the agent concepts; Sovereignty
given	given, not designed - one can understand it and relate to it	Ludic Agent Situation (confirmed 2026-10-10)

The design asymmetry: the corpus addresses the agents and regulates their behaviour; how they decide, it does not determine. The only place where an agent is designable is the Ludic Robot for whoever builds it - as determined (the engine) it is designable for them, as trained it is targetable, for everyone else it is addressable.

Place and access are independent. On AGENT–CORPUS the designable Frame stands beside the addressable Sovereignty; on AGENT–PROCESS the targetable Experience beside the given Situation.

What the axis orders

The four quantities are ordering criteria (luna-architecture.md §1.1, namespace-architecture.md §0):

• Branches in the namespace - agent/, process/, corpus/, form/, plus intent/. The concepts of the four quantities are the roots of their branches: Ludic Agent has the path agent, Ludic Corpus corpus. The branch is the quantity in whose domain a concept is determined or arises; it does not say what it is a part or a kind of. Pair concepts have one branch: the Operation form/, the Frame corpus/, Sovereignty and Situation agent/, the four results process/.
• Stacks follow the branches (stacks/agent/, stacks/corpus/, …).
• Boards do not belong to the knowledge graph; in presentation they are ordered by the concepts they deal with.

Place and branch are not the same. The place says where a concept stands (Experience: AGENT–PROCESS), the branch in which domain it arises (process/experience).