Player of Games by Iain M. Banks

I listened to this story as an audiobook from the library, so I don’t know how the names are spelled. The protagonist is a masterful game player in the Culture, but he’s getting a little bored with life. He ends up in another world built around a complex game. They unpleasant hierarchical society resembles our own. The importance of a game to a civilization reminded me a little of Magister Ludi. Banks referred to and yet remained vague about the details of this game. It contrasts with Reality is Broken, in which McGonigal advocates for making life itself a game.