# Expression Games **Entity class:** Strategic-interaction concept **Domain:** Counterintelligence / deception / sociology ## Definition In [[wiki/Erving Goffman|Erving Goffman]]'s [[wiki/Strategic Interaction|Strategic Interaction]], **expression games** describe contests in which observers interpret signs while subjects manage, conceal, expose, or counterfeit those signs. The grammar includes unwitting, naive, control, uncovering, and counter-uncovering moves. For intelligence analysis, the concept clarifies that cover is not a static story. It is an adaptive interaction between a performer, a support system, a target, and any counterintelligence observer testing the presentation. ## Relationships - **theoretical parent:** [[wiki/Dramaturgy|Dramaturgy]]. - **operational analogues:** [[wiki/Counterintelligence|Counterintelligence]], [[wiki/Legend (Intelligence)|Legend]], and [[wiki/Backstopping|Backstopping]]. - **source:** [[research/The Producer Function in Intelligence Tradecraft and Dramaturgy|The Producer Function in Intelligence Tradecraft and Dramaturgy]].