After a first date, going silent for a week - is that playing games or giving space?

Your question kind of lumps together two completely different things! Space is when you both understand that you need time to figure out your feelings, and you still message each other occasionally. Games, on the other hand, are intentional silence to seem more unavailable or to test how far someone will go for you. Staying silent for a week after a good date really does look like a game, because you're deliberately creating tension and uncertainty.

If the date went well and you both liked each other, it's natural to want to keep talking! You can write something casual the next day, nothing that requires you to play along with some script. Space in a relationship is about respect and honesty, not about theater and roles. If someone doesn't hear from you a week after a good evening, they'll either think you're not interested or start second-guessing themselves, and that ruins everything that happened.

Give each other time for dates, plans, don't get stuck messaging all day long - that's real, healthy space. But silence as a tactic is just disrespect for the other person's feelings and a game that only feeds your own ego!