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games
Today's e-mail asked: What is it with you all and games?
My answer, slightly expanded, read: I think most human beings need some sort of competition in their lives. It's demonstrably psychologically satisfying. That's part of why I enjoy games: they allow their players to playfully enjoy that satisfaction, safely. I would guess that people who don't play games are more likely to compete with others in ways that are more socially destructive (capitalism, acquisition, elitist oneupmanship, stealing one another's spouses, etc.).
(Possible theory: excellence in the more destructive forms of social competition is often taken as a badge of success. Perhaps the common perception of gamers as "losers" has to do with an avoidance of these forms of competition?)
A second reason is that games are systems, and I'm interested in the way systems work, and have been for a long time, probably about as long as I've been seriously interested in games. Playing a game is an exploration of the way a system works—within the constraints and rules of the game "world", what moves are the ones that will produce the desired outcome? What are effective ways of manipulating this system? Playing Icehouse with Trevor when I was in New Orleans this fall really reminded me of how delightful this exploration can be when shared with another person.
(Making up games deals with the fun of the flipside—conceiving rule-matrices that might be fun to play within.)
A third reason, this one the brainchild of my friend Jon, is that games expose us to situations that we might not experience otherwise, which enables us to test out particular sets of behaviors without serious consequences. (Play in general fulfills this role, games are merely a formal method of doing it.) This testing-out process in turn can influence the way we behave when we leave the gamespace and return to daily life. Traditionally, it is children who need to test out behaviors the most-- since they're learning how the world works --which may be why play and games are generally considered to be childish pursuits. But a person who thinks of learning, growing, and evolving as a lifelong process might find value in continuing to play.
(Role-playing games are particularly unique in this regard; they allow us to test out aspects of whole new identities.) Labels: game_commentary, play, pleasure |
Wednesday, October 30, 2002
8:59 PM
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