Tag: games

Life is full of games.

Funny forms of entertainment meant to pass the time and bring people together.

But what is a game?

Game: a structured form of play, usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool.

wikipedia

Is this definition an oversized paint brush?

Because it’s making some broad strokes.

A game can be anything.

The key word in this definition is structure.

But what is structure?

When we think of games, some of us think of sports. Soccer is a game. The structure of soccer being the rules you follow such as “don’t touch the ball with your hands.”

Says who?

You can totally touch the ball with your hands if you wanted to. No one is physically stopping you. The only consequence is a guy in a terrible shirt and tight shorts aggressively shoving multicolored cards in your face.

That’s it.

Like that’s supposed to scare you.

Go ahead and grab that ball and walk it right into the goal, punching and dropkicking everyone that gets in your way.

And then you win.

Soccer’s easy.

Why doesn’t everyone do that?

Because then it wouldn’t be soccer, right? I mean, make the ball an oval and that’s just rugby.

But rugby has rules too. You aren’t allowed to pass the ball forward. You can’t go outside the lines. Rugby games only last around 80 minutes.

But all these rules seem arbitrary. Why not pass the ball forward. If you want to avoid a defender, run all the way to the next town with the ball. Say hi to the folks while you’re at it. When that ugly shirt guy blows his whistle, flip him the bird and keep playing. You don’t lose the ability to play rugby after 80 minutes.

You don’t lose the ability of your grasping appendages when you play soccer. You don’t have to cut off your arms.

Why do we follow these rules?

Because structure defines a game and makes it fun. When we walk onto the soccer pitch, we enter a new world, a world where hands are bad and balls behind nets are our currency.

We agree to this new world’s rules with a common goal to compete and have fun.

But none of it is real.

The point I’m trying to make is that games are pretend.

Make-believe.

Fantasy.

Role-playing.

When you play soccer, you pretend to be a guy who can’t use his hands and is obsessed with balls and nets.

Soccer is a role-playing game.

In this sense, every sport is a role-playing game.

Every game is a role-playing game.

I’d argue every form of entertainment is a role-playing game.

Music. Literature. Art. Performance Art. Theatre. Cinema. Dance. The Circus. Magic. Parades.

You name it.

All these have rules to follow and roles to assume.

That role is often audience members suspending their disbelief.

It’s all make-believe.

And it’s all fun.

We pretend because it’s fun.

Ask any child playing house.

Playing pretend is fun.