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Art 3160 Assignment #1 - What is a Game
Ian Schrieber has some interesting points on what is and isn’t a game. In his list of definitions of what a game actually is, Roger Callois states that a game is “Unproductive, in the sense of creating neither goods nor wealth.” Thats depends on one’s assumptions of what constitutes wealth. A game is an escape from reality. Whatever hardships one might be enduring on their day to day life, it is lifted and set aside for the duration and universe of the game. Therefore, a game might bring massive joy to the person playing it. Whether they might be winning or losing. In our current socio-economic status-quo, joy may in-fact be the ultimate form of wealth. The famous line of “money can’t buy happiness” helps to enforce my point.
A common theme in all of the definitions of gaming is the concept of free will. Players decide whether or not to join the game. If players need to make decisions that would invariably define their outcome, they are free to do so. Even though they are held back a certain and most often specific set of rules or guidelines, they are free to move within that structure to their desired ends.
Puzzles do not constitute as games. Even though they might meet some criteria of gaming they do not meet enough to take the cake. They do allow for choices and strategies. However, choices and strategies are not necessary. A puzzle can still be completed without a strategy. The strategy is only implemented to finish the puzzle faster that one normally would without one. Puzzles are more closely related to exercise than to games. Even more closely related to novels, in the sense of amount of input and the type of output and endgame received. There is no way to lose a puzzle.
