Philosophy of Play, Essay Example

Our Never-Ending Stories: Function and Identity for Game Players

The concept of play grew in the last one hundred years. It developed with technologies, changed with philosophies of organizations, and imagined its way to exciting new opportunities. With so many options for play, the meaning of the term continues to get more complicated. Today we arrive at a time where we ‘play’ many things—and some not as fun as the term once implied. All games have rules or parameters and a format, but games accustom players to rules typically outside of the average day. They create, imagine, destroy, and explore. They also make you wonder where hours of your day went. Games are not just ‘playing around’—they have real implications for most aspects of the modern life.

The two most obvious conditions for gaming are: 1) decide the format and technical details of the game and 2) set the parameters or basic rules for play. A game can be arranged on a board, with cards, on a computer, on a gaming system, etc.; the possibilities are endless. Tokens, pieces, chips, and other details, including technology requirements and graphics, are likewise part of the game. All games have at least basic rules—even those games in which a player explores a world. Characters and game play have limitations- who can move, who can die, what powers are wielded, and more. A game is nothing more than a never-ending story if it has no rules and objectives.

Gaming crosses many genres where capable development teams work together. The growing number of available video gaming systems owes much to the early software, which introduced many wary parents to the educational possibilities of games. One of the first games purchased in my own household was a space exploration game, a ‘gateway’ software to Dad’s sports games and Mom’s writing software, and eventually to new formats: floppy disks, compact disks, interactive DVD’s, etc. The technical details themselves make the material more interesting, and creativity or ingenuity drive the entertainment aspects which can effectively hide learning inside game play. Still, gaming requires the use of at least two skills at all times. Sporting games require hand-eye coordination, quick reflexes, mental perseverance, strategy development, and sometimes a basic working knowledge of equipment, i.e. when a race car’s tires will likely need to be replaced. Puzzle-oriented games require many of the above-named skills, advanced problem-solving, and (often) a geographical understanding of a game map.

The game’s audience, the player, interacts with the game. Even the world’s greatest PowerPoint- cool effects included- stays only a presentation until audience participation occurs. If the audience only watches, then it is a multimedia presentation. If the audience only answers questions, then it is an evaluation. The audience must actively pursue a goal—either a common or competitive goal for multiplayer games, along with clear rules for when each player is allowed to participate. This goal must have consequences for failure or success. Often, games include tokens, extra life points, extended game time, unlocked features, penalties, fake deaths, etc. The element of creative fantasy plays a large role in the consequences aspect of a game. For longer role-playing games, the fantasy aspect allows the player to experience cause-and-effect which enhances the real feel of the game play—right up until that point where a player dies and goes back to the last save point or checkpoint.

This brings back the point that the creative and fantasy elements, especially the ‘pause’ allow us a measure of control which secures a greater attachment and entertainment. In life, if we fail a test or task, the expectation is that we will usually not be allowed to repeat it. A life cannot be repeated, giving the act of living some urgency. The clock is ticking. While elements of timing are often part of game play, they are still part of this fantasy of going back and correcting mistakes. Not only does this ability to warp time encourage longer game play, gamers have been known to sit, stand, walk, eat, and do a very large variety of things while fighting evil, solving puzzles, or winning Wimbledon.

It is easy to see how regular game play might allow players to release tension and to visualize a more successful self. A good player builds self-confidence, their self-worth increasingly attached to the value of the consequences in the game. A karate student attaches importance to the color of the belt he attains; it becomes a part of his mental, emotional, and social identity. An avid gamer might feel more accomplished after reaching the greatest abilities in an interactive game- World of Warcraft comes to mind- or even judge the other players as people based upon this obtained value. A novice ranking relegates a player to outcast status with the exception of a few kind interactive souls. Thus, a game must include elements of leisure and identity.

With regards to leisure, identity, and role play, it should be noted that the pornography industry recognizes the exploratory nature of game play and animation has allowed the sexual identity also to be played out in a way which is safer and less conspicuous than real-world encounters. Both in this form of game play and in action-adventure games, such as the famous Grand Theft Auto or Twisted Metal sagas, publicly-discouraged behavior can be explored in a manner that is harmless except for when it puts the curious and young players into contact with role-playing adults.

Finally, the purpose of a game is to creatively challenge or entertain, and this purpose sets it apart from other forms of education and mass media production. Games begin to stretch the boundaries of acceptability and to extend the age of adolescence in its players. Adults, too, play for hours games which do little to develop long-term memory or realistic expectations or social skills. Adults, too, seem increasingly eager to escape from their everyday identities while video game time may occupy the spaces where an effort to improve their lives once was made. It is a fault-free, controlled, logical if-then atmosphere which provides a distraction from one’s cares. In moderation, this distraction allows a healthy release for anxiety. After many hours, the problems which really need solving are still there, as are the unemployed young game players, who typically react more impulsively than their adult counterparts. In other words, a game is also defined by its settings, expectations, and results, and open communication endangers the safe nature of the majority of games of the past and ushers in a new, inclusive, social purpose of gaming.

The modern game allows every person a safe double, an avatar to play angel or devil’s advocate, while still some upholding rules and traditional structures of gaming. A game uses two or more skills at all times, entertains, and the player interacts with the game- and often with others- to achieve a goal in a fantastic suspended reality which provides an unreal setting for exploring alternate identities, making the social and cognitive effects important to our development as people. Who did you want to grow up to be as a child? You can be anything now. You can lose yourself inside another person’s identity. Losing yourself inside a game essentially validates the game, but a person needs time to validate their worries and concerns. A game’s first functions are to entertain and to provide leisurely escape, its own never-ending story.