Game
A game is a structured or semi-structured, contrived , usually undertaken for
enjoyment, though sports or training simulation may be done for other purpose. A goal that the players try to reach and a set of concerning what the players can or cannot do create the , structure and interactivity in a game, and are thus central to its definition.
Known to have been played as far back as
prehistoric times, games are generally distinct from work, which is usually carried out for , and from art, which is more concerned with the expression of ideas.
Encyclopedia
A
game is a structured or semi-structured, contrived , usually undertaken for
enjoyment, though sports or training simulation may be done for other purpose. A goal that the players try to reach and a set of concerning what the players can or cannot do create the , structure and interactivity in a game, and are thus central to its definition.
Known to have been played as far back as
prehistoric times, games are generally distinct from work, which is usually carried out for , and from art, which is more concerned with the expression of ideas.
Games generally involve mental and/or physical stimulation. Many games help develop practical skills, serve as a form of
exercise, or perform an
educational,
simulational or
psychological role.
Definitions
Ludwig Wittgenstein was probably the first to give serious thought to the definition of the word. In his
Philosophical Investigations is, along with the
Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus [i], one of the ...
, Wittgenstein demonstrated that elements of games, such as
play, rule and
competition all fail to adequately define what game is. He subsequently argued that the concept "game" could not be contained by any single definition, but that games must be looked at as a series of definitions that share a "family resemblance" to one another.
Computer game designer Chris Crawford attempted to defines the term
game using a series of dichotomies:
- Creative expression is art is the product or process of the effective application...
if made for its own beauty, and entertainment if made for money. - A piece of entertainment is a plaything if it is interactive. Movies and books are cited as examples of non-interactive entertainment.
- If no goals are associated with a plaything, it is a toy. If it has goals, a plaything is a challenge.
- If a challenge has no “active agent against whom you compete,” it is a puzzle; if there is one, it is a conflict.
- Finally, if the player can only outperform the opponent, but not attack them to interfere with their performance, the conflict is a competition. However, if attacks are allowed, then the conflict qualifies as a game.
Crawford also notes these other definitions:
- “A form of play with goals and structure.”
- “A game is a form of art in which participants, termed players, make decisions in order to manage resources through game tokens in the pursuit of a goal.”
- “An activity with some rules engaged in for an outcome.”
Play
The game can be characterised by its element of interactivity. Gameplay includes all player experiences during the playing of game. Proper use is coupled with reference to "what the player does". The term, gameplay, arose along the development of computer game designers in the 1980s, and were used primarily within the context of video or computer games, though now its popularity has begun to see use in the description of other, more traditional, game forms. Major elements identified in this context are tools and rules which define overall context of game, which in turn produce skill, strategy and chance element of gameplay.
Tool of games
Games are often classified by the components required to play them . In the west, where use of leather was well established, the ball is a popular game tool, resulting in the current global popularity of ball game . Evolution of user interfaces from simple keyboard to mouse, joystick or joypad has been crucial to the development of computer games. Moreover, in computer games, virtual tools can be created within a computer generated simulation.
It is important to note that playing yoyo or playing tennis against a wall is not generally recognised as playing a game. However, this is not the case in a single player computer game where the computer is also the adversary. Difficulty arises in the case of
solitaire or some puzzles which is often recognised as games. Tetris for example is a classic puzzle game. Some argue that a puzzle becomes a game when, like other computer games, it simulates adversity and/or challenge by utilising a random element . Therefore, math questions or crosswords are puzzles but not games because there is no variability in the solution. Similarly, if someone discovers a fixed way to beat a computer game, the game is no longer interesting.
Rules
Ludwig Wittgenstein went as far as arguing that language was itself a game consisting of tokens governed by rough-and-ready rules that arise by convention and are not strict.
Environment
Game such as
hide and seek or tag does not utilise any obvious tool. Rather it interactivity is defined by the environment. Game with the same tool and rule can have different gameplay if the environment is altered. For example, hide and seek in school building and outside field, tennis and table tennis, soccer and indoor soccer, racing with different tracks. Go game with different size of board.
Skill, strategy, and chance
Major elements identified in this context are skill, strategy, or chance. Game of skill includes games of physical skill, such as wrestling, tag of war,
hopscotch and
target shooting, and games of mental skill such as
checkers and
chess. However, certain competitive sports such as marathon, 100m track or gymnastic are often not recognised as games because idea of testing pure physical attribute does not contain interactivity. Games of strategy include checkers, go, arimaa, and
tic-tac-toe. They, as in games of chance, often require special equipment to be played. Game of chance include various form of gambling games and
snakes and ladders as well as rock-scissor-paper. However, flipping a coin is not consider to be a game because pure chance determines the outcome. In most cases, games contain various degrees of all above elements. For example,
football and
baseball involve both skill and strategy while
poker involves strategy and chance.
Anthropology of Game
Game is intimately conected to culture. For example, tag is associated with hunting. Historical popuraity of ballgame in Europe is associated with their familiarity with leather. Many martial culture practiced wrestling. Golf originated by a shepard in Scotish highland. Moreover, the game always have some social aspect. For example, the game can be analysed in term of intended occasion of play
Field Game
Sports is arguably the most popular form of game, which is highly structured activities of group entertainment. Defining characteristic of sport is that it is a competition against opponent which involve various physical or mental skill. It is important to note that sport does not have to be athletic sport. Chess, for example, is a sport.
Sports often require special equipment and playing fields or prepared grounds dedicated to their practice, a fact that often makes necessary the involvement of a community beyond the players themselves. Popularity sports are often to the such extent that it could have spectators who are entertained by just watching it. Communities often align themselves with players of sports, who in a sense represent that community; they often align themselves against their opponents or have traditional rivalries. The concept of fandom began with sports fans. Games amuse the players, and sports amuse a broader public. When games like chess and go or even
video games are played professionally, they take on many of the characteristics of a sport.
Stanley Fish cited the balls and strikes of baseball as a clear example of social construction. While the
strike zone target is governed by the rules of the game, it epitomizes the category of things that exist only because people have agreed to treat them as real. No pitch is a
ball or a
strike until it has been labeled as such by an appropriate authority, the plate umpire, whose judgment on this matter cannot be challenged within the current game.
Board, Card and Table Game
Computer Game
A
computer game is a
computer-controlled game. There always must also be some sort of input device, usually in the form of
button/joystick combinations , a
keyboard &
mouse/
trackball combination , or a
controller , or a combination of any of the above. Also, more esoteric devices have been used for input .
What set computer games apart from all other games is a fact that every game can be simulated as a computer game. Because computer games are simulation, every conceviable tool, environment or rules can be created. In more open-ended computer games the player may be free to do whatever they like within the confines of the virtual universe.
Single-player games
Single-player games are unique in respect to the type of challenges a player faces. Unlike a game with multiple players competing with or against each other to reach the game's goal at the appropriate time, a one-player game is a battle solely against an artificially-created and controlled opponent, against oneself's own skills, or against chance.
Most puzzles, and some
card games, are designed for one player. As well, most computer and video games have single-player modes or are designed for only one player to play per game.
Single-player games are sometimes called
solitaire games, but this term may be misinterpreted as referring specifically to
Peg solitaire,
Spider solitaire or Klondike.
Trivia
- Domestic animals have been observed playing simpler games such as tag, tug-of-war, and fetch. It is debated if whether this is due to instinct or conscious choice.
Types of games
- Alternate reality games
- Ball games
- Board games
- Business games
- Car games
- Card games
- Casino games
- Children's games
- Clapping games
- Computer and video games
- Conversation games
- Counting-out games
- Creative games
- Dice games
- Drinking games
- Educational games
- Economics games
- Game shows
- Games of chance
- Games of dare
- Games of logic
- Games of mental skill
- Games of physical skill
- Games of strategy
- Games of status
- Global Positioning System-based games
- Group-dynamic games
- Guessing games
- Letter games
- Locative games
- Mathematical games
- Open gaming
- Party games
- Parlor games
- Pencil and paper games
- Penis games
- Play-by-mail games
- Playground games
- Political games
- PowerPoint games
- Pub games
- Puzzles
- Quizzes
- Ritual games
- Role-playing games
- Singing games
- Spoken games
- Street games
- String games
- Table-top games
- Tile-based games
- Theatre games
- Traditional games
- Travel games
- Wargames
- Win-win games
- Word games
See also
...
Notes and references
- Avedon, Elliot; Sutton-Smith, Brian, The Study of Games. , reprinted Krieger, 1979. ISBN 0-89874-045-2
External links
