Reading Response 1.0

Chapter 1 Critique

What Exactly Is a Game?

I have often wondered about what the best way to define a game is and many of my classes have brought up discussions on that topic. Questions that always come up are: What is a game? What makes games fun? Why are games so addictive? Long debates would always follow these questions. However, according to the book’s first chapter, there is a very simple breakdown. I’ll admit I found it hard at first to accept such a short and simple explanation but I found that I agreed with it completely after thinking it over for a while.

A game is made up of 4 defining traits: A goal, rules, a feedback system, and voluntary participation.

A goal is the outcome that we gamers work to achieve. It provides us with a sense of purpose. The rules limit the ways we can achieve our goal. We are forced to think outside of the box and find new and creative ways to complete the job. This unleashes creativity and fosters strategic thinking. The feedback system lets us know how we are doing and how close we are to achieving our goals. According to McGonigal, it serves as a promise to the players that the goal is definitely achievable, as well as provides motivation for us to continue. Voluntary participation is when everyone knowingly and willing accepts the goal, the rules, and the feedback. This establishes common ground for multiple people to play together. The ability of the player to enter or leave the game when they want, allows them to keep their gaming experience enjoyable despite the challenges brought on by the game.

As a gamer myself, I can actually examine my own experiences and behavior and realize the truths of these statements. I see video games as my full time job and I work as hard at them as I would a job out in the real world if not harder. By McGonigal’s stats, I would be classified as an extremer-than-extreme gamer. Extreme was rated as the 5 million or so people who game around 45 hours a week. I easily surpass that number and spend the same amount of time in 3 or 4 days. Despite my immersion, I still have time (outside of school) to examine games as a whole and theorize about why they are so addicting.

If there is one thing I have realized about myself, it is that I hate to be idle. My mind prefers to be doing something at all times of the day or it will simply rage at the sheer time wasted. Games are the perfect solution. As McGonigal said, they provide an “invigorating rush of activity” that keeps us entertained as well as the most addicting feeling of success and pride when we succeed at a particularly challenging task. It is this rush that has probably had the greatest influence on me as a gamer. In my pursuit of this rush, I can honestly say that I have conquered more than 50 games to absolute completion. And I see no end in sight to my conquest.

Reading Response 0.5 - Reality is Broken

When I opened this book, I thought the introduction so intriguing that I pretty much had to start off with a commentary on it. Right now, I don't have time to do a full review on it so I will leave this post as a placeholder.

Another Blog for School

This blog is specifically for the IASC 3P26 course at Brock University.

I found it interesting to look at my list and see just how many blogs I am managing right now. Even more surprising was how many had been created for school. I believe this blog will mostly be for responses to class readings. Nothing new there. Lets just hope this doesn't put me off working on my other blogs.

And with that...

I'm out.

CB