Is SL a Game?

Game
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A game is an (often, but not always recreational) activity involving one or more players. This can be defined by either a goal that the players try to reach, or some set of rules that determines what the players can or can not do. Games are played primarily for entertainment or enjoyment, but may also serve as exercise or in an educational, simulational or psychological role.

game (n.)
O.E. gamen "joy, fun, amusement," common Gmc. (cf. O.Fris. game, O.N. gaman, O.H.G. gaman "joy, glee", regarded as identical with Goth. gaman "participation, communion," from P.Gmc. *ga- collective prefix + *mann "person," giving a sense of "people together." Meaning "contest played according to rules" is first attested c.1300. Sense of "wild animals caught for sport" is c.1290; hence fair game (1825), also gamey "having the flavor of game" (1863). Adjective sense of "brave, spirited" is 1725, from the noun, especially in game-cock "bird for fighting." Game plan is 1941, from U.S. football; game show first attested 1961.

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In Philosophical Investigations, philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein 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. Games were important to Wittgenstein's later thought; he held that language was itself a game, consisting of tokens governed by rough-and-ready rules that arise by convention and are not strict.

Stanley Fish, looking for a clear example of the sorts of social constructions, cited the balls and strikes of baseball as example. 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 labelled as such by an appropriate authority, the plate umpire, whose judgment on this matter cannot be challenged within the current game.

It could be a game if it worked occasionally

muHAHAHAHA



A little gracious background behind this: I found myself concerned that words were something I was wrestling with, and after much verbal output, couldn't do a lot more. I sat on my hands, shrugged, and looked up at the sky. "Is SL a Game?" the question goes.

So, with the proverbial "picture = thousand words", I decided to let loose and express it.

And yes, there are some snarky, hidden references.

Yeah... but is it ART?

*ducks and runs*

SL is a game, in the same way that politics, interpersonal relationships, and social interaction are a game.
I'm coming fron an Eric Berne type viewpoint here.

Eric Berne? I would have said John Nash, but that's not so far removed.

Nice try Torley !

but Second Life is just a small subset of the game I play.


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btw, could I have a copy of that picture as an SL object ? I'd love to hang it in my gallery

Well I think game s can be vey open-ended and without cohesive set goals, like say DND. The rules provide a mechanical framework, but they do not set goals.

To me SL is like that: I see the "rules" rules of Sl, as being the mechanisms by which we can do what we want. A "rule of SL is the prims have a maximum size of 10x10x10, a rule fo SL concerens the exchanged of linden for product, the tier structure is a rule. Thus to my mind there is a perfectly legitimate set of rules by which the SL world operates. Largely these rules are seamless, and we do not have to think about them (this a a hallmark of good video game design, and good design in gerenal-the limitations are present, but not apparent.

Within the framework of the mechanics, we are all free to do what we want, but we are still gaming. For example, I am not areal life fashion designer, but I am a designer in SL, I am not a real life architect, but I am an archintect in SL. In short I am playing at being these things, and this happens, of necessity, in a game.

In some way also, SL could be looke at as a very sophisticated economic simulation game, as it is a mathematical representation of an economy and society.

SL is a very much a game, but it is not a game like many people think of as games. Thus for conveneince to those who don't reflect very carefully on terminology, we call it a platform and not a game, because it spares the delicate ears of those who read pejorative intent into the word "game"

Because that's what role-playing environments (apologies to the non role-players: everyone who's sittiing around in the default avatar and IM-ing everyone they know, ignore this) have been called since i've been involved in them in the '70s. Whether the "game" is D&D, Runequest, MUDs or Mucks, Champions, City of Heroes, World of Warcraft, or Second Life, there's people who play for a goal (levels, points, Lindens, reputation) and people who just play. SL is opriented to attract the people at the "just play" end, but some folks are clearly playing the economic game, or the reputation game, and ironically those tend to be the ones who take offense at it being called a game.

Is IRC a game?

It is if you roleplay.

Where's My Cow?

Is SL a game?

For me, yup it still is. I can't take this shite seriously. Most of it is just a comedy of errors lately

Cat

To me, it is a game for the simple fact that I have FUN playing it. Yes, I content-create (I'm a small time clothes designer, nothing special, just making casual clothes that people would actually wear outside of clubs in RL), and the money I get from my efforts makes my avitar self-sufficient (but it only equates to pennys in real life), but I have fun making clothes, I have fun selling them, therefore it is a game to me. Not all games have to be "winnable" in my opinion.