Games
Games and play are some of the highest expressions of consciousness. They intentionally challenge our intellect, our theory of mind, provide intermittent reinforcement, help develop social relationships, and spark joy.
"Games, then, are a kind of utopia of rules...play can be said to be present when the free expression of creative energies becomes an end in itself. It is freedom for its own sake." -Bernard Louis De Koven
The excellent book, Games: Agency as Art by C. Thi Nguyen provides a definitive philosophy of games, play, agency, and the impact of gamification on that agency. This interview on Conspirituality podcast provides a good introduction to his ideas, and some of his video lectures are included in the gamification section.
"Playing a game is the voluntary attempt to overcome unnecessary obstacles." -Bernard Suits
Another authority on the philosophy of games is Bernard Suits. His book, The Grasshopper: Games, Life, and Utopia is foundational, and offers a unique way of thinking about games and life that is optimistic and inspirational.
The Importance of Play
Play is essential to education, especially when it comes to socialization. [1][2][3][4]
Play is also important for maintaining relationships and neuroplasticity in adults. [5][6][7][8]
The freedom for children to play is often being curtailed in the name of safety, significantly inhibiting their social development.
Barnard Louis De Koven's A Playful Path has a bunch of free resources on how to incorporate play into daily life, and unique games that challenge us in many ways. There are many other articles and resources for developing good play habits and free ideas for games and activities on the referenced websites if you want to explore this concept further.
But the best way to explore this concept is to get out and do some playing!
Achievement Play and Striving Play
Some games you play to win because it represents a true goal in life, such as winning a sports match or tournament. Other games you play for the fun of the temporary struggle to win, without the goal to dominate the other players.
Party games are more fun when everyone is roughly the same skill level, and lose their enjoyment when one player consistently wins. Some provide more enjoyment for the losers than the winners, when we fail hilariously at the tasks we are given.
Parsing the difference between these modes of play can be the source of endless nuance for gaming philosophers.
Game Theory
Game theory uses the study of mathematics to create models for strategic social interactions. Game theory has produced some of the most interesting studies in mathematics, since it reveals the basic decision making strategies employed by the brain when cooperating or competing with other people. These optimal strategies determine how we trust others in various situations, such as the prisoner's dilemma.
Gamification
Gamification is the use of video game feedback mechanisms to provide incentives in real-world scenarios. These can be very persuasive, and radically alter the behavior of those who work in a gamified system. This can have a detrimental impact on your free will.
It is important that you provide your fully informed consent before spending any amount of time in a gamified system. The goals, incentive structures, and emergent behaviors should be clearly defined, since gamification is addictive by definition.
Gamified educational applications can be great. Gamified gambling apps should probably be avoided. Gamified social media is basically crack, and someday it will be treated as such. Gamified work environments should be treated like piece work, since these tend to incentivize overwork and exhaustion, which is why the practice was outlawed in most industries.
One of the most cited studies on the impact of gamification is the impact of the US News and World Report college ranking system on the incentives and values of our universities. The book Engines of Anxiety: Academic Rankings, Reputation, and Accountability explores this topic in detail. Malcom Gladwell's Lord of the Rankings podcast does a deep dive in audio format.
Art and Philosophy in Video Games
The Video games as an art form page discusses the philosophy of video games as works of art.
There are many video games that deeply explore various topics in philosophy through the unique first person perspective of the player that only games can provide.
Max Derrat's YouTube channel has a ton of great videos that explore topics of philosophy through video games.
This series of videos examines several different video games from the perspective of their lessons about philosophy and ethics.
Fractal Games
Many computer graphics applications use fractal algorithms to create natural looking features like trees and mountains. These games take it to a whole new level by using 3D fractals as the basis for entire game worlds!
Games Without Frontiers
War without tears.
Playlist with the full Future Games album