Week 3 Reading Questions

From chapter 1:

• How does mary flanagan’s definition of game differ from chris crawford’s as well as the definition crafted by katie salen and eric zimmerman? 
  • Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman’s approach to defining the word “game” is characterized by the acceptance that there are multiple different definitions. Crawford defines games by contrasting it to puzzles. The text says that Crawford believes that, “Puzzles are static; they present the player with a logical puzzle to be solved with the assistance of clues. Games, however, can evolve, and rules may shift at certain points in a game and can change with the player’s actions” (p. 6). Mary Flanagan’s definition, on the other hand, is a little more similar to Salen and Zimmerman’s in that she doesn’t believe in one strict definition of “game”. She says, “Games can be thought of more productively as situations with guidelines and procedures” (p. 7). She also adds that they can be thought of as technology as well. 
• what is an activist game? 
  • According to Flanagan, “Activist games can be characterized by their emphasis on social issues, education, and, occasionally, intervention. In other words, they are not purely conceptual exercises, but rather, games that engage in a social issue through, most commonly, themes, narratives, roles, settings, goals, and characters; and less commonly, through game mechanics, play paradigms, interactions, or win states to benefit an intended outcome beyond a game’s entertainment or experiential value alone” (p. 13). Activist games can still be fun and enjoyable to play, but their messaging and genre remains geared towards social issues (generally). 

From chapter 3 –

• go and chess are examples of games that feature “perfect information”, what other games share that feature?  Perfect information in a game is “…all the information constituting the system of the game is visible on the game board at all times” (p. 63). Some other games that I believe would be considered this include Mancala, Connect 4, Tic Tac Toe, and Sudoku. 
• why might chance or gambling games hold spiritual or religious importance to ancient cultures? Flanagan writes, “Games of chance and divination were closely aligned for many thousands of years, for humans have long sought guidance from the changeable, powerful forces they believed may rule over one’s destiny and control the probable outcomes for hunting, war, and successful harvests” (p. 67-68). Chance games also had their parallels to fate, with the Egyptian board game Senet in particular representing a race against fate to the afterlife. Scholars believe that games like this helped connect the living to the afterlife and those beyond. 
• when was the earliest battle between government/ religious groups and games? One of the earliest was in the middle ages in Europe, with a game that used dice on a backgammon board. The church tried to forbid this game. 
• what modern games can you think of that have been banned or demonized? I feel like there was a period of time a while ago especially when shooting games such as Call of Duty were being really demontized because people believed that it would make kids violent.
• what is a fox game, and what would be a modern example? 36 In a category called According to Flanagan, ““fox games,” [are] a group of board games featuring unequal opponents, one player is the fox, or aggressor. Other players control or play the numerous geese, sheep, or prey the fox tries to eat while the fox attempts to avoid the traps his opponents set all around him” (p. 73). Essentially, fox games are when there is an unbalance in the rules. I feel like Bang! Could potentially be considered one of these as well as the Intergroup version of Monopoly that we played. 
• What was the purpose or intent of the game: Mansion of Happiness? Players want to be the first to reach “happiness” or “heaven”. This game depicted the struggle between good and evil; good deeds would move you closer to heaven and there are evil distractions to heaven along the way. This was supposed to be somewhat of a moral guide to living life, encouraging children to do good deeds to get to heaven. 
• Why do artists from the Fluxus and Surealist movements play games? Why did Surealists believe games might help everyone? They do it for recreation and research purposes, specifically they like to see how games are tied to social movements. According to Flanagan, “Surrealists believed that games might help everyone—artists, scientists, politician, even farmers, tap into the spiritual realm and the human unconscious” (p. 90). 
• Changes in what can signal profound changes in games? How were pinball games reskinned during WW2? The text says, “Therefore, changes in any larger social situation, such as a severe economic depression, may signal profound changes in games” (p. 94). For instance, games like Monopoly did great during the Great Depression in the United States. Pinball games were repainted with graphics that represented wartime themes. It was essentially propaganda, and one example was about taking down the Japanese. 
• What statements did Fluxus artists make by reskinning games like monopoly and ping pong? The reskinning of games creates “situations”, as they call it. The reskinning of Monopoly helped represent capitalism better, and dealt with world issues as well. The “Ping Pond Table” created a ping pong game that opened up the room to play with more people and more tables, all to play in one large game, and explored the dimensionality of the space;. 
• How are artists like Lilian Ball, Marcel Duchamp, Takako Saito, Yoko Ono, Gabriel Orozco and Ruth Catlowusing war games? Wargames are based on conflict and the taking of pieces and all of these artists explore this in their work particularly as it refers to chess the symbolism of everything. 
• Why is it important for players to have agency in a critical or serious game? The text reads, “Janet Murray defines agency as “the satisfying power to take meaningful action and see the results of our decisions and choices.”” (p. 116). In a critical or serious game that is speaking about relevant social issues and causes, it is important to take agency because it is not just a game, it is ultimately the state and quality of humanity. If you know you can do something about an issue and choose to do nothing about it, the game is pointless.