Game Studies and Gaming Defined

A game is a structured type of play, normally undertaken for fun or entertainment, and at times also used as a teaching tool. Games are quite different from homework, which generally is carried out only for remuneration, and unlike painting, which is almost always an expression of artistic or aesthetic thoughts. Games are active pursuits, with a number of objects known as ‘gamble’ to be tossed about, in order to achieve the outcomes desired by the players. In a game of chess, there are three sets of squares on the chessboard, each marked with a letter, to be checked when a certain pattern is recognised, that is to say, the square that a player has checked does not lie within their side of the chessboard. Thus a player who learns to chess will eventually learn to recognise patterns in the game, apart from the basic strategy of placing their pieces in strategic positions on the chessboard.

There are a number of different kinds of games, each with its own sets of rules to abide by. For the purposes of making useful game definitions, it is worth mentioning some of the more popular ones, as this will make it easier to note the differences between the various games. The earliest kinds of games, as most anyone who is aware of their history will know, are those related to hunting and war. It is these kinds of war games that have been especially important to the human mind, since they require an aptitude for war, calculation, perception, concealment, action, deception, camouflage, calculation, and many other possible skills.

With the application of these different senses to hunting games, we can refine our understanding of these games. We shall find definitions such as: hide and seek, dead or alive, hunt and gather, backgammon, gammon in general, monopoly, capture the core, and on. These will give us a much better idea of what the word ‘game’ means.

From here we will be able to derive a new definition for a game that has long been recognized as a classic. This would be the classic game of checkers. Although this has been a game for a very long time, the meaning behind the rules has changed with time. It is worth noting that most previous definitions included at least four elements: the aim, the strategy, the skills, and the skills of the players.

In this day and age, game scholars have been particularly interested in computer games. The computer game industry has been growing steadily over the last twenty years. As this industry grew, game scholars began to study the ramifications of this industry, both on society, and technology. As a result, we now know that game definitions are not simply the sum of a bunch of individual definitions. Rather, they are a collection of various definitions coming from different scholars, with their own perspectives on how to classify games into categories.

In short, we owe a lot to game studies for helping us understand the nature of games. However, the Internet has also played a role in redefining games for the better. We no longer simply have access to traditionalists looking to justify gaming, we now also have access to everyone else. As we all continue to redefine games, we will continue to see applications springing up across all genres and across all types of mediums – it’s just a matter of time before there is an application for everything.