The french philosopher, Michel Foucault, once suggested that prisons exist in the world because it helps us imagine that the prison is “out there” and that we aren’t already living in one ourselves. The same idea applies to games – there are many games out there that serve to remind us that we don’t live in a game reality whereas, in fact, we do. Many of the activities we engage in have all the elements of games although we generally think of them as “real life”. These games can be referred to as “serious games” or “big games”.
Is it surprising that prisons resemble factories, schools, barracks, hospitals, which all resemble prisons? Michel Foccault
A game may be defined as a learned cultural sequence that includes Rituals, Rules, Roles, Resources, Goals, Language, Values and Style. Each element of the game is in continuous systemic relationship with all other elements of the game – a change in an element of the game impacts and is impacted by all other game elements.
When people think of games, they normally think computer games, sports, pastimes and other similar activities. But there are myriad other games that humans play that fit the definition. Using this definition, the serious/big games that we generally don’t think of as games include War, Trade, Law, The Economy, Healthcare, Engineering, Entertainment, Banking/Finance/Insurance, Technology, Education, Media, Transport, Construction etc.. But at the same time, there are games closer to home that we all play these include Parenting, Relationships, Cooking, Leisure etc..
The big games are those that people generally feel uncomfortable about seeing as a game. Rather, they prefer to see these ‘big games’ as ‘real’
The Chinese government recently announced the gamification of citizenship (suggesting that citizenship wasn’t already gamified). In China, the credit score – measured as a number between 350 and 950 – is now affected by your political opinions and your friends’ political opinions and the extent to which these opinions are in line with official opinions.
So rather than covert surveillance, it has become overt and normalised – having access to a high credit score allows you to borrow more for less interest, having a low score means you can’t use airtravel, trains and even live in certain areas.
“They are playing a game. They are playing at not playing a game. If I show them I see they are, I shall break the rules and they will punish me. I must play their game, of not seeing I see the game.” ~ R. D. Laing
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One reply on “Big games, serious games”
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