Arlo writes: “It is not some secret mystical human experience, nor does it have to be some weird pop-culture cult, but just another way to spend some free time.”
I suppose the distinction I’m making is between open vs. closed or leading vs. following. With so much unknown in the world, why use hours of wakefulness to enumerate the states of a finite state machine? In what way is there anything to discover from a game? I appreciate there is a craft to making a storyline and a craft to in designing the graphics and physics engines, and of course the graphic arts in designing the visual appearance of characters. But I appreciate the story like I’d appreciate literature or art – I am not an expert in those things, and so I am not a participant – I am merely a consumer. On the technology side, I can acknowledge that gaming software is sometimes impressive. But why _bother_ writing it _except_ to sell it? Another way to ask the question is how is it more significant to be a gamer than, say, a reader of fiction or even a moviegoer? How is being a gamer a Thing? Marcus
============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
