What is it about?
My chapter (ch.11: "Playing Games) considers what is fun and not fun about playing contemporary games, including card games, board games, role-playing games, and digital/video games. My argument is that, while people implicitly assume that games are fun, we can identify many ways in which games are also not fun. Just like our everyday lives more generally, playing games involves conforming to certain expectations, rules, and roles. In the chapter, I explore some fun and not-fun aspects of games in order to highlight these mundane aspects of playing games.
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Why is it important?
There has been a lot of debate about whether gameplay exists within a "magic circle," i.e., whether games are somehow unique from everyday life. In this chapter I argue that gameplay is not unique, but rather that it has features that are similar to many other parts of our everyday lives.
Perspectives
I find it useful to think about all the things we do in our everyday lives in terms of culture and meaning. I don't see playing games as something particular special, and unfortunately not always as particular fun. Nevertheless, many of us continue to spend countless hours playing games and often justify it in terms of "fun." This chapter tries to link gameplay and fun to sociological ideas such as culture and meaning.
J Patrick Williams
Nanyang Technological University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Popular Culture as Everyday Life, November 2015, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.4324/9781315735481.
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