Lecture 3: Homo Ludens

There's lots of games that could relate to this subject but I've been playing and thinking more about this particular game than most others recently, and that is World of Warcraft. Johann Huizinga investigates the reasons behind play in his book Homo Ludens, such as the reasons for which play evolved in the first place, and what its use is in the world of today. He theorised that play is voluntary, no one can be forced to do it, , that it is outside normal life but yet still has fixed boundries seperating it from the real world. One purpose of play could be to learn, as Huizinga said "Let my playing be my learning, and my learning be my playing" (Johann Huizinga, Homo Ludens, 1938), as well as helping to develop social skills, team games and such like help to develop this. Physical games help with strength and agility, as well as teamwork. Humans are programmed to play, just like all other animals, we learn through play our skills that we use later in life. The games we play when we are younger help to teach us some of the boundries that we will use later in life, such as perhaps a rough, physical game of wrestling, teaches us that the level of violence in that game is not acceptable in normal, everyday life.

One such digital game that most certainly heavily involves social skills (more than you might expect) is World of Warcraft, as first glance this game may seem nothing more than just a game, where people compete against one another, not where social networks are developed. But underneath the surface there is a whole other level of social interaction between players. The guilds which players can create in-game extend beyond just being mere groups of people, the people within the guilds talk to one another and form their own communities, just as they would in real life. They help one another with difficult sections of the game, and several areas within the game, such as the Molten Core instance, require that players work together to complete them. A single player alone entering one of these areas would die almost instantly. But together, a guild can overcome these obstacles with strategy and teamwork. Many guilds also use voice tools to communicate with one another whilst they are playing, and this adds a whole other dimension to the relationships between people in the guild, because rather than just simply talking in text, you are speaking in real time to other players. It allows for much better communication and co-ordination. Yet the social ramifications of playing this game extend even beyond that, into real life. Many guilds organise real-world meetings so that players can get to know one another in real life too. Some people have even met their partners through the game, one couple even giong as far as to get married in-game.

G.T.W. Patrick also has theories on the role of games in life, he theorises that games are used for relaxation (G.T.W. Patrick, Psychology of Relaxation, 1916) and that they provide a welcome escape from reality for people. They give the mind something else to focus on after a hard day of concentrating and working, providing relief for a tired and overloaded mind. I think I have experienced this on some occassions, and I agree with this theory, although I think there are also other contributing factors.