3 ms·

Mark Rosewater, head designer for Magic: The Gathering, argues that specifically because of that total lack of agency, Candy Land doesn't even meet the definiti

• schoen 6y ago
  It's interesting to me that this piece doesn't explicitly mention Wittgenstein's discussion of the difficulty in defining a game https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_resemblance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_resemblance since there might be no particular thing that all things that we call games have in common with each other. It's also interesting that in Rosewater's sense, many casino games and other gambling games aren't games because you also can't meaningfully affect their outcome. (I don't think it's at all unreasonable to say that these aren't fun in the same way or for the same reason as games that give you agency...)
  • gregmac 6y ago
    > many casino games and other gambling games aren't games because you also can't meaningfully affect their outcome I've never really thought about it, but it is definitely why I hate slot machines, in particular. The only exception to that is the first time I was in Vegas with my wife, when I was there for a conference and she tagged along to gamble. On our last (5th?) day there, she was incredulous that I hadn't gambled at all and finally I jokingly said "ok fine, here, I'll throw away a quarter if it'll make you happy!" and put it in the nearest slot machine. I won $50.