What are video games?

[Melooon]

I would very much like to know what they are! 

I don't mean this as a silly question, but as someone who genuinely struggles to define what video games are and how they fit into life. 

Some people describe them as entertainment, but they are clearly more than that.
Some people describe them as art, but I think that does them a disservice because it puts all the weight of the art world on them.
You could say they are like dreams with rules, but that's a little esoteric.

People play games to be something and feel something; and games leave impressions on people that last far beyond the limits of game game itself.

They can be like special time spent with friends, but yet you can feel that even when you play on your own; and when you do play with friends its like the game becomes an extra friend in the room with you.

It seems to me people are always trying to justify them in some way, or define them in comparison to something else; but that always fails because they are something else 

[ThunderPerfectWitchcraft]

For me, a (video) game is a story that is told, and that might be influenced by those who play it. It might be a collaborative act; it might allow for deep, meaningful input and direct creativity or just the throwing of a dice to see where it goes (and everything between these extremes). It might be very abstract. But there is always a narrative, and the player(s) take part in it.

Compared to other forms of art (and they are, as everything else what we do as living beings that exceeds the coercion of necessity, if you ask me) they hold a more direct promise of freedom.

Quoting myself from a mail I recently sent to a friend:

Even if a video game doesn't offer any chances for interaction, the decision to withhold this freedom is a form of communication towards the player. Setting a poem into a game engine fundamentally alters the whole message when compared to a text (even one accompanied with the very same pictures), even when the player has absolutely no freedom of decision whatsoever - the pure possibility of the author conceding freedom totally changes everything.

I'd argue that all of this is true for games in general; video games are merely a transportation to the computer, altering their possibilities - freedom is exchanged for more accessible immersion.

[xixxii]

maybe you would enjoy the podcast Game Studies Study Buddies, @Melooon ! the two hosts discuss works in the academic field of game studies in a kind of book club style, with the aim of making them more accessible to non-academics. there's lots of writing in the field of game studies about "what is a game" and "what is a video game" that's fun and interesting, i think!

[Memory]

[removed by author]

[ThunderPerfectWitchcraft]

i think what i'm saying is that (video) games are literally magical tools

I love this  .
Are you familiar with Donna Haraways Cyborg Manifesto?
She describes the melting between a human and the devices they use, its pretty close to the thing you describe.

[CableCat]

I would very much like to know what they are! 

I don't mean this as a silly question, but as someone who genuinely struggles to define what video games are and how they fit into life. 

Some people describe them as entertainment, but they are clearly more than that.
Some people describe them as art, but I think that does them a disservice because it puts all the weight of the art world on them.
You could say they are like dreams with rules, but that's a little esoteric.

A game to me is a challenge with rules and a win condition of some kind. When I think of classic games like Chess, Go, Hanafuda, Checkers, Poker, Blackjack, and so on, there is some kind of endgame condition or "checkmate" moment or accumulated points that mean a player has "won".

I recently got back into playing SimCity on SNES. I was reading up on the history of the SimCity game. I had no clue it used to be a very old computer game long before I was born! One article I was reading talked about the history of the game's development, and how the creator was approached by Nintendo who wanted to produce a version of SimCity for their new console (the SNES). The article talked about how the old version of SimCity on PC was very different from the SNES version. It did not have the same type of "game end condition" that was added to the SNES version (where your city gets classed as a Megalopolis). But it was still a game, even if the "win condition" was not as clear. The player's challenge was to increase property value and develop a simulated city. The player had to experiment with different combinations and locations of commercial, residential, and industrial zones to get the most development and highest value.

I believe many games incorporate art and story, and are considered art pieces and independent narratives in some cases. But I do not believe a game at its core must have a story or "art". A videogame to me is a game made in some kind of digital medium out of some kind of code. I think the art and stories are enhancements that add complexity or help to strengthen the core of a game. They help to draw more engagement from the player. Pong (1972) and Journey (2012) are two VERY different games, but I get enjoyment, engagement, and challenge out of both of them as a player.

[Memory]

Computer games are power, power to push lots of numbers around.

The dungeons & dragons players do the math manually, generating a remarkable amount of numbers in their roleplaying scenarios. Complex, but that's it, anything more complex would become a chore instead of a game.

However with a computer...
2 power 3 = 8
2 power 4 = 16
2 power 5 = 32
2 power 6 = 64
2 power 7 = 128
2 power 8 = 256
and so on.
More registers, more variables, 8-, 16-, 32-, 64-bit... more numbers, more complexity, more POWER!

Computer games = Power
Power to break boundaries.

[MrsMoe]

Video games.........

are your friends 

[Memory]

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