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Setting Boundaries – The Roots Of Gaming From Primal Play to MMORPGs

By Phil Harris

When considering games we need to know what is game and what is simply play. The latter is massively influential in the development of our skills, both social and logical, and the former setting boundaries in which these skills can be utilized to great effect and providing the opportunity to hone them. Managing to combine these two factors in a  fine balance provides the greatest gaming experiences and those which will be remembered and loved for a long time.

 This integration of rules can be seen in children and animals play. The animals introduction being far more brutal with them often becoming a life and death struggle for survival; the difference between lion cubs playing at hunting and hunting for real. In the more evolved human cultures these rules often result out of establishing order in chaos. The Cowboys and Indians game where the player refuses to die and so rules of engagement need to be drawn and which are often linked to a struggle for dominance and the "alpha" role.

One thing we must remember about game and gaming is that its roots lie in training and development of innate skills learned through play. The game helps define the superior person at that specific skill set and so shows who has the aptitude to take on more serious tasks. Games like Go, with its infinite diversity and variation, are highly tactical, considering scale and distribution in what can easily be interpreted as a military simulation. In Go the player must consider where forces should be placed and learn to calculate the balance between loss and gain and many ancient games have a similar basis.

In fact, games often tend to culturally represent the society going on around them and as we have found more time to appreciate arts and entertainment the games people play have adapted to reflect that. Whilst rules and regulations were clearly enforced and games were often related to gambling, prior to the parlour games of the Victorian era, they developed into a far more social experience. The family sitting down to play a game together rather than some dark and smoky institution where money was traded through the cards in ones hands and side bets were made on the winner.

Increasing the element of social interaction in games has changed the face of gaming as we know it, and these roots can be seen throughout gaming today, from the modern Massive Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Games (MMORPG) to the regular groups of people who meet to open up a boxed board game and spend a few hours enjoying both it and others company. They do it for two reasons, because the rules of the game appeal to them, giving them the freedom to pretend to be something that they are not, and because they get to play with others who have entered into this same unspoken pact.

This factor, this opportunity to play, is a most valuable commodity to human beings. It frees us from the pressures of the world around us by bringing things back into perspective, it breaks barriers between people and it allows people to speak openly and freely to their peers in a safe environment. In fact it seems to release some basic primal urges to play, which make us feel good about ourselves because we have this release.

Often game developers miss this fine interaction though. One of the reasons there are so many forgotten games out there is because of the lack of understanding of this art. The game must give participants the freedom to breathe and expand their creativity. If there is not a challenge for the player then why would you engage: If the challenge is too high the same reaction follows. The game must adapt to its environment and what the user base expects, but also try and confront the players with something new.

For each of us the level of play we enjoy is different, some of us are sticklers for the rules, and the play comes from the interaction when understanding or debating that rule set, others love the freedom of house rules or a roleplaying game that has very few set boundaries. As we grow the reason for "alpha" dominance becomes less as we have accepted our place and this allows us to simply enjoy the game itself. Some like the madness of a no-holds-barred bidding game which allows the player to double cross their opponents and some enjoy the simple exploration of themselves and their environment. If these things appeal to you then there is a game out there tailored for you.

With so many pressures in the world, so much for each of us to cope with and the changing nature of our environment a little play in our day can only seem like a good thing. In my own experience of the diverse gaming world, those who find time to engage with it seem to have richer and more fulfilling lives, whether rich or poor, as they have found a place to explore which is their own, and in this small corner they can let down the barriers imposed by society and play. How can this be a bad thing?

Phil Harris (@PhilipGHarris) is a games developer who is currently working with One Thumb Mobile on their MMORPG Celtic Heroes and with Pyre Studios on a number of their tabletop game projects. He also writes for Pixels for Breakfast.

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