This isn’t a game.

‘We’re afraid of losing track of where the game ends and where reality begins’. (McGonigal, 2011, p19)

Games can lead us to somewhat abandon our own morals and ethics in favour of someone or something else’s rules, whether it is games you play on a personal computer, game console, mobile phones or board games. People play games became they want to accomplish a winning, but they never want the game to end.

There is something essentially unique about the way in which games are structured and the experience it creates for the user. Take Tetris for example. When playing Tetris you are guaranteed to lose because the game has to end at some point. It only gets harder when you’re playing well, creating a perfect balance between hard challenge and achievability.

James P. Carse once wrote that there are two different kinds of games: finite games that we play solely to win, and infinite games that we play in order to keep playing as long as possible. Tetris is a prime example of an infinite game because we play Tetris for the only purpose of continuing to play a good game.

"All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." (McGonigal, 2011, p29)

We can forget the impacts that our efforts have on anything so we generally feel unsatisfied with our efforts of work. But when we are in virtual world of video gaming or any game we are rewarded by winning at the end even if there is no external reward.

There is an emotional attachment that comes with the playing or addiction of games. As society is so evolved into gaming designers know to try to create games that will create emotional highs and not lows.

　

McGonigal, J., (2011). Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World, Penguin Press HC, (P.19-34)