In The Study of Games, Brian Sutton-Smith writes, “Each person defines games in his own way—the anthropologists and folklorists in terms of historical origins; the military men, businessmen, and educators in terms of usages; the social scientists in terms of psychological and social functions. There is overwhelming evidence in all this that the meaning of games is, in part, a function of the ideas of those who think about them.”
If the meaning of games is a function of the ideas of those who think about them, how then would a spiritual gamer think about games?
Even though generalizations about games are doomed to fail, I would still venture that a common perception about games is that they are somehow less real than real life. Granted some folks take games way too serious. Even so, it is pretty uncommon to find the winner of a Monopoly game heading off to the bank to make a big deposit.
Typically a game player is aware that there is a larger context beyond the limits of the game — a context in which the game forms just a part. In fact, when asked to justify the value of playing the game it is this larger context that comes into play. In a recent article a CEO explained that he found playing World of Warcraft useful in developing this management skills. Another discussed the utility of gaming for relaxation of his sales staff. And just about every programming firm I’ve worked for has at least one ping pong table for the programmers to relax and develop inter-group communication.
Each of the above has a common thread — the value of the game was somehow related to the larger context in which the game was played
A spiritual gamer shares this view, only with a little twist — real life is taken to be a part of something larger in which real life forms only a part. In addition, value is ultimately dependent upon this larger context.