Antecedents of the GAME

The video game today, fits the bill that many other ‘hobbies’ have served in the past. Hobbies, as such with mere, incidental or ornamental value, which however represent, or are iconic of some kind of ability that is respected among the players of the game/practicers of the hobby, and/or society at large.

In essence, before I continue, I’d like to define what a game is, it basically a less than productive, yet challenging avenue to employ one, when the only better thing one has to do, are chores. Which is a good argument for my young boys are usually big on games, which is as of now, for the purpose of this piece, the generic term for all such hobbies/games. Though games are played by more than just young boys, its just more obvious in their cases, because of their mothers, and in my case, her broom.

Now games have existed in many garbs, right through history, and while I’m not yet an expert on the field, I have a sneaking suspicion, that many of the very confusing shapes of ground stones, it will be found are sporting equipment. However, to actually present a study of lithics as an argument would be to leave rock solid ground, and build on the sand… and gaming is not an outdoor sport.

A good example, of gaming, existing amongst, ‘savages’ or whatever it is we call people not quite as ready to murder each other members of modern society are, is that of the boomerang. The boomerang, contrary to popular belief is not the logical result of a broken Frisbee, but had a very serious history. The aborigines of Australia used them, to hunt. They were meant to hit animals they were hunting, and leave them unconscious, and no, those boomerangs did not return after the hit. They stayed put, usually very near the animal they’d hit. These boomerangs sometimes could have blades on one side, which was supposed to his the animal.

Now, the throwing of these boomerangs, would have required considerable skill, and hence practice, and skill the throw would have been pretty valuable, when it came to getting one’s choice of the ladies. Hence natural, people would choose to spend long hours practicing… and since running after a boomerang is a pain in some very delicate parts, its but natural, that they would be adjusted to return, in time.

However in making such modifications, the very utility of the hunting boomerang was compromised, and voila, the sport boomerang is born. The throwing of which requires great skill, but serves little or not practical purpose, beyond the supposed connection between ones ability to thrown this boomerang and the one that stunned the dinner.

Now this sort of a connection can be seen in various similar sports that have over the ages been popular with the aristocrats of various places. Falconing is a good medieval Europe example, and in India, training homing pigeons, or even better yet, the flying of kites.

Well, when I’m drawing this comparison between sport and gaming, I need to be careful, after all, soccer, or American football, or say even something like TT, is not quite the same thing as TT, and a shooter practicing at the range, using an actual weapon, and possibly live rounds, does have actually have a lot more in common with a man in the army, then with me, when I play counter strike.

So what makes a game, as in a video game, different, to a sport, which is played in a field, etc.

Well the first thing it must not have, is much physical exertion, that’s the most important thing with gaming, it should not make a couch potato… no I mean it should make a couch potato, and yes a falconer could have a bear belly. So a sport, of any kind which does not require you to exert yourself, too much. That effectively takes care of most ‘games’ even those played on that beach we were trying to avoid.

The next thing a game, needs to do, is limits its practice to something which serves no real purpose while resembling sufficiently closely the activity it’s taken from. Like the throwing of the boomerang… or the shooting of bows in archery, unfortunately in medieval England, the best archers in the field, were not the best at those competitions Robin Hood won so easily, and this was not so much because of the number of patches they wore in the field, but has more to do with the difference in equipment. The arrows that were used in combat were decidedly heavier, and had less range, and accuracy, in the hope to actually kill the target they hit, while those used in competition were much lighter, and differently fletched (feathered) so that they flew straight, and would penetrate the hay of the target, but not do much more.

Now because video gaming uses images, it can take the physical exertion from pretty much anything and because you can kick a ball across the field with a press of a button you can see pretty clearly what I’m hinting at right?

But when we start looking at things like this, it becomes important to evaluate the practical use of playing games, at all. For example, I’m sure budding hunters were chided for spending too much time playing the wings of their boomerangs, just as warriors would have spent more time practicing with their combat arrows, allowing Robin Hood to win golden arrows that would be too heavy to fire anyway.

But once we look at games in this new light, it becomes possible to reassess a lot of other games out there. For example take golf. It requires the barest minimum of exertion, which is evident from the fact that the number one player in the world has a paunch, and that it’s played by corporate executives. I’m not sure what exact connection it has to a useful skill, but I’m sure being able to hit a ball far away, is something, just in terms of the strength it takes.

However, golf, I’m sure will fit, very nicely, within my definition of a game, and its validity can be then questioned. But I’d rather not do that, I don’t grudge tigers their dens, and clubs, and all of that, all I’m saying is that there is hope for us gamer too…

So start practicing, lazy boy might want to sponsor you, because lazy boy makes the finest couches for gaming, with especially shapes arm rests, to give ultra smooth wrist/finger movements and comes with an optional mount for a virtually reality rig. Lazy boy the ultimate in professional gaming equipment. Lazy boy, just snooze it.