169 | C. Thi Nguyen on Games, Art, Values, and Agency
Oct 18, 2021
01:24:12
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Quick takeaways
Games can be viewed as an art form that allows individuals to experience different forms of agency and motivation.
Playing games provides temporary clarity of values and goals, but gamification may oversimplify and limit the diversity of perspectives in real-world contexts.
There is a distinction between striving play and achievement play in games, with some players finding joy in the struggle itself and others focusing solely on winning.
Deep dives
Games as a Form of Art: Agency and Motivation
Games can be seen as a form of art that revolves around agency and motivation. By playing different games, individuals give themselves different capacities and goals, allowing them to experience different forms of agency. Games provide a sculpted experience of practicality, clarifying values and actions for players. The artistic medium of games is not in the environment or graphics, but in the actions taken by the players themselves. Games offer temporary clarity of values and goals, setting them apart from the complex and multifaceted real world. However, gamification, the application of game elements to non-game contexts, can be a problematic concept as it forces a singular value system onto activities that require diverse perspectives.
Clarity of Values and Achievements in Games
Games provide a unique opportunity for players to have clarity of values and achievements. The point system in games sets the motivation for players, influencing their decision-making and actions. Whether it's winning, strategizing, or failing hilariously, games allow individuals to focus on specific values and experiences. In many games, the clarity of values emerges in practical action, whereby the beauty or humor lies not in the game itself, but in the actions and interactions of the players. While gamification attempts to replicate the fun and clarity of games in real-life contexts, it may oversimplify and limit the diverse values and possibilities that exist in the real world.
Striving Play vs Achievement Play in Games
Games can be approached from striving play or achievement play perspectives. Striving play involves temporarily wanting to win for the joy of the struggle itself, while achievement play focuses solely on winning and achieving the best outcome. Some players exhibit both motivations, while others lean more towards one or the other. The distinction between striving play and achievement play can be seen in choices made during games and their motivations outside of the game. Striving play often emerges in games where failure is fun or in real-world activities where the joy lies in the struggle rather than the outcome.
Gamification and Clarity of Values
While games offer clarity of values and goals within their confined environments, gamification in other contexts, such as education or social media, can be problematic. Gamifying activities that require diverse perspectives and values may lead to a singular value system being imposed, restricting the range of possibilities and perspectives. Gamification can squash individual values and create a homogenous motivation within a social ecosystem. The temporary clarity of values in games becomes problematic when applied outside the game context, as it limits the complexity and diversity of human experiences and perspectives.
The impact of rankings on law schools
The rankings of law schools have led to a shift in missions and values, forcing schools to prioritize rankings over their original goals. This has resulted in a loss of diversity and value plurality within the education system, as students now primarily focus on getting into the top schools based on rankings.
The dangers of clarity and gamification
The pursuit of clear and quantifiable goals can be detrimental to society. It can lead to a narrow focus on simplistic measures of success, such as rankings or monetary gains, while ignoring other important values and considerations. Similarly, gamification can create a false sense of clarity, where players become accustomed to pursuing simple targets without reservations or balancing, which could lead them to engage in similar behaviors in real life pursuits.
Games are everywhere, but why exactly do we play them? It seems counterintuitive, to artificially invent goals and obstacles just so we can struggle to achieve them. (And in some games, like Twister, the fun is in losing, even though you’re supposed to try to win.) C. Thi Nguyen is a philosopher who has developed a theory of games as an art form whose medium is agency. Within each game, we have defined goals, powers, and choices, and by playing different games we can experiment with different forms of agency. A dark side of this idea is to be found in “gamification” — turning ordinary-life activities into a game. Games give us clarity of values, and that clarity can be seductive but misleading, leading people to turn to conspiracy theories about the real world.
C. Thi Nguyen received his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of California, Los Angeles. He is currently associate professor of Philosophy at the University of Utah. He has written public philosophy for venues such as Aeon and The New York Times, and is an editor of the aesthetics blog Aesthetics for Birds. He was the recipient of the 2020 Article Prize from the American Philosophical Association. His recent book is Games: Agency as Art.
