Game, Meta-Game, Harmonies

When I decided to make the game Diplomacy a key part of my speech/communications class it occurred to me that I am completely fascinated by games.  Perhaps easily obsessed is more true.  Or, perhaps I can be generous and say that games give a home.

The rules of a game create limit on the chaos of reality.  I know this leads us right to what Taleb calls the ludic fallacy, but I don't see the path of games leading directly to such mistaken reasoning.  Or maybe it is a trade-off: a game creates an environment that can be rich enough to occupy the human mind for a lifetime in a situation safety, fun, and perhaps friendship.   The price for this the conditioning that makes it seem that all of life can also be a game.

 I have also pointed out that games are can be free: you are producing your own amusement for free (or cheap) rather than consuming entertainment (for maximum price).  Even this has a trade-off, however.  Games are so addictive that becomes hard to do other important things.

For these reasons you must move beyond the level of the game to the meta-game.  That most people do not make this step is not he fault of the game.  A game is as good of a path as any.

The write up about Diplomacy in the classroom shows an example of a game going to the next level:

In this game, Italy, France, Turkey, and Russia had a four-way unbreakable alliance. Their ultimate goal was share supply centers in a game-end tie, refusing to backstab each other for a victory and thus force me to award the piddling of extra-credit I was offering to the winner to all four of them. Essentially, they were using Diplomacy to metagame their class grades, and good for them! THIS was the kind of thing I was hoping would click for some of these kids -- and all of them said as much in their essays.

And though these moments are rare, if there is no game, then there is no meta-game.

One thing I like about turning my speech class into a game is it means, in conjunction with my debate classes, I am now playing games for the majority of the day.   And debate at Norman North is the ultimate quite the meta-game.  We are created an environment where students count on each other and invest in training the next wave of North debaters.  Having the meta-game of nurturing more and more talent then makes us better at the games, but does not eliminate the games, nor the need for them.

The next level up (and even rarer than the meta-game) is an understanding of the essential harmonies. the real pace and rhythms of life,  You see through the illusions of the day to day.  It is the dao, the spirit.  It is right effort without striving.  But even then, when you are well-adjusted and content, games are still fun.  They become as worthy of a use of your time as any.

I love to the give the gift of gifts (the meta-gift for the meta-game of debate), but I also love to give the gift of games.

And I love to play games.

But only as part of a well-balanced life.