[UUPoly-L] Social Gaming & Poly

[Fritz Neumann <fritzcat66@yahoo.com>]

--- Kelly Cookson <kc62301@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Gaming is not as anti-social as you might think.

As a longtime social gamer - dating back to the original Chainmail rules and
wargames that evolved into Dungeons and Dragons, then hanging out with friends
at video arcades in the '80s and continuing through the world of my trusty
Commodore 64 into the contemporary world of massively multiplayer online gaming
- I don't think Kelly's statement can be underscored enough.

Even simple videogames are so different from television because they are
INTERACTIVE. The mind is learning patterns and proactive/reactive behavior.
They are not playing with a "mindless machine": on the contrary, even with a
single-player game they are essentially playing against a ruleset carefully
created and programmed by the minds of other human beings. Add other human
players to the mix - either locally or online - and the range of behaviors and
patterns increases exponentially.

Gaming helps develop our sense of creating alternative rulesets, interacting
with them, figuring out what works and what does not within those rulesets.

And what is polyamory but yet another way in which we create our own rulesets
and play within them? It is no surprise to me that within the poly community we
see so many gamers, SCA'ers, RenFaire folk, BDSM people, and those comfortable
with crafting their own religions. In many ways, these are all games - all
alternative rulesets created by their participants, who immerse themselves into
their own creations, meet others doing the same, and thus form social
communities bound by interest rather than geography.

And I think this is a wonderful thing.

Life is but a game...

  >*< Fritz