ACT I.0

Is there more to games?

Does there have to be?

So, your answer is no.

That’s not what I said.

It’s what you implied. Asking me ‘does there have to be?’ presumes the answer is no. You’re saying the question is irrelevant. I don’t think it’s irrelevant. But your answer is no, correct?

Yeah.

Why?

Why what?

Why isn’t there more to games?

Because games are supposed to be fun.

Is fun meaningless?

Yeah. That’s the point.

Define fun.

Fun is just… fun. It’s distraction. Diversion. Pointless, but pleasing. It doesn’t need to ‘mean’ or say anything.

Okay, that’s fair. Is fun the only thing games can accomplish? Their highest possible function? The point I’m getting at is -- and you’re right, fun is fun -- but the point is games and gaming are sometimes about stress, and catharsis, and challenge, and story. I think they have to be pleasant to interact with. But they don’t have to be fun, not like you’re describing it. Fun isn’t necessarily the only thing a game can accomplish. Is that fair to say?

I don’t see the point of gaming if it’s not fun. I have to be entertained.

I don’t think entertained is the same as fun -- or it doesn’t have to be, not all the time. I could say I was entertained by “The Human Centipede,” but I didn’t enjoy it. Not a second. I enjoyed that it ended. I didn’t find it fun, at all. It distracted me and told me a story, for a time. A terrible, terrible story. Don’t ever watch it.

Too late. Also, semantics.

How we talk about things is important. Language shapes understanding.

What word would you use to describe the indescribable feeling of love?

Bewf.

That’s onomatopoeia. And also wrong.

It’s subjective.

Yes. Language is subjective.

But it shouldn’t be. At least, not for all things. We need to agree on certain touchstones. Like love. The word love is there so we don’t have to get into the subbasement. There is a layer of you you will never be able to fully express to another person. No one knows that you except you. It is wholly yours. It is the thing that’s always you, no matter what.

The soul?

Maybe. Or maybe that’s a word like love.

I think games and gaming are about having fun. There are levels of fun -- it’s not an either-or proposition. It can be fun to be stressed, scared, tested. It doesn’t have to be a solid hour of “WHEEEEEEEE!” down the waterslide. It needs to be enjoyable.

And enjoyable can be many things, too.

Yeah.

Is it possible that a thing we find enjoyable can be enjoyable in different ways, for different reasons?

It would appear so.

I think that’s more.

But what more are you getting at? In writing and thinking about games? What’s the point?

There doesn’t need to be a point. It’s just fun.