The ‘Games Britannia’ television program we watched in Critical Games Studies I found to be pretty darn interesting. The program is a three-part series revolved around the ideas of popular games based from the Iron Age to the Information Age.
In part one the presenter (Benjamin Woolley) investigates how the instinct to play games is a natural feature of human nature and elemental as language itself. Woolley looks at and takes us from the 1st century to the Victorian era in this part.
‘The oldest known game in Britain was found in Colchester’. I previously wasn’t aware that it was found in Colchester, which isn’t far from where I live along the A-12, I thought that was kind of cool.
- ‘Games are a way of exploring ourselves’.
He states that ‘Chess’ is a well-balanced game that is not difficult to play but it’s hard to master. This got me thinking about my own experiences and skill towards the games I play. That little saying ‘a game that is not difficult to play but is hard to master’ stood out to me significantly, to which I instantly noted down. From my own perspective, I have a lot more respect for games that are considerably difficult to master and then turn have even more respect to the players who do manage to master them.
I think that ‘Starcraft’ sits nicely next to the definition of ‘a game that is not difficult to play but is hard to master’.
I think that ‘Starcraft’ sits nicely next to the definition of ‘a game that is not difficult to play but is hard to master’.
One thing that I found particularly fascinating was the brief focus around gambling and how gaming became increasingly associated with it. Although I kind of got the impression that the makers of the program perhaps have a more negative view towards gambling, as it seemed to be portrayed in a not very positive way.
- ‘Backgammon’, made to be like life in that it requires both ‘luck and skill’.
- ‘Faro’, a game of chance
“Winning was the greatest pleasure in life… loosing is the second”
