I work at a game company, but I don't consider myself a gamer. The shared thread between games and other storytelling mediums like books that I am drawn to is that they are vehicles for meaning. However I havenāt until now understood why I needed to play meaning when I can simply read or watch it and then apply it in my day to day life. I often find games stressful, like extra work, but I realized the label is the problem. "Gamer" is a consumer identity. My approach is different.
I donāt like to be thought of as a gamer. I like to work on systems, not in them and since my adolescence Iāve had a resistance to games, concerts, and other purchasable experiences. After working in live audio I could never go back to being in the audience in the same way. It was never as good. I knew I was meant to be behind the stage.
So it wasnāt until today, when I reframed games. I donāt identify with the term gamer. Im not consuming a story; I'm decoding a system. I was on the verge of tossing them out categorically but before I could finish the sentence I was writing, the memory of playing Bonanza came to mind.
On a recent family vacationāoh boy vacations, thatās another thing I struggle withāThe board game Bonanza taught me negotiation not as a narrative, but as an algorithm. It felt in retrospect like being guided through the steps of a dance until you realize that youāre dancing. The dance (algorithm) of Bonanza is:
- Figure out what everyone wants, who has what you need, and loop in as many parties as required for the equation to reconcile. Now thatās a fundamental tool that I use to approach negotiations in business.
This reframe unlocked why games matter. They teach three things better than any other medium:
- Agency. Other mediums show you the path. Games force you to walk it. You learn by doing, not watching. They are the medium of participation.
- Systems Literacy. You donāt just learn about a complex system; you operate within it. You internalize the rules by feeling the consequences. Itās the difference between reading a manual and running a market.
- Consequence-Free Failure. Games create a sandbox for iteration. Dying is a data point, not a catastrophe. This teaches resilience in a way that's too costly in real life.
My challenge isn't to become a gamer. It's to fall in love with games as engines for learning agency.
The question Iām still on is, is it worth it? All that time you spend in a game. Thereās an opportunity cost. You could be playing the game of life, and games are not as restful as books and other passive mediums. For a kid with loads of energy games make sense as guides to agency. Theyāre a wonderful form of entertainment for those who are looking to be entertainedāwith the positive side effect that they can be agency boosters. For me though, I wonder if theyāre a flawed mediums for utility after all if Iām already playing life with a playfully competitive, creative, self growth mindset. What can games offer me?
