Game as a ritual is a really interesting way to think about games. Everyone does something constantly, like a hobby. Games are a hobby, but maybe even more than that. Nowadays instead of just meeting up with friends at a bar or having every Friday be movie night, it’s game night or you meet up with friends online. When I was in high school, my afternoon ritual was always come home from school, play a game for an hour then hit the books. It was just a part of life and eventually became part of the routine.
I also like the idea of the next generation growing up with a kind of gaming literacy. A very precious memory of mine was when I made a board game for me and friends and was played only once before I lost it. Back then I remember this kind of spark, like a sudden understanding of what makes a simple race board game interesting and applied it as best I could. When I have kids, they are going to grow up in a world where making a game doesn’t seem like a fantasy or something only some people can do, but instead, something that they might be able to learn very quickly and adapt to their everyday mode of thinking. I cannot wait for a world like that.
