What is a game?

Summary 

Well last Thursday we watched the TV show Games Britannia  episode 1 dicing with destiny.This documentary explains the origin of games in Britain starting with iron age games and also exploring the deeper meaning to games like snake and ladders. The most interesting part ( to me at least) is that games weren't always a scapegoat for some of the world's problems in fact games were used to determine outcomes and predict the future as well as finding enlightenment and were also played while waiting at churches and also how games (I guess you could say) got corrupted by gambling and being industrialized during the Victorian era.

Thoughts

(Well I figured this will be a better title because after watching this I had a lot of different thoughts and questions so  this is going to by 2 cents on the matter.)

So games did not always start of being a scapegoat for the media instead games were used as a way of explaining enlightenment ( Snakes and ladders) used for predicting the outcome of battle (Chess)

So playing games actually had use in ancient times but they were also used for recreation as well ( Nine men Morris being played while waiting in church). So this so that games are not as recent as people may think. It also brings a new field and understanding to studying ancient cultures  as well. 

So how does gambling and industrialization corrupt games? 

Well I feel that as long as there is a set of rules there must also be a set of loopholes within that system( I.E crooked dice card counting tampering with the pieces etc.) so gambling is not a new concept I also think that countless people have died over such trivial things as well. The reason why gambling corrupts games is that it makes the consequences of losing a game very real and destroys the escape from reality because your loss affects your real life possessions such as money or deeds to various properties and even your own life...

industrialization although a major benefit to the games industry ( By making games commercial) the major flaw is that like other industries it all became about money. so that is why there are lot of clone games or similar games out on today's market well the biggest example of this is the company EA as they buy out small but successful game franchises and have sequel upon sequel made. in hopes of earning more money the flaw with this is that most games turn out rushed and not worth the money because these games don't have the basic mechanic of games which to immerse a person to that game's world.