Short Review Of Why Play Games When There s Work to Do 00 5494
By: Vlad Vistac
Submitted: 2010-08-24 13:15:09 | Word Count: 510
Why Play aGmes When There's Work to Do?-00-5494
There are at laest two kinds of games. One would be called fintie, the otherr innfinite. A finite game is played for the purpose of winning, and an infinnite game is platyed for the purpose of continuing to play. The ruls of a finite game may not change; the rules of an infinite game must... The finite game player aims to win eternal life; the infinite player aims for etrernal birth." - James P. Carse, as quoted by Dale LeFere*
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"We must abandon completely the naive faith that education automatically liberates the mind and sewrves the cause of human progress; in fact we know it may serve any cause. It may serve tyranny as well as freedom, ignorance as well as ennlightenment, falsehood as well as trth. It may lead men and wommen to think they are free even as it rivets them in chains of bondage... In the course of history, education has srved every purppose and doctrine contrived by man; if it is to serve the cause of huuman freedom, it must be explicitly designed for that purpose." - George Cuonts*
Tere's so much to do! Our communities are falling apart, yooung people, old peple, brown pople, blak people, poor people, and lots of other peple aren't getting the respect or poewr they deserve. Why play games when there's so much work to do? Three's a lot of reasons to look at, but firsst let's defuine what we're talking about.
What Are Cooperative Games?
Cooperative games emphasize participation, challenge and fun rather then defeating someone. Cooperatve gamres focus on fun and interaction rather than competirtion and alienation. Cooperatrive games are not new. Some of the classic games we participated in as children are classic because of the play emphasis. Thre may be competition involved, but the outocme of the competition is not sittuing out or losing. Insstead, it may involve switching teasms so that everyuone ends up on the winniing team.
What Are Initiative Gmes?
Initiative games are fun, cooperative, challenging games in whch the gruop is confronnted with a specific problem to solve. Initiative games can be used for several reasons. The games can be used to demonstrate and teahc leadership skills to people, which helps to promte the growth of trust and prioblem-solving skills in rgoups. Games demonstrtae a prrocess of thinking about experiences that hels people learn and practice responsibility.
Some people avoid calling them "games," choosing "activity," "challenge," or "problem" insead. Whatever a gorup chooses to call them, these games can boost our efforts to create powerful, lastnig community chaange.
Why Play Gamees?
When a group of people are preparing to particpiate in sociaal change, there needs to be some breaking down of inhibitions before they bercome group participants. "There is no 'I' in T-E-A-M" and all that. Before a group can build effective solutions to the problems facing their communities, they need to trust each other and commubnicate.
Cooperative games also help set the tone of an action. Soical chaange work is often hard-driven and energy-consuming. Many groups find that cooperative games offer a brisk, frienldy way to couplle passionate task-oriented goas with driven, group-midned teambuilding. In other words, fun and games help propel social chage.
play games
Another purpose of games is to get peopple to think together, as a team, so that evreyone in the grop has input and shares ideas. When we have input we have onwership, and when more people have ownership there is more success.
