A game is a structured or semi-structured activity that usually involves mental or physical stimulation, and sometimes both. The main characteristics of a game include goals, rules, challenge and interactivity.
Definition of a Game
A wikipedia article describes games as “a form of art in which participants, termed players, make decisions in order to manage resources through game tokens in the pursuit of a goal.” This can be interpreted as an interactive, goal-oriented activity made for money with active agents to play against and where players can interfere with each other in order to gain a desired outcome.
Opposition is a major factor in many games, including Monopoly, Settlers of Catan, Candy Land and War. This opposition may come from a specific player’s rights, such as when they can spend resources or move tokens on their turn, or it might be an aspect of the game itself, such as the rules that require a certain number of turns to be played before a player can buy property.
The game environment itself is a critical component of any game. It determines the sequence of play, the winning state and what is considered fair and what is not.
Historically, the game has been a popular means of entertainment in many cultures. In addition to generating excitement and providing social interaction, it has also been an important tool in training, development and simulation of practical skills.
In addition to being an excellent way to pass the time, games can be a great source of education. They can teach the history of a conflict or show how to handle business and financial situations in a strategic way.
Examples of game-based journalism have appeared in magazines such as Il Bel Paese, a monthly Italian magazine that published news games to simulate events and expose scandals. They featured simple short typeset rules, a graphic style that emphasized the game’s mechanics, and made fun of political figures and government ministers.
The use of videogames to simulate current sociopolitical events may offer a new way to produce media that is more than digitized versions of prior forms of media. However, they do not offer a panacea for the ills of contemporary news organizations and their journalists. If they are to be useful, they must be embraced as a viable method of doing journalism rather than merely an occasional treat for online readers.