AvantGaming.com
Title
Avant Gaming
Description
It's something, that at one point or another, most of us in academic gaming circles has expressed in slight frustration while attempting to rationalize the utility of games on a level beyond leisure. The problem is that most, if not all of us, grew up in a society where fun is all games were expected to be. Merriam-Webster defined games as, "an activity engaged in for diversion or amusement."
A more technically sound definition may be found in Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman's Rules of Play. Rules of Play defines a games as, "a system in which players engage in an artificial conflict, defined by rules, that results in a quantifiable outcome."
So here we are presented with two definitions; the first speaks to societal expectations of games and the second addresses their true nature and structure. As is these two definitions are relatively harmonious and do not impede gaming's evolution as an expressive medium. Unfortunately, someone went ahead and said that games should be make money.
