Contextual studies

"A characteristic of play… is that it creates no wealth or goods, thus differing from work or art. At the end of the game, all can and must start over again from the same point. Nothing has been harvested or manufactured, no masterpiece has been created, no capital has accrued. Play is an occasion of pure waste: waste of time, energy, ingenuity, skill, and often of money… As for the professionals – the boxers, cyclists, jockeys, or actors who earn their living in the ring, track, or hippodrome or on the stage … it is clear that they are not players but workers. When they play, it is at some other game." ~ Caillois: 1962: p.5

Although to some extent I agree with the statement made by Caillois I don't fully agree that games are essentially a waste of time. It all comes down to a matter of opinion in whether one feels that there is a masterpiece out there, I feel that over time when a game has first been created you could consider it a masterpiece and feel the value of replay is quite significant, however my opinion is that this is not held enough for a long time with a game, eventually the player or myself will complete the game with a good level of satisfaction but then find there is nothing else to do. So from referencing from the statement, Caillois said ''all can and must start over again from the same point', the quote is quite important to how true it is when one completes a game they then start off from the same point, however because this was written in 1962 he never anticipated the complexity of how games could be made. Games for instance like World of Warcraft hold their gameplay because it such a vast a massive experience in terms of quests and gameplay. Another point on that I don't necessarily agree with Coillois' statement is that he states 'A characteristics of play... is that it creates no wealth or goods', although in terms of the average user of a game it doesn't create any wealth rather than loss, some could argue and I argue that people who because really good at gaming and some specific games can make a living out of it through games tournaments such as MLG. MLG is highly regarded for having some of the best players in the world and they make money out of what they enjoy. Reading through his statements he says that they are a waste of tme and skill, what about games these days that may improve your reactions and your reflexes, some games even teach you new things, games like these may or may not be a waste of money but they don't necessarily mean they are a waste of time or skill. Although yes proffessionals who play sports such as the boxers or cyclists earn their way through play they are classed more as a worker but I might argue that a proffessional MLG player also work for their money therefore can also be classed as a worker and yet they play games also as an enjoyment and an occasion.