Theory of Fun for Game Design, 2nd Edition

Chapter 11. Where Games Should Go

I’ve spent a lot of time talking about how games intersect the human condition. I think there is an important distinction to be drawn, however. In other media, we frequently speak of how a given work is revelatory of the human condition. By this, we mean that the work is a good portrayal of the human condition—it is something that gives us insight into ourselves. As the Greeks put it, gnothi seauton—know thyself.* It’s perhaps the greatest challenge we as humans face, and in many ways, it may be the greatest threat to our survival.

Many of the things that I have discussed in this book, such as theories of cognition, understanding of gender, learning styles, chaos theory, graph theory, and literary criticism, are fairly recent developments in human history. Humanity is engaged in a grand project of self-understanding, and most of the tools we have used in the past were imprecise at best. Over time we have developed better tools in the quest to understand ourselves better.

It’s an important endeavor because other humans have typically been our greatest predator. Today we have come to realize how interrelated we all are, even when the left continent doesn’t know what the right continent is doing. We have come to realize that actions we undertake often have far-reaching consequences that we never anticipated. Some, such as James Lovelock, have gone so far ...