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The question in the title might sound ridiculous, but bear with me. I just finished reading Ender's game for the second time. I read it once in high school, and I'm reading it again for a GE in university (It's a science fiction literature course). The content of the book isn't that important as far as this discussion goes; I am just mentioning it because this is what made me start thinking about it. Also, I might write my essay on this. I still need to think about it.
Anyways, what exactly is the definition of a game? I started thinking about that, and then I started googling things to see if there has been any formal discussion on the matter. As it turns out, there isn't really a 100% established definition of a game and many people disagree on how exactly to define a game. Some people limit games to just fun activities, but as Starcraft players, we are keenly aware that many times a game is not always just about fun; some players actually play games to earn money. Anyways, the most basic definition I can find for a game is the following:
"A game is an activity among two or more independent decision-makers seeking to achieve their objectives in some limiting context."
This definition seems reasonable, so we will just use this as the definition of a game for the rest of this post. Given that, is life a game? People can obviously be considered as independent decision-makers. There are many limiting factors in life established mainly in the form of laws and rules set by other people. As for objectives, pretty much everyone has some form of an objective in life.
What do other people think? Can life be considered as a game?
 
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Everything (well, every non-compulsory sequence of events) is a game if you view it as one.
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In some ways it is, however, unlike a game, without clear rules and goals and the end result is always the same.
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Yeah, it can definitely be considered as a game.
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It's more like the Olympics... A compilation of games for a period of time. :D
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This game sucks. How can I stop playing
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Anyone have a second controller?
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United States5162 Posts
On December 09 2012 07:15 Recognizable wrote:
In some ways it is, however, unlike a game, without clear rules and goals and the end result is always the same.
Life is a sandbox game. There's rules and structure systems in place, but no defined goal or way to 'win'.
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Real life is like an open-world mmorpg with lots of repetitive grind quests, constant dailies, next-gen graphics and permadeath.
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On December 09 2012 13:50 Scarecrow wrote:
Real life is like an open-world mmorpg with lots of repetitive grind quests, constant dailies, next-gen graphics and permadeath.
Hahahaha well stated, sir.
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United States186 Posts
life is BOOM! u r here in this universe. now let see what u can do with the time u have. u dont have to work if u dont want to. just like mmorpg. u dont grind if u dont want to :D
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If it helps you to consider it as a game, then yes.
If it doesn't, then no.
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There are plenty of people who treat life like a game, you don't want to be one of them.
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Life is a game that you cannot win but you can enjoy it while you are alive 
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On December 09 2012 13:50 Scarecrow wrote:
Real life is like an open-world mmorpg with lots of repetitive grind quests, constant dailies, next-gen graphics and permadeath.
Win ^^
OT: I think that stating that life inherently is any specific way can be quite troublesome. Just because we can fit the going-ons of our everyday life into a category doesn't necesserilly mean that it is that category.
Perhaps we should ask ourself if treating life as a game would make it more worthwhile? I feel like many people choose to view their lives as inevitable and meaningless instead of making their own challanges and meanings from the great "source code" they are given.
So no, I don't think life is a game, but I really think we could benefit from finding ways to implement goals, achievements, leveling and other ideas from them into our lives!
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No wonder I feel life is so fun, it is a game.
But it is also very competitive. and I am weary.
I wan to quit the game. But there is no alt+f4.
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On December 09 2012 13:50 Scarecrow wrote:
Real life is like an open-world mmorpg with lots of repetitive grind quests, constant dailies, next-gen graphics and permadeath.
You forgot drama. Lots of drama.
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EPT![[image loading]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l1329uBa821qzpq5so1_500.png)
