The Paradox of Rules in Games and Life
Channel: The Game Overanalyser
Date: 2021-03-19

Learn the rules like a pro, so that you can break them like an artist, this is what Picasso told us to do. As a medium mediated by rules , but expressed through play, games exist on the border of this division. This essay explores how we conceptualize and define both rules and play, and the paradox inherent therein, how it both requires adherence and playfulness. However, this has consequences not just within games, but outside of it. What does it mean for a culture when rules are either adhered to or are subverted, and can games give us a glimpse of utopia by reveling in the very paradox of rules and play. 

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Sources

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- The Utopia of Rules , David Graeber

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- Bernie Dekoven , The Well Played Game

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- Respawn , Colin Milburne 

- Home Ludens , Johann Huizinga