Will I love Games?

Thi Nguyen is one of those philosophers who says things that make you go “but, of course”. It’s obvious when he says it, but you’ve never really thought about it like this.

In this book, he dives into games and pokes around into how they are strange, weird, cool, exciting, and interesting. I loved his examples, and he changed the way I talk about games. For the better, of course. 

Though I wrote a book of games, I have never been an avid (or competent) game player. I’ve never understood why. Now I have a theory: it’s because I am an anti-Nguyen.

I read this philosophy book as a kind of self-portrait. Nguyen seems to be the perfect example of an admirable type of play he calls striving: attempting to win in a committed but temporary way to give oneself a particular experience of play. In most of life, the means are disposable, and the ends are what matter; in striving play, it’s just the reverse.

Such play requires… show more.