What’s In A Game? Can It Be Beaten?

 
How many of us sit at home playing electronic games, on our computers, our tablets, our smart phones?
Well, millions of us in truth. The industry is worth Billions. Who would have thought a humble calculator would have evolved into such a powerful machine? Who would have thought that we could immerse ourselves in fantasy role playing? World of Warcraft, to name but one, with its graphics nearly as good as television or film.

We can become anything we want to, in the magical world of games.

Can we win? Are we meant to win? Or is it just the pursuit that drives us on, that drives us forward? Can we beat the system? Can we beat the machine? Can we beat our friends or even strangers on the other side of the world? The games we now play are so interlinked into our lives, for some it has taken over from watching television, spending all the pastime they have playing games.

Whether you want to fly a plane, ride a bike, drive a car, you are catered for. If you want to be in the army, if you want to drive a tank or fly a helicopter they have something for you. The magical world of games allows us to be, it allows us to immerse ourselves, to go beyond where we could normally reach. You want to fly an X-Wing in Star Wars, do you want to fly an F-22 Raptor or an F-16, do you want to go back in time and fly a Messerschmitt Bf 109 or a Supermarine Spitfire, do you want to pilot Concorde or fly through space?

Games allow us freedoms beyond where we normally live, beyond our wildest dreams.

The competition, the challenge, the chance to win, is what makes them so enthralling.
Not everyone can play the latest games, not everyone has the most powerful computers or graphics cards but even the humble smart phone, that is not so humble anymore, can amaze and delight, when playing a game.

Are games a distraction? Is their immersiveness addictive?
Why are games so popular?

What drives us to win?