What's in a Game?

[Mirage]

Going by what I said, poker would be a game, because you can influence the state of the game (and also metagame) to increase your own odds of winning. Roulette is not a game because it does not allow you to influence the state of the game in any meaningful way. Sure, you can decide when the ball starts spinning around the wheel but no human has the capacity to in any way predict the result based on the initial state of the game.

I would call roulette a game of chance. I would also argue that you DO have influence, over how much and where you bet, which can have a significant impact on how much you win or lose.

I would say that if it was made to be a game, and people call it a game, then it's a game. A chessboard and pieces could be a piece of art if it was called art and hung up in a gallery. But, if it's called a game and is used as a game, then it's a game. The context is the important thing.

I think your chessboard as art is kind of stretching the point of this question. Yes, of course it can be. In the same way as a horse can be art if you hang its from the ceiling of an art gallery. An item can be used as part of a game, but no game is happening unless someone is engaged in the action of playing it. A chess board and pieces isn't a game, they are the tools you need to play the game called chess. A game is an abstract, I guess. It's more than the physical items needed to play it, as it is also the rules both players have agreed upon. I don't think this abstract concept that we call a game is a game unless you can affect the state of it, and it has win/loss conditions.

Back to roulette: You have control over how much you win or lose, but you don't have control over the game itself. Unless your eyes operate at 50000 frames per second and you can calculate the exact velocity of the ball and wheel, and how fast they slow down, you can't realistically alter any state of the game to skew the odds in your favour. You can choose when to stop the game and leave with your money, of course, but then you're no longer in the game. I guess I could perhaps stretch it as far as to say that there is a very slight metagame in roulette, but even that I'm not entirely sure of. I would have to read up on how people actually participate in it.


I might also be biased because I think chance games are really uninteresting.