Passive vs Active Entertainment

Yehuda just posted about board games and whether they are passive or active entertainment (here). And that post, of course, really got me thinking (his posts seem to do that) about these sorts of issues in the both LDS games that are currently available and in the LDS themed games that I am designing.

Passive Entertainment
This shows up in a game when the game is ruled by randomness: you roll the dice or you spin the spinner or the drawn card determines what happens in the game. In Yehuda's words: "When you roll the dice and laugh, groan, or jump for joy at the outcome, you are enjoying passive entertainment" In other words, you don't have to do a lot of thinking or "strategizing" in the game. Your involvement is quite passive.

Active Entertainment
If you play a game that involves you making many decisions, laying out plans, or thinking up different strategies that will help you accomplish the goals of the game, then you are involved in a more active entertainment. Again, in the words of Yehuda: "When you're called upon to think or make a decision, you are enjoying active entertainment. There are different levels of active entertainment, from the simple (trivia: do I know it or not?) to the complex (how do I get my battalion to that base?). Regardless of complexity, you can rank better or worse players, and most of the time you can work to improve yourself."

In my mind these two "levels" of entertainment would lie on a continuum (each occupying an extreme).

This continuum could then be used to categorize games; games could be placed along this continuum. Some games would include some active and some passive entertainment. Other games would include more passive entertainment, but still include a little active entertainment. Snakes and Ladders could be used as an example. In this game players spin the spinner and move their pawn the corresponding number of spaces on the board. If they end their turn at the bottom of a ladder, then they climb the ladder to the space above. If they end their turn at the top of a snake, then they slide down the snake to the space at the end of the snake. So, there is no decision making involved with this game. The random result of the spin determines all that happens in the game. I would place Snakes and Ladders at the extreme end of passive entertainment on the continuum.

This all raises a question in my mind: LDS themed games (those currently available and those that I am designing and will design in the future), where do they fall on the continuum and where should they fall on the continuum? I ask this second part of the question because I think the audience of the games needs to be considered. If the audience is one that would prefer games closer to the passive end of the continuum then, by all means, design and publish games that fall closer to that end. This quandary also arises from the following news post: Star-Telegram. Were those who rated the games looking for a more passive or active entertainment experience?

Yehuda: A Great Blog

Yehuda (link) is a great blog! The subtitle to the blog is: Gaming, Technology, Philosophy, and Life. It definitely discusses those four subjects and especially how they interact and are related to each other.

I wanted to touch on one particular post from Yehuda titled: How (and Why) to Play with Your Child in Six Steps. It was posted on October 5, 2006, so it's rather old (compared to how quickly things move forward with all this technology and internet stuff), but it is an excellent post.

I'm a parent and I love to play games. That's why I like this post so much. He starts off with an awesome view on parenting and children:

"The difference between a happy parent and an overwhelmed one is the difference between a parent that sees the big picture and one who is caught up in the drudgery of the moment."

It is really hard to "see the big picture." I mean there is so much going on that pulls my attention (school, work, etc.). But my family makes up the majority of the "big picture." So there shouldn't be any drudgery. The question becomes, how do you keep the "big picture" foremost in your mind? I have a tough time with messes. I have my stuff and each thing has it's proper place. Well, this kind of perspective doesn't work too well with children. But that doesn't need to make things into a drudgery for me. I just need to know that they are learning and keeping things clean and organized isn't something that is easy to learn. Someday they will get there and I just have to remember that. Besides, it's not a huge part of the "big picture." Helping them learn that is part of the "big picture." So, as I attempt to help them learn, that is a major part of the "big picture."

He follows this statement up with:

"You don't need to spend money to make children happy; you need to spend time."

Isn't that the truth!! It reminds me of the Church info-mercials: Family; Isn't it about, TIME. Here's a prefect example, from youtube:



He goes on to talk about all of the things that are available for families and their children (video games, summer camps, to name a couple) and how those things separate children and parents. There are many things available for children to do, some good, others not so good. But even the good things can often times take the place of the "essential things." Now, I'm not trying to say that board games or card games are the "essential things." But I am in complete agreement with Yehuda: it's the time spent with family in playing those games. Therein lies the value. After all, all of the other things we do in life, work, school, etc. we do to be able to spend time with our family. Yehuda puts it this way:

"All of those other things you do, you do to spend time with your children; maybe you forgot that."

So, here are the six steps he gives for How & Why to Play with your Child:
1. Accept that playing with your kids is time well spent
2. Know your child
3. Broaden the definition of play
4. Narrow the definition of play
5. Find good games
6. Adapt games

This is a great read and I encourage you to take a look; don't forget the big picture; and figure out a way of playing with your children. They won't be children forever.