Tuesday 27 September 2011

Story Three

It had been a long tiresome day. I had been locked in my room all day trying to nail down an essay, and mum had been working alongside the builder who was putting in our new kitchen. To be honest we really hadn’t seen much of each other for the whole day! So, almost as if it was done telepathically, mum and I sat down to play yet another round of the bean game.
I wasn’t feeling all that competitive this time; this was more of a wind down time to relax and just enjoy each other’s company. With this said it’s not like I gave the game away or anything, I just wasn’t my usual feisty self. I dealt up the cards which meant that I could go first. My deck wasn’t too bad, I could defiantly see some potential but I’d have to work hard on it. However I’m not really sure I wanted to, I kind of just wanted to see where the game would take me. Besides it was about time for a new strategy as it was obvious that my previous ones were definitly not working!
Mum seemed to be extra generous in her trade of bean cards. Maybe it was because she was too exhausted to think, or perhaps, like me, she just wanted to enjoy the game itself. Before I knew I was piling on the coins...this was great! I should defiantly try this out more often! The game was drawing to a close. I could tell that I was winning, but for some reason this time I didn’t even feel like rubbing it in mum’s face. Who was I turning into?!


Affordances (cont)
So I have already briefly described in my previous posts what affordances are in regards to communications, now we are going to look into aesthetics and spirituality in boardgaming. You may be thinking how on earth do those two things connect with boardgaming...well let me TRY and show you.....

Aesthetics is the potential implicit in the activity for the person to express a sense of beauty. It takes into account the way people can be creative, development of their own style, the complexity and simplicity and the different feelings they may have towards something. There are many more that I can list, however let’s just stick with these and discuss them a bit more in-depth.  In regards to board gaming all the elements just listed has to do with the way a person portrays them self throughout the game. Different events in the game will trigger different feelings of either frustration or satisfaction towards a person or what happened. The way a person might respond can be revealed in many varieties as everyone has their own style of playing and own strategy for how they think might help them win.

When looking at the Spirituality of board gaming we are looking at the sense of meaning it brings and perhaps how it plays in being a part of something bigger. So why do we play board games? As I was struggling to get my head around this, I did a bit of research and this is what I found: 
·         Board games help develop reasoning, logic and problem solving skills in a way that almost anyone can get involved with due to the vast variety of games there are.
·         Board games can be therapeutic especially to elderly. It can provide them with meaningful occupation and a sense of having a purpose. This is also an example of how board gaming plays a part in something bigger. Purposeful and meaningful occupations are very important for a person to have throughout their whole life.  
·         As previously stated in aesthetics, board games allow people to be creative, to become anyone they choose to be.
·         I found a quote from the book, ‘Life is a Board Game’ by Libby Lervick where she describes the joys of board gaming. “That moment of belly-laughter is another reminder for you. You laugh from the depths of your being so seldom you are embarrassed at your outburst. Lighten up Libby – Joy is a wonderful experience!” This shows how people play games purely to get that sense of delight that it brings.

Lervick, L. (2006). Life is a board game. Canada: Trafford Publishing.

1 comment:

  1. Hi Jasmine,
    I can understand what you were saying about not feeling as competitive as normal with the card games. I have recently been playing a lot of monopoly deal and some days the drive to win is not there and it is simply about the time spent with the people playing the game.
    You have linked the affordances to board games, but perhaps you could link it to your specific experiences with board games rather than games in general.
    Good Luck with the coming weeks
    Erin Hancock
    Hamilton Student

    ReplyDelete