A MOST AGREEABLE PASTIME

Video Games, Victorian Style

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The first game that Lewis ever played was “Horace Goes Skiing” on the ZX Spectrum. Yes, he’s that old.

The innate urge to play games

I had a fascinating chat with Phil Robinson of the Museum of Games and Gaming while I was at Play Expo Blackpool the other month, and it really got me thinking about where this urge to play video games actually comes from. Sure, games are fun, but why are they fun?

Phil put together an exhibition called ‘Why do we play?’ for the expo, taking on the formidable task of dissecting the evolutionary reasons for why we play games, and creating a timeline of gaming that stretches from the earliest strategy games scratched in sand right up to the sophisticated video games of today. And there are a surprising number of parallels that can be drawn between those early games and our modern equivalents.

I wrote up the interview for Kotaku UK – you can take a look at the full thing here: 

How Our Caveman Instincts Explain Why We Play Video Games

Phil Robinson of the Museum of Games and Gaming
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2 responses to “The innate urge to play games”

  1. Mr. Panda Avatar
    Mr. Panda

    Very fascinating article! Well done on it! I would have never guessed such an ancient origin for the urge to play games!

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  2. You can never go back: the Play Expo Blackpool Retro Special - A MOST AGREEABLE PASTIME Avatar
    You can never go back: the Play Expo Blackpool Retro Special – A MOST AGREEABLE PASTIME

    […] exhibitors for articles that were later published on Kotaku UK and Eurogamer (this one on 1990s VR, this one on games and human evolution and this one on board games based on video games). But this time around I was there without an […]

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