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  • Hey, Vsauce, Michael here. Why do humans play games? Whether it's a video game, or a board

  • game, or a physical game, like soccer, or football, I don't have to put the ball in

  • the net to survive, and, even if I did, why would I invite a goalie and another team?

  • Games are weird- this lead Bernard Suits to say in the 70's that a game is a voluntary

  • attempt to overcome unnecessary obstacles. So, why do we play sports and games? How should

  • we feel about intellectualism vs. athleticism? But, most importantly, why do Americans called

  • this game soccer while the English, and the rest of the world, call it Football?

  • It turns out that the word "soccer" doesn't come from the United States of America. Instead,

  • the blame for the word goes to the British themselves, specifically Oxford, where, since

  • 1875, it has been popular to add the suffix "-er" to the end of words. For example, calling

  • Radcliffe Camera the "Radder," or these "fivers" and "ten-ers."

  • We have been playing games with balls and our feet ever since ancient times, all over

  • the world. In fact, as recently as 200 years ago, many of these games called themselves

  • "football." A lack of standardization meant that it was difficult to all come together

  • and agree on what you could and couldn't do with the ball or your feet. But, luckily,

  • in 1863 the Football Association was founded in London, England. Association football is

  • what we most commonly mean nowadays when talking about football, or soccer. But what's the connection

  • if the Oxford "-er" was added to Association football, shouldn't we be calling the game

  • "Association-er?" Well, let's take a closer look at the word "association." You see what's

  • hiding in there? There she is- "soccer."

  • But, we're getting ahead of ourselves because soccer, football, is just one type of game.

  • Ultimately, what is a game? Well, one of my favorite ways of defining "game" comes from

  • computer game designer Chris Crawford. Let's begin with a book- this is a great book, it's

  • really fun, it's entertaining, but it's not a game. TV shows and movies are also not games

  • because, fundamentally, they aren't interactive. But, as soon as something is both fun and

  • interactive, well, now we've got ourselves a play-thing. There are two types of play-things,

  • according to Crawford: If you can play with the object and it's fun but there's no goal

  • or objective associated with it, it's a toy. If, however, there is an objective, something

  • you're supposed to accomplish, well, now you're talking about a challenge. But there are two

  • different types of challenges. If the challenge involves no other people or other agents,

  • it's just you, for instance, playing alone with a Rubik's Cube, you've got yourself a

  • puzzle. If, however, there are other people involved, well, now we've got ourselves a

  • conflict.

  • In a conflict, like a foot race, you aren't allowed to interfere with the other participants.

  • This is what Crawford calls a "competition." If, however, you are allowed to interact with,

  • and interfere with the other players, and they can do the same to you, well, in that

  • case, we are talking about a full-fledged game.

  • So, a game is interactive, goal-oriented, and involves other agents, for instance, other

  • people who can interfere with and influence each other. Which means, technically speaking,

  • that life is a game. I mean, real life. My life, your life, easily fit many definitions

  • of "game." And, in life, there are games that we tend to call "sports." Now, competency

  • at sports can divide humanity into two groups: Jocks, who are good at sports, and nerds

  • who aren't. Jock's are literally named after the Jock Strap, which keeps your genitals

  • supported while being athletic. But Jocks are cool, right? They're fit, attractive,

  • they get invited to all the cool parties where, in high school, they can do dangerous, cool

  • things like get drunk. And who are you if you don't get drunk? Well, what's the word

  • "drunk" backwards? You are a "Knurd." But that's not the origin of the word "nerd."

  • There's much debate about where the word comes from, but, what we do know is that it emerged

  • as a slang term for "lame" or "square" in Detroit in the early 1950's.

  • The first known use of the word in print came from Dr. Seuss himself, and, fundamentally,

  • it may come from the word "nut," which meant a crazy person, and was later altered to "nert,"

  • and, finally, "nerd." It exists today as a word for un-athletic people largely because it

  • was popularized through its frequent use on the US TV show "Happy Days."

  • Whether your spend your time on athletic pursuits or intellectual pursuits, or both, games,

  • in some form, are a part of your life. So, why do we play games? Humans, and many other

  • animals, play. And, perhaps, "play" originated as a way of physically preparing our bodies

  • for life's real challenges later on. That idea makes sense, but the evidence isn't convincing

  • because, in the wild, "play" can often lead to a wasting of precious resources, injuries,

  • and hardly comes close to simulating real attacks and life-threatening situations.

  • The New York Times wrote a great article about this conundrum, pointing out that physically

  • preparing the body may be less of a priority for "play." Instead, the point of "play" might

  • be preparing the brain. Play is good for the brain, especially during formative, juvenile

  • years when most of us have an instinctive urge to goof around, play, and pretend anyway.

  • Young Rats confined to cages with adult rats who refused to play with them grew up with

  • smaller, less developed brains. This has led to the hypothesis that games play a role in

  • the development of certain brain structures, especially the cerebellum when we are young.

  • But, to be clear, the evidence does not show that play is vital for the development of

  • these regions. Other methods, like exercises or teaching, may have a similar effect.

  • They might not be as fun, but this is known as equifinality. So there's debate as to just

  • how vital play and games really are. Well, let's take a look at the rewards that games

  • give us.

  • In the first half of the 20th century, Abraham Maslow constructed a hierarchy of human needs.

  • The concept is popular in developmental psychology as a way of thinking about human growth and

  • what motivates us to do things, or, to not do things. In general, until the needs of

  • a lower tier are fulfilled, an individual can't move on to fulfilling higher ones. For

  • instance, achieving confidence, or satisfying the desire to learn and explore, aren't important

  • to a person in fear for their life and safety. Play might be motivated by higher needs. Animals

  • play, but as we've seen in nature, not the ones who are stressed or starving.

  • The thing is, lower needs tend to be pretty clear cut. If I'm hungry and I eat what I

  • need, I'm done. It's not that complicated. But, as creatures, and brains, and cultures

  • become more complicated, so do their needs and the behaviors required to fulfill them.

  • This brings us back to the fact that life, itself, fits Chris Crawford's definition of

  • a game. Arguably, life is the largest and most complicated game on Earth. But playing

  • your life usually isn't as easy as simply remembering to eat, and drink, and breath.

  • In life, knowing what the correct next move is isn't always easy. Feedback is rarely immediate.

  • I don't know if the choices I made were the best, most perfect choices for me until way

  • after I've made them, if even then. Is this person, or city, or career right for me? In

  • life, the rules are complicated, the goals are indeterminate, and the methods for achieving

  • them are often unknown or different for every single person. Plus, the rewards, themselves,

  • are often slow to come or non-existent.

  • So, in the face of all of that, it's no surprise that we invented games within the larger game

  • of life, itself, that ensure fast, easy-to-achieve, and understandable rewards.

  • Animals play too, but the complexity of rules humans follow in their games, in many ways,

  • reflect the complexity of the needs we find ourselves able to pursue.

  • In life, I don't always know the right choice, I don't know the right job to apply for, how

  • to explain something to a child, how to best help my friends, or when to call my mom. But

  • in Bomberman I know exactly what every power-up does, every time, all-the-time.

  • In Poker a royal flush beats two-of-a-kind, no question about it- couldn't be more clear.

  • But, in my life, is an acquaintance or colleague really on my side? Well, in team sports, there's

  • no unknown- everyone is color-coded.

  • Games and sports are a phenomenal way to feel the rewards we need without all of the unknowns

  • of life. Even watching games and sports, merely being a spectator, can fulfill some of Maslow's

  • needs. I can feel a sense of belonging by supporting a team, and, by supporting a team,

  • their successes can kind of become my successes.

  • What a great way to get respect without doing a lot of work. It's known as BIRG-ing: Basking

  • In Reflected Glory. The opposite is CORF-ing- Cutting Off Reflected Failure. If a team is

  • disgraced, I can easily say I was not really ever that big of a fan anyway.

  • BIRG-ing and CORF-ing extend beyond sports. We BIRG and CORF workplace projects, school

  • projects, celebrities, election candidates- the point is, life is a game, but winning

  • and losing are nebulous. So, we invented simpler games to provide psychological rewards faster,

  • and more efficiently than life itself does. Which is why, at their darkest, games can

  • lead to procrastination, or addiction.

  • But don't fear, you have the potential to become a jock at the game of life, it's just

  • not always that fun. And whenever you play man-made games, rest assured that it's simply

  • because you, and all of us, are able to pursue the fulfillment of needs higher than any other

  • creature on Earth. And, as always, thanks for watching.

  • Oh, and if you want some soccer science, why not check my video with Copa90 where we investigate

  • whether or not it's possible to kick a football with so much spin that it not only curves,

  • but boomerangs back to the kicker. Ok, bye.

Hey, Vsauce, Michael here. Why do humans play games? Whether it's a video game, or a board

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