When is a Game No Longer a Game?
Joel AJ Parker
Northwood University

Video games are becoming a huge part of a person’s life nowadays, especially children. It is no longer the world of board and card games. Many people would argue that video games do not allow a person to use their imagination. However, Will Wright would beg to differ. Wright believes that video games now allow a person to use their imagination to create their own scenarios and customize a “new life” within a game. However, I believe that he would agree that the video game world could be evolving to a point where they are no longer making “games”. There is a controversial online “game” that has the title of Second Life. Some might ask when a game stops being a game? What is the limit for reality in a video game or is there even a limit? There is a certain limit to the reality of a video game; it should no longer be a video game when a person can consider it their second life.
Second Life is a computer game that is a virtual world. It allows the gamer to enter a world and design an avatar for the “game’s” virtual world. The game allows players to purchase land, property, cars, and clothing as well as other real life amenities. It is unlike other virtual worlds because it allows for the player to profit from the game; it seems to take over their actual life. Second Life allows the player to convert their “Linden Dollars” into cash via a PayPal account. They are allowed to sell their creations in the virtual world to other players and then convert that money into US dollars. As if that wasn’t enough the game also has its own news bureau that covers all the events that take place in the cyberspace “community”. The news bureau covers current events that go on in the Second Life community as well. Players that try to use this as their actual second life are no longer playing a game. Once it takes over their income as well as their time and they only look into their Second Life news it is not a game.
Wright is the creator of the game series The Sims, which is also a virtual world game. It allows you to “live” life the way you want but in virtual way on a gaming system. Wright believes that video games have certain creativity to them that he calls a “possibility space”. The possibility space allows the player to choose what they are going to do in the game. It gives them options and outcomes from their choices. He believes that this gives the player the ability to use their creativity to choose how they want their life to turn out in the game. They have the ability to build houses and customize it, as well as their player. They have the ability to make a family and make life decisions. This game does not allow for a profit nor does it have a news section for it. It is not an online community and does not control a person’s life. This is simply a game that allows the player to create a character and make life decisions for them. It is a game that really generates creativity.
I believe that The Sims and Second Life are two different things. I grew up playing The Sims; although I was interested in the game and the creativity it allowed me to express I would never have called it my second life. The Sims gives the player options but also has rules and goals to the game. Players can build multiple homes and control many families. In Second Life, players create an avatar and away they go with almost free reign. The online community might give them a chance to show their creativity but offers no goals. This is when Second Life starts to lose the ability to be called a game. It doesn’t stop there; the “game” is also a way to make money. I believe that is the biggest difference between the two, once Second Life gave the players the ability to sell their life and make money is when it went to far. This “game” is a prime example of how a video game can evolve into something that is no longer a game. The title points out that it is a second life and I would consider that no longer a game. Once something takes enough time to be considered your second life then it is no longer a game.
There is a certain limit to the reality of a video game; it should no longer be considered a video game when a person can consider it their second life. The Sims and Second Life are two separate things, one is a game and one is an extension of a life. They may both allow the player to be creative and use their imagination but Second Life does not allow the player to any goals. It is no longer a video game but an extension of the players life. Second Life could be just the beginning of what could be the loss of video games. If the companies continue to add the capability of the player to make money off of their “games”, then they will no longer be making video games but an extension of a real life. Second Life is a prime example of when a game no longer becomes a game and when a company reaches the limit and crosses the line.2