Many moons ago, I found myself in between missions on my second playthrough of MPO, sitting across from the foosball table (no, I don’t know if that’s spelled correctly, and I don’t quite care). As nobody was playing, I felt tempted to stand up and make a proper fool of myself by attempting to play both sides at once. It’s an excersize I routinely try out with pretty much any game I play that allows it as an option– Chess, Tic-Tac-Toe, Wii Tennis– just to see how viable it is. If a game ordinarily subrscibed to multiplayer antics can survive masturbatory play of this kind, it speaks volumes of its merits as a rule-set, interactive design and all around rainy-day time killer.

This time, however, I didn’t ever decide to pit the left side of my brain against my right one, as I found myself distracted by the most unlikely ornament the game could provide as an instrument to fuel a several monthlong meditation on the nature of play: the ball itself.

From early childhood, there are two toys which are universal to pretty much all kids, breaking all boundaries of gender, race, religion, culture and class, save for families who can’t afford toys to begin with– balls and blocks. Together, these two toys make up a pretty healthy set of polar opposites not only in the kingdom of childplay but also in the realm of theoretical play itself. Consider how balls are played with as opposed to how blocks are, and the different qualities they possess: balls roll, bounce and are often thrown in the air to be caught, while blocks stand still. Balls are usually played with as singular objects, save for juggling acts, while blocks are by definition meant to be used together. Balls cannot be changed through play itself, while blocks are routinely used to create tall structures which are just as easily destroyed as part of the play. Altogether, there are three main ways in which balls and blocks are different:

(1) Balls are mobile, while blocks are static.

(2) Balls are solitary, while blocks are communitarian.

(3) Balls are immutable, while blocks employ both creation and destruction.

Where exactly am I going with this? I’m not sure.

What I can say at the moment is that the whole ball/block idea my brain’s rattling around can say just as much about games in general as well. Think about the games you play– are they dominated by constant movement and action, isolation and generally consequenceless freedom, or are they complimented by stillness, character immersion and genuinely threatening linearity? Do your favorite games roll along wihtout any obstacles getting in the way of your enjoymant or slowly build up, bit by bit, to something bigger than you ever imagined? I could easily rattle off the games I’ve played on either end of these opposites (GTA & Katamari and MGS & Mario) or somewhere in between (Ico & SOTC and Zelda & Metroid), but I’m really more interested in hearing what others have to say about it.

Until next time, pleasent dreams.