Finite and Infinite Games: A Philosophy Text about Life as Play Birthed Flickr
Thursday, May 13, 2010 at 7:04AM Finite and Infinite Games is a book by religion scholar James P. Carse.
With this philosophy text, Carse demonstrates a way of looking at actions in life as being a part of at least two types of what he describes as “games”, finite and infinite. Both games are played within rules, as agreed upon by the participants; however, the meaning of the rules are different between the two types of games. The book stresses a non-serious (or “playful”) view of life on the part of “players”…
Finite games have a definite beginning and ending. They are played with the goal of winning. A finite game is resolved within the context of its rules, with a winner of the contest being declared and receiving a victory. The rules exist to ensure the game is finite. Examples are debates, sports, receiving a degree from an educational institution, belonging to a society, or engaging in war.
Infinite games, on the other hand, do not have a knowable beginning or ending. They are played with the goal of continuing play. An infinite game continues play, for sake of play. If the game is approaching resolution because of the rules of play, the rules must be changed to allow continued play. The rules exist to ensure the game is infinite. The only known example is life.
Carse’s book inspired the development of the massively multiplayer online game Game Neverending. Though the business was ultimately unsuccessful, the tools developed for Game Neverending lead to the creation of Flickr. You can read part of the story… in a photo of a postcard on (what else?) Flickr.
ADDENDUM: Despite Carse’s assertion, life may not be the only example of an infinite game. Calvinball comes to mind — as played by Calvin and Hobbes. Do games played by fictional characters in comic strips count?
