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FINITE GAMES |
INFINITE
GAMES |
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"[P]layed for the
purpose of winning. . . ." [3]
Only one person "can
win a finite game . . ." [6]
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Played
"for the purpose of continuing the play."
[3]
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Finite
games "have a precise beginning." [4]
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"Infinite
players cannot say when their game began, nor do they care. They
do not care for the reason that their game is not bounded by time."
[6]
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Finite games have a
"definitive end." [3]. "[A]
finite game is intended for conclusion. . . ."
[16]
The end takes place when the "players have agreed who among
them is the winner." [3]
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In
infinite games "the only purpose of the game is to prevent
it from coming to an end, to keep everyone in play."
[6-7]
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Finite games have temporal,
spatial, and numerical boundaries. [4-5]
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"There
are no spatial or numerical boundaries to an infinite game."
[7]
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"[F]inite games
are externally defined. . . ." [7]
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"[I]nfinite
games are internally defined." [7]
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"There is no finite
game unless the players freely choose to play it. No one can play
who is forced to play." [4]
Finite play is limited and the limitations are chosen by the players,
however, "no one is under any necessity to play a finite
game. Fields of play simply do not impose themselves on us. Therefore,
all the limitations of finite play are self-limitations."
[12]
Finite players often
"come to think that whatever they do [in a finite game] they
must do." [10-11].
Finite players "somehow
veil" the freedom they have "to step off the field of
play at any time. . . ." [12]. Carse
goes on to point out that this "self-veiling" cannot
be avoided. [13]
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"It is an invariable
principle of all play, finite and infinite, that whoever plays,
plays freely." [4]
Carse notes that
only in this feature are finite and infinite games identical.
[6]
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"Finite
games can be played within an infinite game. . . ."
[7]
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"[A]n infinite
game cannot be played within a finite game."
[7]. "Since finite games can be played within an
infinite game, infinite players do not eschew the performed roles
of finite play." [14]
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"[T]he
rules [in finite games] may not change in the course of play.
. . ." [9] [emphasis in original]
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"The rules of
an infinite game must change in the course of play."
[9] [emphasis in original]
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| "[T]he
rules of a finite game are the contractual terms by which the players
can agree who has won. . . ." [9] |
"[T]he rules of
an infinite game are the contractual terms by which the players
agree to continue playing." [9]
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"Finite players
play within boundaries. . . ." [10].
"[F]inite games
cannot have fluid boundaries, for if they do it will be impossible
to agree on winners." [37]
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"[I]nfinite players
play with boundaries." [10]
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The staging of finite
play is "theatrical." [16-17].
Theatrical games are
outcome oriented. [21]
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Infinite
play is "dramatic." [16-17]. In
dramatic games the outcome is uncertain. [21].
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Finite players dread
surprise. "Surprise causes finite play to end. . . ."
[18].
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Infinite players welcome
surprise. [18]. Surprise is central to
the infinite game. "Infinite players . . . continue the play
in the expectation of being surprised. If surprise is no longer
possible, all play ceases." [22].
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Finite players are "trained."
[19]
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Infinite
players are "educated." [19] |
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Finite play is "contradictory"
in that players seek to bring their play to an end. [25-26]
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Infinite play is "paradoxical."
[25-26]
"Infinite players play best when they become least necessary
to the continuation of play." [26]
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Finite games are played to win.
[3, 11]
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Infinite games are played to play.
[3] |
Imagining
What We Do Is a Game