Finite and Infinite Games
In his book, Finite and Infinite Games , James Carse says there are two types of interactions involving humans in the world: those that have an ending (“finite games”), and those that go on forever (“infinite games”). Finite games have clear boundaries (spatial, numerical, temporal) and agreed-upon rules. After all, without those characteristics, nobody would agree when the game ended. Or who won. If that sounded too competitive, perhaps you prefer infinite games. But to keep the game going indefinitely, rules need to be changeable, at times to ensure the game doesn’t end! (See why governance is an infinite game?). But such games raise a different kind of problem: “Who, for example, won the French Revolution?” Notice how an infinite game doesn’t end even when players die? Even more confusingly, players can come and go as they please in infinite games. A finite game forces you to be serious (there’s a specific objective, you want to achieve it). Whereas ...