Primarily, when I think of "gaming" I am referring to recreational entertainment through games, NOT gambling. For as long as humans have had leisure time, or bored children to entertain, or lessons to teach, there have been games.
Modern civilization has refined and repackaged old games, led "let's pretend" games to broad new fields, and provided us with faceless opponents as well as a staggering new range of opportunities for playing games against people we have never seen in the flesh.
And games have become a driving force in parts of the entertainment and defense industries far beyond what the first fox&jackals rule-maker could ever have dreamed.
We've all played games at some point in our lives, even though they might have masqueraded as "teaching exercises" or "moral lessons". Some of us have made games the central focus of our lives, in a few instances tragically so.
As in every other aspect of human existence, there are some people whose obsessions with a game become their downfall. In my experience, these are folk who would have fixated on something, anything, as an escape from something otherwise less than happy within their lives.
Enough with morbidity. Games increase our joy, offer pleasure when it is hard to come by through other means, and otherwise should make us happier.
Due to the wide range of my interests in games, there are three subsidiary pages that will be associated with this master page.
Of course, that leaves a large number of my favorite games "out in the cold", so I'll deal with them here on the primary Gaming page.
Chess: I've been playing chess since junior high (if not longer). I'm reasonably good, but not currently active with any ranking organization. If you are a parent, teach your children. If you are a young person who does not yet know how to play, take the time to learn. I guarantee that the effort will be worth it!
Heck, with so many other lists of favorites running around on webpages, I'll go ahead and do one for "traditional" board / card / equipment-dependent non-athletic games as well. Of course, my definition of "equipment" includes as little as one of the player's own hands...
Related Notes:
I've no doubt missed one or two items on this first pass. Expect
updates to this page from time to time.
I classify RISK as a wargame, and so do not list it here.
Comments, complaints, and brickbats should be directed to the related e-dress.
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copyright 1996, 1998, 2001, 2006 Mike C. Baker.
Last Updated: 06 AUG 2006
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