In usual terms, the idea of what a game is is often significantly mixed with the idea of a sport. Therefore, characterizing what a game is is essential to not confuse it with a sport. It is quite common for people to say that a person who professionally practices volleyball is a player. This is not true. That person who uses the sport in a professional or semi-professional way, whose practice is reverted in financial terms, trophies and/or medals, is not a player: he is an athlete. So, in general, it can be said that a player is that person who participates in an activity in view of the pleasure it provides.
The basic characteristics for an activity to be considered a game are: 1) changeable rules, that is, players can combine and recombine rules during practice; 2) for being an activity that can stimulate both competition and cooperation; 3) can be played individually or in a group; 4) provide pleasure in the act of playing, which we call an intrinsic reward.
You, student, must be thinking: “if I play because I like to play, then the place to play is at school?”. Yes: the place of the game is at school. And do you know why? Because when played collectively, it makes you relate better with your peers: you learn to share tasks, to cooperate with each other; the game develops the necessary reasoning speed to solve problems of the most diverse natures; allows you and your peers to play by the traditional rules and modify those rules whenever the group agrees, and this kind of practice allows prepare you for your own life, exercising the attitude of listening to the other's opinion, of him listening to yours and of you reaching a good agreement to all. And the best part: in addition to all this, you still play because you like it, because it is a kind of pleasant activity.
It is for all these reasons that gambling is a school activity par excellence. And it fits even better in your PE class, since to play, you often need to put your body in motion. So, in addition to exercising reasoning, improving the relationship between people, practicing cooperation and competition, it still affects your body, decreasing the risk of developing obesity, heart disease and diabetes.
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There is also another type of game that is considered a villain by most parents and teachers: the video game. In this type of game, the player has no autonomy to change the rules and competition is much more instigated than cooperation; it doesn't encourage you to make friends, as it's better to play alone than with your partner (so you don't have to wait your turn); and, by forcing you to stand in front of the television, electronic games induce a sedentary lifestyle, or lack of physical activity. Looking at it like this, it really looks like the video game is a villain. But he's less of a villain than he looks, since it's been proven that kids who play video games develop a pretty significant agility of reasoning. Another factor in favor of this type of game is that there is already a video game that encourages the practice of physical activity, that is, it combats sedentary lifestyles. It sounds strange, but it's true: the controls for this video game are wireless and in order to play, participants need to make the move at home, and this is played back on the screen. What happened was practically a revolution in terms of encouraging physical activity, as there are even gyms in Canada and the US with rooms just for sports practice with video games.
Still, isn't it much better to play ball outside with friends than to play video games indoors? Anyway, playing is always good. And now you have even more arguments in favor of the game than the one you always used: “I play because it's cool”. Now you know that playing has many benefits for you and your teammates.
By Paula Rondinelli
Brazil School Collaborator
Graduated in Physical Education from the São Paulo State University “Júlio de Mesquita Filho” – UNESP
Master in Motricity Sciences from the São Paulo State University “Júlio de Mesquita Filho” – UNESP
PhD student in Latin American Integration at the University of São Paulo - USP
PE - Brazil School
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
RONDINELLI, Paula. "Games: between cooperation and competition"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/educacao-fisica/jogos-entre-cooperacao-competicao.htm. Accessed on June 30, 2021.
