He wrote:
As the Game Maker for The New York Times, I grapple with this question every day. The reductively easy answer is simple: They’re fun! But why are they fun? Do they have to be fun? As we dig deeper and deeper, we find more questions. What even is a game? What is fun? My take on the appeal of games is also simple, if paradoxical. Games are a controlled form of freedom. Our brains grab onto them because they are structures that exist to be avoided.
Games occupy a strange place in our cultural consciousness. Nearly everyone has played a game at some point in their lives. Despite that ubiquity, games are rarely discussed with the same reverence as other media like films or books. For most, games are like chocolate: a guilty pleasure consumed secretly. The game designer Sid Meier once remarked that “a game is a series of interesting choices.” Navigating these choices shapes the course of play, revealing who we are and how we think. Playing a game is an act of exposition.
More recent New York Times pieces have focused on how a new generation is changing the classics. For instance, in “Gen Z Wanted a Scrabble More Conducive to Hanging Out. Mattel Was Happy to Oblige,” Deb Amlen writes:
The release of Scrabble Together in Europe this week marks the first time that the game’s rules have changed since it was patented in 1948. While Mattel owns the rights to the game in much of the world, Hasbro owns the rights to Scrabble in the United States and has no plans at this time to expand the game.
In the new version, a double-sided board offers the traditional game on one side and Together mode on the other. Instead of competing to see who can score the most points and show off their knowledge of obscure two-letter words, Scrabble Together encourages working with friends to conquer predetermined challenges. Players win Scrabble Together when they complete 20 challenges. If players have used up all the helper cards and cannot complete a goal, they must concede.
The idea behind Together mode was to make the game more interactive and inclusive, said Ray Adler, vice president and global head of games at Mattel. Research conducted by the company revealed that competition was not as important to younger players as having a way to connect with others and have fun. The new version prioritizes teamwork in order to adapt to those changing values.
And in “How Gen Z Made the Crossword Their Own,” Adrienne Raphel explores how a younger generation of constructors is using an old form to reflect their identities, language and world. The article begins:
30-Across: “___ and dry food (categories I will now be using to describe human food. Oh, so suddenly it’s weird?)”
31-Across: “TikTok videos of ‘Family Guy’ clips accompanied by Subway Surfers gameplay, e.g.”
26-Down: “Lili ___, one of the first trans women to receive gender-affirming surgery”
Who’s this “I” cracking jokes about WET food in the middle of a crossword clue? What is SLUDGE CONTENT doing inside a puzzle? How did we get to learn about Lili Elbe when the answer ELBE almost always refers to the German river?
Welcome to the crossword in the age of Gen Z. Clues require internet meme literacy. Solutions may reflect the identity of the person behind the puzzle. And the way they’re constructed can involve vibrant online forums in addition to scraps of paper.
Students, read any or all of these articles, then answer as many of the following questions as you like:
What are your favorite games, whether they’re ones that everyone knows or niche games you play alone, with friends or with your family? When do you most enjoy playing them?
If answers don’t come to mind immediately, consider categories. What, to you, are the best physical games? The best games you play on your phone? Your favorites on a gaming platform? The best card games? Board games? Games of skill? Games of luck?
What’s the longest time you’ve ever spent playing a game? Why do you think it kept your attention?
If you have a choice, do you prefer playing games in easy, medium or hard mode?
What were your favorite games in childhood?
How have you evolved as a game player? What have you learned from playing games?
How has gaming improved your life? What skills, if any, have you developed as a player that you have used in other areas of your life, such as at school?
What games do you least enjoy? Why?
Have you or your friends or family ever made up a game? If so, what were the rules?
Have you ever created a character for a game that helped you express yourself?
Do you agree with Mr. Von Ehren that games are helpful for “revealing who we are and how we think”? If so, what does game-playing reveal about you?
Do you enjoy watching others play games, whether in person or, say, on Twitch?
Have you found or created a community through gaming? Who is in that community, and what do you enjoy about being part of it?
Have you ever attended a game night, played at a game cafe, joined a gaming club or done any other kind of social bonding over games? What was the experience like?
Do you play games in school? Do you think your teachers should incorporate more? If so, which should they include? Why?
Some of the articles we included above are about how Generation Z is changing games that have been around for decades, like crosswords and Scrabble. Do you think your generation plays games differently than others? For instance, do you agree with Mattel’s findings that “competition was not as important to younger players as having a way to connect with others and have fun”? What have you noticed about how you, your friends and your peers play games?
What other classic games would you like to see reinvented for a new generation of players? How, and why?
Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public and may appear in print.
Find more Student Opinion questions here. Teachers, check out this guide to learn how you can incorporate these prompts into your classroom.
