Games can be approached as containing technical skills one wishes to master or as opportunities to interact socially. For example, some chess players prefer to play the computer (remember “Big Blue”) and some prefer to play a human adversary. The experience is different as the computer may play an intellectually challenging game, but cannot effectively stall, bluff, or look for sympathy.
Games provide a conversational space in which we try on behaviors that perhaps don’t come easily to us: for example, aggression or collaboration, negotiation or nondisclosure. In the context of the game we get immediate feedback from others in terms of their social response or game response, both of which are revealing and dynamic. Games can be a structure in which we get acquainted as they require participation and they provide a ritual to sustain interaction. Through this participation we learn something about the values and strategies of our opponents and even ourselves.