GAMEPLAY

"For when the One Great Scorer comes to write against your name, He marks - not that you won or lost - but how you played the game." Grantland Rice

Play, games and toys are as old as human history. Play, as this whole section shows, can take many forms. Games contain set patterns and shared rules. These may be adapted but the number of ways they can be played is limited. Playing with toys is more exploratory as they can potentially be played with in infinite ways.

Tensions between freedom and control exist in the activity of playing a game. Within the pull and exhilaration of exercising free-flowing ideas and actions up to controlled limits, the experience of 'good gameplay' occurs: If you allow yourself to let go too much, the game will collapse into anarchy; if you are too controlled there will be no risk or excitement. So in playing games, we need rules to follow, bend and perhaps sometimes break.

Games contain an element of competition, even if you're only competing with yourself. But, when playing with others, they also involve collaboration, teamwork. Is the aim of playing - to win or to take part? From board games to Game Boy™ to playground Tag, games designers try to ensure that the experience of participating is rich and exciting even if you don't win. But nobody wants to lose do they?

Feng Meng Bo - Game Over: The war of resistance against Japan, 1994 (1)

• What are the rules of art?
• What is the art of game playing?
• Is play a reward for work?
• What is the role of the viewer/spectator?
• Who are your sporting heroes, heroines and hates and how are they shown in the media?

DISCUSS

RESEARCH

BRAINSTORM

DESCRIBE

COMPARE

Keith Piper - 'Another Arena', 1997 (1)

"I like Nike but wait a minute
The Neighbourhood supports so put some Money in it."
Public Enemy

Sport is the collective, public, organised form of gameplaying, governed by official bodies, who set agreed standards and regulations. But sport is a cultural phenomenon too, since it is an interest shared by so many. Consequently, there are many conventions, rituals and behaviours which have become associated with it.

For instance there are beliefs and opinions about who should compete and who can observe. There are assumptions about how athletes should look and behave. There are even shared codes and dress among fans and spectators. And in its quest for perfection, the sporting world has all the same prejudices and discrimination as the rest of society.

Sport is a huge industry involving lucrative sponsorship deals and big prize money, so image can be very important. But while some world class athletes are multi-millionaires, others have to keep a 'day job' to support their achievements. Many sports people become celebrities, lauded for their skills, but being in the public eye means any transgression could bring a fall from grace.

This section features Feng Meng Bo, whose work, in both paint and multimedia, is very influenced by computer games, and Keith Piper, a multimedia artist who investigates the diasporic identities of Black people, including sporting figures. Some other artists whose work relates to play and games are:

• Mary Evans
• Roddie Buchanan
• Toshio Iwai
• Glenn Ligon