Timo Sutton

Marshall McLuhan's essay, "Games - The Extensions of Man" attempts to show the reader, through a series of examples, that games are much more than a past-time for youth. McLuhan theorizes that games are an integral part of society, in that they are a "collective, social reaction to the main drive or action of any culture". It is through games that a society presents its ideals, its social structure, and it philosophies.

McLuhan relates games to art. He does not say that games are a form of art; rather he presents the idea that games are the epitome of artistic expression. Societies follow games in a way that they do not when it comes to literature, cinema, and art because games are interactive. The outcome is not determined ahead of time. Rather, it is decided by the skill levels of those playing. The audience (and the players) feel involved in the "story" of the game in a way they cannot with any other media. A good example could be the fan who screams him/herself hoarse cheering his/her team on while watching them on television. McLuhan also uses the television game show scandal of the late 1950's to further his point. The public reaction to the discovery that many of these quiz shows were rigged was as big as any political scandal. The directors and producers were charged as con men for baiting the viewing public.

In its games, society reflects itself. Hence the bond between player and audience. McLuhan illustrates this by comparing baseball with the Mechanical Age and football to the Electric Age. The Mechanical Age is marked by the Industrial Revolution, where workers were assigned specific roles within a system. The worker did not deviate from the assigned role and only acted when his/her duty was called upon. The American public easily identified with baseball, certainly one of the slower popular sports today. The modern day world however, has pushed into the Electric Age. And with it has come a new set of ideals and beliefs. While a social hierarchy is still very much in place, the roles within those social levels has changed. Football, with its interchanging roles and constant state of flux, embodies this age in a way that baseball never could. McLuhan says that: "Perhaps there is, just for this reason, a desperate need for games in a highly specialized industrial culture, since they are the only form of art accessible to many minds." In other words, society uses games to re-enforce the structure of itself within the minds of its people. Games are accessible to all social levels, so they are the most logical tool to use.

The game is the only form of art where we expect the ending to not be predetermined. Much like our own lives, we do not want to think that someone is controlling us. Our desire for "freedom" is reflected in the response of a public outraged at being duped over a game. Our society wants it life to be unscripted and its future to be determined by no one else.