A game is a specific structured form of activity, usually undertaken for fun or entertainment, and at times used as an instructional tool. Games are quite different from work, which frequently is performed for remuneration, and also from literature, which often is an expressive expression of artistic or philosophical thoughts. Game creation does not refer to creating games for any particular purpose; rather it refers to the ability to design and create games. Some games are very complex and involve many different tasks. For example, a game that involves assembling a Lego set will require some prior knowledge of Lego sets.
However, anyone who has played a game can easily tell you that some games are pure strategy games, where victory depends not so much on how well one plays but on how well one knows the game rules. For example, in a simple card game like poker, if a player knows the deck layout and the odds, he is unlikely to lose. However, a knowledgeable player can often defeat a novice simply by reading what the other player is doing and taking notes. One can see how computer games can greatly benefit those who are familiar with its rules. It therefore goes without saying that games without any strategy element are pure strategy games.
Knowing the game rules is not enough; a player must also be able to apply his knowledge and strategies to game outcomes. One must know what to do in order to win, whether to bluff (e.g., when a player suspects that another player is cheating), manipulate the other players, or use a combination of any of these. Knowing the game world thoroughly is also important, because a person is not supposed to blindly follow game results and expect to get rich. A person may profit from changing his strategies, but he cannot expect to make money solely on the basis of his strategies.
Strategies have different names, but they all fall under game theory. There is no such thing as pure strategy, although some strategies are pure. For example, it may be possible to create a perfect strategy game that has no variable, although it would not be easy. Strategy games can be either blackjack or baccarat, for instance. Each game has its own strategy, but pure strategies cannot be distinguished from pure strategies by anyone who does not know anything about the game. Pure strategies cannot be predicted by anyone.
Game theory is also used to describe the probability that a particular outcome will occur. For example, in a game of baccarat, how much money will the player win if he bets first and then bets second? How much money will be won by player 1 if he bets first and then bets second, and so on? The theory of probability considers the number of times a streak of successes occurs in a game.
A game can be explained by game results in terms of probabilities or percentages, i.e., “the likelihood of player 1 winning”. It is not enough to say that player 1 is likely to win; probabilities must be taken into account. This way, we arrive at the meaning of a game result, which may be a common experience for many people, as a universal component of game understanding. This means that we do not need to divide games into “fair” and “unfair” games, with separate categories, as we do when dealing with regular lottery tickets.
