“There are at least two kinds of games. One could be called finite, the other infinite. A finite game is played for the purpose of winning, an infinite game for the purpose of continuing the play.”
Spatial boundaries are necessary for every finite game, but infinite games have no boundaries.
We cannot play alone, in finite games, we must have an opponent to play against and usually teammates to play with.
Only one person or team can win a finite game, but the non-winners could be ranked at the end. Not everyone can be a CEO, but there are other positions.
If you must play a game, you cannot play a game.
Finite games can be played within an infinite game, but an infinite game cannot be played within a finite game.
The rules of a finite game are the contractual terms by which the players can agree on who won. These are not laws, in that they don’t mandate certain behaviors, but they restrain the freedom of players, allowing for choices within those restraints. Rules are valid only if and when players freely play by them.
In a finite game, the rules are fixed until there is a winner, but in an infinite game, the rules must change during the course of play. The rules of an infinite game are changed to prevent anyone from winning the game, and to bring as many other persons as possible into play.
The rules of a finite game are like the rules of a debate, infinite game, like language. The rules of a debate dictate how the debate ends, the rules of language ensure language continues.
Finite players play within boundaries, infinite players play with boundaries.
Whoever plays a finite game plays freely, but it is often the case that finite players will be unaware of this freedom and will think that whatever they do they must do.
The fields of play do not impose themselves on us, all limitations of finite play are self-limitations.
A degree of self-veiling (self-deception) is necessary in all finite games, since we must forget they are optional in order to be motivated to win. This is true with all roles. You step freely into the role of mother, but once in it, you must suspend your freedom to give the role the attention it requires.
Infinite players do not avoid finite games, they enter into them with the appropriate energy and self veiling, but without the seriousness of finite players. They embrace the abstractness, and take them up playfully.
The desire of all finite players is to be a “Master Player,” one who is perfectly skilled at the game and who can play as if they already know the outcome.
Finite players avoid surprise and try to plan around them, infinite players expect to be surprised and continue their play in pursuit of it.