Why Human Beings Evolved To Play Games
With some aspects of human behavior, like being afraid of the dark or preferring to have a close-knit support group, it’s easy to see why evolution nudged us this direction.
What about having fun, though? Playing games?
It turns out there’s an evolutionary reason for that, too, and thank goodness.
Neuroscientist and author Kelly Clancy says that actually, games predate human language, and the act of playing together is something that happened across the board.
“It seems like it’s a pretty universal thing. One of the great things about looking at game boards in the ancient world is that people will just make anything into a game board. I see people playing tic tac toe on the walls. In some Egyptian ruins, there are game boards scratched into the roofs of old temples. It’s thought that there were priests sitting on the roof of temples waiting for a particular astronomical event, and just passing the time playing games together.”
Clancy says that many games, like chess, were like a universal language and a way to pass down societal mores to children.
“Some of them are explicitly designed to transmit a particular message. Some games are not really so fun to play when you’re an adult, like snakes and ladders. But that’s part of what the message was intended to be with that game. It was originally invented by an Indian holy man to teach the virtues of karma. If you do good things, you go up to heaven, if you do bad things, you slide down the snake. So, it’s something that was meant to teach kids these ideas.”
The reason that people began playing games, and continued playing games, is likely as simple as education and community bonding.
“Games are a really powerful form of education, and this is something that is becoming clear from both neuroscience and also it’s an idea that’s been around for a long time. Plato thought that games were really important education for young kids to learn how to follow rules, so that as adults, they would know how to follow laws and make democracy work.”
Of course, they are also addictive.
At least we don’t have to worry about being eaten by a lion if we stare at Candy Crush for too long.
If you thought that was interesting, you might like to read about a second giant hole has opened up on the sun’s surface. Here’s what it means.
Sign up to get our BEST stories of the week straight to your inbox.