Doug:
I have some friends from variety of occupations that play a sports game
around professional football. This game requires meetings, data
collection of player performance and current record-keeping. The amount
of time spent is enormous. Game-watching, newspaper perusing for facts,
and comparing notes with others are among the tasks. In short, this game
looks like an awful lot of work to me... I do not play because it is so
much work. But, I cannot let it go. If this level of play was placed in
the context of work (not job), no one would play. I have studied this
seriously for six years. Year in, year out, the game goes on. I have
concluded the single element that makes this play and not work is the
unknown. Players may be injured and that hurts the team. Passes may be
intercepted leaving the team exposed to major setbacks. But the outcome
is always unkown. Goals are in place, rules are in place, the play
environment is known (TV sets), and the gameplayers are trusting that no
one cheats.
-- Jesse White Applied Performance Training jwhite@comp.uark.edu