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Make things better by making better things.
Systems, culture, and games are all around us. Understanding the key characteristics is important for navigating an ever-changing, complex world.
Systems are formal structures that allow people to adopt particular behaviors in order to operate. For instance, an education system in which a teacher must teach students to memorize when The War of 1812 was to ace a test isn’t the same as teaching students how to learn a subject. Modern-day systems push people to optimize metrics (to be faster/cheaper with fewer defects), follow instructions, and focus on appearances rather than substance. Systems often ignore culture and create tension for those who operate in it.
Culture is “people like us do things like this.” It is a shared set of beliefs, values, rituals, customs, symbols, and artifacts. These are the invisible rules and norms. You don’t show up at the golf course in blue jeans and a T-shirt. That’s not how things are done around here. Culture pushes us to fit in, not stand out, be mediocre, and follow the masses.
(It is worth mentioning here that status plays a role in everything we do. It enables culture. Who’s up? Who’s down? Caste systems thrive because humans categorize (wrongly) other humans and use false proxies to put someone above another.)
Games are either finite or infinite. Finite games have rules, boundaries, winners, losers, and a designated time. We are very familiar with finite games like soccer. But racing to submit TPS reports before Friday at 5 so you can go home on time is another type of game. Infinite games are different in that you play the game to keep playing. When I play catch with a six-year-old, I am not playing to “win”; instead, I toss the ball to entice the six-year-old to throw it back. Humans are biologically wired to play games. Games are much better when you are not set up to lose. Understanding how debt systems work, for instance, and making a game out of it, mixing in the rules and making your own, is a good way to stay out of debt to enable other games–like doing your art.