The bishop was added for primarily political reasons; earlier in the history of Chess, their role was filled by a "ship," which fits much more strongly with the martial theme of the rest.Cheeze_Pavilion said:
91: Jesus Was Not a Gamer
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What I mean was: in early chess, the "ship" or "elephant" piece [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfil_(Fairy_chess_piece)] filled a role similar to the Bishop's, but when it came to Europe, due to the church's (direct or unintentional) influence, it was replaced with a "bishop." This is likely because a boat is a metaphor much more associated with warfare than a clergyman, and war themes are the unifying metaphor of chess.Cheeze_Pavilion said:Can you provide more information? I'm not sure I'd draw such a sharp distinction between 'political' and 'religious' reasons when talking about Europe in the middle ages. Or between a 'martial' theme and a 'religious' theme, at least during the period of the Crusades.Bongo Bill said:The bishop was added for primarily political reasons; earlier in the history of Chess, their role was filled by a "ship," which fits much more strongly with the martial theme of the rest.
My source is Wikipedia, so take it with an appropriately large grain of salt.
Really interesting thread here...
I think that Jesus would have been a gamer if games weren't so closely tied to organized [Roman] religion. Certainly He knew how to have fun (turning water into wine isn't exactly a joyless sort of thing to do).
More importantly, if you look at "Homo Ludens", some interesting insights present themselves. Huizinga notes that organized religion tends to become a kind of game, a "magic circle" unto itself. You enter the game world, and you have awesome or not-so-awesome experiences, and then you leave, and your "real" world doesn't really change at all. Doesn't that sound suspiciously like the kind of experience a lot of people have at church?
So I think Jesus came partly to abolish one kind of magic circle, the kind which divides organized religion from everyday life. He came to tell people "hey, if you act like a saint in the temple and an asshole the rest of the week, you're still an asshole".
At the same time, He seemed to embrace other kinds of magic circles, while scratching little holes in the edges. I'm talking about parables, of course: a parable or story told "live", where you get to interact with the storyteller, is really another kind of magic circle, like a game.
In the end, I think Jesus was not a gamer in the sense that He was pretty much against the "gaming" of everyday life, the compartmentalization of work and family and religion into their own little boxes. On the other hand, He wasn't averse to the use of fiction and fantasy, of putting his listeners in the shoes of someone else. In other words... Jesus may or may not have been a gamer, but he was almost certainly a DM.
I think that Jesus would have been a gamer if games weren't so closely tied to organized [Roman] religion. Certainly He knew how to have fun (turning water into wine isn't exactly a joyless sort of thing to do).
More importantly, if you look at "Homo Ludens", some interesting insights present themselves. Huizinga notes that organized religion tends to become a kind of game, a "magic circle" unto itself. You enter the game world, and you have awesome or not-so-awesome experiences, and then you leave, and your "real" world doesn't really change at all. Doesn't that sound suspiciously like the kind of experience a lot of people have at church?
So I think Jesus came partly to abolish one kind of magic circle, the kind which divides organized religion from everyday life. He came to tell people "hey, if you act like a saint in the temple and an asshole the rest of the week, you're still an asshole".
At the same time, He seemed to embrace other kinds of magic circles, while scratching little holes in the edges. I'm talking about parables, of course: a parable or story told "live", where you get to interact with the storyteller, is really another kind of magic circle, like a game.
In the end, I think Jesus was not a gamer in the sense that He was pretty much against the "gaming" of everyday life, the compartmentalization of work and family and religion into their own little boxes. On the other hand, He wasn't averse to the use of fiction and fantasy, of putting his listeners in the shoes of someone else. In other words... Jesus may or may not have been a gamer, but he was almost certainly a DM.
I haven't seen a decent argument for saying that there is a causal connection between religion and gaming. I think the two are incidental to each other. People tend towards religion. People like to play games. Sometimes the two activities overlap. Sometimes they don't.