Uncertainty in Games and Creation

"Uncertainty is not, in most circumstances, a good thing. We do not wish to be uncertain about whether we can pay our bills, uncertain of the affections of the people who matter to us, uncertain about our health, or uncertain about our job prospects."

Those observations open Greg Costikyan's book, Uncertainty in Games. Greg's thesis for the book is that even though we live in an uncertain world where we spend considerable time and effort attempting to manage and minimize uncertainty, we construct entertainment that subjects us to uncertainty, albeit in non-threatening forms. He further develops his case by stating, "I shall endeavor to persuade you that games require uncertainty to hold our interest, and that the struggle to master uncertainty is central to the appeal of games."

As I read the opening chapter, three questions came to mind. 

1. Do activities like games require uncertainty?

In the book's beginning chapters, Greg lays out a strong case for why he believes games require uncertainty to hold our interest by providing a few examples. First, he asks, how long would you participate in a footrace if you knew that you would continually lose? Similarly, how long would you choose to play a role-playing game if the story's plot and characters had to remain the same? Or, how long would you play a game of chance if there was no randomness? 

I'm guessing your answers were similar to mine: not long. Regardless of the variations in play, each example demands an element of uncertainty to be enjoyable. Greg made short work of my first question, and as I rolled around different scenarios in my head, I wondered if this principle applied to things beyond games. What if this principle was true about life as a whole?

2. Is uncertainty a consequence of The Fall?

When I think about our world, it seems that sin is to blame for many of our uncertainties. For example, people doubt the existence of God, and those of us who do believe in God sometimes doubt whether He is good and can be trusted. We also worry about uncertainties like the future, the economy, and the wellness of our planet. Our modern lives require insurance to minimize the effects of the uncertainties of sickness, death, natural disasters, and theft. And we craft elaborate legal documents to protect ourselves from uncertainties of relationships—all of which are problems created by sin.

No question, sin has introduced new uncertainties into our lives, but sin's influence does not give us a complete picture of what it looks like and why it exists. To better understand sin's relationship to uncertainty, let's examine the events that led to sin entering the world. 

For the first two chapters of Genesis, everything is perfect. Then in chapter three, Satan begins to carry out his plan. In Genesis 3:1, the serpent asked Eve, "Did God actually say?" With this question comes the first recorded appearance of doubt in creation, or at minimum, the seeds of it. Noticing the presence of doubt in Eve's mind before giving into temptation is essential to our understanding of the role of uncertainty in our lives. Doubt was present before sin entered the world; this means the existence of doubt is not dependent upon the reality of sin. 

If the uncertainty of doubt does not require the presence of sin, then what creates doubt? To answer this question, let's look at the serpent's line of questioning. "Did God actually say?" Satan's question was aimed directly at Eve's memory and her ability or inability to accurately recall God's words. If Eve had been playing a memory game, this would fall under Greg's category of Performative Uncertainty.

Performative Uncertainty is one of several categories Greg identifies. His prime example of this type of uncertainty is Super Mario Bros. Performative Uncertainty hinges upon the player's ability to perform given tasks at the moment. In the case of Super Mario Bros, the uncertainty is if the player can navigate Mario through pre-authored levels that require precise input and calculated timings.

Returning to Genesis, we can see another form of uncertainty leveraged by the serpent. He says in verses four and five, "You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." This second form of uncertainty Greg labels Perceptible Uncertainty. 

Percetiple Uncertainty asks the player if they can perceive the situation. Hidden object games are a genre built around this type of uncertainty. All objects are visible in the picture, but can the player spot them in time? A different example is Rollercoaster Tycoon. Rollercoaster Tycoon has an underlying algorithmic complexity that is challenging to perceive, but the longer you play it, the better your perception becomes. In the case of Eve, we see that Satan challenged her perception of God's motives for forbidding the fruit.

Based on what we can see from these verses, uncertainty does not appear to be a byproduct of The Fall. Instead, possibilities for uncertainties to exist were present from the beginning of human creation. In the case of Eve, her experience of doubt was not the consequence of sin but rather a reality of human limitations. Limits, not sin, are the first cause of uncertainty. I say first because there is a second cause you may have picked up on. It underlies all of the passages we have read and is ultimately what the temptation story is predicated on—free will. Without the uncertainty of free will, Satan wouldn't have attempted to trick Eve in the first place. 

Both limitations and free will are intentional characteristics of God's design for humans, which makes me believe uncertainty must have been a deliberate part of God's creation. But why?

3. What role does uncertainty play in creation?

As a child thinking about heaven terrified me. Do you know why? It's because I was scared of being bored—not just for a time, but forever. As an adult, I'm no longer frightened when I think about spending eternity in heaven; I rightfully long for it more and more with each passing year. However, if I picture an eternity spent in boredom, my adult mind still reels in terror.

The dislike of boredom is not a trait unique to me. My children regularly remind me that being bored is one of the worst fates imaginable. It's not infrequent that they will announce in a moan, "I'm bored." I'm sure it is not just the Henderson household, though. Even beyond my immediate family, there seems to be a universal distaste for boredom. As a society, we spend countless sums of money each year on entertaining, engaging, and distracting our minds. We can't stand the thought of being bored and actively work to avoid it, if not flee from it.

If we were to approach the problem of boredom like scientists, we might try to observe someone while entering a state of boredom. If we monitored carefully, we would see a change take place; they would go from being engaged and receiving pleasure from their situation to one of disengagement and feelings of apathy or frustration. Why does this happen? As we discovered from Greg's earlier arguments, it seems an aspect of uncertainty must be present for us to remain engaged. We "have fun" when some part of us is stimulated or challenged— either mentally, physically, emotionally, or spiritually. And this engagement tends to occur near the edges of our abilities or limits. 

So one answer to why God created uncertainty seems to be that it keeps us engaged and brings us various forms of pleasure. I like that answer. The fact that God wants us to engage with his creation and to experience joy from those engagements is excellent news. However, let us not stop here; I think we can continue to flesh out this answer by way of a question.

What would we lose if we were to eliminate the uncertainties of life? You would be right in answering: fear, worry, and doubt. That is true, and we wouldn't be sad to see those go; however, that's not all we would lose. I fear we would lose much more than we originally intended. For example, would life be enjoyable if we knew everything that would happen? This question falls under the category Greg titles Narrative Anticipation. My conclusion is that I don't think it would. If I knew the future, I couldn't see myself being happier, possessing greater character, or standing stronger in my faith. 

What about surprise? Would it be lost as we sweep away uncertainty? It's exciting getting up each morning, not knowing what the day will bring; like a gift waiting to be unwrapped, we will live in anticipation to see what good thing the father has waiting for us next. And what about the joy we feel as humans when we surprise each other? My kids are ecstatic when Grandma Suzy and Poppy show up at our house unannounced to visit the grandkids. 

How about mystery? Our maker is a mystery with unfathomable depths and breadths. If the mystery was lost, would we seek him less, or would our time with him somehow be less sweet? The quiet times and places we engage with the unknown are where we ask the best questions and listen the most intently, and they are where our faith is tested and grown.

And what about our fellowship with people; would that be diminished or broken? If we knew what each other knew, would there be a need to converse? How much time would we spend together if our interactions were reduced to utility? Would we linger in someone's presence or marvel at another's thoughts?

It turns out that uncertainty has a vital role to play in creation. When God created uncertainty, untold beauty came along with it. It is a beauty that is not lost with sin but one that is sometimes twisted and contorted. God uses uncertainties to add flavor, depth, and pleasure to our time on earth; as game makers, we can do the same for the experiences we create.