A bit of a lighter topic today: What is fun?
This seems like a simple question that would be tempting to hand-wave away as a “Well you know…” but the more I think about it the less cut and dry it seems.
Some prompts to get you thinking
-
What are the merits and purposes of fun?
-
What makes something fun? Though different people find different things fun, is there a common thread that makes those things fun?
-
Is it easier for some kinds of people to have fun than others? What kinds of situations lend themselves to fun experiences, which make them difficult?
-
Are there ways for people who have forgotten how to have fun to “get back in touch with fun?”
-
Do you think you have enough fun? Too much?
-
How much fun is the right, or a good amount?
This doesn’t explain sportball fans. Every sportball fan I see exhibits all the signs of having fun while the Big Game (or even littler games) is playing on the screen, yet there’s no challenge for them whatsoever.
I find stupid music videos fun to watch, but there’s again no challenge. (I’d say the same for the terrible movies I watch, but there is a challenge there: surviving with your sanity intact. 😉)
I guess I distinguish between “entertainment” and “fun”. I, too, am entertained by things, and being entertained is an important part of enjoying life.
As for the “sports ball” fans, the ones I know seem to know the rules, the players, player stats, team stats, the pros and cons of various plays under different circumstances, etc. As much I don’t get it, I would hardly call something passive when time is put in doing what I can only call study. There are probably a higher percentage of “critic-level” sports fans than "critic-level"movie fans. How many people can name 5 directors, 1 editor, 1 cinematographer, and 1 costumer? Contrast that to the wealth of knowledge of the average sports fan.
I’m not sure that “fun is defined as those things I consider to be fun” is a useful definition. It’s a little bit egocentric, don’t you think?
The people being “entertained” are exhibiting all the same signs and symptoms as those having “fun” by your bifurcation above. I think, barring some objective way of distinguishing between the two conditions, it’s reasonable to assume they’re the same state.
Well, I answered the questions to the best of my ability, enjoyed thinking things through enough to feel comfortable contributing, enjoyed seeing what others had to say, and feel good that I have both more awareness of the characteristics of those things I find most enjoyable and what other people think.
I deliberately left out the words “entertainment” and “fun” in that paragraph, but let me return to them now.
I don’t know enough to either agree or disagree with your contention that my separation of entertainment and fun is generally unproductive. You write of objective measures, but I don’t know if you’ve considered whether those measures might be improved. Maybe there are better terms than mine to distinguish between active enjoyment (what I call fun) and passive enjoyment (what I call entertainment). And maybe there is truly no difference in outcome.
That doesn’t change the fact that I at least think I get more enjoyment out of active engagement, even if the activity is as slight as trying to understand the specific reasons a particular movie was watched through to the end while another was turned off after 10 minutes.
I hypothesize that a complete set of measurements that captures magnitude, not just a binary state, would be able to distinguish between the passive enjoyment I get from funny animal videos, the somewhat more active enjoyment I get from analyzing a movie, and the much more active enjoyment I get from building a boat or writing a new story or writing a new program. But that is a mere suspicion and actual research would be necessary to determine the validity of that hypothesis.
I think you overestimate the average sports fan. The average sports fan isn’t the one reciting stats. They’re the one watching the game at a friend’s place, drinking beer and conversing, looking at the game only when something interesting has developed.
You could be right. I have no access to any formal study of sports fans, so I have no idea what “average” might be. As with most casual “analysis,” I’m limited by my personal experience and am projecting from that. It’s not scientifically appropriate, but if I always limit myself to the scientifically appropriate, I have no opportunity to learn from those who know better.
A much better phrasing would be “here is what I’ve learned from the sports fans I interact with…”