Computer game and labor in the information society

First, the article regards the variety of points of view encountered in the scientific literature on the relationship between labor and game in today's information society. It shows that along with the "positive" estimates of the changes in labor and gaming aspects of human existence which focus on the potential of games to bring new opportunities to the development of labor, there is also "negative" evaluation which highlights the danger of expansion of the game to other areas of human existence. Next, a brief analysis of the foundations of the ordinary opposition of labor and games is given. To make a contrast, the ideas of E. Fink are given. The authors give an idea of what caused the actualization of the question of the relationship between labor and game. The first reason lies in the current crisis of labor. The second reason lies in the potential of the game to solve a number of significant contradictions of labor, motivation, and social adaptation. The third reason is the importance of research of the connection of game and labor in the context of such a characteristic of activity as creativity, when labor and game almost "merge", and their opposition loses meaning. Further, the authors explore the changes in labor due to the transition to the information society. They stress that the revolution in information technology has led to the emergence of new forms of labor, new skills, new ways of making a profit. Labor becomes more intelligent, highly qualified. Labor motivation and incentives are changing. The authors conclude that in the context of the analyzed crisis of labor, a cyber game can be seen as a way to motivate and transform labor process that promotes the acquisition of a new quality of labor. The authors emphasize that in the context of contemporary problems labor creative potential of the game is understood as a means of changing the nature of the labor process. This is possible when comparing labor and computer game creativity. By comparing the creativity on representative empirical data, a conclusion is drawn that there are both similarities and differences between creative labor and game, and modern society is undergoing the fundamental process of synthesis of game and labor creativity. This conclusion is specified by allocating four main lines of combining game and labor. At the end the article the authors conclude that today there is a peculiar germination of game mechanisms in the labor process, which leads to the development of a complex and contradictory process of synthesis of game and labor, which results in new labor-gaming and gaming-labor practices. These practices, on the one hand, have a productive sense, which is characteristic for labor, and, on the other hand, they are characterized by lightness, mobility and freedom peculiar to the game. The game "mutation" labor is undergoing, like any mutation, bears the risk of degeneration and frailty, but at the same time can be a breakthrough in the evolution of human labor.

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