An excellent article

[halodrake]

From gamedev.net on game design:
http://www.gamedev.net/reference/design/features/gati2/

It might be a bit much for some people. What do you guys think? I think he's on to something interesting here. A way of figuring out how to design games by looking at how people interact (psychologically speaking) with fictional worlds.

[Armsfeld]

Interesting article. His focus is too broad-- he should stick to one topic, such as RPG. I don't play cards with my friends to achieve catharsis. There's a lot of different reasons to play and a lot of kinds of playfulness.

Otherwise, the article is going in the right direction. There's been a lot of thought about psychological benefits and motivations in literature and entertainment. Once scholars can appreciate games in the same depth, you'll know that gaming has progressed beyond a mere industry.