G|A|M|E The Italian Journal of Game Studies (Nov 2016)
Bust A Cup: Reclaiming Risk in Play
Abstract
Our overly fearful risk society has eliminated much of the beneficial risk that should exist in contemporary games. Games that incorporate actual risk by design can help us overcome delimiting and harmful fears, habits, and laws. Riskier games expose our self-imposed limitations, creating opportunities for us to grow past them. Bust A Cup is a risky game that serves as exemplar in this paper but other games such as Brutally Unfair Tactics Totally Okay Now, Pac-Manhattan, and BorderXing Guide will also provide perspective. These games are risky by design, empowering players to engage in varying degrees of danger that may be legal, physical, and in some cases merely perceived. They reward recklessness with gameplay advantages and are as safe as players collectively decide to make them.
