I thought the reading were informative but rather difficult to understand. I guess because I do not view games the same ways as the authors of these articles do. Games, to me, are not aesthetically pleasing.. Yes the boards that weiqi is played on and the Chinese cards are beautiful. However, the meaning of beautiful, to me, is not things with a pretty design. Beauty, and the horror, comes from the people that are playing the game. A game or games are just objects, it is just an immobile thing. People give it life and a purpose. And i think that is where an issue arises, is that people put purpose, life into games to the point that it can harm. I have seen people end friendships because they were playing a game, whether board or video, because that person did or did not win. Games are to bring people together, and allow the telling of stories and the creation of memories. Not for competition and fighting. However, fighting and human error are the reasons for why, i think, games are lost and forgotten. We forget beauty, we forget honesty and more importantly we forget fun. A game is fun, not a strategy for war, or proof of intelligence or wealth. It is a game, that’s all it is.

Favorite image is the Weiqi article in the Art of Contest, it is 15.11 called The Broken Tryst. I just love how different it is from the rest of the images. I was not focus on the weiqi board, i was focused on her and the candle. To see a woman by herself in this painting is amazing, because most paintings of this time did not have women by themselves. they were always in groups or with other men. And the meaning and purpose of the game changed, it means romance and love, and even happiness.