I am not a particularly sporty person, I don't enjoy football, I occasionally watch tennis, I'd rather poke my eyes out than watch snooker. However the two sports I do enjoy are Rugby and Formula One.

Being a welshman I think it is almost genetic to be a fan of rugby, and having followed this years world cup closely I can say that the final was atrocious. Both England and South Africa played a boring game and in all fairness to South Africa they deserved to win, whenever they did try and increase the tempo of the game England would come in and play its trump card of kicking the ball into touch...sigh. I am unashamed to say I never want England to win, it's like how England never want France to win, however amusingly allot of English people I know find it odd that the rest of the U.K really don't like to see England win anything. Maybe it's the fact that our history is steeped in English oppression of maybe it's that we enjoy being the small plucky countries standing up to the big school yard bully.

Tomorrow (checks the time), today is the day when Lewis Hamilton can make my weekend complete by winning the world championship in formula one, the man has had a meteoric rise to fame and I think he's an absolute cracker of a driver. Furthermore anything to see that smug look wiped off of Fernando Alonso's face will make me a happy man. The conduct between the Mclaren drivers again makes me think of school yard taddle tales and running to the head master. I often wonder what it would be like if people were allowed to duel eachother, knowing that your aggresie (if thats even word, it's late!) can at anytime challenge you to death would put an end to allot of the bickering that frequents (word of the day) the sporting world.

Thinking of this I turned my mind to video games, I have always been intrigued with developing a form of game in which the idea of competition arises without the need for conflict. However the more one looks into human thinking and behaviours the more we see that it is against our very nature to completly avoid conflict. It is what fuels our competitive drive and encourages us to succeed. Even in games such as Guitar Hero or Nintendogs there is always that conflict present where the player wishes to outdo someone of something in reach of a goal. Be it playing more notes than a friend or getting your dog to sit more times than an NPC mutt. Whilst these things may not be seen as conflict in a more accepted sense (e.g. War, killing etc.) they still remain a vehicle from which competition arises through the need to engage in conflict with some external entity.

My thinking on this subject is very much in the infantile stages, and I am far too tired to properly engage in a discussion, however the desire to find a way to eliminate conflict from a game whilst ensuring it's integrity has intrigued me into pursuing this line of enquiry further, stay tuned.