Can we have fun without ratings?

Last night I was at a friend's house with a bunch of other people. After dinner, a couple of them started playing this playstation game called Pop Star! For the uninitiated (as I was), the game involves singing into a microphone to a backing track, just like karaoke, but the game measures how on pitch you are and scores you as you go. It sounds dry and dull but it's actually a hoot! You can battle it out head to head against a friend, sing duets, even play pass the mic or sing medleys.

One of the other people there was originally trained in Music Education (whatever that is), which made me very self-conscious since like most people I can hold a tune but I'm not exactly Pavarotti, and in the Modern World, you're not supposed to show off your mediocre talents. But she pointed out to me that the most important part of music is participation, not perfection, which soothed my ego enough for me to continue.

I had a great time, but like all overeducated westerners, I subsequently succumbed to the temptation to analyse the situation in greater depth. So I got to thinking, isn't it great that the kind folks at Sony (or whoever developed the game) have brought that community attitude back into our jaded, participationless lives? Perhaps this will really change the way people think of their interaction with music. And then I thought a bit harder and thought that it was really depressing that in order to cajole us into singing we had to be told who 'won'. We had to have scores, games, gimmicks. Isn't that sad? It takes the whole point out of it. We might as well just play first-person shooters.

But then, after a good night's sleep, I decided that it probably doesn't matter. I had fun.

Pop Star! Play it if you can!