1,720,982 research outputs found
Homo Ludens 2.0 The Ludic Turn in Media Theory
No full textIncluding those among you who do not engage in media studies will
be familiar with today’s subject – the concept of play. Just open your
newspaper and see how this concept imposes itself, both in word
and image. Take for example the Dutch cabinet formation in 2010:
“Formation rules out of date” de Volkskrant announces. And NRC
Next points out that the “formation game is not played properly” and
that the process shows signs of “rough play.” Imagery in de Volkskrant
similarly uses the play metaphor to denote the political situation.
Wilders is depicted as a puppeteer pulling the strings at whim while
the political arena is reduced to his playground. Rules: No Muslims, no
leftist elite and no judges. Closing time - or how long will this cabinet
stay in power? – ask it to Mr. Wilders. A second example – this time from the field of media studies –
is offered by the film Slumdog Millionaire (Boyle 2008). It is remarkable
that this particular film was the big winner at the Academy Awards
– the Oscars – in 2009. Suspense in the film largely depends on the
format of a major television genre, the game show, and more specifically
the quiz show: the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? At
the beginning of the film we have an opening ritual that introduces
protagonist Jamal Malik, which is followed by the actual game, the quiz,
while the film ends with a closing ritual showing how the winner Jamal
is congratulated by the presenter and handed a check with the amount
of money he has won. Media scholar John Fiske calls this format of
“ritual-game-ritual” (1987a, 265) an enactment of capitalist ideology.
The suggestion is made that – no matter the differences – everyone
would have the same opportunities. That differences in the standard of
knowledge are often associated with differences in social backgrounds
would thus be hidden from view. This is indeed how the film could be
interpreted. The people in the film who in increasing numbers follow
the show watch in amazement as Jamal correctly answers each new
question yet again. But director Danny Boyle plays a double game.
Ingeniously he interweaves the storyline of the quiz with the narrative
of Jamal’s life. By thus addressing Jamal’s social background he manages
to show the film’s audiences how this ‘bum’ from the slums gleaned his
superb knowledge from the streets to win the quiz show. These two examples highlight most of the features of the play concept that I want to discuss today: the importance of rules, the
idea that rules can be changed, the playful nature of cultural domains
such as politics and media, the understanding that play is often less
open than it looks (it is Mr. Wilders’s playground), the international
popularity of game shows, the cultural significance of play, and so on
Game Studies
Full text linkThis entry describes game studies as a dynamic interdisciplinary field of academic study and research that focuses on digital games and play in a wide variety of social and cultural contexts. It examines the history of game studies from its prehistory, when games were looked at as part of other disciplines, to the period when game studies became a discipline or field of its own, and then to the period when interdisciplinarity became dominant. Although game studies is traditionally concerned exclusively with digital games, it increasingly uses its theoretical perspective and concepts (e.g., game, play, and playfulness) to interpret society and culture at large. This not only offers new opportunities for the study of human communication and interaction, but also challenges the core identity of game studies
The City Game Fit: The Reverse Engineering of Urban Games
No full textWith the increasing mobility and connectivity of technological devices in smart cities, games are also used to address urban challenges like citizenship or equality. In my thesis, I argue that the design of many of these game solutions does not fit the challenge they try to address. For example, Pokémon Go ultimately became more a social facilitator than a pure for-profit app, while Geocaching for education purposes has proven ineffective. In order to assess the efficacy of the design of these solutions and suggest future improvements, I introduce an interdisciplinary method called ‘The Action Space Analysis’ which can be used to measure and judge how well the design fits with a challenge.
First, I suggest a perspective on game design focused on the acceptance that whatever possible actions are contained in the game, some player will play them. Secondly, the city challenges are understood as the pursuit of a city model, an understanding of how you want the city to be. The action space analysis takes a game design and uncovers all possible actions of the game to check and score how well these actions fit the city model pursued. This checks how present the possibility is of players performing the desired actions from the city model. I check this for Geocaching, Ontdek Overvecht, Cities: Skylines, and Pokémon Go. The action space analysis works as validation method that allows designers to improve their games, critics to analyse city solutions better, and municipalities to pass informed judgment on suggested solutions
- …
