Game of Life?

Following on from last week’s presentation on the Aesthetics of Digital Literature, guest speaker, Steve Conway, gave an in depth presentation on Games Studies.

I will be the first to admit that the concept of “Gaming” scares me – not for any moral reason, just principally I am very bad at it! Computer games, far from giving me a feeling of immersion, tend to make me both nauseous and sleepy!

Discussing cultural historian, Johan Huizinga’s, 1938 book, Homo Ludens, Conway introduced the concept of “Play Theory”.

Although Video Gaming has a relatively short history in the scheme of “Play”, it often follows the same principles; the “Magic Circle”, “temporary worlds, within the ordinary world”, are something that people can universally understand.

But what is the cultural impact of online gaming? The “Magic Circle” now encompasses the Global Village; how does cultural identity affect the way we now play?

This is a question I will look to approach in a later blogpost.

The immersive nature of online gaming - the draw of online worlds which almost mirror our own, but with the safety of not leaving your front door, not having to physically interact. The temporary worlds are now blurring with the real, and Gaming maybe something we all have to entertain in the future as a part of social integration?

Perhaps with the crack down on adult content in Second Life and similar MMORPG’s, maybe it’s time to return to Gaming in the “ordinary world”?
http://www.secondlifeupdate.com/news-and-stuff/no-more-sex-in-second-life-linden-lab-cracks-down-on-adult-content/

I leave you with The Onion’s piece on Warcraft allowing Gamers to play a character playing Warcraft!


'Warcraft' Sequel Lets Gamers Play A Character Playing 'Warcraft'

I'm going to dust off my ZX Spectrum Plus!

V out!