Game-Studies

I presented some preliminary observations on playful politics at the Sharing the Play -seminar. Here’s what I talked about. In 1938, Boston Curtis won a post of Republican committeeman for Milton. He had no election campaign, but neither did he have any opponents. The voters did not seem to be dissuaded by the fact that Boston was in fact a long-eared brown mule. Putting Boston up as a candidate was the idea of Milton’s mayor Simmons, who saw the prank as a playful critique of the primary system – he proved that people really did not know who they were voting for. But Boston is not alone in his victory over the humankind. ...

The second day of Adult Play seminar discussed sexual play, parents and mature players and understanding some basic features of games through psychophysiology and Goffmanian analysis. The day kicked off with a keynote from Ashley Brown, where she discussed the connections between play, playfulness and sex, arguing for example that good sex is playful. Keynote by Ashley Brown: play and sex are often interchangeable. Seems to check out for Huizinga #adultplay2015 ...

The first day of Adult Play seminar was an interesting combination of all kinds of different approaches to play and playfulness, and how they relate to toys, games and other playful things. The sessions from the first day touched upon DayZ, ARGs, political larp, play in the workplace, design games, talking chairs, adult toys, miniatures – and of course, the Goatse of Grief Play. The first session started with a dose of DayZ. Two different papers were presented about the zombie apocalypse game, first one by Lawrence May and focusing on how players document the game through pictures, evoking history and intertextuality while doing so, drawing upon, for example, war photography. ...

My dissertation Real-Time Hermeneutics: Meaning-Making in Ludonarrative Digital Games is now available on this website. You can easily skim it through and see if there is anything that interests you. In case you find it useful, the whole book is available for free through the University of Jyväskylä publication archive. Like everything else on this site, the version you find here is available with a Creative Commons license. Drop me a comment if you find the text interesting. ...

Here is a sneak-peek into my dissertation, which will soon be published by the University of Jyväskylä. In this chapter, I argue that there are some things that are best expressed by games. In addition to the features that games have in common with other media, they are also apt in expressing ideas in particular ways. One of the ways this works is through what Bogost (2007, p. 85) calls the rhetoric of failure: ...

Deus Ex: Human Revolution starts with an explosive start that shatters the life Adam Jensen was trying to build, and launches him into a career of chasing down a conspiracy. In doing so, the player guides Jensen through many types of activities, most having to do with sneaking around and taking down enemies with his cybernetic powers. While doing the core activities of the game, the player is rewarded with experience. Shoot an enemy and you are rewarded with 10 points. Choke them unconscious and get 50 points. Experience is also awarded from things like exploring the game world and finishing quests, or to put it in other words, being thorough. More experience may be lurking in any nook or cranny. ...