The Ludologist

These are some comments from my keynote at Rutger’s Extending Play conference in 2016, co-presenting with Shaka McGlotten. Hasn’t our sense of play suddenly become quite dark? There is a change in our primary conceptions of playing, and game-playing. In Brian Sutton-Smith’s Ambiguity of play, he lists 7 common rhetorics of play, meaning 7 common ways in which play is framed. When the field of game studies began, we probably used four quite positive rhetorics of play: Rhetoric of play as progress.Rhetoric of play as fate.Rhetoric of play as power.Rhetoric of play as identity.Rhetoric of play as the imaginary.Rhetoric of the self.Rhetoric of play as frivolous. This is not surprising. We emphasized learning (play as progress), playing with identity, we emphasized the positive creations of the imaginary, and we emphasized the me-time of playing (the self). But now it seems we are in a darker place. We no longer talk about smart mobs, just mobs. Related: Game Studies (anglophonie)

Flow Theory Flow theory was proposed by Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi to describe the experiences of intrinsically motivated people, those who were engaged in an activity chosen for its own sake (Csikszentmihalyi, 1975, 1997). Such activities were viewed as worth doing just for the sake of doing them rather than as means to another end. While other research on intrinsic motivation focused on behavioral outcomes, Csikszentmihalyi attempted to describe the quality of subjective experience, or how intrinsic motivation felt. Further, he sought to explain the characteristics of activities that people were intrinsically motivated to pursue, and why such activities were rewarding. Under certain conditions, people's experiences are optimal. The experience of flow is possible under certain circumstances: when individuals find the activities challenging and also believe they have the skills to accomplish them. The idea of optimal challenge is not new to the field of education. Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1975).

Writings of Mass Deduction Game Studies 2015 Self-Reflexivity and Humor in Adventure Games by Krista Bonello Rutter Giappone This article focuses on the “adventure game” genre, its metafictional humor, and tendency towards self-parody in both its formative stage and its more recent ensuing nostalgic turn, with particular reference to Zork (Infocom, 1980), LucasArts’ Monkey Island games (1990-2000), and Telltale’s parodic-nostalgic “Reality 2.0” (Sam and Max, 2007). [more] The Demarcation Problem in Multiplayer Games: Boundary-Work in EVE Online's eSport by Marcus Carter, Martin Gibbs, Michael Arnold Informal rules are fundamental to multiplayer game play. Me and Lee: Identification and the Play of Attraction in The Walking Dead by Nicholas Taylor, Chris Kampe, Kristina Bell This micro-ethnographic account of gameplay in The Walking Dead examines the shifting nature of players’ relationship with Lee Everett, the game’s protagonist. No Mastery Without Mystery: Dark Souls and the Ludic Sublime by Daniel Vella Book Reviews Call for Papers

Destructoid.com - For Gamers. By Gamers. * Game Studies - Home Welcome to the official site of the ICA Game Studies Division (GSD)! The study of games and the game experience offers opportunities for the study of human communication that involve multidisciplinary approaches that merge the disciplines of conventional communication studies and research, arts and visual design, cognitive studies, computer sciences, cultural studies, engineering social sciences, health sciences, and information design. Although the common ground for the Game Studies Division is digital and video games, the group encompasses a broad range of inquiry topics and methods. The group serves as fertile meeting ground for the exchange of ideas among a very broad spectrum of disciplines and hosts a number of activities at ICA's annual conference. As the 2015 ICA Puerto Rico conference has passed, the Division is not actively accepting paper or panel proposals. Join us! Recent News Call For Papers - Game Studies Special Issue: “WAR/GAME”

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