[-empyre-] The Playsthetics of Experimental Digital Games: Week 2 subtopics and questions

[Sandra Danilovic]

Dear All, 

Following my introduction of Week 2 guests last night, I invite Lynn Hughes, Matt Wells and Sebastian Deterding to dig into the questions and subtopics below. All empyre guests are welcome to respond. 

Feel free to hack, reframe, or consolidate my questions in relation to your respective areas of expertise and epistemological positions.  


Week 2 (March 10-16): Lynn Hughes, Matt Wells, Sebastian Deterding

Subtopics: 

Games traversing a variety of assumed or perceived ontological boundaries (ex: body and environment, art and games, ludus and paidia, digital and nondigital, matter and meaning, subjective and objective, human and animal, animate and inanimate, etc.)  
Investigating gamification and ludification in relation to “experimental” games or experimentation with games
Retro games aesthetics and the historical evolution of games in relation to experimental game design 
 
Questions:

Lynn: How are games traversing, transgressing, erasing or enacting assumed/perceived ontological boundaries? What are some intersections between embodied gaming, experimentation with/through games, post-digitality and art? How is embodied gaming putting pressure on theories of representation and/or simulation? What kinds of (ontological or other) interventions can be made with embodied gaming? 

Matt: How is the historical evolution of games related to experimental game design practices?  How are "retro" game aesthetics impacting contemporary game discourses?  

Sebastian: How are "experimental" games and experimental game design related to gamified contexts and the ludification of culture?  


I am really looking forward to everyone's reflections! 
 
Cheers, 
Sandra


Sandra Danilovic, BFA, MA, SSHRC Doctoral Fellow
Faculty of Information, University of Toronto
http://current.ischool.utoronto.ca/students/sandra-danilovic