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  1. Digital Arts and Literature – Is it Just a Game?

    “Games are not serious; digital art and literature are playful; therefore they are not serious”. Formulations such as these are sometimes used when discussing the playfulness of digital art and literature. The origin of this argument is based on the traditional opposition between “serious” and “playful”. Because of their interactive nature, digital art and literature have often been considered as particularly close to play - and to “mass culture”. Depending on the approaches, this proximity is interpreted as an opportunity, or as a risk, as I will show in this article.

    On the one hand, art and play are so closely related that it has become commonplace to assert: “art is play”, “play is art”. On the other hand, it seems equally impossible to deny the existence of playfulness in art and literature. Indeed, is it not one of their fundamental privileges to allow free, unselfish play with the materials, codes and conventions, while science, craft industry, and industrial design are "condemned" to produce and capitalise?

    Patricia Tomaszek - 12.01.2011 - 16:44

  2. Looking Behind the Façade: Playing and Performing an Interactive Drama

    Looking Behind the Façade: Playing and Performing an Interactive Drama

    Jörgen Schäfer - 28.06.2011 - 14:33

  3. Genre Trouble: Narrativism and the Art of Simulation

    Currently in game and digital culture studies, a controversy rages over the relevance of narratology for game aesthetics. One side argues that computer games are media for telling stories, while the opposing side claims that stories and games are different structures that are in effect doing opposite things. One crucial aspect of this debate is whether games can be said to be "texts," and thereby subject to a textual-hermeneutic approach. Here we find the political question of genre at play: the fight over the games' generic categorization is a fight for academic influence over what is perhaps the dominant contemporary form of cultural expression. After forty years of fairly quiet evolution, the cultural genre of computer games is finally recognized as a large-scale social and aesthetic phenomenon to be taken seriously. In the last few years, games have gone from media non grata to a recognized field of great scholarly potential, a place for academic expansion and recognition.

    Scott Rettberg - 09.07.2013 - 00:24

  4. Narrative Structure and Creative Tension in Call of Cthulhu

    Kenneth Hite argues that the long-running, H.P. Lovecraft-inspired Call of Cthulhu franchise differs from traditional tabletop role-playing in its focus on suspense rather than character growth. Hite's analysis suggests that in its origins and emphasis on narrative structure Cthulhu is a highly literary game.

    The source is the essay-review on www.electronicbookreview.com written by Kenneth Hite.

    Kristina Igliukaite - 11.05.2020 - 22:08

  5. On "The Haunted House"

    Keith Herber discusses how in his "Haunted House" scenario for Call of Cthulhu, characters are driven insane by their attempt to unravel the game's mysteries. Herber's explanation distinguishes his work from many other role-playing games in which the goal is to develop characters and acquire power and/or wealth. In contrast, characters in Herber's scenario are rewarded with mental instability.

    The source is the essay-review on www.electronicbookreview.com written by Keith Herber.

    Kristina Igliukaite - 11.05.2020 - 22:10

  6. On Character Creation Everway

    Jonathan Tweet explains how, unlike highly narratively structured games such as The Call of Cthulhu, the free-form, character-focused Everway includes a matrix that allows for the creation of coherent characters and productively constrains the otherwise open-ended game-play.

    The source is the essay-review on www.electronicbookreview.com written by Jonathan Tweet.

    Kristina Igliukaite - 11.05.2020 - 22:24