Introduction

Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

Authors

Game structures and rule-systems for games are the formal backbone of activities that can be described as play. Even though the understanding of what a game is, differs amongst narratologists, ludologists, game theorists, economists, performing arts scholars and philosophers, there is some common ground: Rules and structures are as essential for ludic interaction as is the permanent deconstruction of the systems of rules. It is essential for the viral qualities of play and for the social processes constituted by play, that the rules are changing and that structures can be skewed, inverted, distorted or dissolved. When we speak about games here, we are not thinking of board games or computer games only, we rather extend the field following „family resemblances“ (German: “Familienähnlichkeiten”) as Wittgenstein called the relation of activities, rule systems, modes of usage and aesthetic form, that can not be captured under one overarching structural bracket. (Wittgenstein 2001) Entire fields of human endeavour have been subsumed under the term “game”; art in the case of Marcel Duchamp, social performance in the case of Pierre Bourdieu and language in the case of Ludwig Wittgenstein. Game structures – recurrent, interactional procedures with semi-predictable results –have appeared in many forms: as methods of communication (inter-species play), as cognitive practices (koans, riddles), as creative procedures (frottage, exquisite corpse), as sensorial titillation (seduction), as a military strategy (game theory), as a form of resistance (culture jamming). The scope of what we consider a “game” today seems to have widened not only because of our world has become more playful – if it has -, but also driven by cultural dynamics that Joost Raessens calls “ludification” (Raessens 2006) and by the demands of industry and global markets that ask for the gamification of work, health, politics wellness (McGonigal 2012) , education (Zichermann & Lindner 2013) and governance (Cordis 2012) . Whether we like it or not, gamification takes place. That is why the issues of game structures become central to the understanding of society, and not for the understanding of games only.
Original languageEnglish
JournalPerformance Research
Volume21
Issue number4
Pages (from-to)1-7
Number of pages7
ISSN1352-8165
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 01.08.2016

Recently viewed

Researchers

  1. David Löw Beer

Publications

  1. Environmental Indicators for Business
  2. Transformations of pesticides in the atmosphere
  3. Application of Adaptive Element-Free Galerkin Method to Simulate Friction Stir Welding of Aluminum
  4. Mythos als Aufklärung
  5. From the lab to the field
  6. Global trait–environment relationships of plant communities
  7. Global Theories of Regionalism
  8. Moving beyond the heuristic of creative destruction
  9. Rebound effects
  10. Stichwort
  11. Ob man etwas tun kann oder nicht, ist eine rein mechanische oder materielle Frage
  12. Between Usability and Trustworthiness-The Potential of Information Transfer Using Digital Information Platforms for Refugees
  13. Coping with distance learning during COVID-19 and its impact on students' emotional experiences
  14. Integration of prosumer peer-to-peer trading decisions into energy community modelling
  15. How much does agriculture depend on pollinators?
  16. Special Issue: Embracing Contrarian Thinking
  17. Handwerk hacken
  18. The blue-collar brain
  19. Effectiveness of E-Self-help Interventions for Curbing Adult Problem Drinking
  20. Der Sandbox Innovation Process: Wie Vielfalt in Open-Innovation-Communities genutzt werden
  21. A Performance Motivator in one Country, A Non-Motivator in Another?
  22. Gender Representation in Selected EFL Textbooks
  23. Numerical study of electrode vaporization rates in an Automotive HVDC Relay in hydrogen and open air in a short circuit situation
  24. Health literacy action framework for health emergencies and infodemics
  25. Need for cognition, academic self-efficacy and parental education predict the intention to go to college – evidence from a multigroup study