TY - JOUR

T1 - Introduction

A2 - Lushetich, Natasha

A2 - Fuchs, Mathias

PY - 2016/8/1

Y1 - 2016/8/1

N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

KW - Cultural studies

KW - Game Studies

KW - PERFORMANCE

KW - Ludology

KW - Philosophy

KW - Game Art

KW - Games

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84978296394&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1080/13528165.2016.1192860

DO - 10.1080/13528165.2016.1192860

M3 - Journal articles

VL - 21

SP - 1

EP - 7

JO - Performance Research

JF - Performance Research

SN - 1352-8165

IS - 4

ER -