My talk from DiGRA FDG 2016: Analyzing idle games through the theoretical lenses of “game aesthetics” and “boundary work”, I explore how game makers intentionally or unintentionally partake in working the boundaries of “real” games.
Progress Wars: Idle Games and the Demarcation of "Real Games"
1. Sebastian Deterding (@dingstweets)
Digital Creativity Labs, University of York
DiGRA/FDG 2016, August 3, 2016
progress wars
Idle Games and the Demarcation
of “Real Games”
2. we live in a time where some reject existing notions of “games” or “gamers” …
3. … while others fiercly defend the boundaries of “Real Gamestm”
4. consalvo and paul presciently observed this process with facebook games.
5. as did bateman with game scholars & designers: “ontology entails value theory.”
10. How – through what practical and
rhetorical work – do game makers
and scholars maintain or extend
the boundary of “games”?
research question
How – through what practical and
rhetorical boundary work – do
game makers maintain or extend
the boundary of “games”?
62. summary
1. Idle games began as ironic boundary-drawing parodies that
defended a challenge aesthetic against mmorpgs, achievement
systems, facebook games, and gamification (2002-10).
2. They morphed into boundary-blurring experiments that
curiously explored the appeal of incremental mechanics (2013).
3. They solidified into a boundary-extending genre with game
makers talking normally about their business opportunities,
audiences, and design, and used an institutionalised genre label
(2014+).