Game studies

Ludologie (Latin ludus, " game", and -logy ) is the science of the game and called the young, transdisciplinary research branch, which is located at the interface of culture and structure of science with the aesthetic, cultural, communicative, technical and structural aspects of the phenomenon "game" dealing. The focus of the observation form history, development, analysis and theory of digital games.

The term is commonly used, especially in the Anglo- Saxon world, and is usually used synonymously with the term ( video ) game theory, which, however, not limited to certain game types, mathematical game theory is meant, but the much broader theory of gambling in general.

In the narrower context of the " Ludologie vs. Narratology "debate, however, referred Ludologie the paradigm in which the principle of the simulation as the core concept of the game is perceived. For this reason, the alternative is more neutral term games research (English Game Studies ) use.

History

Play is the oldest known culture phenomenon ever dar. It is not only older than language, writing and art, but even older than Homo sapiens itself, because also play many animals and use the game to the ( meta) communication with each other and with the people. The central importance of the concept 'game' is immediately evident when you consider that each person at least his first, highly formative decade of life spent mostly playing. But even for adults is institutionalized games a fixed size; so for example, fall all sports including.

Despite its thousands of years of presence in everyday life there was, however, until the mid 20th century, no significant efforts to take a more thorough investigation of the facts in attack. After the game had thus long time gefristet a shadowy existence in terms of its scientific analysis, it was finally Johan Huizinga, the first time explicitly moved there with his anthropological work Homo Ludens 1938 the academic spotlight. Following it came though isolated cases of substantial publications whose authors in how Wittgenstein ( 1950), in parts or as Caillois (1961 ), Bateson (1972 ), Suits (1978, 1995) or Sutton- Smith (1981, 1997), dealt extensively with the nature of the game, but this first rather remained the exception.

Only towards the end of the 1990s, publications began to pile up on the subject, and it formed the basis of a new scientific discipline. This was largely the increasing establishment of digital games, due to its impact on contemporary culture and their growing economic importance. The term " Ludologie " became known to a wider professional audience in 1999 by an article by Gonzalo Frasca and was subsequently accepted rapidly.

Status

The Ludologie as an independent branch of research is still in its early stages. It deals in many parts first with questions of canon formation and the agreement on basic concepts and categories. Difficult is this not only through the partly high level of interdisciplinarity, but also because of the many different forms already firmly anchored in the everyday use of different languages ​​terms whose meaning must be redefined in a scientific context. As a perfect example of this might serve the term "game" itself, through its clear delineation one is far from united. Significant contributions to the clarification of the definition question have (not to be confused with his namesake ) made ​​2003 Salen / Zimmerman and Jesper Juul.

Scientific discourse is currently dominated mainly by academics from Anglo-Saxon and Nordic countries. In particular, their efforts, for both research and teaching and the industry to create appropriate institutions and coordinate already well advanced. Apart from the high number of games specific courses, primarily in the United Kingdom and the United States, primarily the establishment of the Center for Computer Games Research at the IT University of Copenhagen (ITU ) to mention that acts as a think-tank of the European Ludologie.

In German-speaking countries, however, the self-organization of the Games Explorer is yet more binding and multidisciplinary structured. Also, there is less industry contacts, and the impact research has for political reasons more important than abroad. However, the formation of the AG is computer games of the Society for Media Studies eV is an indication that in the foreseeable future something could not change. First German professors with appropriate emphasis were also busy at the Institute for Simulation and Graphics at the University of Magdeburg and in March 2006 at the Institute for Media and Communication Studies at the Technical University of Ilmenau in December 2002.

Research content

The primary focus of the Ludologie are the digital games, what it as a mass cultural phenomenon also principled reasons are in addition to their status: The computer is considered a universal medium. This has the consequence that not only any traditional games implemented on him, simulated or can be played with computer assistance, but also a whole series of new games, partly in combination with content and techniques of other forms of media (such as literature and film), the only way possible will. This convergence trend makes digital games the ideal view object to gain general knowledge about the games. Relevant questions dealing inter alia with the following areas:

• History of the game
• Constituent elements of the game, defining the game concept
• Terminology for the description and classification of games and game genres
• Rules, game mechanics / gameplay
• Cybertext and ergodic literature, interactive narrative forms, storytelling
• Game as a simulation vs. Game as a narrative
• Rhetoric of the game and potentials of the game for political commentary
• Methodology of the design of games, game design
• Perceptual and psychological immersion, immersion levels, flow theory
• Development patterns of characters in persistent game worlds
• Learning processes in games, educational games, educational games, Stealth Teaching
• Spatial structures in digital games
• Visualization of virtual worlds
• Artificial Intelligence in Computer Games
• Human- computer interaction, interface design
• Action research, violence in computer games
• Sports and games, electronic sports
• Communities and social interaction in computer games, video game culture
• Video games as an art form and a medium of artistic expression, Machinima

Ludologie vs. narratology

As part of its birth pangs, the Games Research made ​​the luxury of a heated guided fundamental debate, their effects in the form of ideological grave struggles are partly still noticeable.

Narratologists

The starting point was the approach taken by some literature and media studies, as Janet Murray and Celia Pearce to transfer their traditional instruments for the analysis of texts to that of digital games. For this purpose, Games be declared as a further form of text, which is then followed by the well-known principles. "Text" is here understood as a communicative general concept, as a universal remedy for " construction of meaning " and thus also includes theater, film and any other narrative forms; even a game like chess is considered in this paradigm as a narrative.

Ludologen

This was rejected by the growing group of Ludologen Espen Aarseth categorically to be incorrect; Instead, they sat on the principle of simulation, of acting "as if", as the core of the game itself:

Every game after that is characterized by the following elements: rules ( the explicit rules, but also implicit rules of the game mechanics ), the game world ( a material / semiotic system ) and gameplay ( the events which result from the application of the rules to the game world and the actions of the players found ).

Discourse

The severity of the original debate can be explained primarily from its perception as a key conflict over the sovereignty of interpretation of the phenomenon of "game". The position of the narratologists was regarded by the Ludologen as an occupation attempt by the slipping over inadmissible generalized concepts of a foreign trade zone, which prompted a conscious radicalization and Polemisierung also led the argument of some Simulationnistes. Example of this is in this context relative to spillage of celebrity quote by Markku Eskelinen: "If I throw a ball at you, I do not expect you to drop it and wait until it starts telling stories. " ( "If I zuwerfe you a ball, I expect you not that you drop it and wait until it begins to tell stories. " )

Predominant in the international games research is now a moderate ludologische view. This only identifies the simulation as a basic principle of the game, the usefulness of a traditional textual analysis of game content, although quite in, but only if original narrative elements are present, which for many games, such as Chess or Tetris, is denied.