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Book synopsis

For many players, games are entertainment, diversion, relaxation, fantasy. But what if certain games were something more than this, providing not only outlets for entertainment but a means for creative expression, instruments for conceptual thinking, or tools for social change? In Critical Play, artist and game designer Mary Flanagan examines alternative games -- games that challenge the accepted norms embedded within the gaming industry -- and argues that games designed by artists and activists are reshaping everyday game culture. Flanagan provides a lively historical context for critical play through twentieth-century art movements, connecting subversive game design to subversive art: her examples of "playing house" include Dadaist puppet shows and The Sims. She looks at artists' alternative computer-based games and explores games for change, considering the way activist concerns -- including worldwide poverty and AIDS -- can be incorporated into game design. Arguing that this kind of conscious practice -- which now constitutes the avant-garde of the computer game medium -- can inspire new working methods for designers, Flanagan offers a model for designing that will encourage the subversion of popular gaming tropes through new styles of game making, and proposes a theory of alternate game design that focuses on the reworking of contemporary popular game practices.

Book details

Book category Books in English Computing & information technology Computer programming / software development Games development & programming

• Full title: Critical Play
• Author: Mary Flanagan
• Language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 362
• EAN: 9780262518659
• ISBN: 0262518651
• ID: 01288921
• Publisher: MIT Press Ltd
• Weight: 594 g
• Dimensions: 221 × 170 × 20 mm
• Date of publishing: 08. February 2013

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