Comments on: Are Games Media or Design Objects?

By: Kars

Kars — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 08:37:24 +0000

Thanks Noël, glad you find these notes useful. Do you write about these kinds of things at Bashers?

By: Noël Hamer

Noël Hamer — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 08:49:02 +0000

I’m glad to see such a clear explanation of what I think is a very important point of view. I also think it’s far more interesting to look at games in this way. I’ll keep this post in mind when I want to explain this thought.

By: Kars

Kars — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 15:02:28 +0000

Digital games as we know them now are weird hybrids. Ultimately, they can be either media, objects or both. The most important thing is to be aware of these different perspectives, and not be limited by just one frame. Since ‘games as media’ is such a dominant frame at the moment, I tend to highlight others. But it would be a mistake to say they can’t be media, it’s more interesting to look at how they can be media, and how they can be other things (objects, rituals, habits, toys, etc.)

By: Federico Fasce

Federico Fasce — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 08:56:01 +0000

I think I'm with you with this. And I'm saying that despite my idea is that games are a very good way to deliver a message through mechanic and to be experiential spaces. But, as you say, they are more a tool where meaning can emerge.

In this sense, I think it could be right to say that games, per se, are not a medium, but that game mechanic could be used as a medium to convey a message and a point of view and to make the player experience that. Just like Ian Bogost says in Persuasive Games. I'm also thinking Brenda Brathwaite's Train.

So, I will say that games are not media, but they could be the container of an experiential medium. Can we say the same thing in a clearer way?