Playing with non-humans: digital games as technocultural form

Publication Type  Proceedings Article
Year of Publication  2005
Authors  Giddings, Seth
Conference Name  DiGRA 2005 Conference: Changing Views--Worlds in Play
Key Words  Technoculture; game studies; technological agency; actor-network theory; cyberculture; simulation; artificial intelligence; artificial life
Abstract  

Game studies has yet to engage with a sustained debate on the implications of its fundamentally technologically based foundation – i.e. the ‘digitality’ of digital games. This paper calls for such a debate and offers some initial thoughts on issues and directions. The humanities and social sciences are founded on the principle that historical and cultural agency reside solely in the human and the social. Drawing on Science and Technology Studies, Actor-Network Theory and cybercultural studies, this paper argues that a full understanding of both the playing of digital games, and the wider techno-cultural context of this play, is only possible through a recognition and theorisation of technological agency. Taking the Gameboy Advance game Advance Wars 2 as a case study, the paper explores the implications for game studies of attention to non-human agency – specifically the agency of simulation and artificial life software - in digital game play.

URL  http://www.digra.org/dl/db/06278.24323.pdf

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