In this study I will suggest a theory of the avatar in singleplayer computer games1, and discuss how avatar-based games are different from other kinds of computer games as well as from other kinds of media. I believe that a closer study of the role of the avatar will cast light on some of the central aesthetic parameters that structure both how we play and why we play computer games. This knowledge will also have potential implications for our understanding of other formats and genres in the wider domain of digital media and culture.

The aim of this study has been to describe what the avatar is, how it structures our play and our participation with a fictional world, and how avatar-based singleplayer computer games are different from other kinds of singleplayer games; the avatar exploits the concretising realism of the computer as a simulating machine, and situates us in a gameworld via prosthetic and fictional embodiment. Read more...

This report discusses some issues concerning serious games, that is, (digital) games used for purposes other than mere entertainment. The starting point is the serious games concept itself, and what the actually means. Further, serious games allow learners to experience situations that are impossible in the real world for reasons of safety, cost, time, etc., but they are also claimed to have positive impacts on the players’ development of a number of different skills. Subsequently, some possible positive (and negative) impacts of serious games are discussed. Further, some of the markets such games are used in are considered here, including, military games, government games, educational games, corporate games, and healthcare games. This report also identifies some (mainly academic) actors in the North American and the European serious games market. This report is part of the DISTRICT (Developing Industrial Strategies Through Innovative Cluster and Technologies) project: Serious Games Cluster and Business Network (SER3VG), which is part of the Interreg IIIC Programme.