Jan 20, 2006

Homo Ludens affairs

Despite the popular / mainstream perception of video games as simple consumer entertainment products, I do believe they are art. Art in its infancy perhaps, but art nonetheless. Carolyn Handler Miller (best known as a screenwriter) author of ‘Digital Storytelling – a creators guide to interactive entertainment’ seems to agree with my views. This is the reason I am presenting her book.(By the way its ISBN is 024080510 in case you were wondering)


‘Digital Storytelling – a creators guide to interactive entertainment’, is an important contribution to the theory of play and fun, but also a scholarly analysis of interactive media (ranging from video games to interactive TV and the Internet). C.H. Miller provides a storyteller’s guide (not the White Wolf kind mind you) which is more of a historical-theoretical approach than a strict how-to, even though she covers (through case studies) the whole interactive storytelling process from concept to completion. The way I see it, such books are almost a must-read for relevant artists, researchers and even gamers. This book in particular is definitely one of the most complete ones in its field and therefore highly recommended.

The book is divided in four parts, the first being ‘New technologies, new creative opportunities’, the second ‘Creating entertainment rich environments’, the third ‘Media and models: under the hood’ and the fourth ‘Career consideration’. ‘Digital Storytelling – a creators guide to interactive entertainment’ spans 472 pages and is published by Elsevier and Focal Press. For further information visit Elsevier’s relevant webpage.

For further reading try ‘Homo Ludens’ and ‘Theory of fun for game design’.

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