Press Enter or Escape to Play – Deconstructing Escapism in Multiplayer Gaming

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Warmelink Harald Harteveld Casper Mayer Igor
2009 DiGRA '09 - Proceedings of the 2009 DiGRA International Conference: Breaking New Ground: Innovation in Games, Play, Practice and Theory

The term escapism tends to be used in game research without providing any extensive definition of what it means or acknowledging its composite nature. In this paper, the authors question the possible conceptualizations of escapism and the extent to which gamers identify with them. Beginning with a theoretical deconstruction of escapism, the authors developed a framework that they applied in an empirical study with three focus groups. Respondents in these groups completed a survey and participated in a group discussion. The resulting data allowed the identification of eight different discourses of escapism in the context of playing multiplayer computer games. In addition, the study showed that citing escapism as a reason for playing games elicits debate and emotional responses. Given the existence of multiple interpretations and connotations, this paper concludes that escapism is problematic for use in surveys, interviews, and other research techniques.

 

How Serious Are Serious Games? Some Lessons From Infra-games

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Bekebrede Geertje Mayer Igor van Houten Stijn Pieter Chin Roy Verbraeck Alexander
2005 DiGRA '05 - Proceedings of the 2005 DiGRA International Conference: Changing Views: Worlds in Play

In this paper, the authors explore the possible contribution of serious games for advanced academic and/or professional learning in particular to support the decision-making and management of complex infrastructures, such as utilities, ports and wind farms. The developments of the computer industry make it more attractive to add computer technology into simulation games to make the results of the game more realistic and so achieve more learning with the participants. In the future this will be more important to make the games still attractive for the players, because they are grown up with computers, e-learning and online communication. An example of a case study of SIM Maas, a simulation game about the development of the Port of Rotterdam (PoR), will be given. This case illustrates the use of computer-based simulation-games for professional learning.