From interactivity to playability

This paper discusses the similarities and differences between participatory, interactive, and playable art. It suggests that computer games can provide novel perspectives on interactivity in interactive art. The paper also proposes that the implications of computer games to interactive art extend beyond whatever purpose and value computer games are perceived as having as products of popular culture

Dos Espaços de Jogo aos Mundos Jogáveis

In this paper I will critically examine the phenomenological underpinnings of what we might call the ‘spatiality paradigm’ in computer game studies – the project of using spatial metaphors and terminology to understand computer game play. Drawing on the (post-)phenomenological tradition, I argue that while this terminology is useful foranalytic projects seeking to shed light on the structure and form of the game artifact and the processes it facilitates, spatial notions do not necessarily resonate with the first-person experience of computer game play, especially in cases of playing games of genres which do not rely on simulated locomotion and proprioception in three-dimensionally modeled space. Furthermore, I argue that the differences between single-player and multi-player games – namely that single-player games can be described, using Ihde’s framework of intentionality relations, as situating in ‘alterity relations’ and multi-player games in ‘relations of mediation’ – further complicate the issue of spatiality in computer games. Given these observations, I suggest that whereas the spatial notions appear problematic for the purpose of first-person description of the experience of playing single-player computer games, the notion of ‘game world’ seems more accurate a description of that with which the players are engaged with.Este artigo examina criticamente os fundamentos fenomenológicos daquilo que podemos chamar de “paradigma da espacialidade” no estudo dos videogames – o projeto de se utilizar metáforas e terminologias espaciais para compreender a atividade de jogo. Apoiando-me na tradição (pós)fenomenológica, argumento que, embora essa terminologia seja útil para projetos analíticos que busquem elucidar a estrutura e forma do artefato de jogo, bem como os processos que facilitam, noções espaciais não necessariamente se adequam ao aspecto de primeira-pessoa que constitui a experiência de se jogar um videogame – especialmente nos casos de jogos que não se sustentam em locomoção e propriocepção simuladas em espaços tridimensionais. Além disso, debato que as diferenças entre jogos para um jogador e jogos multiplayer – ou seja, que jogos para um jogador podem ser descritos, usando o enquadramento de relações de intencionalidade de Ihde, como situados em “relações de alteridade”, e jogos multiplayer em “relações de mediação” – complicam ainda mais a questão da espacialidade nos videogames. Dadas essas observações, sugiro que, se noções espaciais parecem problemáticas para a descrição da experiência em primeira-pessoa de se jogar videogames para um jogador, a noção de ‘mundo de jogo’ parece mais precisa para designar aquilo com o que os jogadores se envolvem

Pętla śmierci jako komponent

Esej zawiera rozważania teoretyczne na temat możliwości interpretacji jednoosobowych gier komputerowych. Autor za punkt wyjścia głównego wywodu obrał specyficzna sytuacje, w której znalazł się podczas indywidualnej rozgrywki w Fallout: New Vegas, a którą nazywa „pętlą śmierci”. Proponowane w tekście rozwiązania metodologiczne zachęcają, by to, co nazywamy jednoosobowymi grami komputerowymi, postrzegać nieco inaczej, niż klasycznie pojmowane gry; w tym celu stworzona zostaje kategoria „grywalnego artefaktu”, pozwalająca zdaniem autora zwrócić uwagę na kwestie materialności i procesu, niedostatecznie naświetlone przez tzw. „ludologiczną doktrynę interpretacji”. Filozoficznym kontekstem dla rozważań autora jest m. in. myśl J.-P. Sartre’a, za pomocą której przybliżona została kluczowa dla niniejszego tekstu dynamika relacji między graczem a „grywalnym artefaktem”.Assuming its premise in the experience of being stuck in a death loop in Fallout: New Vegas (2010), this essay theorises the possibilities of interpretation in single-player computer game play. This amounts to a critical examination of the paradigmatic approach of interpreting computer games as games accessible for analysis and critique through ‘research-play’. Comparing the role of rules in the activity facilitated by ‘playable artefacts’ like single-player computer games or pinball machines to rules in traditional, or more accurately “transmedial” (Juul 2003) games, the essay questions the feasibility of considering computer games ‘games’ and suggests that a defining characteristic of ‘playable artefacts’ is to be found from the relationship between materiality and process. Situating playable artefacts in the context of post-phenomenological philosophy of technology, the essay differentiates between attitudes of player, designer, and a scholar. The essay argues that analysis of playable artefacts as ‘games’ is reductive and can be justified only from the perspectives of a player and a game design researcher. Based on analysis of how playable artefacts become meaningful through material resistance, the essay reconfirms the feasibility of the methodological programme of ‘research-play’ while calling for its re-contextualization in relation to authentic interpretation and empathy

Common interleukin-6 promoter variants associate with the more severe forms of distal interphalangeal osteoarthritis

INTRODUCTION: The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship of the IL-6 promoter variants G-597A, G-572C and G-174C (rs1800797, rs1800796 and rs1800795, respectively), which have been shown to affect both the transcription and secretion of IL-6, to symptomatic distal interphalangeal (DIP) osteoarthritis (OA). METHODS: A total of 535 women aged 45 to 63 years were included. Radiographs of both hands were taken and each DIP joint was evaluated (grade 0 to 4) for the presence of OA. Information on symptoms (pain, tenderness) in each joint was collected by using a self-administered questionnaire. Symptomatic DIP OA was defined by the presence of both radiographic findings of grade 2 or more and symptoms in at least two DIP joints, and symmetrical DIP OA by the presence of radiographic findings of grade 2 or more in at least one symmetrical pair of DIP joints. Common polymorphic loci in the IL-6 gene were amplified and the promoter haplotypes were reconstructed from genotype data with the PHASE program. Logistic regression analysis was used to examine the association between the IL-6 genotypes/diplotypes and the DIP OA outcome. RESULTS: The G alleles of two promoter single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) G-597A and G-174C were more common among the subjects with symptomatic DIP OA than among those with no disease (P = 0.020 and 0.024, corrected for multiple testing). In addition, the carriage of at least one G allele in these positions increased the risk of disease (P = 0.006 and P = 0.008, respectively). Carrying a haplotype with the G allele in all three promoter SNPs increased the risk of symptomatic DIP OA more than fourfold (odds ratio (OR) 4.45, P = 0.001). Carriage of the G-G diplotype indicated an increased risk of both symmetrical DIP OA (OR 1.52, 95% confidence interval 1.01 to 2.28) and symptomatic DIP OA (OR 3.67, 95% confidence interval 1.50 to 9.00). CONCLUSION: The present study showed that the presence of G alleles at common IL-6 polymorphic promoter loci was associated with the more severe DIP OA outcomes, symmetrical and symptomatic

The game itself?:Towards a Hermeneutics of Computer Games

In this paper, we reassess the notion and current state of ludohermeneutics in game studies, and propose a more solid foundation for how to conduct hermeneutic game analysis. We argue that there can be no ludo-hermeneutics as such, and that every game interpretation rests in a particular game ontology, whether implicit or explicit. The quality of this ontology, then, determines a vital aspect of the quality of the analysis