Simon Ferrari

In his 2007 book Persuasive Games, Ian Bogost expounds at length his problem with the term “serious games.” The term was coined in order to define games whose topics were serious things such as economics, or ecology, whose purpose was first and foremost to emphasize their educational and institutional orientation. The problem with “serious games” is that the title implies that whoever used it was defining themselves in opposition to games that lacked the adjective, a distinction that made “regular” games appear light and frivolous, whereas serious games came off as ponderous and pretentious. If the term must be used, he decided, let it be used for games that draw attention to underlying structures, or call for a greater attention to detail. But he’d prefer to use different terms entirely. Continue Reading →