Page 107 - AC/E Digital Culture Annual Report

Thanks to technology, games have become an activity that is present everywhere, from our sitting room to train carriages. Thanks to video games, nowadays we play alone on our computer or mobile and have also created new ways of playing with others via the digital media – such as massively multiplayer online games, where hundreds of people in di erent countries engage in play together in virtual worlds. Like any new technology or medium, even today video games still have something of a reputation for beinga waste of time, a form of entertainment that rots players’ brains. It is easy to see that these attitudes are not very di erent from the opinion people had of chivalric novels in Don Quixote’s day. But just as chivalric novels have become a prestigious literary genre over time, so too are video games gradually shedding the prejudices of the old guard and are on the road to becominga fully legitimate form of communication and artistic expression. This process also calls for traditional games to be viewed as an essential part of culture, as they are a social activity with a shared point of reference. As we shall see in this article, games – both digital and traditional – are clearly already part of the cultural discourse. In particular, we will examine how video gamesare giving rise to new forms of creation and expression that are also becoming incorporated into other aspects of art and culture.Games are already part of cultureBack in the thirteenth century, King Alfonso X the Wise gave orders for one of the most im- portant historical documents in the eld of game studies to be written, El Libro de los Juegos (The Book of Games). The fact that the subject of board games should have been included among the writings commissioned by Alfonso X along with poetry, scienti c, legal and historical texts is a good indication that compiling the rules of these games was already part of Spain’s cultural heritage. This rst encyclopaedia of games was furthermore multicultural, as it featured those of the Muslim kingdoms.Chess problem number 35, from The Book of Games.The study of games as part of culture tradition- ally falls within the realms of anthropology and history. One of the rst authors who are usually cited in the eld of game studies is Johan Huiz- inga, whose book Homo Ludens (1938) explores the role of games as a ritual activity, arguing that ludic activities precede culture, so that cultural activities such as festivals, sports competitions and poetry derive from the divide between ritual and everyday life.Video games are giving rise to new forms of creation and expression that are becoming incorporated into other aspects of art and culture.We can also see how games are part of every region’s folklore, if we note how the rules for di erent card or board games are handed down from generation to generation along with each society’s nursery rhymes, traditions and myths. Alfonso X’s book describes the games of his own day, but these games have continued to evolve over time, incorporating variations and new rules. Packs of cards and game boards with the Game of the Goose on one side and Ludo on the other have been as common in Spanish homes as spouted wine pitchers, and every family has its own particular rules.Following in Huizinga’s footsteps, Roger Caillois (1961: 11–36) o ers a classi cation of games,AC/E DIGITAL CULTURE ANNUAL REPORT 2017107Smart culture. Analysis of digital trends