What is a Game?

It is common knowledge nowadays that video games belong to specific genres like literature. The first idea which comes in our mind talking about video games and genres might be the differentiation between different types of games like “adventure games”, “action games” and “strategy games”. This categorisation is also mentioned in “What Is a Game? General Models of Understanding Games/ The Issue of Games” by Egenfeldt-Nielsen. Nevertheless, the author does also focus on further differentiations. As he mentions in this chapter, games can be seen as culture and arts as well as function as a communication medium. Especially these ideas are very interesting and might need to be discussed in our upcoming sessions. They indicate that games are more than entertainment: they seem to affect our everyday life. As mentioned in the text they require time as well as affect our moods and behaviours (25). Consequently it can be said that the categorization of video games does not only deal with different genres like adventure or strategy, but the affects they have on the gamers. Now we have entered a new field of new media which will be interesting to analyse.

Egenfeldt-Nielsen, Simon. “What is a Game?”. Understanding Video Games: The Essential Introduction. New York: Routledge. 2008, 22-44. Print.