How Should Games Be Analyzed?

Thanks to the Electronic Book Review for its Espen Aarseth-authored article discussing what form academic analysis of videogames should take, part of a wider academic discussion on how games should be treated. Aarseth argues of the theme-ability of games: "The 'royal' theme of the traditional pieces is all but irrelevant to our understanding of chess. Likewise, the dimensions of Lara Croft's body, already analyzed to death by film theorists, are irrelevant to me as a player, because a different-looking body would not make me play differently", before concluding: "The sheer number of students trained in film and literary studies will ensure that the slanted and crude misapplication of 'narrative' theory to games will continue and probably overwhelm game scholarship for a long time to come."

Comments

Hmmm , i beg to differ

[polyp2000]

, because a different-looking body would not make me play differently

So are you telling me that you've not played tomb raider enough to know all the best ways to get a good view of Lara Crofts tits ?

Re:Hmmm , i beg to differ

[Pluvius]

Many people would say "Oh Contraire!"

"Many people" meaning "you and about three other people"? Lara Croft moves like a shopping cart with a defective wheel.

Rob

Re:What the fuck?

[Anonymous Coward]

Hey, self-important academics and "game theorists" need something to justify their non-productive but i-know-more-than-the-developers-themselves attitude. They should be called "game auditors" :)