Digital games are commonly described as phenomena that combine aesthetic, social and technological elements, yet our understanding of the aesthetic element of games and play is perhaps the least developed of all. All too often, an aesthetics perspective within game studies and design discourses is relegated to a marginal role, by conflating game aesthetics with graphics and "eye candy," or by limiting aesthetic discussion to graphic style analysis or debates on the question "are games art?" Changing game technologies, as well as arguments from within philosophy, psychology, interaction design theory and cultural theory, call for us to examine the implicit and explicit assumptions we make when we write about aesthetics within game studies research, as a prelude to reclaiming a perspective that will allow us to better understand the way in which games function as sites for sensory and embodied play, creative activity and aesthetic experience.

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Breaking New Ground: Innovation in Games, Play, Practice and Theory. Proceedings of DiGRA 2009

© 2009 Authors & Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA). Personal and educational classroom use of this paper is allowed,

commercial use requires specific permission from the author.

What We Talk About When We Talk About Game

Aesthetics

Simon Niedenthal

Malmö University

School of Arts and Communication

Malmö, Sweden

simon.niedenthal@k3.mah.se

ABSTRACT

Digital games are commonly described as phenomena that

combine aesthetic, social and technological elements, yet

our understanding of the aesthetic element of games and

play is perhaps the least developed of all. All too often, an

aesthetics perspective within game studies and design

discourses is relegated to a marginal role, by conflating

game aesthetics with graphics and "eye candy," or by

limiting aesthetic discussion to graphic style analysis or

debates on the question "are games art?" Changing game

technologies, as well as arguments from within philosophy,

psychology, interaction design theory and cultural theory,

call for us to examine the implicit and explicit assumptions

we make when we write about aesthetics within game

studies research, as a prelude to reclaiming a perspective

that will allow us to better understand the way in which

games function as sites for sensory and embodied play,

creative activity and aesthetic experience.

Author Keywords

Game Aesthetics, Game Design

Introduction: Aesthetics and Discomfort

Digital games exist in the realm of art and aesthetic

experience. This assertion is not just a pitch for greater

social credibility; rather, it reflects the current

understanding within the discipline of game studies, and is

a regular topic of discussion in the game design industry.

One notable formulation for describing games in their

fullness and complexity (taken, in this case, from the

program of the Digital Games Research Association

(DiGRA) game studies conference) is that they are an

"aesthetic, social and technological phenomenon" [ 8] . But,

though it could be argued that this statement now

constitutes common knowledge about games, it is still not

completely clear what we mean when we talk about game

aesthetics, nor what aesthetics can contribute to our

understanding of games and play. What is clear is that

fewer game scholars are positioning their research in the

area of aesthetics: the word "aesthetic" figured in nearly

10% of all papers (as sampled in titles, abstracts and

keywords) in the 2003 DiGRA conference, but dropped to

well under 4% in both 2005 and 2007. Game industry

discomfort with aesthetic questions is expressed in a

different manner. "Here we go again" was the resigned

response of one interviewee in a recent Gamasutra.com

article on the question "Are games art?" [ 34] . Are we to

conclude that an aesthetics perspective on digital games has

fallen upon tough times? Hardly. Although the term

"aesthetics" (and the implicit and explicit attitudes

associated with it) needs to be critically reexamined within

a game studies context, changes in game technologies, as

well as arguments drawing upon philosophy, psychology,

interaction design theory and cultural studies suggest that

an aesthetics perspective can contribute greatly to research

discourses on gaming as an embodied and pleasurable

experience, and can give rise to new ways of thinking about

game design.

So what is the problem with game aesthetics? The mixed

feelings evident in the Gamasutra article represent in many

ways the current attitudes towards the broader practice of

aesthetics. The term "aesthetics" brings its own baggage,

and admits sources of resistance that have to do with the

traditional topics of aesthetics discourse, as well as the near

impossibility of defining what constitutes an art object.

"What (people) typically object to (in their a ssumptions

about aesthetics) is the idea that art can be understood

according to a set of universal principals about its

immutable properties . . . " [ 23] . Further, within the area of

game studies, there are those who believe that the problem

with aesthetics is not that it proposes to explain too much,

but that it aims too low. Casual assumptions about

aesthetics that are present in writings not specifically on the

topic reveal shared meanings of the term: early in the game

design textbook Rules of Play , for example, Salen and

Zimmerman [ 40] refer offhandedly to "aesthetic trappings"

(p. 11) which they consider apart from the more crucial

fundamental rules and core mechanics of a game prototype

under development. The word "trappings" carries with it

associations of décor, a thin veneer of "eye candy" that

may attract attention and provide fleeting motivation, but

otherwise serves as an less important part of the experience

of playing (or designing) a game. As such, aesthetic

elements are best not brought into the game design process

too early. In its only indexed reference to "aesthetics," the

design text I use in my own classes defines aesthetics as

"the visual and aural dramatic elements of your game,

which we have told you repeatedly not to worry about for

your physical prototypes. The same holds true for most of

the digital prototyping work you will do" [ 14] .

An aesthetics approach to games simply doesn't play that

well these days with regard to how practitioners and

scholars think about what games mean and how they are

designed. Many current definitions of games focus on

games as systems of rules [ 40] , and the key activity of the

designer is to manipulate the mechanics of the game

through "tuning" and "balancing." These ways of thinking

about games gain additional force from a certain

essentialism that has come from ludology, in which the

playful core elements of digital games are often explicated

through the example of simpler games (c.f. for example

Jesper Juul's elegant treatment of Chuchu Rocket [ 22] ) or

non- digital games (c.f. also Murray's discussion of games

essentialism at DiGRA 2005). The kernel of game meaning

in these approaches is certainly not identified with the

aesthetic component of games. These assumptions are

further embedded in game industry project management

practices that work from the core out, through progressive

refinement of game builds, from simplest manifestations of

geometry and game mechanics to more complex prototypes

and fully textured vertical slices [ 33] . What is shared here is

the notion that the important elements of games ought to be

described, and can best be grasped at a high level of

abstraction, largely divorced from the tangible, detailed

qualities of the game as experienced. My argument here is

not that practices of manipulating higher-level game

abstractions are wrong; on the contrary, I think these design

approaches represent the best of our current knowledge on

how to deal with the complexity of understanding games

and doing successful design. I simply don't agree that this

is the only model that will work, nor that it will inevitably

produce games that most fully exploit the medium of digital

interaction. Although the interactive character of games is

now taken for granted, interaction design itself as a

discipline has long been looking beyond systems design

towards the broader user experience, with focus upon the

tangible, material, emotional and embodied qualities of

interaction [ 9, 15] .

The Three Core Meanings of Game Aesthetics

I want to propose an alternate approach that seeks cores of

game meaning from aspects of the gaming experience that

we currently tend to think of as peripheral, and a redefined

game aesthetics can help with this. But if an aesthetic

approach within game design studies is to provide a

productive alternative, we must seek some clarity regarding

the term itself. As a means of mapping current meanings,

lets first take stock of the stances towards the topic that

have emerged so far within game studies research and game

design. Keyword searches turn up 3 main clusters of

meaning around the term "game aesthetics." In brief, game

aesthetics has to do with the senses, with art, and with a

particular kind of experience:

1. Game aesthetics refers to the sensory phenomena that

the player encounters in the game (visual, aural, haptic,

embodied).

2. Game aesthetics refers to those aspects of digital

games that are shared with other art forms (and thus

provides a means of generalizing about art).

3. Game aesthetics is an expression of the game

experienced as pleasure, emotion, sociability,

formgiving, etc (with reference to "the aesthetic

experience").

1. Game aesthetics refers to the sensory phenomena that

the player encounters in the game. An example of this

can be found in the gameinnovation.org taxonomy

supported by the Carnegie Mellon Entertainment

Technology Center [ 41] , which considers digital games

according to the following categories: game mechanic,

computation, interface, aesthetic, story, genre, and business.

According to this taxonomy, "Aesthetics relate to the way a

game looks, sounds, and presents itself to the player." This

includes visual aesthetics: "A graphical innovation is any

innovation that affects the way a game is visually

perceived." The focus upon sense and perception in this

understanding of game aesthetics echoes the etymological

roots of the word in the Greek aisthesis , which means

sensation or perception.

2. Game aesthetics refers to those aspects of digital

games that are shared with other art forms. Digital

games share certain forms, aims, content, themes and

design practices with other media and art forms, which

allows for comparison and generalization. Writers coming

from this perspective sometimes use game aesthetics as a

platform for discussing game graphics or visual styles, or

addressing the question "are video games art?" Hayward

[18 ], for example, takes aim at photo-realism, which he sees

as the dominant aesthetic of videogames, and considers

ways in which an awareness of the history of contemporary

sculpture could support new, non-photoreal formal

vocabularies in games. These speculations can go both

ways— Quaranta [ 37] traces influence in the opposite

direction: the impact of computer games and modding

culture on the current gallery scene. Once again, there is an

historical echo here: as aesthetics discourse developed in

the 18th century, it was deployed in opposition to the

practice of writing treatises on specific art forms. However,

there continues to be debate within aesthetics on the

wisdom of generalizing about art [ 23] .

3. Game aesthetics is an expression of the game

experienced as pleasure, emotion, formgiving, etc.

According to this understanding, games can be approached

as artifacts that have the potential to give rise to an aesthetic

experience. The somewhat open- ended nature of this kind

of experience has drawn a number of writers, who, in some

cases, characterize the aesthetic experience of a game as

"fun" (further subdivided by Hunicke et al [ 21] into a

taxonomy of 8 different player goals and emotional states),

in other cases, as "pleasure" (further elaborated by Lauteren

[30] through constructs drawn from psychoanalysis, social

identity and Barthian jouissance ). Drawing upon Kant,

Kirkpatrick [ 24] identifies the aesthetic experience with

"the play of imaginative and cognitive faculties" (p. 75).

Obviously these categories are not exclusive; a number of

scholars have invoked aesthetics as a means of exploring

overarching qualities of the play experience, with reference

to the senses, art and media, and the pleasures of the

aesthetic experience [ 17, 25, 32] . We can draw a few

conclusions from this brief survey of emerging attitudes.

First, the popular understandings of "game aesthetics"

roughly mirror the larger development of aesthetics

discourse itself; the clusters of meaning that have emerged

in current literature can be traced back to different

conceptions within aesthetics as it has historically been

practiced. There is, however, no widely shared,

comprehensive meaning of game aesthetics that is any more

specific than the very inclusive general definition of

aesthetics offered by Kelly [ 23] : the practice of aesthetics

consists of "critical reflection on art, culture and nature" (p.

ix).

Secondly, game aesthetics is not linked to any one critical

framework. There are no analytical tools that are

inextricably bound to game aesthetics at present. Several

writers have drawn upon semiotics as a theoretical

foundation [ 30, 32] , while others refer to psychoanalysis

and feminist film theory [ 30] , media studies [ 18] , cultural

theory and philosophy [ 24] , or contemporary art theory and

practice [ 37] . This can be read as a strength: aesthetics is a

capacious practice, "uniquely situated to serve as a meeting

place for numerous academic disciplines and cultural

traditions" [ 23] . In its theoretical indeterminacy, pursuing

game aesthetics has come to resemble the research practice

sketched by Aarseth [ 1] , in which aesthetics constitutes one

of the possible "modes" of the "playing analyst" (p. 6) who

is free to apply whatever theoretical foundation she

chooses. Aarseth locates the proper focus of game

aesthetics in exploration and analysis of game worlds

(rather than gameplay or rules). But, in the end, researcher

integrity and methods of inquiry are clearly of greater

interest to Aarseth than offering a comprehensive definition

of what constitutes game aesthetics. As it is currently

pursued, then, writing from a game aesthetics perspective is

a somewhat fluid practice. Given the popular tendency to

link aesthetics to the sensory presentation of games, with

generally negative associations of game graphics and "eye

candy," the outlook for an aesthetic approach to games

would appear not particularly vibrant, unless we take a

more critical look at these core meanings.

The first core of game aesthetic associations—linking

aesthetics to the sensory qualities of games—has the benefit

of supporting discussion of the way in which gameplay is

rooted in our physical being. Although there are a few

games that can serve as good examples of sensory play (Rez

[45 ] being perhaps one of the best), a perspective on games

as a play of the senses has not been adequately developed in

game studies. There are at least three ways forward here.

First, it is useful to examine experimental games that

actively seek to expand the game sensorium. As an

example, Fluxus artist Takako Saito produced chess "mods"

that differentiated pieces on the basis of tactile and sensory

qualities that invite player exploration, such as in "Weight

Chess" and "Spice Chess" [ 35] . Secondly, we need to build

a better theoretical substructure, by initially acknowledging

that our shared terms of reference for understanding sensory

experience are impoverished, in ways that make it difficult

for us to approach aesthetic experience as anything more

than superficial sensation (think "aesthetic trappings").

There are, however, grounds for hope, with new

contributions to understanding the senses coming from

geography [ 38] and cultural studies [ 19] . Both Rodaway

and Howes are interested in exploring ways in which our

sense knowledge functions as a cultural construction, and

supports our relationship to the world, in the broadest sense.

Rodaway seeks to explore the way in which the senses

function in "geographical understanding: the senses as both

a relationship to a world, and the senses as in themselves a

kind of structuring of space and defining of place" (p. 4).

Howes adds to our appreciation of how different cultures at

different historical moments have conceived of and

experienced the senses, which greatly expands our

understanding of the rich vocabulary of sense meaning, and

which has consequences for how we structure play. Finally,

reclaiming the notion of sensory play as a practice in game

aesthetics also calls us to rehabilitate promising threads in

aesthetic thought that have fallen by the wayside. We

should recall that aesthetics as it developed in the classical

period was a means of doing justice to "sensory

knowledge" (p. ix) as an alternative or complement to the

logical [ 23] , and this stance towards aesthetics and the

senses was further developed by Baumgarten, for whom

"the end of aesthetics is the perfection of sense cognition as

such" [ 16] . "Obscure ideas," arising from sense impressions

that we are not actively aware of, serve a binding role in

Baumgarten's thought, working through association and

"introducing into our present perceptions echoes of what

has disappeared from memory" (p. 367). Perhaps by

bringing this type of approach to aesthetics to bear on our

experience of digital games, we can hope to reclaim an

understanding of the senses as a site of another kind of

knowledge construction.

The second core of associations of the term game

aesthetics—that which supports broader comparisons

between games and other art forms— has the benefit of

allowing access to wider art and media discourses. This is

of paramount importance to specific classes of games,

especially those that establish dialogues with fine art

practice. This includes "game art," which, as defined by

Bittanti [ 4] , is "any art in which digital games played a

significant role in the creation, production and/or display of

the artwork." Strategies utilized by game artists include

modding, hacking and hardware modification. As Pearce

[35] demonstrates, the work of artists such as Schleiner and

Oliver implies a stance of co-creation towards the audience

of the work, and shows us the way to playfully engage the

intellect as well as the senses, often through strategies of

subversion. However, within a game industry context, this

particular approach to game aesthetics—relating games to

other art forms—tends to mire aesthetics discourse in

graphics style analysis [ 18] , or returns us repeatedly to the

ultimately unproductive question "are games art?" As has

been demonstrated numerous times in design fora (such as

Gamasutra) recently [ 5, 2, 36] , this question tends to

founder upon individual interpretations of the current, very

open definition of what constitutes an artwork (see Kelly,

above), rather than upon failure to appreciate the artistic

qualities specific to digital games.

Those seeking a more inclusive approach to game

aesthetics—one which can accommodate a range of design

practices that includes games from industry—can finesse

this problem by focusing instead on the third core of

aesthetics meaning. Whether or not we believe games to be

works of art, it is undeniable that games can give rise to an

aesthetic experience, as currently understood. According to

one approach, a prototypical (visual) aesthetic experience:

1. Is one in which attention is firmly fixed upon . . .

components of a visual pattern

2. Excludes the awareness of other objects or events.

3. Is dominated by intense feelings or emotions. .

4. Hangs together, is coherent

5. Involves "make-belie ve" [ 29]

Even this very basic definition of the aesthetic experience

maps quite nicely onto a number of important terms within

game studies, moving us immediately deeper than the

question "are games art?" allows us. The emphasis upon

attentiveness, absorption and wholeness in the play

experience can be identified with the immersive [ 13] and

"flow" qualities of digital games [ 7] . An aesthetic approach

to games as sites for "make believe" allows us to focus on

the qualities of fictional worlds in games, the roles we can

take on, as well as the mechanisms through which games

involve our participation, such as Huizinga's notion of

games as existing in a "magic circle" in which the normal

rules of our lives no longer apply [ 20] . These terms also

resonate well with the desired outcomes of successful game

design. Game designers themselves, for example, frequently

speak about creating games that are "tight" (cohesive) as

essential to fashioning a good play experience [ 3] .

Still, a snug fit between certain game studies terms and the

prototypical visual aesthetic experience, as evoked in a

single beholder in relation to a fixed artwork, does not

provide an adequate model for play, which is of course a

more dynamic, often social, and multi-sensory

phenomenon, realized, in the case of computer games,

through an interactive medium, in which the player can

rearrange the digital materials of the game artifact over

time, through their own activity. Here, a number of recent

scholars have been more explicit about the relations hip of

game aesthetics to play. For Egenfeldt-Nielsen et al [ 11] ,

game aesthetics is identified with the play experience in its

fullest sense, both the explicit elements that the player

encounters, such as the game world and representation, as

well as implicit features that influence the play experience,

such as rules. Aesthetics is play. Kirkpatrick [ 24] turns this

formulation around in a bold way: play is aesthetics. He

situates the central concept of the ludological study of

games—play—within aesthetics discourse. According to

this argument, play inheres in aesthetic experience, and is

only incidentally present in games (which are the focus of

ludology, as sites of structured play): "positioning the

computer game in this way, it becomes clear that it stands

somewhere between the traditional 'game,' which structures

play, and the aesthetic object or 'artwork,' which works by

stimulating the play of imaginative and cognitive faculties

in the subject of the aesthetic experience" (p. 75). This

argument, which is developed in a cultural studies context,

draws upon the work of Adorno to suggest that aesthetic

form has migrated in our time from its traditional home in

the world of art, to computer games.

Both of these arguments implicitly move the discourse

associated with game aesthetics beyond a focus on graphics

and "aesthetic trappings," which is welcome. Both of these

arguments assert the relevance of aesthetics to play, and

further to games. But there are also weaknesses here.

Egenfeldt-Nielsen et al. make great claims for the

significance of game aesthetics, completely identified, as it

is, with the play experience. There are problems with this

approach. First, it simply subsumes one overarching term

(aesthetics) within another (gameplay). Secondly, in their

quest for relevancy, their treatment fails to leverage the

positive cargo of aesthetics practice that is clearly important

to play, such as the link to the senses and to pleasures of the

body.

Aesthetics and Mechanics

Working out the relationship of aesthetics to mechanics can

help us begin to understand the place of aesthetics in play

and game design. A number of scholars have already tried

their hand at this. The most robust definition of mechanics

offered so far is Sicart's: "game mechanics are methods

invoked by agents, designed for interaction with the game

state"[ 42] . Although Sicart conflates aesthetics and

"graphics," the contours of his work suggest areas where a

deeper understanding of aesthetics can prove

complementary. His terminology is taken from object-

oriented programming, which is useful for formal analysis

of game elements, though it affords much less when

speculating about emotion and the player experience. Citing

Järvinen, Sicart notes that "game mechanics are best

described with verbs," thus "take cover" is a key mechanic

in Gears of War [ 12] . Obviously we need a lot more than

verbs to analytically differentiate the play experience of

different games. Defined this way, Shadow of the Colossus

[43] and Assassins Creed [44 ] share a number of the same

mechanics (climb, stab, ride, etc), but are of course very

different games. If game mechanics can provide the verbs

of the player experience (and thus implicitly answer the

question "what will the player do?"), game aesthetics can

provide the nouns and adjectives (and thus implicitly

contribute to the answer to the question "what will the

player's experience be?"). Although this sort of reductive,

language-based model for aesthetics is obviously not

adequate in itself, it does demonstrate that some of the

concerns of aesthetic experience can be taken into account

early in the design process, when specifying player

experience goals for example [ 14] . Greater descriptive

detail fleshes out emotional response; climbing huge,

bucking colossi bent on harm, and climbing tall towers into

the rarified atmosphere of Damascus establish quite

different tones and play experiences. In the MDA model

[21], the impact of a game is experienced and designed

through mechanics, dynamics and aesthetics, where

aesthetics represents the player's perspective and is

identified with "the desirable emotional responses evoked

in the player." The hierarchy as seen from the point of view

of the designer is reversed—the designer acts through

mechanics and dynamic systems behavior to influence the

player's experience. It should be noted here that game

aesthetics is often associated with the effect of the game

upon the player, rather than the means by which the game

achieves its power. The notion of aesthetics as something

that "happens" or is "done to" the player, however, is

limiting. I would argue instead that aesthetics rather is

something that is performed in the course of play, a

particular kind of pulling out of aesthetic pleasure from the

game mechanics through the experience of our bodies.

Embodiment and Aesthetics

With the launch of game platforms such as the Wii, which

have physical interfaces through which a player can

actually work up a sweat, the question of embodiment in

games no longer seems farfetched. Aesthetics discourse's

traditional strength in dealing with the senses makes it a

natural point of departure for seeking to understand

embodiment in games. Kirkpatrick [ 24] quotes Kant to

demonstrate that the aesthetic experience is not purely a

mental exercise, it is felt in the body as well:

"Music . . . and what provokes laughter are two

kinds of play with aesthetic ideas . . . the

quickening effect of both is physical, despite its

being excited by ideas of the mind, and . . . the

feeling of health . . . makes up that entire

gratification of an animated gathering upon the

spirit . . ." (p. 81).

One of the first dimensions of game embodiment is the

motor experience of play. Grodal argues that engaging

motor control through game controllers makes games

simulations in which a form of real-life learning can occur

through an "aesthetics of repetition" [ 17] . Grodal here uses

the term "aesthetics" as a means of expressing the defining

character of the play activity, with particular reference to

the sort of mastery the player acquires in the game.

However, we can also draw wider conclusions about how

controllers work through game aesthetics. Kirkpatrick

points out that the controller is the means by which we

experience (and create) aesthetic form in gameplay [ 25] ,

and this has design implications:

"Unlocking and developing aesthetic form in

computer games depends upon giving more power

to hands to cleave form from the dark matter of the

computer. New matter-forms, which depend on the

invention of new controllers, will define new

spaces for the playful body to inhabit."1

As Kirkpatrick points out, embodiment in games is not just

a function of engaging motor control, it can also be traced

in the player's physical relationship to game worlds and the

play context we "inhabit." The relationship between player

and context is an important site to explore for a deeper

understanding of how embodiment works through digital

games. In this task, we can draw upon recent interaction

design theory of Paul Dourish, who mines phenomenology

to develop his own conception of embodied interaction [ 9] .

The lesson that Dourish draws from phenomenology is that

it is impossible for us to understand and design interactive

systems in isolation; embodied interaction means that we

must take the physic al context of interaction—in its greatest

extension, the world—into account. It is our activity in and

through the world that is the source of meaning: "we find

the world meaningful primarily with respect to the ways in

which we act within it" (p. 125). Game worlds in this sense

shape player exploration and action, and enable particular

kinds of play. They are much more complex than simple

containers, or placeholders for visual styles. Dourish's

approach encourages us to consider the 3D game world in

its wider play context: the space around the console or

monitor. It has become a commonplace that digital games

are a "lean forward" medium, TV a "lean back" medium.

This is perhaps the first degree of whole-body game

engagement. Scholars who have studied the couch and

spaces of media use [ 26] point out that space surrounding

3D game worlds makes them social, even in the case of

single-player games. The space around the couch is one in

which players move and wander with the controller, and is

becoming the gestural space in which the Wiimote is used

[25]. From a perspective of aesthetics and embodiment, we

could say that the 3D game world is experienced in relation

to our own bodily experience of surrounding space, through

musculature, our senses, and our equilibrium. The

embodied and aesthetic experience of digital games could

be compared to looking at a Baroque ceiling, to which we

might respond with both wonder and vertigo.

Game Aesthetics and Pleasure

Carving out aesthetic form in the process of gameplay is a

pleasurable activity [ 25] , though the sort of discourse on

pleasure and enjoyment that has emerged in game studies

research so far offers little acknowledgement of the body.

Although producing a "fun" game is a self-evident design

goal, writers on the topic of fun tend to break down the term

in a way that emphasizes the social, competitive, challenge-

1 This conclusion draws from a more involved development

of thought from Focillon on touch and the creation of

aesthetic form.

based and exploratory nature of game enjoyment. Lazzarro

[31 ], for example, proposes four sources of gameplay

enjoyment: "hard fun" (challenge), "easy fun" (immersion

in the game), "altered states" (largely having to do with

self-esteem) and "the people factor" (sociability). Hunicke

et al [ 21] similarly subdivide game "fun" in a more

comprehensive way into game-related "aesthetic"

components of sensation, fantasy, narrative, challenge,

fellowship, discovery, expression and submission. Media

psychologists such as Klimmt have approached game

enjoyment by further developing an "excitation transfer

theory" that roots positive game emotion in the way in

which arousal is transferred from negative to positive

through suspense and relief [ 27] . Salen and Zimmerman's

discussion of game pleasure [ 40] , which deals with the

sensory roots of pleasure only with reference to

"overwhelming sensation" (echoing Ermi and Mäyrä ), is

largely based upon how games achieve a flow state.

Lauteren identifies pleasure with, among other things,

resistance to "structures of preference" within a text [ 30] . In

short, these approaches to game enjoyment focus on ways

in which games allow us to achieve and maintain particular

mental states. However, none of these approaches are fully

rooted in our direct sensory experience. Indeed, those

wishing to develop a comprehensive understanding of

sensory and embodied pleasure of games will have to look

elsewhere for support. How, for example, is our experience

of playing a game pleasurable in comparison to eating a

good meal or drinking a glass of wine, listening to music,

fishing, witnessing or enacting a good deed?

More promising from this perspective is the conception of

pleasure as it is elaborated within phenomenological

philosophy. Duncker's phenomenological analysis of

pleasure [ 10] provides a foundational taxonomy for later

development within hedonic psychology by Rozin [ 39] .

Duncker proposes three main types of pleasure: sensory

pleasure (in which "the immediate object is of the nature of

a sensation," such as drinking wine), joy (in which the

primary pleasure does not inhere in sensations or

perceptions themselves, but rather in the "consciousness o f

the situation," such as pleasure in "the victory of a good

cause"), and aesthetic pleasure (in which sensations take on

an expressive and communicative role: "Aesthetic

enjoyment is the principal . . . instance of enjoying

something expressed in the process of expression" p. 405).

A game such as Okami [ 6] demonstrates the way in which

these pleasures can coexist in a game: we experience

sensory pleasure from the visual, auditory and tactile

elements of the play experience, joy from seeing our efforts

to bring light to Nippon bear fruit, and aesthetic pleasure

from the way in which player agency, expressed through

the affordances of brushwork, ties all these together. Of

particular interest to the topic of games is Duncker's

concept of "dynamical joy:"

"Dynamical joys are based upon a kind of

experience that lies somewhere between emotion

proper and sensation: the tensions, excitements,

thrills and reliefs of acting and resting. Here

belong the delights of driving at high speed, of

fishing and hunting, of playing games, of

following a plot (e.g. in reading a good detective

story), etc" (p. 403).

Rozin builds upon Duncker's taxonomy, with focus upon

sensory pleasure and the contact senses, particularly related

to food, as a means of uncovering basic principles of more

complex hedonic systems. Rozin points out that the

pleasures associated with food take place within a temporal

frame that is extended to include not only experienced

pleasure, but also anticipated and remembered pleasure. He

continues: "experienced pleasure is on-line and momentary,

like brightness, and hence a sort of primitive. Integrated

pleasure . . . is a mentally constructed entity, which is

accessed and/or reconstructed in remembered and

anticipated pleasure. . . . Experienced pleasure . . .

function(s) to influence the behavior of the moment;

anticipated and remembered pleasure may guide ongoing

behavior, but they also may participate in decisions and

evaluations of future courses of action" (p. 112). Indeed,

Rozin concludes that "most sensory pleasure is experienced

in the remembered or anticipated domains, as opposed to

the online (experienced) domain" (p. 129). This extended

temporal frame of sensory pleasure has interesting

implications for game design, in which most decisions are

made with respect to the immediate experience of

gameplay. Anticipation, motivation, and memory are also

important targets for an aesthetic approach to game design.

Moreover, our experience of sensory pleasure creates a

sense of cohesion that has little to do with the formal

coherence of game parts and wholes. This is immediately

apparent in the (common) experience that even flawed

games can give rise to unforgettable play experiences that

we re-experience long after we leave the console. Games

achieve coherence not just through their formal

organization, but also through our experience of game

pleasure.

This conception of pleasure has much to recommend itself

to the current practice of game studies. First, it is able to

address a range of experience, from concrete sensory

pleasures to complex patterns of feeling. The expanded

temporal frame of pleasure allows us to examine not just

the immediate experience of gameplay, but also the ways in

which we make sense of our experience when we are away

from the console. Focusing on the sequences of emotions

that take place within a pleasurable experience also affords

the designer some suggestions regarding structures that may

provide greater pleasure within a game. Kubovy [ 28] points

out that "pleasures of the mind are collections of emotions

distributed over time whose global evaluation depends on

the intensity of the peak emotion and favorability of the

end" (p. 138). He links this observation to the frequently

noted emotional sequence of tension and relaxation that can

be identified in story structure: "Many stories have a

structure that parallels the prior state, onset, change and

equilibrium pattern episodes in human life. They begin with

an exposition, introduce a complication, and end with a

dénouement . . ." (p. 138). This formulation directs us to

focus on peak moments in the game.

Conclusion: Multiple Centers

We have spent a lot of energy in game studies research and

game design trying to identify the cores of the gaming

experience, and we have concentrated our attention upon

two intersecting spheres. The core of formal meaning of a

game, according to many current approaches, radiates out

from the procedural nature of games, through rule sets and

mechanics to sound, graphics and the controller; the core of

experienced game meaning radiates out from the brain and

cognitive awareness towards the senses and hands. Game

aesthetics research allows us to pay full attention to what

we have tended to think of as peripheral, the edges of the

spheres. New gaming technologies point us towards these

peripheries, and new understandings of the significance of

touch, the senses, formgiving and pleasure help us better

understand what really happens when we take the controller

in our hands. Where hands, senses, bodies and the tangible

qualities of games meet, the aesthetic meaning of games

emerges.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thanks to T. L. Taylor and the students of her Advanced

Game Theory class at the IT University of Copenhagen,

whose feedback and insightful criticism of an earlier

version of this paper was very helpful to me. I am also

grateful to Bernard Perron for his comments as seminar

commentator on my Ph.D thesis. Apologies to Raymond

Carver, Paul Dourish and everybody else who has used the

title construction before me.

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... This is a significant component of game design given the importance of players' emotional experience in games for their immediate perception thereof, as well as for subsequent likelihood of replaying and word-of-mouth advertising. Niedenthal describes aesthetics as referring to "the sensory phenomena that the player encounters in the game" [59] (i.e., the visual and auditory elements). When visual and auditory components of a video game have strong thematic cohesion, and therefore contribute to the same aesthetic, players should experience or perceive a stronger emergent feeling of atmosphere. ...

... Simon Niedenthal defines video game aesthetics as "the sensory phenomena that the player encounters in the game" as well as the "aspects of digital games that are shared with other art forms" [59]. The definition of aesthetics is closely tied to the Oxford Dictionary definition of (non-game) atmosphere: "the pervading tone or mood of a place, situation, or creative work" [4]. ...

... The first study was conducted as a between-subjects online experiment, asking participants to view gameplay videos with differing audiovisual thematic cohesion, to gain insight into perceptions of atmosphere in games while participants are not distracted by playing themselves. We acknowledge that there is a difference between watching and playing a horror game [10], however atmosphere as created by the interplay between auditory and visual elements is something that games and movies share [59], therefore making this a viable source of data on atmospheric experiences. Further, given the increasing popularity of streaming websites such as Twitch, the consumption of games through a passive medium (watching) has never been more relevant. ...

Game atmosphere and game audio are critical factors linked to the commercial success of video games. However, game atmosphere has been neither operationalized nor clearly defined in games user research literature, making it difficult to study. We define game atmosphere as the emerging subjective experience of a player caused by the strong audiovisual thematic cohesion (i.e., the harmonic fit of sounds and graphics to a shared theme) of video game elements. We studied players' experience of thematic cohesion in two between-subjects, independent-measures experiments (N=109) across four conditions differing in their level of audiovisual thematic fit. Participants' experiences were assessed with physiological and psychometric measurements to understand the effect of game atmosphere on player experience. Results indicate that a lack of thematic fit between audio and visuals lowers the degree of perceived atmosphere, but that while audiovisual thematic dissonance may lead to higher-intensity negative-valence facial events, it does not impact self-reported player experience or immersion.

... Social coupons allow consumers to enjoy discounts on certain products and/or brands previously selected. According to Niedenthal [12], digital games share certain forms, aims, content and design practices with other media and art forms, which allows for comparison and generalization. The same author adds that similarly to the design of graphical games interfaces, there are many variables that may affect the user's attraction and performance/usage. ...

Digital media is evolving and challenging the implementation of corporate communication strategies which ceaselessly look for new tactics for customer acquisition and retention. In this domain, the present study assesses the importance of design in the digitalization of discount social coupons. It focuses on the analysis of the tactics used to increase attractiveness to customers, through an analysis from the point of view of the consumer and the marketeer responsible. The research follows the Design-based Research methodology that requires consequent redesign the artefact proposal – social coupon. Thus, the research is divided in 4 main phases. Data are collected through the inquiries by online questionnaires and interviews, and in a focus group session. The framework created and the evaluation of nine drawn coupon's proposal shows that consumers have a strong preference for warm colors, rounded shapes, and non-serif fonts. The findings of this research show that marketeers should clarify their tactics and adapt its digitalization to consumers' preferences. This study can complement previous studies based on the effectiveness of the digitalization of promotional tactics through social coupons. These ones are useful to the companies to understand how to increase consumer's interest.

... In catching up with the increasingly diverse needs, multi-modal aesthetic evaluation models that take into account the entire game design, development, quality-control, pipeline is essential [1]. Robust objective multi-dimensional aesthetic assessment metrics are in need to offer specific guidance for game designers and developers concerning different game styles [2]; leverage trade-off between the gaminggraphic complexity and the resource consumed for different Zhenyu Lei, Yejing Xie, and Suiyi Ling make equal contributions. Fig. 1: Examples of four-dimensional aesthetic scores defined in [1], from left to right: the 'Overall Aesthetic', the 'Colorfulness', the 'Fineness', and the 'Color Harmony'. ...

With the proliferation of various gaming technology, services, game styles, and platforms, multi-dimensional aesthetic assessment of the gaming contents is becoming more and more important for the gaming industry. Depending on the diverse needs of diversified game players, game designers, graphical developers, etc. in particular conditions, multi-modal aesthetic assessment is required to consider different aesthetic dimensions/perspectives. Since there are different underlying relationships between different aesthetic dimensions, e.g., between the `Colorfulness' and `Color Harmony', it could be advantageous to leverage effective information attached in multiple relevant dimensions. To this end, we solve this problem via multi-task learning. Our inclination is to seek and learn the correlations between different aesthetic relevant dimensions to further boost the generalization performance in predicting all the aesthetic dimensions. Therefore, the `bottleneck' of obtaining good predictions with limited labeled data for one individual dimension could be unplugged by harnessing complementary sources of other dimensions, i.e., augment the training data indirectly by sharing training information across dimensions. According to experimental results, the proposed model outperforms state-of-the-art aesthetic metrics significantly in predicting four gaming aesthetic dimensions.

... In digital games, aesthetics typically refer to the in-game sensory phenomena that the player encounters (visual, aural, haptic, embodied), while aesthetic experience refers to an expression of the game experienced as pleasure, emotion or sociability (Niedenthal, 2009). While existing empirical findings suggest that well-perceived audio and visual presentation in games positively influences players' engagement (Laffan et al., 2016), we argue that these emotional responses do not necessarily result from cutting edge realistic graphics. ...

Purpose This study uses a critically acclaimed digital game as an instructional tool to explore the role of emotional design elements on psychological flow and perceived learning. Design/methodology/approach The authors employ transportation theory to generate a set of antecedents of psychological flow and the theory of flow to connect the gaming experience to positive learning outcomes. The authors investigate the subjective learning experience of players with the use of a psychometric survey, and the authors employ structural equation modelling (SEM) to unearth the direct as well as the indirect effects amongst narrative, aesthetics, flow and learning outcomes. Findings The findings of this study demonstrate that narrative and aesthetics in serious games positively influence the perceived learning by facilitating a state of psychological flow. Research limitations/implications This study contributes to better understanding and theorizing the role of narrative and aesthetics on learning outcomes in the context of serious games. Practical implications The findings of this study bear valuable implications for the design of serious games as they highlight the importance of elements often disregarded as not directly related to the learning process and are typically absent from the design of serious games. Originality/value Prior studies have identified aesthetics and narratives as design elements that contribute to the perceived enjoyment of a game; this study empirically investigates the role of narratives and aesthetics in enhancing perceived learning through psychological flow.

... Hence, it is essential to understand and provide new ways to fulfill this task through sensory stimulation and sensory-perceptual systems. (Niedenthal 2009, 2) summarized the three most common understandings of game aesthetics in the literature. The first refers to the sensory phenomena in the game (visual, aural, haptic, and embodied). ...

To play is often known as a voluntary process in a temporary sphere with a unique disposition. In contemporaneity, games are a promising field for application and study, since they are sociocultural products with great impacts on the economy and in technology. Throughout the history of the development of this medium, the sensory experience included the perceptual channels of vision, hearing, and cognition to solve problems. Therefore, this study presents the theme through a systematic literature review and describes several applications and approaches that accentuate and diversify the user's sensory experience. The main contribution of the study is to elucidate and illustrate the multisensory experiences that involve the use of the kinesthetic system (voice and body) and the haptic system (smell and taste). Moreover, visual experiences have been enhanced through augmented reality, virtual reality, and 3-D visualization. The results and discussion note the particularities of this media and aspects for the feasibility of future applications. It is hoped that this research will pave the way for future work involving case studies of games that allow for aesthetic experiences beyond solely visual experiences to deepen the sensitivity analysis and the process of generating meaning as well as emotional, and cognitive responses.

... Assim, duas indagações norteiam o texto: primeiro, se a experiência que temos com um game pode ser semelhante à experiência com uma obra de arte; segundo, que tipo de game promoveria, ao invés de intimidar, uma experiência desta natureza. Iniciamos a reflexão sobre o assunto em diálogo com dois artigos recentes, um de autoria de Simon Niedenthal (2009) 51 e outro de Jef Folkerts (2011) 52 , tendo por base o conceito de experiência artística formulado pelo filósofo Hans-Georg Gadamer (1977;1985). 49 ...

  • Ana Beatriz Bahia Ana Beatriz Bahia

O artigo discute a relação entre arte e game. Mapeia a posição de autores que problematizam o uso do termo "estética" para nomear o conteúdo artístico de um game, e distinguem game arte (games criados com motivação artística) da arte de games (conteúdo artístico dos games). Os autores apresentam outro ponto de vista da relação, não mais centrado no objeto-game, mas na experiência do sujeito-jogador, entendendo que a experiência artística pode realizar-se até mesmo em games de entretenimento. Para tanto, tomam como base teórica o pensamento do filósofo fenomenológico-hermenêutico Gadamer elencando três fundamentos antropológicos da obra de arte (festa, símbolo e jogo) e dialogam com artigos recentes de pesquisadores da área de games, como Simon Niedenthal e Jef Folkerts.

  • Cesar Cardenal Cesar Cardenal

El objetivo del proyecto es analizar en qué ámbitos se aplica en la actualidad la gamificación en la gestión de la fuerza de ventas dentro de la industria farmacéutica y cómo lo hace en comparación a otros sectores del ámbito empresarial, determinando elementos en común, así como barreras y/o limitaciones puede tener a la hora de implementar esta herramienta en comparación con los otros. En la metodología a emplear, revisamos el marco teórico de cuáles son los elementos que conforman la gamificación y analizamos casos de éxito de aplicación en distintos sectores buscando en la bibliografía actual, para posteriormente lanzar una encuesta anónima a 115 trabajadores de empresas farmacéuticas, así como entrevistas cualitativas a directivos del sector con una visión global. Los resultados determinan que en la industria farmacéutica tan solo un 29,82% de trabajadores emplean la gamificación en la obtención de objetivos cuantitativos, mientras que en la literatura revisada de otros sectores esta se emplea en el 100% de los casos. En cuanto a los objetivos estratégicos, es el objetivo de formación en el que mayormente se utiliza la gamificación en la industria farmacéutica (58%), ocho puntos por encima del resto de sectores analizados, seguido por la aplicación con profesionales sanitarios (50%) y estrategias de comercial/marketing (41,74%). Las compañías farmacéuticas emplean la gamificación en la consecución de objetivos cuantitativos en menor medida que otros sectores, debido a que el incentivo económico es un elemento suficientemente motivador para gestionar la fuerza de ventas. Dentro del uso de la gamificación, es en el objetivo estratégico de formación donde más se utiliza esta técnica con elementos comunes a otros sectores. La delimitación de la gamificación viene marcada por el código de buenas prácticas de farmaindustria y es importante destacar que, a nivel de transformación del sector, la aplicación de esta herramienta en la formación de los profesionales sanitarios conseguirá la mejoría en la calidad de vida de los pacientes.

  • Alvaro Triana Alvaro Triana

Este proyecto de investigación busca analizar las relaciones hegemónicas de la Industria Cultural del videojuego, por medio de un caso de estudio enfocado en la empresa Efecto Studios y su juego de video Decoherence. Para lograr esto, se trabajó con entrevistas, encuestas y diarios de campo del trabajo en la empresa, así como imágenes, código fuente y el juego de video mismo. Usando el enfoque de la Serialidad Digital se busca profundizar en las relaciones de Hegemonía de la Industria de los juegos de video, con la intención de desestabilizar los discursos dominantes y abrir un espacio de discusión que permita llegar a una producción de videojuegos más diversa e incluyente. Palabras clave: videojuegos, industrias culturales, hegemonía, artefacto cultural, estudios críticos del código, serialidad This research project seeks to analyze the hegemonic relations of the Cultural Industry of the video game, through a case study focused on the company Efecto Studios and its video game Decoherence. To achieve this, we worked with interviews, surveys and field diaries of the work in the company, as well as images, source code and the video game itself. Using the Digital Seriality approach, we sought to deepen the relationships of Hegemony in the video game industry, with the intention of destabilizing the dominant discourses and opening a space for discussion that would lead to a more diverse and inclusive video game production. Keywords: video games, cultural industries, hegemony, cultural artifact, critical code studies, digital seriality

  • Victor Ribas Victor Ribas
  • Giulia Costa Sotero

A gamificação apresenta-se no ambiente esportivo como uma ferramenta capaz de desenvolver habilidades e aspectos comportamentais desejados de forma prática, motivadora e engajadora. Os atletas no ambiente esportivo necessitam desenvolver habilidades e capacidades mentais como, resiliência, gerenciamento emocional, motivação e diversos aspectos comportamentais que os ajudem a melhorar seu desempenho. Dessa forma, o presente manual visa orientar outros profissionais inseridos no contexto acerca do desenvolvimento da gamificação que tem como base o modelo MDA, utilizando-se da estética, mecânica e dinâmica de forma mais efetiva no seu cenário, dentro do esporte e de sua modalidade esportiva.

  • Espen Aarseth Espen Aarseth

L'estudi de l'estetica dels jocs es una practica recent que abasta menys de dues decades. A diferencia de les teories de jocs en matematiques o ciencies socials, que son molt mes antigues, els jocs es van convertir en objecte d'estudi per a les humanitats nomes quan els videojocs i jocs d'ordinador es van tornar populars. Aquesta falta d'interes continuada pot semblar estranya, pero nomes si considerem que els jocs tradicionals i els jocs d'ordinador son intrinsecament similars, la qual cosa no es aixi. Podem intentar explicar aquesta manca assenyalant que les elits estetiques i teoriques que conreen l'analisi d'objectes artistics dels mitjans (literatura, arts visuals, teatre, musica) solen considerar els jocs com una cosa trivial i popular. Pero aixo no explica el fet que els estudis estetics sobre jocs siguin possibles en l'actualitat, i fins i tot en alguns entorns academics, s'estimulin i rebin suport amb beques. Que ha passat per provocar aquest canvi? Text complet (PDF) Node complet (PDF)

  • Lisbeth Klastrup Lisbeth Klastrup

This paper examines the relation between social inter- action and fun in multi-player console gaming contexts. It points to the fruitfullness of integrating game studies and game sociology with cultural studies of television and video use in order to explain both the framing and (social) use of console games and the fun of playing them. A prestudy of the relation between social interaction and fun in the playing of the game Super Monkey Ball reveals that there is a close rela- tion between gaming skills, the gaming situation as a pleasurable and relieving social activity and the expe- rience of fun.

  • David Hayward

Depending on your point of view, photo-realism is either a scourge or a grail. The drive for it has come to dominate the visual aesthetics of videogames, and current technology seems to be pushing us very close to a peak. Limited markets and rising development costs, however, seem to indicate a gaping abyss. So will photo-real games be well crafted marvels of technology, or feats of economic hubris infused with mediocre gameplay? Will they be the ferryman to conduct yet more development studios across the Styx? The photo-real push is obviously important to many people within and surrounding the game industry, as demonstrated not only by the persistent trend in commercial development, but also by work such as the System Shock 2 mod Rebirth, which replaced some of the models with curvier versions, designed for more powerful machines than the original game. Yet increasingly, the push is sneered at. Among some of the gamers I know, the latest graphical offerings get little more than apathy. Critics cite rising development costs and the potential of different artistic goals, and are generally scornful of industry resources being poured into visually superior concrete and monsters. Nonetheless, they seem dangerously close to drowning under the effusion of marketing departments and most players.

  • Paul Rodaway

The contemporary challenge of postmodernity draws our attention to the nature of reality and the ways in which experience is constructed. Sensuous Geographies explores our immediate sensuous experience of the world. Touch, smell, hearing and sight - the four senses chiefly relevant to geographical experience - both receive and structure information. The process is mediated by historical, cultural and technological factors. Issues of definition are illustrated through a variety of sensuous geographies. Focusing on postmodern concerns with representation, the book brings insights from individual perceptions and cultural observations to an analysis of the senses, challenging us to reconsider the role of the sensuous as not merely the physical basis of understanding but as an integral part of the cultural definition of geographical knowledge.

  • Uday Gajendar

A coherent model identifying specific, tangible elements of a beautiful experience will enable a designer to argue effectively with non-design peers. Beauty must be repositioned away from surface effects toward a cumulative sense of how fundamental elements work in collaboration to achieve something memorable and desirable, thus deserving repeat purchase and positive testimonials. Aesthetic implies a complete and total sense of human value connecting to the consumer on multiple levels. Using the framework of shared aesthetics, one can easily identify the problems underlying aesthetic breakdowns. The framework becomes an important tool for critical analysis comparing design solutions. The goal of this framework is to engage with peers in a productive dialogue, thus enrolling the tea into the designer's pursuit of beauty.