Games Studies Circle

Mario is Mario is Mario is you.

Learning games is sometimes notoriously fiddly. That is why harder games rely upon players’ knowledge of simpler games. This arguably goes so far as to produce a certain type of a person, the — dreaded and allegedly perpetually angered — gamer. Ultimately, we might find that not everyone feels at home when playing games.

Videogames seem to be the most reliant upon pre-grown gamers. But is there an analogous construct in other types of games? Is it desirable to have alternatives to the gamer type? What does the person need to know and be able to do to engage with different types of games? How does the playing/gaming affect those engaging in it? We will be exploring potential ways of answering all these questions.

Our discussion will be centred around the fourth chapter of Stephanie Boluk’s and Patrick LeMieux’ Metagaming: Playing, Competing, Spectating, Cheating, Trading, Making, and Breaking Videogames. We will present the material for the discussion but you are welcome to read the chapter beforehand.

Location: Nerd Alert, Bulharská 924/26 101 00 Praha 10 – Vršovice