Interface Cultures Invited Lectures Series
Special series on Critical Data
Mathias Fuchs // Gamification: Shifting of Boundaries between the Ludic and the Non-Ludic
Tuesday, 11th of May, 2021 // 12:00 – 13:00
ONLINE on MS Teams
Gamification: Shifting of Boundaries between the Ludic and the Non-Ludic The notion of “gamification” seems to explain a plethora of phenmena in marketing, health, journalism, education and science. We might think of a gamified society, where every social activity from learning to dating can be conceived as a playful activity. There is however little research undertaken about how the dynamics of shifting borders between playfulness and seriousness have been, before we even started talking about gamification. Is gamification really a trend that started in 2011? Or have there been predigital precursors of gamification? The intention is to analyze gamification in a framework of Cultural Studies, History and Media Studies.
(German) Als populäres Schlagwort der Gegenwartsdiagnose hat „Gamification“ in Journalismus und Marketing, in Management, Gesundheitswesen und Wissenschaft Hochkonjunktur. Allerdings existiert so gut wie keine Forschung darüber, wie Grenzziehungen zwischen dem Spielerischen und dem Nichtspielerischen vor der angeblichen Stunde Null dieses Konzeptes verhandelt wurden und inwiefern es sich bei „Gamification“ tatsächlich ein neues und originäres Phänomen digitaler Kulturen handelt. Das Projekt unterzieht daher die Diagnose der „Gamification“ einer grundlegenden kulturhistorischen und medienwissenschaftlichen Kritik und Revision.
Mathias Fuchs Mathias Fuchs is a game artist, musician and media scholar. He pioneered in the artistic use of computer games and exhibited work at ISEA, SIGGRAPH, transmediale and the Greenwich Millennium Dome. In 2012 he became a professor at Leuphana University in Lüneburg and is currently working at the Institute of Culture and Aesthetics of Media.
Publications include Phantasmal Spaces. Bloomsbury Academic 2019 Diversity of Play. meson press 2015 Weltentzug und Weltzerfall, in: Philosophical Perspectives on Play. Routledge 2015 Passagen des Spiels. (with E. Strouhal) Springer 2010
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