A New Year

By Joel Jordon

My views on videogames have been shifting rapidly recently. In the past year I’ve been leaning away from the idea that narrative should come first in games and more toward the idea that, through engagement with the seemingly formal characteristics of games—their mechanics and rules—through play, a story or feeling can emerge. But I also understand that it’s problematic to define the essential characteristics of a medium like that because it can be exclusionary of art that takes other forms. See some of the ongoing debate on this in the comments below these articles: Designing for Grace, Two Cultures and Games, and What Is a Game? It Depends Who’s Playing.