The Pleasures and Dangers of the Game

What are the pleasures and the dangers of theway that the study of digital games has crystallized over the past 3 years? The author argues here that a pluralistic approach is required if the full complexity of games is to be addressed and analyzed, and as such, textual approaches to the analysis games should not be dismissed no matter what the particular focus of attention. To understand a game's design, the way it seeks to shape the player's experience and to make the game meaningful, it is essential to take account of the formal features of a given game. Being up close and personal forces one to think through the specificities of a game and what it is like to play that game. The author therefore advocates a combination of a formal and phenomenological approach as a means of exploring the complex relationship between game text and player.