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a forum for the uses of videogames in advertising, politics, education, and other everyday activities, outside the sphere of entertainment



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Me on Advertising and Games in the Guardian
May 2, 2008 - by Ian Bogost

If you read the Guardian, you may have noticed that they are running a series of articles and opinion pieces as a part of a self-declared "games week." Richard Bartle and John Kirriemuir already offered great pieces on games and censorship and games and learning, respectively.

I wrote a piece that ran yesterday on games and advertising. The refrain is probably familiar to readers here, but I'll excerpt a bit nonetheless:

But the features of videogames that make them powerful communication tools cannot be found in their demography, or their puerility, or their peculiarity. Rather, they are located in the very way they make meaning. In games, players take on roles constrained by rules. In play, we become other people, in a different situation, and try out life in their shoes. This is a powerful idea that has the potential for both commercial and social benefit.




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