Bit by Bit: How Video Games Transformed Our World by Andrew Ervin

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Notes

1. The relationship between violence and games is rarely declined in the form of “games played in a violent environment”, despite this being a very interesting topic in my opinion. “Children and Play in the Holocaust: Games among the Shadows” by George Eisen is among the books that study this perspective: it turns out children spontaneously played “violent” games while being held in concentration camps, which could confirm the importance of “violent” game practices in emotional development/stabilization.

2. An interesting example of researchers’ view on the topic (and a starting point to delve more into the various positions) could be the paper “The Role of Computers in Art” by Marco Verdicchio. In the short version of the paper, the question “What distinguishes an interactive artwork from a computer game?” is raised, and theories that view games as artworks are stated to “present some conceptual shortcomings.”