Diversity of play

Abstract

The early days when digital games were new, harmless, and a niche are long gone. Today's games can simulate battlefields, predict disaster, and crash markets. We are faced with a diversity of play and the ubiquity of games, making them not only a popular medium, but the leading medium of our contemporary society. Based on the keynote lectures held at DiGRA2015, "Diversity of Play" provides a critical view on the current stage of digital games from a theoretic, artistic, and practical perspective by pointing towards the uncanny, the power of "unnatural" narratives, and the exceptions and uncertainties of digital ludic environments.