Fractured Politics Interview: Ian Bogost

Interview with Ian Bogost, author of How to Do Things with Videogames, in Fractured Politics.

Do you think this is a game?!

It's a tired parental exclamation, a signifier of a relationship rolling in the deep. And, according to Persuasive Games co-founder Ian Bogost, an important political question, to be answered literally, as well as discursively. Provided we can take a break from the latest level of Angry Birds.

When we think of games, we tend to think of leisurely play. Whether it's FarmVille or HALO, the consensus seems to be, "Wii would like to play, so long as we don't have to think." Put simply, games are an escape from reality. In the interview that follows, however, Bogost argues that games have the potential to not only be part of our technological environments, but to invest reality with new forms of expressivity, unleashing lines of flight from reductionist representations that lead to an engagement with complexity. If you agree with what he has to say, you can tweet about it in 180 characters or less, after updating your Facebook status.

Published in: Fractured Politics
By: Kris Coffield


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