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Blurred Boundaries

You've just spent the past six hours killing dragons and zombies with spells and enchanted swords. Now it's time to do the laundry. We all know that videogames have swiftly become an incredibly important part of our media landscape. These digital media allow us to visit places without walking out the door, and to experience things that don't exist offline. The potential of this medium seems boundless. But as advertisers and cultural critics, it is very hard to know what to make of games. They are frustratingly difficult to define, pin down, and relate to other, more familiar media. Videogames are simultaneously movies, puzzles, narratives, and above all else, they are interactive. Despite all of this complexity, we do know one thing. Videogames games are incredibly important to their players. Don't believe me, than just watch this (head to 1:15 to see the carnage). Convinced? Thought so.

As advertisers, we should care about games a great deal. Not only because they are lucrative, not only because they have exceptionally high rates of engagement, and not only because they a relevant to their players, but because videogames, along with many digital technologies, are changing what counts as real. Take this example, in which gamers helped some scientists in the fight against AIDS. Seriously crazy stuff, that shows how much games can matter, how real they can be.

In a few days, I'll be shipping off to Madrid for the sixth annual Conference on the Philosophy of Computer Games. This year, the conference will address what it means to be a videogame player. I will be presenting a paper there entitled Believe and Be Live: Entangled Experience in Halo. The paper jumps off from this ad campaign, and focuses on what happens when the experiences of playing a game become entwined with real world experiences, challenging the idea that experience in the digital world isn't as important as experience in the real world.

We'll have an update for you all when I'm back!

Posted in Conferences on

Tom HehirSenior StrategistDDB Chicago

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