Experimental Games: Critique, Play, and Design in the Age of Gamification

by Patrick Jagoda

In our unprecedentedly networked world, games have come to occupy an important space in many of our everyday lives. Digital games alone engage an estimated 2.5 billion people worldwide as of 2020, and other forms of gaming, such as board games, role playing, escape rooms, and puzzles, command an ever-expanding audience. At the same time, “gamification”—the application of game mechanics to traditionally nongame spheres, such as personal health and fitness, shopping, habit tracking, and more—has imposed unprecedented levels of competition, repetition, and quantification on daily life.

Drawing from his own experience as a game designer, Patrick Jagoda argues that games need not be synonymous with gamification. He studies experimental games that intervene in the neoliberal project from the inside out, examining a broad variety of mainstream and independent games, including StarCraft , Candy Crush Saga , Stardew Valley , Dys4ia , Braid , and Undertale . Beyond a diagnosis of gamification, Jagoda imagines ways that games can be experimental—not only in the sense of problem solving , but also the more nuanced notion of problem making that embraces the complexities of our digital present. The result is a game-changing book on the sociopolitical potential of this form of mass entertainment.

Genres: Theory, Philosophy

402 pages, Paperback

Published December 7, 2020

Reviews

[Roger Whitson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a brilliant analysis of the interconnection between neoliberalism, game theory, and the development of video games. Jagoda is particularly good at exploring how games can be understood as experiments.

Christian Haines and I interview Jagoda on our podcast, "Gamers with Glasses": https://www.gamerswithglasses.com/gwg...

[Adrian Manea · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I guess this is what an academic level book on game studies looks like. Personally, I'm more interested in using games in education, as a teacher and gamer myself. However, it was an eye-opening read, although I'm not well educated in economics and (geo)politics.

But a great book nonetheless, which analyzes popular games in the context of the major economic and political events in our world.

The 'experimental' in the title is a clever use of the word, as it refers to multilayered forms of complex experiences that games of all kinds propose.

[Darren · Rating 5 out of 5]

I suspect there is some profound wisdom somewhere in this book that I only caught glimpses of. I don’t have anything to compare it to but this felt like important work. It is allegedly about video games but it’s thought is applicable to any designed system. The authors word choices are very precise and threw light onto some very hazy concepts and thoughts I’ve had. I also appreciate this book for making me interested in theory. The book does nurture some utopian hope in games that I’m skeptical of but the argument is still convincing.

Resonated perfectly with the rehearsal season 2

[Bill]

I read and reviewed this book for ALA CHOICE magazine; my review will appear there in mid-2021.