Document Type
Review
Abstract
[First paragraph]
In Play Redux: The Form of Computer Games, Loyola University New Orleans professor David Myers frames his argument for the socio-developmental validity of so-called “harmful” play within a broader, formalistic study of computer games – a study wherein play itself, and not its consequences or interpretations, is under investigation. Purposefully forgoing analysis of the creative intentions behind, consumer affectations toward, and cultural perspectives surrounding computer games, Myers instead analyzes their internal mechanisms – their fundamental forms – via the application of both early 20th-century Russian formalism and Myers’ own semiotic models of cognitive play. Though he admits the approach is potentially flawed and his arguments often seem presented as though deliberately in opposition to his peers’ more culturally centric takes on games studies, his application of those arguments in the book’s closing chapters are worth the price of admission to any audience, providing startling insight into social blindness in games.
Repository Citation
Tennant, Daniel. "Review of Play Redux: The Form of Computer Games, by David Myers." Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture vol. 12, no. 2, 2012, pp. 1–6. https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/reconstruction/vol12/iss2/13