FROG Anthologies

Terms like “money”, “finance”, or “economy” might, at first glance, not seem particularly playful, but they describe concepts that are at the very heart of many game-related phenomena. A closer look reveals that the fiscal and the ludic converge more often, and on more levels, than those concerned with either of these fields would care to admit. Sometimes these links are tangible and concrete, as when games use various kinds of in-game currency, or when games are viewed as part of a business generating immense revenues. In other cases, the relation is more abstract: many games challenge their players to exhibit what might well be described as an “economic mindset”, while economic enterprises and entrepreneurship are often discussed in terms of games to be won or lost, games in which success or failure depend on an understanding of the “system”, and on the skills required to “play” it to one’s advantage. These are also highly ideological matters, revealing how easily the games we make and play reproduce our own capitalist primings, and how, on the other hand, the neoliberal world image Is fueled by logics of gaming and gambling, of competition and zero-sum games. And finally, the systemic nature of games, and even the freedoms of play, are easily exploited for economic gain, of which addictive gambling-mechanics are only the most prominent example; but the same features that enable such dark patterns in game design make it possible to draw attention to exploitative mechanisms in games and beyond, and make us address our own willingness to be paid off with immediate pleasure while ignoring the long term cost. 

Matters of Money and Economy in and around Games have been the focus of the 17th Vienna Games Conference “FROG – Future and Reality of Gaming” 2023. In this volume, 16 contributions to the conference have been collected which shed a light on the manifold relations between two seemingly different areas of human activity and experience: the desire for profit, and the necessity of play.

https://door.donau-uni.ac.at/o:3617
ISBN: 978-3-903470-14-9
DOI: https://doi.org/10.48341/pwsk-m637

Koenig, N., Denk, N., Pfeiffer, A., Wernbacher, T., Wimmer, S. (Hrsg) (2024). Money | Games | Economies. University of Krems Press.

Freedom and Oppression are not simple opposites, they form a dialectical relationship in which, as concepts, one cannot exist without the other. Sometimes, they can even enable, emphasize and strengthen each other: just as freedom begins to shine once it contrasts against oppressive forces, oppression becomes the most effective when it gives a certain amount of leeway to the oppressed.

This intricate connection between Freedom and Oppression often shapes political systems, social environments, and personal relationships; but it is also at the heart of matters of Games & Play, which rely heavily on the interplay between artificial constraints and the desire to gain a liberating sense of agency within them. Can a better understanding of Games & Play heighten our understanding of oppressive forces and liberation efforts in real life? Is the act of playing (and creating) games a reflection or even reinforcement of oppressions and freedoms that exist outside the game world? Can Games & Play themselves become liberating forces, or even tools of oppression? And what promises of freedom, what mechanisms of oppression exist in the world of games and gaming?

The 16th Vienna Games Conference “FROG – Future and Reality of Gaming” 2022 has aimed to address these and other related questions. This volume presents 24 contributions to the conference, which strive to enlighten the complex relations between Freedom and Oppression, Games and Play.

https://door.donau-uni.ac.at/o:3617
ISBN: 978-3-903470-07-1
DOI: 10.48341/ttmb-rz82

Koenig, N., Denk, N., Pfeiffer, A., Wernbacher, T., Wimmer, S. (Hrsg) (2023). Freedom | Oppression | Games & Play. University of Krems Press.

Magic and Games are connected in many ways. There is a certain magic in making games, when we create otherwise impossible worlds and bend the rules of these worlds to our will. There is the magical quality of playing games, through which we immerse into tangible fantasies, explore new ways to interact with the world and each other, and are ourselves transformed in the process. There are the many representations of magic in games, which showcase or shift cultural ideas about what is possible, what is desirable, and how we wish (or fear) the world might be. And finally, magic is also a key metaphor in the games discourse, which significantly shapes our perception of play and games – most prominently in the form of the magic circle concept, but also in the ways in which game scholars, creators, fans and activists frame “their” medium as something that, like magic, seems to stand apart from ordinary life.

The 15th Vienna Games Conference “The Future and Reality of Gaming” (FROG) 2021 has explored how magic and games seem almost inextricably intertwined. This volume collects 17 contributions that have emerged from the conference, and which together form a multi-faceted examination of the “Magic of Games”

https://door.donau-uni.ac.at/o:2711
ISBN: 978-3-903150-96-6
DOI: 10.48341/ncap-6j40

Koenig, N., Denk, N., Pfeiffer, A., Wernbacher, T. (Hrsg) (2022). The Magic of Games. Edition Donau-Universität Krems.

Contemporary game scholarship offers a broad palette of theories and methods inherited from such fields as sociology and communication studies, experimental sciences, literary analysis, educational sciences and cultural critique. At large, this inherently interdisciplinary research aims for a holistic perspective on the ‘LUDIC SOCIETY’. With that in mind, this book is organized into four sections that present related and often intertwined ideas and observations about the ways we manifest ourselves in games and play, how games represent us in the present and in the past, how games and play change us, and what it all may mean for contemporary society. This book invites readers to engage with the key challenges of a ludic society, explore new perspectives and initiate fruitful discussions. It is aimed at both passionate game scholars and all those who want to get a first taste of the multifaceted research field of game studies.

https://door.donau-uni.ac.at/o:1399
ISBN: 978-3-903150-72-0
DOI: 10.48341/b17g-3c33

Denk, N., Serada A., Werbacher, T., Pfeiffer, A. (Hrsg) (2021). A Ludic Society. Edition Donau-Universität Krems.