In brief, both readings for this week explore topics of
agency and space and how these concepts have been redefined by (mobile) games.
Ito and Cohen debunk myths about the passivity of gamer players, though in
different ways: Ito examines “participatory forms of children’s media culture”
in Hamtaro and Yugioh and Cohen demonstrates how mobile games complicate or
blur notions of “play” and “reality”. Ito’s essay is particularly interesting
in relation to Barthes-ian notions of the relationship between author, text, and
reader (game and player) because she illustrates how participatory culture reshapes
and changes reading practices (or in this case gaming practices and game culture).
While both articles are engaged in a critical discussion of the ways in which
individuals participate in a game culture, I wonder what some of the
implications or limitations of games like the ones that Cohen examines may be. In
other words, what would happen if players are no longer able to distinguish the
difference between “play” and “reality”? Are there real social consequences that
emerge from games/ game culture?
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