| Title | Video or Digital? |
|---|---|
| Subtitle | Exploring the Use of Terminology and Connected Approaches in the History of Game Studies |
| Contributor | Jasper van Vught(author) |
| Joris Veerbeek (author) | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.53288/0441.1.09 |
| Landing page | https://punctumbooks.com/titles/historiographies-of-game-studies-what-it-has-been-what-it-could-be/ |
| License | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ |
| Copyright | Jasper van Vught and Joris Veerbeek |
| Publisher | punctum books |
| Published on | 2025-07-25 |
| Long abstract | In this chapter, we use several computational text analyses methods to map the trends in game studies over the years connected to the use of specific terminology for our object of study (video game, computer game, digital game). Looking into a corpus of all the research articles published from 1999 onwards from a variety of game studies journals, we show how these terms are not just hollow descriptive categories but point to a cognitive reference point of more fitting approaches and points of interest. This becomes apparent in our finding that the term ‘video game’ correlates with scholarship on a variety of representational elements (e.g., ‘queer studies’, ‘game narrative’ and ‘gender studies’) much more so than the terms ‘digital game’ and ‘computer game’ do. It seems the visual emphasis of the prefix ‘video’ is (most likely unconsciously) inviting interest in the visual output of the medium, whereas ‘computer game’ and ‘digital game’ invite interest in its technological and medium-specific aspects. These findings serve as words of warning to be conscious of the terms we use for our object of study and the way in which these terms have and will encourage specific directions of our field. |
| Page range | pp. 195–225 |
| Print length | 31 pages |
| Language | English (Original) |
Jasper van Vught (he/him) is Assistant Professor of New Media and Games in the Department of Media and Culture Studies at Utrecht University. His research focuses on game theory and methodology, game ethics, and game history. He is part of the Centre for the Study of Digital Games and Play, has worked within an international research project into the age classification of games and has been involved with the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision to preserve and canonize Dutch game history. He co-authored the book Videogame Formalism: On Form, Aesthetic Experience and Methodology (Amsterdam University Press, 2023).
Joris Veerbeek (he/him) is Lecturer at the department of Media and Culture studies at Utrecht University and junior researcher at Utrecht Data School. He specializes in computational text analysis for humanities research and conducts research on the dynamics of the public debate on social media and in traditional media, with a specific focus on the role of social institutions.