Video Game Culture - Interactive Engagement Between Players and Digital Games

Interactive Engagement Between Players and Digital Games

Digital game is a new form of media where users interact and highly engage with. Terry Flew said unlike 'lean-back' type of media such as television, film and books, digital games place users into a productive relationship. In other word, a user is engaged to have relationship where he or she serves to create own text every time when engaged. Digital games are normally lacking in the elements of narrative. In games, rather than focusing it on character development or plot, usually setting is the narrative. For example, games with no plot or characters such as Tetris and Pong could keep players engaged for hours where narrative is not the most important aspect of game. Furthermore, digital games place players into a position where they have power to control. Players have power because they are the actor in the game. Again, Flew (2005) wrote 'the engagement comes because the player is the performer, and the game evaluates the performance and adapts to it'. Emergent games are becoming a popular style of game as they offer environment and sets of rules where players' destiny can branch in endless and various unexpected directions, occurring from the players' own decisions. Players as users of these new forms of media, not only ingest narrative but also can more freely interact and engage in ways where they can actually create their own text.