SHALL WE PLAY A GAME?

As I grew up in my hometown of Rock Falls, Illinois, listening to the radio, I often heard advertisements for a videogame retail store called Video Games ETC! The commercials were quite typical. They frequently detailed how they had "the latest and greatest video games and consoles!" And like any good business they had a tagline at the end of every commercial. Amidst a flurry of distorted rock guitar chords I heard, "Video games ETC! Just a game? I DON'T THINK SO!" As a child I agreed with this statement, but as an adult I feel compelled to defend it. This simple commercial tagline effectively responds to the prevailing negative attitudes toward playing videogames as a meaningful endeavor. This tagline conveys the attitudes of gamers in U.S. culture by claiming implicitly that videogames are more than just games, and the extent to which we are willing to take videogames "seriously."
In this chapter, I provide an overview of my thesis performance project and the ideas that caused me to link videogames and performance together. Second, I examine a literal and performative understanding of videogames. Third, I discuss the ways videogames function as a method of performing self through my own narratives. Then, I emphasize how videogames are connected with and through culture by means of technological performance. Finally, I preview and discuss the specific research questions I answer in later chapters.