Critical Literacy: Game Criticism for Game Developers

Abstract

As video games grow beyond the purview of a devout subculture, they are attracting scrutiny from audiences more numerous and diverse than ever before. The expanding public wants to know: What is a “good” videogame? What makes it “good”? The definition of “good” has connotations stretching from commerce to entertainment to art to explorations of a social issue. The body of work related to game criticism is already growing; authors are writing about their interpretation and perception of games and, through the simple act of writing about games, the structure of game criticism is already beginning to formalize.