Abstract
The presented project sets out to examine playing cards in a longitudinal media-historical study. These paper things thus appear as paradigmatic interfaces between legibility and playability: On the one hand, playing cards are toys – namely artefacts that allow for certain operations – and on the other they are cultural sign systems, from which meaning is extracted from in varying ways. This calls for a systematic ludology that has been conceptualized as scientific research into playful cultural techniques. The aim is to establish an independent academic perspective on games and game design that is not merely orientated towards existing disciplines, but develops from the materiality and logic of the game itself. Within the agenda of digital humanism, this project seeks to understand the relationship of computer science and digital culture of our age with regard to the ongoing rapid transformations and innovations. These technological advances need to be mediated to the individual ways of handling knowledge. Thus, there is a need to understand and critically examine the materiality and functionality of interfaces and media, their playful (mis-)use and hacks that are part of the actual transformation of our knowledge society. Games and play are entities in their own right that need to be discussed with regards to the complex social, psychological/biological and media-technological aspects at once, without favouring one of those aspects for methodological reasons. This short paper aims at presenting some results of the funded INTRA-research project of the university of applied arts (“Ludological Investigations. Game Design in Terms of Cultural Techniques”), while explaining why it matters and presenting an outlook of potential upcoming research focussing on the prototypical playing card. It stood out as a special artifact of high ludicity, exemplifying the ludic potential as a special appeal, but also a liberating force for empowering autonomy against bureaucratic oppression. We’re looking forward to adapting in this early stage to the issues, topics and major problems pointed out in the field of digital humanism.
