Why do games work? In search of the active substance

Abstract

During the ISAGA2007 conference in Nijmegen, The Netherlands, the foundation was laid for a book that tries to find answers to the questions Why do games work? What is the active substance that makes them do what they do? Now, one year later, over 20 authors from different fields, from different disciplines and from all over the world has tried to answer this question from their own specific perspective. You can imagine that this has resulted in a wide range of explanations, based on theory, applications and practice. The explanations have been sought in disciplines such as psychodrama, culture, change, learning, narratives, military, communication, homo ludens, management and many more. In a workshop session we want to present and discuss (some of) these answers to the question why games work. In the end we hope to reassure Dick Duke that the statement he once had to made: 'It works, that's all we have', can now be changed in: 'It works, and maybe we start to understand a little why!'