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Today etc press released Steffen Walz’s “Toward a Ludic Archtiecture”

You can download the text or leap straight into purchasing a printed copy here:

As I continue to work through my dissertation on “What makes a place fun?’, I am excited to see Steffen’s work in print. Not only does it help push forward some important concepts about games and architectures–for me his archeology of ludic architectures is the perfect way to get architects thinking about games–but he also dignifies the subject by merging architectural concepts and language with game studies and design thought in a way that respects both disciplines.

The entire “ludology versus narratology” debate spun on the concern that people versed in lit theory would just tear apart games without ever bothering to play them. As time has gone on, game playing narratologists have contributed all kinds of useful research (I am thinking of Alex Galloway, for example).

The same thing is happening in other disciplines as well–economics, sociology, computer science, art, etc. And now we can safely add architecture to that list.