Participating in a Finnish Future Studies Society’s seminar, I’ve been presenting my tentative view on future-oriented game studies (keyword: game cultures), and getting a nice mix on the seminar themes, marginality and centrality. The trick, of course is, how to identify those marginal phenomena which are somehow symptomatic, or “weak signals” telling about our future. What is your current favourite future?
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frans goes blog 
Comments on Frans’ presentation in traditional summer seminar on August 18th, 2005 by the Finnish Society for Futures Studies at the Helsinki University Centre at Suitia in Siuntio. I liked the way you analysed and formed the present field of digital games. My personal feeling is that most young people play games and use time for this. Do we know if they use study time or working time to this???
However, as you said many people have different phases in life and the limits are imposed on them – like work and family duties. Then digital games are no longer a prioroty.
An interesting point being the futures approach to digital games. What is it?
Further, what is the cultural view on digital world with or without games? Will Asia or West dominate?
I am curious?!”?!
Best, LML
Hi – here are quite many questions, and I am not sure how to respond. But basically I think we need to take seriously the “non-serious” developments taking place; ideally, we are liberated to experiment more with the way we perceive our environments, the ways of operating, and our self, too, in the future. Building scenarios of these developments are perhaps the first steps of future-oriented game studies. This is also a regular element in the work we do in our applied research projects (see the Game Research Lab pages).