Digital Craftsmanship: Video games Main Menu

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This video was inspired by Richard Sennett’s argument for applying the term “craftsmanship” and its positive connotations in relation to digital games. He proposes craftsmanship and digital age are not the opposite, and programmers could also be craftsmen in this sense.

The discussions around video games and culture in recent years are mostly about representations (esp. gender and race), moral panic (e.g. addiction and violence), economic significance, "video games as art" and the possibilities for education. Instead of focusing on these aspects, this remix hopes to explore a relatively new area that examines the game production, which departures from Sennett’s ideas of craftsmanship.

*The use of the term "craftsmanship" here does not mean to be a gendered term. It is mostly gesturing to Sennett's argument and is similar to the "Shokunin" (職人) in Japanese, which does not imply the gender (direct translation: Shoku (職) means professions and Nin (人) means people). However, considering the possible sexist connotations it implies and the long-standing issue of sexist content in games, I will start using terms like "craftwork" or "Shokunin's spirit" for future writings and projects (after I have done a good research on the words and their historical contexts). (A big thank you to Vee for reminding me this issue! I was truly not cautious enough.)

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  1. Digital Craftsmanship: video games Kiana Ng

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