The Effects of Videogame Musealization on Gameplay Experience

Abstract

From the early days of videogame until the early 2000s, videogame play usually took place in two main contexts: the public one (which included video arcades, bars and pubs), and the domestic one, due to the dissemination of home consoles.
The musealization and the institutionalization of videogames have undermined gameplay conventions overlooking entertainment, which had been considered by the industry the primary function of videogames. New points of view have been suggested by museums and other cultural institutions, by proposing a new key to videogame interpretation which allows the player to see videogames as a new art form and to consider it something different from a mere commercial product.
Starting from the suggestions of Mark J.P. Wolf, Matteo Bittanti and Francesco Alinovi, in this article videogame is considered as the union of two aspects: “video” and “game”. It will be argued that the videogame musealization, as well as other forms of recontextualization, can affect the gameplay placing the emphasis on visuality.