Computer games in flux- A survey of stylistic development

Rüdiger Gleim

Universität Bielefeld
Universitätsstraße 25
D-33615 Bielefeld

Ruediger.Gleim@uni-bielefeld.de

Abstract

During the last decades computer games have become increasingly popular for a broad and diverse public. Leaving the narrow confines of simple text based interfaces they nowadays use state of the art technology regarding multi-media and multi-modal interaction. From the beginning computer games have always been more than a mere by-product of technological trends. They have rather driven some important developments concerning both hard- and software. Beyond technical questions, computer games can be described from the perspective of style which has also changed along with the spectrum of recipients. This regards for example increasingly realistic interfaces, multiplayer support and the overall ideas behind. This paper sheds light on the development of computer games from the perspective of style. It describes several milestones and prospects the near future. A central claim of the paper is that computer games now reach a level where they render the border between game and scientific applications fuzzy.