The Small Stuff

Ian Bogost on the Post Games podcast disucssing his new book: My wife plays not like Candy Crush, but one of those match three mobile games that are Candy Crush clones, not obsessively, but regularly, right? While we’re watching TV or whatever. And what is she doing? Why is she doing that? What she’s interested in is the same thing that makes people want to knit while they watch TV. It’s something to do with your hands. I’m just manipulating something. I’m moving around. I’m feeling the physical sensation of touching the glass and I’m getting the virtualized sensation of these objects swapping places and sometimes disappearing. It’s the same thing as twiddling a coin in your fingers and feeling the texture of your garment or running your hand along a velvet couch, is the story I tell in the book. I don’t really have a desire or a request for games in this book. But I do think that that opportunity to just provide sensory encounter, I wish there was more of that. I wish there was more…