ABSTRACT
Digital games have moved from the margins to the mainstream and are now a common feature of everyday life. How may we understand the appropriation of games from a domestication perspective? And how can studies of play inform domestication studies? Both domestication studies and game studies benefit from perspectives that highlight complexity and diversity in experiences and interpretations. In this chapter, I will address the mutually beneficial relationship between domestication studies and game studies by approaching games and play from a domestication perspective. The discussion is focused around the three dimensions (symbolic, practice, cognitive) of the STS model of domestication. The chapter concludes that domestication studies would benefit from differentiating enjoyment, while game studies are strengthened by an orientation towards play as contextually determined.
