Iit appears as if the forums to Wark’s book gam3r 7h30ry have been restricted from public posting.
I wanted to ask whether he was going to be speaking or writing about exactly what made it into the HUP version of the book compared to the IF version.
Secondly, I wanted to hit Wark up with a question about his remarks in an interview (or HUP spruikerview) where he says that the “computer game is the dominant cultural form of out time.” Of course this may just be hubris, but I think he is serious. Every term in that statement needs to be pulled apart. I am not sure what “our time” is, but in terms of normative conceptions of “cultural form” I think advertising is actually the dominant form. In more of an expanded conception of “cultural form” that includes anything that is part of the functioning of cultures in developed Western countries (and quite a number of others) then the automobile is actually dominant. The system of automobility is like the material inverse of a poltergeist, which is a form only experienced through its action; it is the autogeist.
Whilst I’d agree that we should reject the overly simple idea that the computer game is dominant, i’d do so for slightly simpler reasons namely that the idea of ‘dominant’ doesn’t make sense given both the sheer variety of forms and there intertextual nature. .. So I’d differ and suggest that there is no dominant cultural form at all, unless that is we were to say that a certain type of ‘literacy’ is required for any form to be used… (I’m avoiding the word ‘read’ because the connotations make it difficult to use…)
I suppose the trouble is that i don’t have a better term to hand than literacy, just can’t think of one at the moment…
instead of literacy how about anything that requires \”conceptual proficiency\”?