More Than Just the Table: Analog Games as Computational Platforms

Abstract

Analog game platforms are more than just individual material objects as the platform studies methodology would argue. Platform studies affords a medium specific analysis connecting media to its cultural implications through close examinations of modular material components that influence the interactions and creation of media made on a specific hardware or software platform. This paper uses the examples of Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: the Gathering to conceptualize analog game platforms in a way that complicates the construction of platforms.