Proliferating Connections and Communicating Convergence

Abstract

In this paper I use the work of Niklas Luhmann to explore what pressure the concept of convergence exerts over how we communicate about the changing expressive practices of digital games following the emergence of digital technologies. My claim will be that in its current form, convergence privileges either the human users of technological platforms, or the combination of aesthetic conventions from different media what connects is either the user or the aesthetic code. While neither of these two positions would be likely to deny a reliance on the interplay between humans and technologies, such an interplay is taken for granted rather than explored. By using Luhmann’s version of systems theory, I argue that we can more effectively grasp the interplay of human and technological participants by understanding their combined roles in changing expressive practices.

Keywords

• convergence
• digital games
• human-computer interaction