Just Fun and Games? A sociological consideration of fun in video games

Crawford, Garry and Brock, Tom ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0965-0945 (2024) Just Fun and Games? A sociological consideration of fun in video games. Games and Culture. ISSN 1555-4120

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Abstract

The concept of ‘fun’ is widely used within the game design and game studies literature, and frequently highlighted as a key component of good games design, as well as a key factor in why people play games. However, it is a term rarely unpacked, and fun in video games remains relatively under researched, certainly in comparison to other associated terms such as ‘play’. This paper therefore provides a much-needed sociological exploration of a term at the centre of games design and studies, and moreover, argues, that doing so allows us to explore a range of important and related topics, such as the changing relationship between work and leisure and the blurring of fun and no-fun boundaries, as well as enabling us to delineate between often interchangeably used terms, such as happiness, enjoyment, and pleasure.