Never Alone: Video Games as Interactive Design - Paperback

Edited by Paola Antonelli, Anna Burckhardt, and Paul Galloway   Every interaction in our onscreen lives—with ATMs, vending machines, retail websites, and video calls—takes place through an interface. Sometimes buggy and confusing, sometimes inviting and accessible, these interfaces, like other everyday tools, are seldom the object of critical examination, and often we don’t even notice them. In video games, however, the interface is at the heart of the design: it is the conduit to the narrative and to the experience as a whole. Is the game easily learned by newcomers, or does it take years of experience to decode and master? Is it for solo contemplation or group competition? Does it encourage us to lose track of time, or does it delight in frustrating us? These questions—of behavior, navigation, and artistic intent—are all addressed by interactive design.   Through the thirty-six video games in the collection of The Museum of Modern Art, Never Alone: Video Games as Interactive Design e