Games and cultural memory

“Cultural memory” is the memory of past cultural and sociocultural elements: principles and values; practices realizing these principles and values; criteria for evaluating ideas, practices and deeds; aesthetic forms; objects of any kind that have been perceived in their times and in the present as objects of cultural value.

Both the games we play as artefacts but also the gameplay, the way we play them, function as media of cultural memory. In their indirect and entertaining way, games transport universal cultural memories, as for example how important fair play is or how crucial is the role of chance in life. But they also bring to memory specific cultural elements, related to specific games or their gameplay.

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