“Tap, tap, flap, flap.” Ludic Seriality, Digitality, and the Finger

This article tries to answer the question, “What is ‘digital’ about digital media?” Building on the concept of ludic seriality as proposed by Shane Denson and Andreas Jahn-Sudmann and taking as an example the popular mobile Game Flappy Bird, it discusses the serial character of gameplay, in particul...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Till A. Heilmann
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Septentrio Academic Publishing 2014-12-01
Series:Eludamos
Online Access:https://septentrio.uit.no/index.php/eludamos/article/view/6154
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author Till A. Heilmann
author_facet Till A. Heilmann
author_sort Till A. Heilmann
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description This article tries to answer the question, “What is ‘digital’ about digital media?” Building on the concept of ludic seriality as proposed by Shane Denson and Andreas Jahn-Sudmann and taking as an example the popular mobile Game Flappy Bird, it discusses the serial character of gameplay, in particular the intra-ludic serialization of in-game and operator actions. The article argues that the principle of digitality relates to the fingers of the human hand and the corresponding cultural techniques, from the ancient art of finger-counting which brought forth the abstract number concept to our current every day use of buttons and keys to operate digital devices.
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spelling doaj.art-c2b488d503904a0aa045821b382dcaf02024-02-03T09:10:44ZengSeptentrio Academic PublishingEludamos1866-61242014-12-018110.7557/23.6154“Tap, tap, flap, flap.” Ludic Seriality, Digitality, and the FingerTill A. Heilmann0University of SiegenThis article tries to answer the question, “What is ‘digital’ about digital media?” Building on the concept of ludic seriality as proposed by Shane Denson and Andreas Jahn-Sudmann and taking as an example the popular mobile Game Flappy Bird, it discusses the serial character of gameplay, in particular the intra-ludic serialization of in-game and operator actions. The article argues that the principle of digitality relates to the fingers of the human hand and the corresponding cultural techniques, from the ancient art of finger-counting which brought forth the abstract number concept to our current every day use of buttons and keys to operate digital devices.https://septentrio.uit.no/index.php/eludamos/article/view/6154
spellingShingle Till A. Heilmann
“Tap, tap, flap, flap.” Ludic Seriality, Digitality, and the Finger
Eludamos
title “Tap, tap, flap, flap.” Ludic Seriality, Digitality, and the Finger
title_full “Tap, tap, flap, flap.” Ludic Seriality, Digitality, and the Finger
title_fullStr “Tap, tap, flap, flap.” Ludic Seriality, Digitality, and the Finger
title_full_unstemmed “Tap, tap, flap, flap.” Ludic Seriality, Digitality, and the Finger
title_short “Tap, tap, flap, flap.” Ludic Seriality, Digitality, and the Finger
title_sort tap tap flap flap ludic seriality digitality and the finger
url https://septentrio.uit.no/index.php/eludamos/article/view/6154
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