Seemingly the topic-complex of 'real vs. virtual' has spawned another related discussion: Can computergames be art? Matching the topic, ConfigSys.boy! has published a lengthy article called Arts and Electronic Entertainment, which spawned a lot of feedback here and here. (Prematurely jumping into the discussion, I already made a fool of myself over there). The newly published revised and expanded edition of a book by Oliver Grau deals with the same issue:

GRAU, OLIVER. 2003. Virtual Art: From Illusion to Immersion. Cambridge: MIT Press. [Rev. and expanded ed.]

"Virtual art is all too often precisely that - almost, but not quite, art. Much of Oliver Grau's book, especially the part dealing with immersive virtual reality environments, is replete with reservations about whether what he is writing about really qualifies as important art, given that it lacks the quality of distance that is essential for critical reflection. When one experiences a totally immersive environment one is in the image, and so one cannot step back to gain an overview, nor is one supposed to be aware of the illusion-creating technology used to produce the image. Moreover, as Grau points out, many examples of virtual art are suffused with mystical or mythological undertones that do not sit easily with the criticality and irony that are the hallmarks of today's art.". (Taken from the review by Michael Gibbs in Art Monthly. Read the complete review here.) Also related is a book by Mark Wolf:

WOLF, MARK J.P. (Ed.). 2002. The medium of the video game. Austin: University of Austin Press.

Wolf wants to get to grips with computergames by means of media sciences: "Currently, they [videogames] are best approached and analyzed using conceptual tools developed in film and television studies. The study of video games overlaps these fields in many theoretical areas, including those of the active spectator, suture, first person narrative, and spatial orientation, point of view, character identification, sound and image relations, and semiotics." Telepolis carries a recent article, called How to read videogames (in german), critically discussing Wolf's book. In there Tilman Baumgärtel writes: "Just recently the analysis of videogames by the humanities has started. In Germany it was not before last year, that two books were published which deal with computergames beyond the ever-resurfacing question 'do they make the youth violent?'." [my translation] Media sciences, the humanities ... but nobody mentions either cultural anthropology or online-communities clustering around games explicitly -- that's where my own project will jump in ;o) via Anthro-L, Telepolis, and ConfigSys.boy!

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