For a Normative-Expressive Baseline Model in Videogame Design

This paper outlines the need for prescriptive action in the field of videogame design to overcome recurring conditions of lack of expressive productivity and uncertainty in carrying out the communicational goals of videogame development projects. This paper furthermore proposes a strategy for prescriptive action in the form of Applied Research in Normative Studies in videogames, meant to produce a Normative Videogame Design Model to equip game designers in the studio with an Expressive Baseline on which to base design tradeoffs and design decisions on matters of conveyance of message, tone and theme in a videogame. The paper deals with the implications of the concept of expressive productivity both in terms of the application of development resources and the nature of the videogame artifact itself, establishes the desire for theoretical design instruments such as the normative-expressive model among videogame developers, defines the sectors in videogame development where the normative-expressive model is likely to be more beneficial, justifies the choice of an Arteological perspective for defining the prescriptive action and notes the differences between Videogames and Cultural Industries other than videogames in production of theoretical design knowledge as implied by the call for theoretical design instruments by game developers.