Video games and interaction design have become such an important part of our lives, we need to consider it among both design and art. Every time we encounter a screen we are encountering interaction design. Interactive design determines the behavior that helps people interact with the machine.
MOMA currently has an exhibition in which viewers can actually play old video games. People can play Pong and a simulation of the original Tetris that was created by its original designer, Alexey Pajitnov. No exhibit of old video games would be complete without PacMan. Pac Man is amazing because its design makes a two dimensional maze into an experience that’s never two dimensional to the player. It always feels like three, four, five dimensions. You really feel that you are in space and you’re running for your life.
When MoMA acquires a video game for its collection, they are interested in the console and the interface, but the ‘holy grail’ is the code itself. It is difficult to obtain the code many times because that is the proprietary secret of the game itself. If they can’t get the code they try to acquire simulations, emulations, the cartridge, the hardware. The digital revolution has changed what it means to be a human being. It has given us connectivity and it has given us access and the ability to understand how other people live in different parts of the world.
Source: pri.org