Games that do not exist communication design beyond the current limits

The digital games industry has grown to the size of the film industry and is going to leave the box office far behind. Computers with their advanced graphics capabilities have contributed to the immersive interactive experience which attracts many to spend more leisure time playing digital games than watching television. The available CPU power of home computers and notebook PCs is setting the stage for game AI; console development shows a similar trend. Digital games and their potential social impact are subject to a heated debate worldwide which is fueled by tragic events such as the 1999 deadly shooting at the Columbine Highschool, Littleton, CO, USA, or the 2002 amok run at the Gutenberg Highschool in Erfurt, Germany. This debate is getting even more controversal when digital games such as the Super Columbine Massacre RPG enter the stage. Clearly, digital games may be seen as entertainment media. Established approaches of media research apply. Digital games must be also seen as IT application systems. They are, in particular, systems of Artificial Intelligence. The invited talk addresses issues of digital games' impact on social behavior. Emphasis is put on an interdisciplinary approach which is new, to some extent, to digital games studies in media and communication science. As presentation agenda, some list of problems is identified. For every problem, there will be undertaken the endeavor of developing new ideas of game playing and designing novel games such that the identified problem changes or, in the best case, possibly disappears