British board games and the ludic imagination: c.1860-1960

这项研究将调查在英国生产的桌游和它们在孩子们的生活中扮演的角色。从1860年到1960年，桌游的种类和在家庭生活中的出现都发生了显著的变化。正如我为哲学硕士学位所做的研究所揭示的那样，在19世纪中后期，桌游从印刷商和地图制作者制作的说教性教育材料转变为大量生产和廉价的产品，桌游从中产阶级文化发展成为大众文化。在20世纪，桌面游戏继续发展，在第一次世界大战期间出现了以冲突为主题的游戏，在两次世界大战期间与漫画和卡通的联系越来越多，在第二次世界大战之后，儿童和成人游戏之间的界限更加清晰。这项研究将利用广泛的资源来追踪它们在这一时期的使用方式和使用对象的变化。“Ludic”是用来描述需要玩家直接输入才能获得或进一步体验的游戏的独特趣味本质的术语。通过重复和直接的互动，玩家体验到的游戏与其他娱乐形式不同。有趣的想象是一种审视对游戏不断变化的看法的方式。它也让我们看到游戏和玩耍是如何帮助巩固童年是一个独特的阶段，桌面游戏作为一种思考年龄的分析方式是有指导意义的。通过棋盘游戏，我们可以研究用于促进特定思维方法的搞笑互动的物质历史，以及日记和口述历史等原始材料。利用这些资源，我们可以研究意义的协商，以及游戏设计师和玩家之间的紧张关系。

This research will examine both board games produced in Britain and their role in the lives of the children who played with them. Between the period 1860-1960 there was a notable change in both the kind of board games being produced and their presence in domestic life. As the research for my MPhil revealed, during the mid to late nineteenth century board games changed from didactic educational material produced by printers and mapmakers to mass produced and cheaply available, board games had developed from middle-class culture into mass culture. During the twentieth century board games continued to evolve, with an explosion of games themed around conflict during the First World War, increasing links with comic strips and cartoons in the interwar period and a sharper delineation between games for children and adults after the Second World War. This study will deploy a wide range of sources to track changes in how they were used and by who across the period."Ludic" is the term used to describe the unique playful nature of games which require direct input from a player to gain or further their experience. Through repetitive and direct interaction, a player experiences a game like no other form of entertainment. Ludic imagination is a way of examining changing perceptions towards play. It also allows us to see how games and play helped to solidify what made childhood a distinct phase, board games are instructive as a way of thinking about age as a category of analysis. Through board games we can examine a material history of ludic interaction being used to promote certain methods of thinking, and through primary materials such as diaries and oral histories. Using these sources we can investigate the negotiation of meaning, and the tension between game designer and player.