Play and Productivity: The Constitution of Ageing Adults in Research on Digital Games

Digital games are increasingly an integral part of daily life for people of all ages and genders. Based on a Foucauldian notion of power and discourse, the central question discussed here is how people above the age of 60 and their engagement with digital games are constituted within existing research. The available literature can be separated into two distinct themes focusing on shaping and maintaining the player and the player’s relation to games. A highly functionalistic approach to the use of digital games runs through much of the research due to its preoccupation with social, mental, and bodily health or with the needs of the game industry. This tendency is linked to notions of economical productivity, a theme that is analyzed on the basis of theory formations from cultural gerontology as well as in relation to power and discipline.