What is new and what is old? Isn’t media just media but in an evolving stage?
This question popped into my mind when I was reading the Lister’s part on “Simulation Games” (pp 42-44). I wondered out loud that if we are really trying to justify the existence of new media by technical / personalized aspect? Sure, we can quantify it by using technical measurements but do we need to?
Look at any children playing with their train set, building blocks, or their make belief games will give us an insight that we have been doing “simulations” for ages. Prior to computers, prior to media, and prior to fancy toys, kids (and adults) had been simulating on what ever media we can find! It is true that new media and technology dramatically enhance the complexity of these simulations but it the definition of media.