A Study on the Properties of the Relation between Digital Computer Games and Media Performance with a Focus on the Kinect Device

The development of digital media has ended the conceptual and technical division between the gaming industry and the performing arts. Digital games based on computers provide the experience of enhanced immersion in the game as one enters a virtual environment and leads the story by selecting and manipulating independently. In the case of media performance in which the digital media functions as an important element, a new visual expression of the arts and the opportunity to go beyond the limits of expression are provided through the interactivity between the performer and the media. In this sense, these two fields have common properties, and they interact and allow the story to unfold within the frame of the virtual environment through the independent actions of the actors. Therefore, it can be said that actors’ gestures and media interactivity are the most important properties of digital media, and these play the important role of connecting the notions of digital games and the performing arts. Moreover, as the body of the player or performer works as an interface and manifests the most basic interactivity, this becomes an important notion in understanding the similarities of the two fields. Accordingly, through cases of digital game contents and media performances that utilize Kinect, a popular piece of technical equipment that recognizes gestures, this paper aims to examine the possibility of a connection between the two fields and to explore the possibility of development through a mutual interchange.