Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Introduction to Part I: Players and Play

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
The Philosophy of Computer Games

Part of the book series: Philosophy of Engineering and Technology ((POET,volume 7))

  • 2136 Accesses

Abstract

A fundamental fact about computer games is that they exist in order to be played. Among the many questions raised by this fact, two sets of issues have lately received a lot of attention: First, what is the nature of computer game play, conceived as an activity or practise? Specifically, how, and to what extent, does the playing of computer games differ from the playing of non-computer games on the one hand, and from different kinds of non-playing activities and practices on the other? Second, what characterizes the player herself, in so far as she is engaged in the activity of computer gameplay? In particular, what characterizes her subjective experience of being involved in this activity – her gaming experience, as it is often called?

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Calleja, Gordon. 2007. Digital games as designed experience: Reframing the concept of immersion. Unpublished doctoral thesis, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington.

    Google Scholar 

  • Calleja, Gordon. 2012. Erasing the magic circle. In The philosophy of computer games, ed. J.R. Sageng, H. Fossheim, and T.M. Larsen. Dordrecht: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Copier, Marinka. 2007. Beyond the magic circle: A network perspective on role-play in online games. Unpublished doctoral thesis, Utrecht University, Utrecht.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ehrmann, Jacques. 1968. Homo Ludens revisited. Yale French Studies 41: 31–57.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gutting, Gary. 2011. Thinking the impossible: French philosophy since 1960. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heidegger, Martin. 1962. Being and time. Trans. J. Macquarrie and E. Robinson. New York: Harper & Row.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huizinga, Johan. 1955a. Homo Ludens: A study of the play element in culture. Boston: Beacon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Husserl, Edmund. 1970. Logical investigations. Trans. M. Findley. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

    Google Scholar 

  • Husserl, Edmund. 1982. Ideas pertaining to a pure phenomenology and a phenomenological philosophy. First book. Trans. F. Kersten. Dordrecht: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ihde, Don. 1990a. Technology and the lifeworld: From garden to earth. Bloomington/Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Juul, Jesper. 2005. Half real: Videogames between real rules and fictional worlds. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Luft, Sebastian, and Søren Overgaaard. 2011. The Routledge companion to phenomenology. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Malaby, Thomas. 2007. Beyond play: A new approach to games. Games and Culture 2(2): 95–113.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Merleau-Ponty, Maurice. 1962. Phenomenology of perception. Trans. C. Smith. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pargman, D., and P. Jakobsson. 2006. The magic is gone: A critical analysis of the gaming situation. Paper presented at the Gaming Realities: A Challenge for Digital Culture, Athens.

    Google Scholar 

  • Salen, Katie, and Eric Zimmerman. 2003. Rules of play: Game design fundamentals. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spiegelberg, Herbert. 1994. The phenomenological tradition. Dordrecht/New York/Heidelberg: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Suits, Bernard. 1978. The grasshopper: Games, life and Utopia. Toronto: Toronto University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, T.L. 2006. Play between worlds: Exploring online game culture. Cambridge, MA/London: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

Suggestions for Further Reading

  • Caillois, Roger. 2001. Man play and games. Champaign: University of Illinois Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Damasio, Antonio. 2005. Descartes’ error: Emotion, reason, and the human brain. New York: Penguin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Decety, Jean, and Philip L. Jackson. 2004. The functional architecture of human empathy. Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience Reviews 3: 71–100.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dreyfus, Hubert. 2008. Existential critique of second life. In On the Internet (Thinking in action), 2nd ed, ed. H. Dreyfus, 89–120. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gingold, Chaim. 2003. Miniature gardens & magic crayons: Games, spaces, & worlds. Master’s thesis, School of Literature, Communication and Culture, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta. Also available at http://www.slackworks.com/~cog/writing/thesis/toc.php.

  • Huizinga, Johan. 1955b. A study of play element in culture. Boston: Beacon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ihde, Don. 1990b. Technology and the lifeworld: From garden to earth. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ihde, Don. 2003. A phenomenology of technics. In Philosophy of technology. The technological condition. An anthology, ed. R.C. Scharff and V. Dusek, 507–529. Chichester: Blackwell Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lankoski, Petri. 2011. Player-character engagement in computer games. Games and Culture 6(4): 291–311. doi:10.1177/1555412010391088.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Manovich, Lev. 2001. The language of new media. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oatley, Keith, Dacher Kelter, and Jennifer Jenkins. 2006. Understanding emotions, 2nd ed. Malden: Wiley-Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sudnow, David. 1983. Pilgrim in the microworld. Eye, mind and the essence of video skill. New York: Warner Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tavinor, Grant. 2010. The art of videogames. Malden: Wiley-Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilhelmsson, Ulf. 2001. Enacting the point of being. Computer games, interaction and film theory. Ph.D dissertation, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. UiS Business School, University of Stavanger, 4036, Stavanger, Norway

    Tarjei Mandt Larsen

Authors
  1. Tarjei Mandt Larsen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tarjei Mandt Larsen .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Philosophy, University of Oslo, Blindern, Oslo, 0315, Norway

    John Richard Sageng

  2. , University of Philosophy, Classics, Hist, University of Oslo, Oslo, 0315, Norway

    Hallvard Fossheim

  3. , Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Stavanger, Kjell Arholmsgt 41, Stavanger, 4036, Norway

    Tarjei Mandt Larsen

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2012 Springer Netherlands

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Larsen, T.M. (2012). Introduction to Part I: Players and Play. In: Sageng, J., Fossheim, H., Mandt Larsen, T. (eds) The Philosophy of Computer Games. Philosophy of Engineering and Technology, vol 7. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4249-9_2

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation