Abstract
In a historical perspective, what is novel about computer games is that they are not pure games but cultural objects which allow the playful desires identified by Caillois to be fused with craftsmanship, the desire to do a job well for its own sake (Sennett). Play is often defined in opposition to work, for example by Huizinga and Caillois, but craftsmanship has two qualities which can be found in both. Firstly, craftsmanship entails creative attention to the material at hand pleasurably and patiently built up through rehearsal (cf. Sennett on “material consciousness”)—“creative” is used in a sense read from Bergson which is almost synonymous with “possibility-widening”. Secondly, craftsmanship entails the satisfaction of seeing the end result of one's labours. Both qualities are essential to human well-being (Marx, Sennett, Smith).
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Arendt, H. (1958). The human condition (2nd ed.). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Bergson, H. (2001). Creative evolution. London: The Electric Book Company.
Caillois, R. (1961). Man, play, and games. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: the psychology of optimal experience. New York: HarperPerennial.
Friedman, T. (1994). Making Sense of Software: computer games as interactive textuality. In S. G. Jones (Ed.), CyberSociety: computer-mediated communication and community (pp. 73–89). Thousand Oals: Sage.
Gee, J. P. (2003). What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Huizinga, J. (1949). Homo ludens: a study of the play-element in culture. London: Routledge.
Juul, J. (2005). Half-real: video games between real rules and fictional worlds. Cambridge: The MIT Press.
Klevjer, R. (2006). What is the Avatar? Fiction and Embodiment in Avatar-Based Singleplayer Computer Games. Dr. Polit. thesis, University of Bergen.
Marx, K. (1973). Grundrisse: foundations of the critique of political economy (rough draft). London: Penguin. Trans. Martin Nicolaus.
Salen, K., & Zimmerman, E. (2004). Rules of play: game design fundamentals. Cambridge: The MIT Press.
Sayers, S. (2007). The concept of labor: Marx and his critics. Science & Society, 71(4), 431–454.
Sennett, R. (2008). The craftsman. London: Penguin.
Smith, A. (2001). The wealth of nations. London: The Electric Book Company.
Wirman, H. E. (2011). Constructing and negotiating woman computer game player identities through the practice of skinning. PhD thesis, University of the West of England.
Yee, N. (2006). The labor of fun: how video games blur the boundaries of work and play. Games and Culture, 1(1), 68–71.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Liboriussen, B. Craft, Creativity, Computer Games: the Fusion of Play and Material Consciousness. Philos. Technol. 26, 273–282 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13347-013-0120-0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13347-013-0120-0