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Computer games are now a major cultural-and economic-force, and despite being the object of years of academic study, this is the first book to interrogate the varied philosophical issues thrown up by the phenomenon, including the moral evaluation of game play.

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Computer games have become a major cultural and economic force, and a subject of extensive academic interest. Up until now, however, computer games have received relatively little attention from philosophy. Seeking to remedy this, the present collection of newly written papers by philosophers and media researchers addresses a range of philosophical questions related to three issues of crucial

importance for understanding the phenomenon of computer games: the nature of gameplay and player experience, the moral evaluability of player and avatar actions, and the reality status of the gaming environment. By doing so, the book aims to establish the philosophy of computer games as an important strand of computer games research, and as a separate field of philosophical inquiry.

The book is required reading for anyone with an academic or professional interest in computer games, and will also be of value to readers curious about the philosophical issues raised by contemporary digital culture.

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The Philosophy of Computer Games

John Richard Sageng, Hallvard Fossheim and Tarjei Mandt Larsen

Table of Contents

Preface

1. John Richard Sageng, Hallvard Fossheim and Tarjei Mandt Larsen

"General introduction"

Part I: PLAYERS AND PLAY

2. Tarjei Mandt Larsen "Introduction to Part I"

3. Rune Klevjer "Enter the Avatar"

4. Petri Lankoski "Computer Games and Emotions"

5. Olli Tapio Leino "Untangling Gameplay: An Account of Experience, Activity and Materiality within Computer Game Play"

6. Gordon Calleja "Erasing the Magic Circle"

Part II: PLAY AND ETHICS

7. Hallvard Fossheim "Introduction to Part II"

8. Miguel Sicart "Digital Games as Ethical Technologies"

9. Edward H. Spence "Virtual Rape, Real Dignity"

10. Ren Reynolds "Ethics and Practice in Virtual Worlds"

11. Adam Briggle "The Ethics of Computer Games: a Character Approach"

Part III: GAMES AND GAMEWORLDS

12. John Richard Sageng "Introduction to part III"

13. Grant Tavinor "Videogames and Fictionalism"

14. Aaron Meskin and Jon Robson

"Fiction and fictional worlds in videogames"

15. John Richard Sageng "In-Game Action"

16. Olav Asheim "Reality, Pretence and the Ludic Parenthesis"

17. Patrick Coppock "Are Computer Games Real?"

Index

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