It is our pleasure to announce an open workshop on philosophy and game design taking place in STUDIO-X ISTANBUL at Wednesday, November 12th, in conjunction with the Philosophy of Computer Games conference (13-15 November).

A panel of independent game philosophers will include Stefano Gualeni, Pietro Righi Riva, Michelle Westerlaken, Krystian Majewski, Gordon Calleja, and Christopher Thi Nguyen (moderator).

The workshop is organised by Stefano Gualeni.

E-Mail: stefano[dot]gualeni[at]gmail[dot]com
Twitter: @gua_le_ni

Please find more information below:

As philosophers who design video games and as independent game designers who are passionate with philosophy, in this panel we will do our very best to demonstrate with practical examples how virtual worlds can effectively materialize thought-experiments and interactively disclose world-views that are alternative to the ones human beings can experience in their everyday engagement with the world. In other words, how philosophy is useful in digital media / video game design and how digital media / video games can be an interesting field to mediate philosophical thought.

You can also check the event page on Facebook!

The panel will feature the following speakers:

Pietro Righi Riva: PhD in interaction design, Pietro is co-founder and studio director at Santa Ragione (MirrorMoon EP, FOTONICA). Pietro’s research is about designing games that are not objective-driven, the concept of playful technology and embracing technology and design limitations for expression as a design process.

 

 

 

 

 

Michelle Westerlaken: Former student of Stefano Gualeni, now pursuing a MA in interaction design in Malmö University (Sweden). She’s one of the few people in the world who designs technologically-mediated interaction for animals (and this is particularly interesting for the panel as her approach is grounded in German philosophy). Some of her work can be found here: michellewesterlaken.wordpress.com

 

 

 

 

 

Krystian Majewski: Krystian Majewski was born in Warsaw and studied design at Köln International School of Design. Before, he was working on a mid-size console project for NEON Studios in Frankfurt. He helped establish a Master course in Game Design and Research at the Cologne Game Lab. Today he teaches Game Design at various institutions and develops independent video games (TRAUMA).

 

 

 

 

 

Gordon Calleja: PhD in Game Studies, Associate Professor and Head of the Institute of Digital Games at the University of Malta. He recently released Will Love Tear Us Apart, a thoughtful game about the frustration of past relationships. He is the author of ““In-Game: From Immersion to Incorporation”, published by MIT Press in 2011.

 

 

 

 

 

Stefano Gualeni: Game designer and PhD in Philosophy, teaches game design at NHTV Breda University of Applied Sciences in Holland. His latest experiments with philosophical video games include www.Gua-Le-Ni.com and the critical game Necessary Evil.