I discovered this recently published paper by Lasse Nielsen, which should be of interest to ethics oriented game philosophers.

The abstract:

This article claims that the protection of children’s capability for play is a central social-political goal. It provides the following three-premise argument in defense of this claim: (i) we have strong and wide-ranging normative reasons to be concerned with clusters of social deficiency; (ii) particular fertile functionings play a key role for tackling clusters of social deficiency; and finally (iii) the capability for childhood play is a crucial, ontogenetic prerequisite for the development of those particular fertile functionings. Thus, in so far as we consider it a central political goal to tackle social deficiency, we should be concerned with protection of childhood play capability. This conclusion raises new insights on the importance – for global development policy as well as for welfare states’ aim to secure social justice – of protecting children’s capability to engage in playful activities.

An important book on the aesthetics of computer games will soon be out, edited by Jon Robson and Grant Tavinor.  From the description:

“This collection of essays is devoted to the philosophical examination of the aesthetics of videogames. Videogames represent one of the most significant developments in the modern popular arts, and it is a topic that is attracting much attention among philosophers of art and aestheticians. As a burgeoning medium of artistic expression, videogames raise entirely new aesthetic concerns, particularly concerning their ontology, interactivity, and aesthetic value. The essays in this volume address a number of pressing theoretical issues related to these areas, including but not limited to: the nature of performance and identity in videogames; their status as an interactive form of art; the ethical problems raised by violence in videogames; and the representation of women in videogames and the gaming community. The Aesthetics of Videogames is an important contribution to analytic aesthetics that deals with an important and growing art form.”

Stefano Gualeni has made a philosophical game that has received a great deal of interest. There is a recent article about it at Kotaku.

Stefano writes “Something Something Soup Something is my latest attempt at ‘playable philosophy’.  The game, if we agree to call it such, can be freely played on (or downloaded from) the official website: soup.gua-le-ni.com

It was developed at the Institute of Digital Games (University of Malta) with the support of Maltco Lotteries.

I and the rest of the developers prefer to think of it as an interactive thought experiment: a piece of technology that discloses situations and presents notions in ways that are interactive and negotiable (and maybe even playful).

Something Something Soup Something it is designed to reveal, through its gameplay, that even a familiar, ordinary concept like ‘soup’ is vague, shifting, and impossible to define exhaustively. It is also designed to stimulate reflection on the possibility to analytically define what a game is: does the presence of several ‘ludological ingredients’ warrant its definition as a video game? What if only a part of it could be formally recognized as a video game? Is it even wise or productive to strive for a complete theoretical understanding of concepts like ‘soup’ or ‘game’?”

Game duration: about 6 minutes.

Something Something Soup Something was developed in collaboration with:

Isabelle Kniestedt – Art, programming
Johnathan Harrington – Field research and additional design
Marcello Gomez Maureira – Web-design and additional programming
Riccardo Fassone – Music and sound effects
Jasper Schellekens – Narrator, research support

Mark Silcox is publishing an edited book with contributions that relate to Nozick’s experience machine argument as applied to virtual worlds. The book is highly relevant to the philosophy of computer games, and it has contributions from several members of the Game Philosophy Network. The ToC is available in the preview on the publishers site.   From the description:

“In his classic work Anarchy, State and Utopia, Robert Nozick asked his readers to imagine being permanently plugged into a ‘machine that would give you any experience you desired’. He speculated that, in spite of the many obvious attractions of such a prospect, most people would choose against passing the rest of their lives under the influence of this type of invention. Nozick thought (and many have since agreed) that this simple thought experiment had profound implications for how we think about ethics, political justice, and the significance of technology in our everyday lives. 

Nozick’s argument was made in 1974, about a decade before the personal computer revolution in Europe and North America. Since then, opportunities for the citizens of industrialized societies to experience virtual worlds and simulated environments have multiplied to an extent that no philosopher could have predicted. The authors in this volume re-evaluate the merits of Nozick’s argument, and use it as a jumping–off point for the philosophical examination of subsequent developments in culture and technology, including a variety of experience-altering cybernetic technologies such as computer games, social media networks, HCI devices, and neuro-prostheses.”

We now open Journal of the Philosophy of Games (JPG) for general submissions, and welcome philosophers, game theorists and scholars in other fields of studies to submit papers for the regular issues.

JPG explores philosophical questions about the general nature of games and gameplay and about their interrelation with technology, art, communication and social interaction. More information about the submissions and the author guidelines is found at the journal website.

We welcome submissions of regular articles, discussion notes and book reviews. Please contact the editorial board to ascertain that a book review will fit the journal profile.

Submissions may be submitted via the submission system on the journal website, and will receive double-blind peer review from renowned scholars in philosophy and game studies.

The Journal of the Philosophy of Games (JPG) is now publishing the first manuscripts in our “Online First Issue“, which will be converted into a regular issue by the end of the year.

We aim to have the papers indexed in the major relevant library indexing databases.

JPG is an open-access publication hosted by the University of Oslo, Norway.

Journal of the Philosophy of Games now has its first publications available in the Online First Issue. We will publish the accepted papers as they become available in this issue, which will be converted to one or two regular issues by the end of the year.

Our first article is titled “The Incompatibility of Games and Artworks” and is written by Brock Rough. The paper is utilizing a definition of games derived from Bernard Suits to argue that for an artist to intend something as a game is to intend essential constitutive conditions that precludes it from being both a game and an artwork.

We also publish a book review of Stefano Gualeni’s book “Virtual Worlds as Philosophical Tools” written by Jonne Arjonta. Gualeni’s book explores the topic of how computer games can be used for philosophical reflection. Arjonta provides an overview of its main points of discussion as well as critical notes on its approach to the topic.