Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T16:37:49.378Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Freedom and the value of games

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2020

Jonathan Gingerich
Jonathan Gingerich*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
*
E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This essay explores the features in virtue of which games are valuable or worthwhile to play. The difficulty view of games holds that the goodness of games lies in their difficulty: by making activities more complex or making them require greater effort, they structure easier activities into more difficult, therefore more worthwhile, activities. I argue that a further source of the value of games is that they provide players with an experience of freedom, which they provide both as paradigmatically unnecessary activities and by offering opportunities for relatively unconstrained choice inside the ‘lusory’ world that players inhabit.

Keywords

Aestheticsethicsgamesfreedomachievement
Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal of Philosophy , Volume 48 , Issue 6 , December 2018 , pp. 831 - 849
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Journal of Philosophy 2017

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alder, Avery. 2013. The Quiet Year. Nelson, BC: Buried Without Ceremony.Google Scholar
Bradford, Gwen. 2015. Achievement. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198714026.001.0001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brand, Jeffrey E. and Knight, Scott J.. 2005. “The Narrative and Ludic Nexus in Computer Games: Diverse Worlds II.” Proceedings of DiGRA 2005 Conference: Changing Views: Worlds in Play. http://www.digra.org/digital-library/publications/the-narrative-and-ludic-nexus-in-computer-games-diverse-worlds-ii.Google Scholar
Brown, Ashley M. L. 2015. Sexuality in Role Playing Games. New York: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caillois, Roger. 2001. Man, Play and Games. Translated by Barash, Meyer. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.Google Scholar
Foucault, Michel. 2008. The Birth of Biopolitics: Lectures at the Collège de France 1978–1979. Translated by Burchell, Graham and edited by Senellart, Michael. New York: Palgrave.Google Scholar
Gingerich, Jonathan. 2016. “The Political Morality of Nudges in Healthcare.” In Nudging Health: Health Law and Behavioral Economics, edited by Glenn Cohen, I., Fernandez Lynch, Holly, and Robinson, Christopher T., 97–106. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Gingerich, Jonathan. 2018. “ Freedom's Spontaneity.” PhD diss., University of California, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Hurka, Thomas. 2006. “Games and the Good.” Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume 80: 217–235. 10.1111/j.1467-8349.2006.00143.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huizinga, Johan. 1950. Homo Ludens: A Study in the Play Element of Culture. Boston: Beacon.Google Scholar
Kant, Immanuel. 2000. Critique of the Power of Judgment. Translated by Guyer, Paul and Matthews, Eric, edited by Guyer, Paul. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9780511804656CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kolers, Avery. 2016. “The Grasshopper's Error: Or, How Life is a Game.” Dialogue 54: 727–746.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mussett, Shannon M. 2014. “Berserker in a Skirt: Sex and Gender.” In Dungeons & Dragons and Philosophy: Read and Gain Advantage on All Wisdom Checks, edited by Robichaud, Christopher, 189–201. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Nguyen, C. Thi. 2017a. “Competition as Cooperation.” Journal of the Philosophy of Sport 44: 123–137. 10.1080/00948705.2016.1261643CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nguyen, C. Thi. 2017b. “Philosophy of Games.” Philosophy Compass 12(e12426): 1–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nguyen, C. Thi. 2017c. “The Value of Games.”Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Philosophical Association Pacific Division, Seattle, April 12–15.Google Scholar
Riggle, Nick. 2015. “Personal Style and Artistic Style.” The Philosophical Quarterly 65: 711–731. 10.1093/pq/pqv026CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robinson, Jenefer M. 1985. “Style and Personality in the Literary Work.” The Philosophical Review 94: 227–247. 10.2307/2185429CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rohwer, Susan. 2014. “It's Time to Silence ‘Gamergate, ’ End the Misogyny in Gaming Culture.” Los Angeles Times, October 17.Google Scholar
Schaeffer, Jonathan, Burch, Neil, Björnsson, Yngvi, Kishimoto, Akihiro, Müller, Martin, Lake, Robert, Paul, Lu, and Sutphen, Steve. 2007. “Checkers Is Solved.” Science 317: 1518–1522. 10.1126/science.1144079CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Scheffler, Samuel. 2013. Death and the Afterlife. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199982509.001.0001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Suits, Bernard. 1990. The Grasshopper: Games, Life, and Utopia. Boston: David R. Godine.Google Scholar
Tasioulas, John. 2006. “Games and the Good.” Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume 80: 237–264. 10.1111/j.1467-8349.2006.00144.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ullmann-Margalit, Edna, and Morganbesser, Sidney. 1977. “Picking and Choosing.” Social Research 44: 757–785.Google Scholar