Playful Thinking
Playful Thinking is a series of short, readable and argumentative books that share some playfulness and excitement with the games that they are about. The basic assumption is simple: video games are such a flourishing medium that any new perspective on them is likely to show us something unseen or forgotten, including those from such “unconventional” voices as artists, philosophers, or specialists in other industries or fields of study.
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The Beauty of Games
ISBN: 9780262048538
Publisher: The MIT Press
Pub Date: October 3, 2023
How games create beauty and meaning, and how we can use them to explore the aesthetics of thought.
Run and Jump
The Meaning of the 2D Platformer
ISBN: 9780262547390
Publisher: The MIT Press
Pub Date: February 6, 2024
How abstract design decisions in 2D platform games create rich worlds of meaning for players.
Mainstreaming and Game Journalism
Mainstreaming and Game Journalism
ISBN: 9780262546287
Publisher: The MIT Press
Pub Date: September 26, 2023
Why games are still niche and not mainstream, and how journalism can help them gain cultural credibility.
The Stuff Games Are Made Of
ISBN: 9780262546119
Publisher: The MIT Press
Pub Date: August 1, 2023
A deep dive into practical game design through playful philosophy and philosophical play.
Repairing Play
A Black Phenomenology
ISBN: 9780262545273
Publisher: The MIT Press
Pub Date: February 7, 2023
A provocative study that reconsiders our notion of play—and how its deceptively wholesome image has harmed and erased people of color.
Player vs. Monster
The Making and Breaking of Video Game Monstrosity
ISBN: 9780262047753
Publisher: The MIT Press
Pub Date: February 7, 2023
A study of the gruesome game characters we love to beat—and what they tell us about ourselves.
Treacherous Play
ISBN: 9780262046312
Publisher: The MIT Press
Pub Date: February 1, 2022
The ethics and experience of “treacherous play”: an exploration of three games that allow deception and betrayal—EVE Online, DayZ, and Survivor.
The Rule Book
The Building Blocks of Games
ISBN: 9780262547444
Publisher: The MIT Press
Pub Date: March 12, 2024
How games are built on the foundations of rules, and how rules—of which there are only five kinds—really work.
Making Games
The Politics and Poetics of Game Creation Tools
ISBN: 9780262044837
Publisher: The MIT Press
Pub Date: February 16, 2021
An argument that production tools shape the aesthetics and political economy of games as an expressive medium.
Ambient Play
ISBN: 9780262044363
Publisher: The MIT Press
Pub Date: September 15, 2020
How mobile games are part of our day-to-day lives and the ways we interact across digital, material, and social landscapes.
The Beauty of Games
ISBN: 9780262048538
Publisher: The MIT Press
Pub Date: October 3, 2023
How games create beauty and meaning, and how we can use them to explore the aesthetics of thought.
Run and Jump
The Meaning of the 2D Platformer
ISBN: 9780262547390
Publisher: The MIT Press
Pub Date: February 6, 2024
How abstract design decisions in 2D platform games create rich worlds of meaning for players.
Mainstreaming and Game Journalism
Mainstreaming and Game Journalism
ISBN: 9780262546287
Publisher: The MIT Press
Pub Date: September 26, 2023
Why games are still niche and not mainstream, and how journalism can help them gain cultural credibility.
The Stuff Games Are Made Of
ISBN: 9780262546119
Publisher: The MIT Press
Pub Date: August 1, 2023
A deep dive into practical game design through playful philosophy and philosophical play.
Repairing Play
A Black Phenomenology
ISBN: 9780262545273
Publisher: The MIT Press
Pub Date: February 7, 2023
A provocative study that reconsiders our notion of play—and how its deceptively wholesome image has harmed and erased people of color.
Player vs. Monster
The Making and Breaking of Video Game Monstrosity
ISBN: 9780262047753
Publisher: The MIT Press
Pub Date: February 7, 2023
A study of the gruesome game characters we love to beat—and what they tell us about ourselves.
Treacherous Play
ISBN: 9780262046312
Publisher: The MIT Press
Pub Date: February 1, 2022
The ethics and experience of “treacherous play”: an exploration of three games that allow deception and betrayal—EVE Online, DayZ, and Survivor.
The Rule Book
The Building Blocks of Games
ISBN: 9780262547444
Publisher: The MIT Press
Pub Date: March 12, 2024
How games are built on the foundations of rules, and how rules—of which there are only five kinds—really work.
Making Games
The Politics and Poetics of Game Creation Tools
ISBN: 9780262044837
Publisher: The MIT Press
Pub Date: February 16, 2021
An argument that production tools shape the aesthetics and political economy of games as an expressive medium.
Ambient Play
ISBN: 9780262044363
Publisher: The MIT Press
Pub Date: September 15, 2020
How mobile games are part of our day-to-day lives and the ways we interact across digital, material, and social landscapes.