"video games"

Video games are a form of art--fiction, very often--albeit not of a literary form. As in literary fiction, the creation of a video game world requires that we ask and answer certain questions about the nature of a human being and its relationship to its environment. These are the same issues that literature and literary criticism address, the "concrete philosophy" of John Gardner, but with the unique twist of interactivity on the part of the audience. How do the fundamental design problems of fiction change when the reader is no longer passive, but takes an active hand in the development of the story? It's heady stuff, and no doubt we are at the tip of an iceberg in terms of the history of video games as philosophy. And here's where I put in my quarter's worth.

sean@seanmichaelragan.com