Category Archives: In this essay I will

The deep, the fake and the beautiful

May 25, 2020 – 01:06

Benjamin argued that, in an age of mechanical reproduction, any work of art could and would eventually be repurposed towards perpetuating fascism. This goes for any work of art, even those who are politically neutral or are expressly anti-fascist in nature. Benjamin’s reasoning is that fascism will use any and all means at its disposal to further its ends, which includes the art of mechanical reproduction. The art found on anti-fascist posters can, with a minimum of editing and copywriting, be made to illustrate the very propaganda points the poster sought to argue against; by controlling the medium, the message is given. The act of individual expression does not survive translation into mass media – at economies of scale, everyone and everything is reduced to interchangeable parts who can be rearranged to serve any purpose. When it comes to deep fakes, however, I propose that we take the concept of a libidinal economy more literally than it is usually employed. In this essay, I will

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On the playing of video games

July 15, 2019 – 19:31

Of the two words involved in the concept of “video games”, “games” have traditionally received a substantially larger attention than “video”. See, for instance Atkins and Krzywinska (2007), Flanagan (2009), Isbister (2016), Juul (2005), Huizinga (1949), de Koven (2013), Pearce (2009), Schmidt (2018), Taylor (2006) or Wittgenstein (1953). However, the “video” component also requires its theoretical due

A video is a device for encoding and decoding video tapes

 

 

References

Atkins, B., & Krzywinska, T. (ed) (2007). Videogame, player, text. Manchester: Manchester University Press.

Flanagan, M. (2009). Critical play: radical game design. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.

Isbister, K. (2016). How games move us: emotion by design. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.

Juul, J. (2005). Half-real: video games between real rules and fictional worlds. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.

Huizinga, J. (1949). Homo ludens: a study of the play-element in culture. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

de Koven, B. (2013). The well-played games: a player’s philosophy. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press

Pearce, C. (2009). Communities of play: emergent cultures in multiplayer games and virtual worlds. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.

Schmidt, M. (2018). Gotta go fast: measured rationalities and rational measurements in the context of speedrunning. Master Thesis: Örebro University.

Taylor, T. L. (2006). Play between worlds: exploring online game culture. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.

Wittgenstein, L. (1953). Philosophical investigations. Oxford: Blackwell.

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