Introduction

Abstract

Videogames are perhaps the most significant development in the modern popular arts, and they provide a fertile field of study for philosophers of the arts (and philosophers more generally). This volume presents the reader with the first anthology exclusively devoted to the philosophical examination of the aesthetics of videogames. Not only do videogames have bearing on a range of standard aesthetic issues, they also raise entirely new topics of concern for philosophically inclined aestheticians. These topics range from the ontology of videogames, the nature of videogame interactivity, the ethics of videogame violence, and the aesthetics of game design and gameplay. While the papers in this volume offer a wide and even conflicting range of perspectives on these issues, their authors are united in the belief that there are important philosophical lessons to be learned from the in-depth study of videogames, and that philosophical aesthetics can make important contributions to the understanding of videogames.