I am an analytic philosopher and a game scholar. My interests concern the boundaries between philosophy and game studies. I am fascinated by independent and experimental game design (especially virtual reality projects), the history of games and computing as well as ethical and cultural implications of digital technologies. Supervisors: Adam Nowaczyk
The aim of this paper is to explore how Peirce’s trichotomy of symbolic, indexical and iconic rep... more The aim of this paper is to explore how Peirce’s trichotomy of symbolic, indexical and iconic representations can be applied to computer games. I argue that if we use this classification, we gain the ability to make distinctions that game studies often ignore, or do not adequately grasp. To increase the descriptive power of Peirce’s trichotomy, I suggest two additional distinctions: the difference between external and internal representations, and the difference between diegetic and non-diegetic representations. I combine all of these distinctions to construct a typology of representations in computer games. I argue that the application of this typology to particular elements of games (instead of games understood as a whole) enables us to solve some of the problems caused by the relationship of games to the external world. A case study I use to illustrate how my typology helps to improve game studies discourse, is LocoRoco—an abstract game accused of containing racist imagery. I arg...
Acta Universitatis Lodziensis. Folia Litteraria Polonica
The paper analyses selected philosophical aspects of Stanisław Lem’s Solaris. I argue that there ... more The paper analyses selected philosophical aspects of Stanisław Lem’s Solaris. I argue that there is an interesting similarity between the history of “Solarist studies” –the fictional scientific discipline depicted by Lem and cognitive science. I show that both disciplines go through similar stages as they try to describe their main subject (the planet Solaris and human consciousness respectively). In the further part of the paper, I focus on two problems identified in cognitive science that can be directly related to the themes found in Solaris: the problem of the detection of intelligence and the problem of the notion of mental representations. I finish the paper by looking at the mysterious guests that stalk the main protagonists and show that they can be understood as heuristic models that are taken into account in the theories of mind uploading.
By looking at videogame production through a two-vector model of design—a practice determined by ... more By looking at videogame production through a two-vector model of design—a practice determined by the interplay between economic and technological evolution—we argue that shared screen play, as both collaboration and competition, originally functioned as a desirable pattern in videogame design, but has since become problematic due to industry transformations. This is introduced as an example of what we call design vestigiality: momentary loss of a design pattern's contextual function due to techno-economical evolution.
In this paper we argue that inferentialist approach to meaning does not, by itself, show that mea... more In this paper we argue that inferentialist approach to meaning does not, by itself, show that meaning is normative in a prescriptive sense, and that the constitutive rules argument is especially troubling for this position. To show that, we present the proto-inferentialist theory developed by Ajdukiewicz and claim that despite the differences between his theory and contemporary inferentialism rules of language in both theories function more like classificatory devices than prescriptions. Inferentialists can respond by claiming that in their theory meaning is essentially social and hence normative, but we claim that then semantic normativity becomes derivative of social norma-
The paper analyzes problems associated with the hardcore/casual dichotomy which is commonly used ... more The paper analyzes problems associated with the hardcore/casual dichotomy which is commonly used in current discourse surrounding video games. Two types of problems are differentiated: global problems concerning the meaning of both terms, and local problems concerning the correct translation of both terms into Polish. I suggest that the most important source of confusion is the ambiguity of the term “hardcore.” In one sense it means the cultural engagement of players; in the other sense it means their cognitive engagement during play. It is shown how honoring this distinction explicates the H/C opposition and why it may form the basis for the Polish translation of both terms.
In this paper we briefly present three perspectives from which the phenomenon of context-sensitiv... more In this paper we briefly present three perspectives from which the phenomenon of context-sensitivity in language can be studied: structural, functional and representational. Next, we describe the content of all papers included in the volume and the relations of the papers to the three perspectives in question.
In this paper I try to look at two opposite ways that randomness is employed and, more importantl... more In this paper I try to look at two opposite ways that randomness is employed and, more importantly, evaluated in computer games. It seems fascinating that the same mathematical and statistical phenomenon could lay at the roots of some of the most acclaimed and despised design principles of contemporary games. On the face of it, this may not seem to be paradoxical at all as it could be argued to be true of many other objects and processes. After all, the same knife could be used to prepare a meal and to hurt people. What makes the case of randomness interesting however is that this connection between its heralded and criticized sides is never examined and that they are often treated as completely separate phenomena.
The title, "A world of total disclosure", refers to a thought experiment I propose to e... more The title, "A world of total disclosure", refers to a thought experiment I propose to examine the role privacy plays in society. The experiment presents a society of complete surveillance. In it everything is recorded and archived for every citizen to view at any given moment. I argue that, contrary to the views held by many scholars, such a scenario is conceptually and empirically possible and retains all of the important values that are secured by privacy in the present world.
We argue that “indie game” is a distinct narrow notion within a wider concept of “independent gam... more We argue that “indie game” is a distinct narrow notion within a wider concept of “independent game”. The latter can be explained as a disjunction of three types of independence (financial, creative and publishing) and it is associated, in a given historical period, with different contingent properties determined by the game culture of the era.
In the paper I defend the view that having a computational structure (which I understand as a pro... more In the paper I defend the view that having a computational structure (which I understand as a property enabling the object to realize computations) is an empirically detectable feature of selected objects which is not observer relative. I start by presenting a naďve definition of realization of computation and show how it leads to pancomputationalism. Then I test existing strategies of dealing with this unwanted conclusion and show why they are not satisfactory for my aim. The main reason for this is that some of the notions these solutions use (for example notions of “mechanism” and “causality”) can be easily exploited by the skeptic. In the remaining part of the paper I present a candidate for a non-arbitrary criterion of having a computational structure and deal with some obvious objections to it. I propose to treat the mapping of physical states of a given object to an algorithm as a task of translating between two languages used for physical and formal descriptions respectively...
The notion of a “game port” appears in both: the popular discourse surrounding video games as wel... more The notion of a “game port” appears in both: the popular discourse surrounding video games as well as the academic discourse. As pointed out in the literature, it is notoriously vague and often overlaps with other similar concepts, such as “conversion”. We show that the main reason for the murkiness of the notion of a “game port” is its close connection to the marketing narrative which changed during history. We argue, that despite the problematic nature of the concept of a “game port” it is indispensable in context such as game analysis and game preservation. For this reason, we propose a formal classification of different game versions suitable for future use in these selected contexts.
The subfield of game ontology has seen many models and structural hierarchies, but few that activ... more The subfield of game ontology has seen many models and structural hierarchies, but few that actively build on each other, or even attempt comparisons. This paper introduces a meta-model, which in addition to being an ontological model of its own, also offers a method for comparison between competing or isolated models and concepts. It does so by treating games as mechanisms (Craver 2007) with multiple levels of description, and differentiates between four main layers of the game-mechanism. In the first part of the paper we present the model in detail. In the second part of the paper we show applications of the model we present how some of the existing approaches to game ontology can be compared within it and how it can be used to describe two case examples: the ancient Egyptian funeral game Senet and the difference between game mechanics and game rules.
The aim of this paper is to explore how Peirce’s trichotomy of symbolic, indexical and iconic rep... more The aim of this paper is to explore how Peirce’s trichotomy of symbolic, indexical and iconic representations can be applied to computer games. I argue that if we use this classification, we gain the ability to make distinctions that game studies often ignore, or do not adequately grasp. To increase the descriptive power of Peirce’s trichotomy, I suggest two additional distinctions: the difference between external and internal representations, and the difference between diegetic and non-diegetic representations. I combine all of these distinctions to construct a typology of representations in computer games. I argue that the application of this typology to particular elements of games (instead of games understood as a whole) enables us to solve some of the problems caused by the relationship of games to the external world. A case study I use to illustrate how my typology helps to improve game studies discourse, is LocoRoco—an abstract game accused of containing racist imagery. I arg...
Acta Universitatis Lodziensis. Folia Litteraria Polonica
The paper analyses selected philosophical aspects of Stanisław Lem’s Solaris. I argue that there ... more The paper analyses selected philosophical aspects of Stanisław Lem’s Solaris. I argue that there is an interesting similarity between the history of “Solarist studies” –the fictional scientific discipline depicted by Lem and cognitive science. I show that both disciplines go through similar stages as they try to describe their main subject (the planet Solaris and human consciousness respectively). In the further part of the paper, I focus on two problems identified in cognitive science that can be directly related to the themes found in Solaris: the problem of the detection of intelligence and the problem of the notion of mental representations. I finish the paper by looking at the mysterious guests that stalk the main protagonists and show that they can be understood as heuristic models that are taken into account in the theories of mind uploading.
By looking at videogame production through a two-vector model of design—a practice determined by ... more By looking at videogame production through a two-vector model of design—a practice determined by the interplay between economic and technological evolution—we argue that shared screen play, as both collaboration and competition, originally functioned as a desirable pattern in videogame design, but has since become problematic due to industry transformations. This is introduced as an example of what we call design vestigiality: momentary loss of a design pattern's contextual function due to techno-economical evolution.
In this paper we argue that inferentialist approach to meaning does not, by itself, show that mea... more In this paper we argue that inferentialist approach to meaning does not, by itself, show that meaning is normative in a prescriptive sense, and that the constitutive rules argument is especially troubling for this position. To show that, we present the proto-inferentialist theory developed by Ajdukiewicz and claim that despite the differences between his theory and contemporary inferentialism rules of language in both theories function more like classificatory devices than prescriptions. Inferentialists can respond by claiming that in their theory meaning is essentially social and hence normative, but we claim that then semantic normativity becomes derivative of social norma-
The paper analyzes problems associated with the hardcore/casual dichotomy which is commonly used ... more The paper analyzes problems associated with the hardcore/casual dichotomy which is commonly used in current discourse surrounding video games. Two types of problems are differentiated: global problems concerning the meaning of both terms, and local problems concerning the correct translation of both terms into Polish. I suggest that the most important source of confusion is the ambiguity of the term “hardcore.” In one sense it means the cultural engagement of players; in the other sense it means their cognitive engagement during play. It is shown how honoring this distinction explicates the H/C opposition and why it may form the basis for the Polish translation of both terms.
In this paper we briefly present three perspectives from which the phenomenon of context-sensitiv... more In this paper we briefly present three perspectives from which the phenomenon of context-sensitivity in language can be studied: structural, functional and representational. Next, we describe the content of all papers included in the volume and the relations of the papers to the three perspectives in question.
In this paper I try to look at two opposite ways that randomness is employed and, more importantl... more In this paper I try to look at two opposite ways that randomness is employed and, more importantly, evaluated in computer games. It seems fascinating that the same mathematical and statistical phenomenon could lay at the roots of some of the most acclaimed and despised design principles of contemporary games. On the face of it, this may not seem to be paradoxical at all as it could be argued to be true of many other objects and processes. After all, the same knife could be used to prepare a meal and to hurt people. What makes the case of randomness interesting however is that this connection between its heralded and criticized sides is never examined and that they are often treated as completely separate phenomena.
The title, "A world of total disclosure", refers to a thought experiment I propose to e... more The title, "A world of total disclosure", refers to a thought experiment I propose to examine the role privacy plays in society. The experiment presents a society of complete surveillance. In it everything is recorded and archived for every citizen to view at any given moment. I argue that, contrary to the views held by many scholars, such a scenario is conceptually and empirically possible and retains all of the important values that are secured by privacy in the present world.
We argue that “indie game” is a distinct narrow notion within a wider concept of “independent gam... more We argue that “indie game” is a distinct narrow notion within a wider concept of “independent game”. The latter can be explained as a disjunction of three types of independence (financial, creative and publishing) and it is associated, in a given historical period, with different contingent properties determined by the game culture of the era.
In the paper I defend the view that having a computational structure (which I understand as a pro... more In the paper I defend the view that having a computational structure (which I understand as a property enabling the object to realize computations) is an empirically detectable feature of selected objects which is not observer relative. I start by presenting a naďve definition of realization of computation and show how it leads to pancomputationalism. Then I test existing strategies of dealing with this unwanted conclusion and show why they are not satisfactory for my aim. The main reason for this is that some of the notions these solutions use (for example notions of “mechanism” and “causality”) can be easily exploited by the skeptic. In the remaining part of the paper I present a candidate for a non-arbitrary criterion of having a computational structure and deal with some obvious objections to it. I propose to treat the mapping of physical states of a given object to an algorithm as a task of translating between two languages used for physical and formal descriptions respectively...
The notion of a “game port” appears in both: the popular discourse surrounding video games as wel... more The notion of a “game port” appears in both: the popular discourse surrounding video games as well as the academic discourse. As pointed out in the literature, it is notoriously vague and often overlaps with other similar concepts, such as “conversion”. We show that the main reason for the murkiness of the notion of a “game port” is its close connection to the marketing narrative which changed during history. We argue, that despite the problematic nature of the concept of a “game port” it is indispensable in context such as game analysis and game preservation. For this reason, we propose a formal classification of different game versions suitable for future use in these selected contexts.
The subfield of game ontology has seen many models and structural hierarchies, but few that activ... more The subfield of game ontology has seen many models and structural hierarchies, but few that actively build on each other, or even attempt comparisons. This paper introduces a meta-model, which in addition to being an ontological model of its own, also offers a method for comparison between competing or isolated models and concepts. It does so by treating games as mechanisms (Craver 2007) with multiple levels of description, and differentiates between four main layers of the game-mechanism. In the first part of the paper we present the model in detail. In the second part of the paper we show applications of the model we present how some of the existing approaches to game ontology can be compared within it and how it can be used to describe two case examples: the ancient Egyptian funeral game Senet and the difference between game mechanics and game rules.
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