Playing Software: Homo Ludens in Computational Culture - Couverture rigide

Sicart, Miguel

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 0262047721 ISBN 13 : 9780262047722

Editeur : The MIT Press, 2023

Synopsis

The play element at the heart of our interactions with computers—and how it drives the best and the worst manifestations of the information age.

Whether we interact with video games or spreadsheets or social media, playing with software shapes every facet of our lives. In Playing Software, Miguel Sicart delves into why we play with computers, how that play shapes culture and society, and the threat posed by malefactors using play to weaponize everything from conspiracy theories to extractive capitalism. Starting from the controversial idea that software is an essential agent in the information age, Sicart considers our culture in general—and our way of thinking about and creating digital technology in particular—as a consequence of interacting with software’s agency through play.

As Sicart shows, playing shapes software agency. In turn, software shapes our agency as we adapt and relate to it through play. That play drives the creation of new cultural, social, and political forms. Sicart also reveals the role of make-believe in driving our playful engagement with the digital sphere. From there, he discusses the cybernetic theory of digital play and what we can learn from combining it with the idea that playfulness can mean pleasurable interaction with human and nonhuman agents inside the boundaries of a computational system. Finally, he critiques the instrumentalization of play as a tool wielded by platform capitalism.

A propos du livre

À propos de l?auteur

Miguel Sicart is Associate Professor in the Department of Digital Design and Head of the Center for Digital Play at the IT University of Copenhagen. He is the author of The Ethics of Computer Games, Beyond Choices: The Design of Ethical Gameplay, and Play Matters (all published by the MIT Press).

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: The MIT Press
• Date d'édition: 2023
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 0262047721
• ISBN 13: 9780262047722
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 184
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible