Routledge The Aesthetics of Videogames (Routledge Research in Aesthetics)

This collection of essays is devoted to the philosophical examination of the aesthetics of videogames. Videogames represent one of the most significant developments in the modern popular arts, and it is a topic that is attracting much attention among philosophers of art and aestheticians. As a burgeoning medium of artistic expression, videogames raise entirely new aesthetic concerns, particularly concerning their ontology, interactivity, and aesthetic value. The essays in this volume address a number of pressing theoretical issues related to these areas, including but not limited to: the nature of performance and identity in videogames; their status as an interactive form of art; the ethical problems raised by violence in videogames; and the representation of women in videogames and the gaming community. The Aesthetics of Videogames is an important contribution to analytic aesthetics that deals with an important and growing art form. Review "The editors deserve praise for bringing together a mix of junior and senior scholars, all of whom write with an accessibility and flair that make this book a pleasure to work through . . . For anyone interested in the philosophy of games in general or of videogames in particular, this volume is absolutely essential reading. It is also an important contribution to the interdisciplinary field of game studies, as well as to aesthetics and the philosophy of art more generally." – Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews "Given the depth of discussion, the book is very accessible, generally describing and discussing the views of sources rather than assuming the reader is already familiar with them . . . Summing Up: Recommended." – CHOICE REVIEWS About the Author Jon Robson is a Teaching Associate at the University of Nottingham, UK. He is the co-editor of Aesthetics and the Sciences of the Mind and Co-author of A Critical Introduction to the Metaphysics of Time. He has contributed to the Routledge Companion to Comics. Grant Tavinor is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at Lincoln University, New Zealand. He is the author of The Art of Videogames and has contributed essays to The Routledge Companion to Games Studies and The Routledge Companion to Aesthetics.