Philosopher Evan Malone discusses the aesthetic import of a tabletop RPG Continue reading

March 10, 2022
by Aesthetics for Birds
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March 10, 2022
by Aesthetics for Birds
0 comments
Philosopher Evan Malone discusses the aesthetic import of a tabletop RPG Continue reading
May 10, 2021
by Aesthetics for Birds
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The ongoing pandemic poses many challenges to our mental health and wellbeing. Can aesthetics help us out? Continue reading
March 11, 2021
by Aesthetics for Birds
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The full recording of our recent workshop Continue reading
February 12, 2021
by Aesthetics for Birds
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The context of gameplay, the enchanting interactive and immersive effects, plays a role in limiting rationality and enabling exploitation. Continue reading
October 27, 2020
by Aesthetics for Birds
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Is it ever morally wrong to commit violent or immoral acts in a video game? Is it ever morally wrong to harm a photograph? Yes. Let me explain why. Continue reading
August 3, 2020
by C. Thi Nguyen
13 Comments
Role-playing games have a lot to teach us about the importance of community and playfulness in the classroom. Continue reading
December 31, 2019
by Aesthetics for Birds
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This year marks the end of the second decade of the 2000s. In honor of this, we thought we’d take a look back at our decade with an end-of-year series. The internet loves lists, especially year-end ones, and we’ve been feeding that love a little bit this December. We have hosted six lists of expert Decade-Best picks, including movies, games, writing, TV, music, and art. Our previous experts have been philosophers and other academics whose work concerns these topics, and people working in/on the relevant media. Today, we have a slightly different theme. Our experts are our own Aesthetics for Birds staff, and they’ll be giving their Top Ten lists across all media and genres, no restrictions (though with some extra effort to include stuff in categories not already covered). It’s art and aesthetics in the broadest possible sense. So without further delay, let’s see this decade’s top aesthetic offerings. … Continue reading
December 6, 2019
by Aesthetics for Birds
4 Comments
This year marks the end of the second decade of the 2000s. In honor of this, we thought we’d take a look back at our decade with an end-of-year series. The internet loves lists, especially year-end ones, and we’ll feed that love a little bit this December. We’ll be hosting seven lists of expert Decade-Best picks. We’ve done movies, and you can look forward to writing, television, music, traditional visual arts, and one surprise list at the end. Each will include philosophers working in these and related areas, but also other academics whose work concerns these topics and people working in the relevant media. But up today: games! We asked our experts to rank their top five games of all kinds, so let’s see what the 2010s gave us to play with. Our contributors are: Christopher Bartel, professor in Philosophy at Appalachian State University Thi Nguyen, associate professor in Philosophy … Continue reading
August 21, 2019
by Aesthetics for Birds
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In a recent New York Times article, journalist Kevin Draper brings us up to date on some recent controversies in the world of historical board games. The article centers on the cancellation of Scramble for Africa, a historical board game which was to let players take the role of European powers exploring and exploiting Africa, trying to get the most resources. Joe Chacon, the designer of Scramble for Africa, was accused of not treating this situation with appropriate seriousness. In his game, the savagery that was part and parcel of that exploration seems to be dealt with in minor and trivializing ways. The players must put down rebellions, and can slow their opponents by inciting native revolts. Random events include “penalties for atrocities” and rewards for ending slavery. Butchery is gameified. The article raises a number of fascinating questions. What are the ethics of gaming history? Can we ever gameify our troubled past, and … Continue reading
March 6, 2019
by Aesthetics for Birds
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What follows is a post in our JAAC x AFB collaborative series, where we highlight articles from the Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism. This post features Marissa D. Willis’ recent paper, “Choose Your Own Adventure: Examining the Fictional Content of Video Games as Interactive Fictions“. “Video games don’t tell stories,” he told me. “They’re just games.” So said a friend of mine when I told him I was writing about video games as works of fiction. And despite his mansplaining my own topic to me, my friend was giving voice to the very problem which I hope to address. Despite the fact that more people are playing video games these days than ever before, and game makers continue to create more inventive and engaging narrative works every day, my friend is not alone in his opinion.