Play is a Serious Business: Play and Video Games from Gadamer's Perspective

Abstract

Play is an activity that has been intertwined with our lives and has its area of existence, objects, and rules. To understand and evaluate video games, it is important to examine the views of other thinkers who approach the play from ontological, cultural, social and psychological perspectives starting from Heraclitus' fragments. The focus of this study is on the evaluation of Gadamer's views on the play, as we can say that among the relevant thinkers, he maintains the perspective of Kant and Heidegger regarding Huizinga. Besides, in the context of his study of aesthetics in his work, he is subjected to an evaluation aimed at analyzing especially the play in the art world. Gadamer acts to understand playing, that is, the time when the play and the player is one. Like any other gamer, video game player also basically pursues the experience. However, the video game player experiences a virtual fiction by interacting with the representations of tools in other games through computer elements. Due to the effects of technology and design, the question of why do I play? is now evolved into how do I experience the game better?. The player's experience is also focused and shaped due to the economic side of the gaming industry among other variables. This means that the play, which is tried to be explained in our study, is placed at the center of the issue and confirmation of Gadamer's perspective.