{"title":"Miguel Sicart","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"play-matters-book-miguel-sicart-9780262534512","title":"Play Matters","description":"Why play is a productive, expressive way of being, a form of understanding, and a fundamental part of our well-being.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49608921350417,"sku":"GOR009471763","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49728542540049,"sku":"NGR9780262534512","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51080561033489,"sku":"CIN0262534517VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":52391766655249,"sku":"CIN0262534517G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53220259004689,"sku":"GOR014811654","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0262534517.jpg?v=1751164884"},{"product_id":"playing-software-book-miguel-sicart-9780262047722","title":"Playing Software","description":"\u003cb\u003eThe play element at the heart of our interactions with computers--and how it drives the best and the worst manifestations of the information age.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWhether we interact with video games or spreadsheets or social media, playing with software shapes every facet of our lives. In \u003ci\u003ePlaying Software\u003c\/i\u003e, 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. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAs 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.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49743055356177,"sku":"NGR9780262047722","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51283771752721,"sku":"GOR014216329","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0262047721.jpg?v=1750877411"},{"product_id":"ethics-of-computer-games-book-miguel-sicart-9780262516624","title":"The Ethics of Computer Games","description":"Why computer games can be ethical, how players use their ethical values in gameplay, and the implications for game design.Despite the emergence of computer games as a dominant cultural industry (and the accompanying emergence of computer games as the subject of scholarly research), we know little or nothing about the ethics of computer games. Considerations of the morality of computer games seldom go beyond intermittent portrayals of them in the mass media as training devices for teenage serial killers. In this first scholarly exploration of the subject, Miguel Sicart addresses broader issues about the ethics of games, the ethics of playing the games, and the ethical responsibilities of game designers. He argues that computer games are ethical objects, that computer game players are ethical agents, and that the ethics of computer games should be seen as a complex network of responsibilities and moral duties. Players should not be considered passive amoral creatures; they reflect, relate, and create with ethical minds. The games they play are ethical systems, with rules that create gameworlds with values at play. Drawing on concepts from philosophy and game studies, Sicart proposes a framework for analyzing the ethics of computer games as both designed objects and player experiences. After presenting his core theoretical arguments and offering a general theory for understanding computer game ethics, Sicart offers case studies examining single-player games (using Bioshock as an example), multiplayer games (illustrated by Defcon), and online gameworlds (illustrated by World of Warcraft) from an ethical perspective. He explores issues raised by unethical content in computer games and its possible effect on players and offers a synthesis of design theory and ethics that could be used as both analytical tool and inspiration in the creation of ethical gameplay.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50346346381585,"sku":"CIN0262516624G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51017194307857,"sku":"GOR007253423","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0262516624.jpg?v=1751070365"},{"product_id":"play-matters-book-miguel-sicart-9780262027922","title":"Play Matters","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eWhy play is a productive, expressive way of being, a form of understanding, and a fundamental part of our well-being.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhat do we think about when we think about play? A pastime? Games? Childish activities? The opposite of work? Think again: If we are happy and well rested, we may approach even our daily tasks in a playful way, taking the attitude of play without the activity of play. So what, then, is play? In\u0026gt;\u003ci\u003ePlay Matters\u003c\/i\u003e, Miguel Sicart argues that to play is to be in the world; playing is a form of understanding what surrounds us and a way of engaging with others. Play goes beyond games; it is a mode of being human.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWe play games, but we also play\u0026gt;\u003ci\u003ewith\u003c\/i\u003e toys, \u003ci\u003eon\u003c\/i\u003e playgrounds, \u003ci\u003ewith\u003c\/i\u003e technologies and design. Sicart proposes a theory of play that doesn't derive from a particular object or activity but is a portable tool for being--not tied to objects but brought by people to the complex interactions that form their daily lives. It is not separated from reality; it is part of it. It is pleasurable, but not necessarily fun. Play can be dangerous, addictive, and destructive.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAlong the way, Sicart considers playfulness, the capacity to use play outside the context of play; toys, the materialization of play--instruments but also play pals; playgrounds, play spaces that enable all kinds of play; beauty, the aesthetics of play through action; political play--from Maradona's goal against England in the 1986 World Cup to the hactivist activities of Anonymous; the political, aesthetic, and moral activity of game design; and why play and computers get along so well.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50347424514321,"sku":"CIN0262027925G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52109045235985,"sku":"GOR008259123","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":53366860284177,"sku":"CIN0262027925VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0262027925.jpg?v=1751437990"},{"product_id":"ethics-of-computer-games-book-miguel-sicart-9780262012652","title":"The Ethics of Computer Games","description":"Why computer games can be ethical, how players use their ethical values in gameplay, and the implications for game design.Despite the emergence of computer games as a dominant cultural industry (and the accompanying emergence of computer games as the subject of scholarly research), we know little or nothing about the ethics of computer games. 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