This paper focuses on the way computer games refer to the context of their formation and ask how they might stimulate the user’s understanding of the world around him. The central question is: Do computer games have the potential to inspire our reflection about moral and ethical issues? And if so, by which means do they achieve this? Drawing on concepts of the ethical criticism in literary studies as proposed by Wayne C. Booth and Martha Nussbaum, I will argue in favor of an ethical criticism for computer games. Two aspects will be brought into focus: the ethical reflection in the artifact as a whole, and the recipient’s emotional involvement. The paper aims at evaluating the interaction of game content and game structure in order to give an adequate insight into the way computer games function and affect us.

The concept of the magic circle suggests that the experience of play is separated from reality. However, in order to interact with a game’s rule system, the player has to make meaningful interpretations of its representations – and representations are never neutral. Games with political content refer in their representations explicitly to social discourses. Cues within their representational layers provoke the player to link the experience of play to mental concepts of reality.

MMORPGs such as WORLD OF WARCRAFT can be understood as interactive representations of war. Within the frame provided by the program the players experience martial conflicts and thus a “virtual war.” The game world however requires a technical and as far as possible invisible infrastructure which has to be protected against attacks: Infrastructure means e.g. the servers on which the data of the player characters and the game’s world are saved, as well as the user accounts, which have to be protected, among other things, from “identity theft.” Besides the war on the virtual surface of the program we will therefore describe the invisible war concerning the infrastructure, the outbreak of which is always feared by the developers and operators of online-worlds, requiring them to take precautions. Furthermore we would like to focus on “virtual game worlds” as places of complete surveillance. Since action in these worlds is always associated with the production of data, total observation is theoretically possible and put into practice by the so-called “game master.” The observation of different communication channels (including user forums) serves to monitor and direct the actions on the virtual battlefield subtly, without the player feeling that his freedom is being limited. Finally, we will compare the fictional theater of war in WORLD OF WARCRAFT to the vision of “Network-Centric Warfare,” since it has often been observed that the analysis of MMORPGs is useful to the real trade of war. However, we point out what an unrealistic theater of war WORLD OF WARCRAFT really is.

When people describe themselves as being “in the game” this is often thought to mean they have a sense of presence, i.e. they feel like they are in the virtual environment (Brown/Cairns 2004). Presence research traditionally focuses on user experiences in virtual reality systems (e.g. head mounted displays, CAVE-like systems). In contrast, the experience of gaming is very different. Gamers willingly submit to the rules of the game, learn arbitrary relationships between the controls and the screen output, and take on the persona of their game character. Also whereas presence in VR systems is immediate, presence in gaming is gradual. Due to these differences, one can question the extent to which people feel present during gaming. A qualitative study was conducted to explore what gamers actually mean when they describe themselves as being “in the game.” Thirteen gamers were interviewed and the resulting grounded theory suggests being “in the game” does not necessarily mean presence (i.e. feeling like you are the character and present in the VE). Some people use this phrase just to emphasize their high involvement in the game. These findings differ with Brown and Cairns as they suggest at the highest state of immersion not everybody experiences presence. Furthermore, the experience of presence does not appear dependent on the game being in the first person perspective or the gamer being able to empathize with the character. Future research should investigate why some people experience presence and others do not. Possible explanations include: use of language, perception of presence, personality traits, and types of immersion.

This paper approaches the debate over the notion of “magic circle” through an exploratory analysis of the unfolding of identities/differences in gameplay through Derrida’s différance. Initially, différance is related to the notion of play and identity/difference in Derrida’s perspective. Next, the notion of magic circle through Derrida’s play is analyzed, emphasizing the dynamics of différance to understand gameplay as process; questioning its boundaries. Finally, the focus shifts toward the implications of the interplay of identities and differences during gameplay.

The paper aims to bring the experience of playing videogames closer to objective knowledge, where the experience can be assessed and falsified via an operational concept. The theory focuses on explaining the basic elements that form the core of the process of the experience. The name of puppetry is introduced after discussing the similarities in the importance of experience for both videogames and theatrical puppetry. Puppetry, then, operationalizes the gaming experience into a concept that can be assessed.

This paper explores the role of the intentional stance in games, arguing that any question of artificial intelligence has as much to do with the co-option of the player’s interpretation of actions as intelligent as any actual fixed-state systems attached to agents. It demonstrates how simply using a few simple and, in system terms, cheap tricks, existing AI can be both supported and enhanced. This includes representational characteristics, importing behavioral expectations from real life, constraining these expectations using diegetic devices, and managing social interrelationships to create the illusion of a greater intelligence than is ever actually present. It is concluded that complex artificial intelligence is often of less importance to the experience of intelligent agents in play than the creation of a space where the intentional stance can be evoked and supported.

rezensierte Werke: Bachmann, Cordula: Kleidung und Geschlecht : Ethnographische Erkundungen einer Alltagspraxis / Cordula Bachmann. - Bielefeld : transcript Verlag, 2008. - 154 S. ISBN 978-3-89942-920-6 Pape, Cora von: Kunstkleider : die Präsenz des Körpers in textilen Kunst-Objekten des 20. Jahrhunderts / Cora von Pape. - Bielefeld : transcript Verlag, 2008. - 225 S. ISBN 978-3-89942-825-4 Zwei neue Studien widmen sich dem Verhältnis von Kleidung und Geschlecht beziehungsweise Kleidung und Körper. Wie Frauen und Männer in ihrer alltäglichen Praxis des ‚Sich-Kleidens‘ mit den modischen Erscheinungsbildern von Männlichkeit oder Weiblichkeit umgehen, untersucht die Kulturwissenschaftlerin Cordula Bachmann. Sie wertet aktuelle Interviews zum Kleidungsverhalten von Frauen und Männern aus und rückt dabei die Perspektive der Handelnden, die das alltägliche ‚Sich-Kleiden‘ als eine primäre soziale Anforderung zu lösen haben, ins Zentrum des Interesses. Den aufsehenerregenden künstlerischen Umgang mit Kleidung in Form von textilen Kunstobjekten, die sich mit dem menschlichen Körper befassen und der Art und Weise, wie er mittels Kleidung und Textilien repräsentiert oder transformiert wird, untersucht die Kunsthistorikerin Cora von Pape. Das alltägliche weibliche Chaos des Sich-Ankleidens angesichts der täglichen Herausforderung, sich bei der Entscheidung für oder gegen ein Kleid, sich auch für oder gegen eine Frauenrolle entscheiden zu müssen, das in den von Bachmann ausgewerteten Interviews thematisiert wird, scheint auch in den Performances oder textilen Kunstobjekten vieler von Cordula von Pape vorgestellten Künstlerinnen der 2. Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts auf, allerdings künstlerisch-experimentell bearbeitet in eindrucksvollen (Selbst-)Inszenierungen, die der gewaltigen Symbolik des Sich-Ankleidens, der Kleider als Körperhüllen oder Reliquien, die an die Stelle des verschwundenen Körpers treten, auf den Grund gehen.

Working of public sector

The Aka, Miji and their kindred in Arunachal Pradesh