In early 2010, film critic Robert Ebert declared tendentiously that videogames “could never be art.” Among the torrent of gamers outraged by this comment, Chris Bateman – author, philosopher, and game designer – rose to the occasion with this lucid and compelling defense of gaming. In Imaginary Games, Bateman does more than refute Ebert’s claim; he leads us through a systematic and multifaceted exploration of the historical, philosophical, social, and neurocognitive bases for gaming. In the process, he suggests not only that games and art have more commonalities than differences, but that gaming also constitutes the ineluctable fabric of our very lives. READ MORE
 |
| Imaginary Games A philosophical investigation of play and imaginary things by Chris Bateman zerO Books, 2011 321 pages Reviewed by Allen Zhang |
