Playing software: the role of the ludic in the software society

ABSTRACT

This article explores how the concept of play as a vision of software that establishes new relations with digital technologies. This article argues that play has a fundamental role in shaping human engagement with software, and the cultural phenomena that derive from that engagement.

KEYWORDS:

• Play
• software society
• artificial intelligence
• relational strategies

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to Mareile Kaufmann for her comments and insights while writing this paper. Thanks to the anonymous reviewers for the excellent comments and suggestions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributor

Miguel Sicart is an Associate Professor at the Center for Computer Games Research at the IT University of Copenhagen. He is the author of The ethics of computer games (The MIT Press, 2009) and Play matters (The MIT Press, 2014).