Agency and Reasoning in Games, University of Maine

Games are often praised as spaces to explore ways of life that might be different from our own: whether that be by taking on different identities in games, learning through the setting or narrative of a game, or through building communities and relationships with others that would not be accessible outside of the game. In addition, academic and philosophical interest in games has grown considerably, touching on questions related to the aesthetic value of games, the ethics of gaming, and the relation between player and game character.

The aim of this workshop in the philosophy of games is to provide a space for discussion of how games can play a role in helping players explore, experiment, and reason in ways that are unique or well-suited to games (including video games, board games, role-playing games, party games, etc.).

Schedule of Talks:

Friday, September 27th

Session 1: Boundaries between Games and Agents (Maples, Virtue Room – 2nd Floor)

9-9:50: Alexander Carty (McGill University), “Video Games and Hypocritical Blame”

10-10:50: Ida Miczke and Reid Kurashige (University of Warsaw and UC Berkeley), “From Play to Morality: Games as a Model for Partially Self-Effacing Ethical Theories”

11-11:50: Keilee Bessho (UC Riverside), “Creating Winning Conditions: In Games and Beyond”

Lunch Break, 12-12:55pm

Session 2: Play and Goals (Maples, Virtue Room – 2nd Floor)

1-1:50: Ronni Gura Sadovsky (Trinity University), “The Grading Scheme as a Scoring System”

2-2:50: Mark Jensen and Nathan Jensen (U.S. Air Force Academy and Colorado School of Mines), “Playing Games and Gaming Play: Navigating the Intersection of Concepts in Tension”

3-3:50: Nicholas Baima and Sarah Malanowski (Florida Atlantic University), “Tryhards, Cheats, and the Playing the META”

Saturday, September 28th

Session 3: Acting in Games (Maples, Virtue Room – 2nd Floor)

9-9:50: Gareth Fuller (UMaine Farmington), “Teaching Compassion Through Games”

10-10:50: Luke Ford (The New School), “Bad Games for Bad People: Playing at the Edge of Taste”

11-11:50: Tobias Flattery (Wake Forest University), “May Nguyenian Kantians Commit Virtual Killings?”

Lunch Break, 12-12:55pm

Session 4: Games as Models (Maples, Virtue Room – 2nd Floor)

1-1:50: Andrew Kingston (Maine Maritime Academy), “Stars in the Dice: Cosmic Contingency in the History of Stochastic Games”

2-2:50: Ricky Mouser (Johns Hopkins University), “Quantification is Commensuration” 

3-3:50: Robby Finley (UMaine Orono), “Games and Logic: Tool, Model, or More?”