Perception in Games and Virtual Worlds III

Both traditional games and games that take place in virtual environments rely on play-states designed around their perceptual features. This is apparent by the fact that they prominently rely on phenomenal spatial structures, but also by a variety of perceptual roles that enter into elements like storytelling, sound, kinesthetic feedback and immersive design. 

How should the character of perception in games and virtual environments be understood? While perception in normal circumstances registers ordinary perceptual properties, their agents appear to experience objects and properties imposed by images, rules, symbols and ludic context. In the perception of virtual worlds, options also include illusory contents and virtual objects. In traditional games the players experience objects and properties determined by rules and play. 

This workshop follows up two seminars held in Athens 2022 and Berlin 2024 with a view to develop the discussions on these issues. We invite submissions on questions such as:

• Is perception in virtual worlds veridical? Is it appropriate to talk of perception in virtual worlds?
• Do we perceive game properties and/or affordances?
• How should we understand subjectivity and perception mediated by avatars?
• How does the reality status of objects and properties affect the characterization of perceptual content?
• What are the phenomenal characteristics of gaming experiences?
• How are narratives, fictional worlds and gaming structured around perceptual states?
• How is imagination, make-believe and fantasy related to perception in games?
• How are perceptual image schemas like space, time, objecthood and modality utilized in gaming?
• How is perception in games affected by egocentric vs. allocentric points of view for the player?
• What is the relationship between inference and perceptual content in games?
• Should perceptual content of games be analyzed through “seeing as” or “seeing-in”?

Contributions from different scholarly approaches are welcome, such as game studies, cognitive science, enactivist perception and different embodiment theories, phenomenology, fiction theory, media philosophy, and classic philosophies of perception.