Recorded, January 8, 2024
Broadcast, January 14, 2024
To read a transcript of this episode, click here.
We’ve been playing games our entire lives, just as humans as a whole have played them since the dawn of the species. Have we ever really thought about them in a philosophical way? Have we asked why we play them, what meaning they serve in our lives, and what makes them good and worthwhile? If not, it’s about time we did. Are boardgames and videogames different types of things? Does playing for money instead of friendship change their value? How does competition inspire empathy? This episode addresses these questions and more.
Frank Lantz is a game designer and Founding Chair of the NYU Game Center. He is the cofounder of Area/Code Games and Everybody House Games, and the creator of the game Universal Paperclips. He has taught game design for over 20 years at New York University, Parsons School of Design, and the School of Visual Arts. His new book The Beauty of Games was just released by MIT Press two months ago.
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