Free shipping on all orders over $79* Limited Time Only
Track My Order
Help Centre
Likes
My Wish ListsLogin / Join
Booktopia
Australia's local bookstore
Get Free Shipping on orders over $79
Playing Software : Homo Ludens in Computational Culture - Miguel Sicart

Playing Software

Homo Ludens in Computational Culture

By: Miguel Sicart

eText | 14 February 2023

At a Glance

eText

$25.34

or 4 interest-free payments of $6.33 with

Instant online reading in your Booktopia eTextbook Library *

Why choose an eTextbook?

Instant Access *

Purchase and read your book immediately

Read Aloud

Listen and follow along as Bookshelf reads to you

Study Tools

Built-in study tools like highlights and more

* eTextbooks are not downloadable to your eReader or an app and can be accessed via web browsers only. You must be connected to the internet and have no technical issues with your device or browser that could prevent the eTextbook from operating.

The play element at the heart of our interactions with computers—and how it drives the best and the worst manifestations of the information age.

Whether we interact with video games or spreadsheets or social media, playing with software shapes every facet of our lives. In Playing Software, Miguel Sicart delves into why we play with computers, how that play shapes culture and society, and the threat posed by malefactors using play to weaponize everything from conspiracy theories to extractive capitalism. Starting from the controversial idea that software is an essential agent in the information age, Sicart considers our culture in general—and our way of thinking about and creating digital technology in particular—as a consequence of interacting with software's agency through play.

As Sicart shows, playing shapes software agency. In turn, software shapes our agency as we adapt and relate to it through play. That play drives the creation of new cultural, social, and political forms. Sicart also reveals the role of make-believe in driving our playful engagement with the digital sphere. From there, he discusses the cybernetic theory of digital play and what we can learn from combining it with the idea that playfulness can mean pleasurable interaction with human and nonhuman agents inside the boundaries of a computational system. Finally, he critiques the instrumentalization of play as a tool wielded by platform capitalism.

on
Desktop
Tablet
Mobile

You Can Find This eBook In

Non-FictionComputing & I.T.Information Technology General IssueEthical & Social Aspects of ITDigital Lifestyle & Online World: Consumer & User GuidesComputer Games & Online Games Strategy GuidesScienceScience in GeneralImpact of Science & Technology on SocietyEducationTeaching of a Specific Subject

More in Ethical & Social Aspects of IT

SAFE : Science and Technology in the Age of Ter - Martha Baer

eBOOK

SAFE

Science and Technology in the Age of Ter

eBook

RRP $25.99

$20.99

19%
OFF
The Platform Prince - Kevin Eslinger

eBOOK

The Platform Prince

eBook

RRP $16.49

$15.99

Computational Reflections - Brian Cantwell Smith

eBOOK

Computational Reflections

eBook

RRP $110.13

$88.99

19%
OFF

This product is categorised by