Stefano Gualeni,

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

, is an Italian

philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

and

game designer Game design is the art of applying design and aesthetics to create a game for entertainment or for educational, exercise, or experimental purposes. Increasingly, elements and principles of game design are also applied to other interactions, in ...

who created

videogame Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This feedb ...

s such as '' Tony Tough and the Night of Roasted Moths,'' '' Gua-Le-Ni; or, The Horrendous Parade,'' and '' Something Something Soup Something''. Gualeni is an

associate professor Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the ''Commonwealth system''. Overview In the ''North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is a ...

at the Institute of Digital Games of the

University of Malta The University of Malta (, UM, formerly UOM) is a higher education institution in Malta. It offers undergraduate bachelor's degrees, postgraduate master's degrees and postgraduate doctorates. It is a member of the European University Association ...

, where he pursues academic research in the fields of

philosophy of technology The philosophy of technology is a sub-field of philosophy that studies the nature of technology and its social effects. Philosophical discussion of questions relating to technology (or its Greek ancestor ''techne'') dates back to the very dawn of ...

game design Game design is the art of applying design and aesthetics to create a game for entertainment or for educational, exercise, or experimental purposes. Increasingly, elements and principles of game design are also applied to other interactions, in ...

, virtual worlds research,

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

, and

existentialism Existentialism ( ) is a form of philosophical inquiry that explores the problem of human existence and centers on human thinking, feeling, and acting. Existentialist thinkers frequently explore issues related to the meaning, purpose, and valu ...

. Since 2015, he is a

visiting professor In academia, a visiting scholar, visiting researcher, visiting fellow, visiting lecturer, or visiting professor is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university to teach, lecture, or perform research on a topic for which the visitor ...

at the

Laguna College of Art and Design Laguna College of Art and Design (LCAD) is a private college in Laguna Beach, California. With an enrollment of more than 700 students, the college offers Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees in 11 majors and three Master of Fine Arts degree programs as w ...

Laguna Beach, California Laguna Beach (; ''Laguna'', Spanish language, Spanish for "Lagoon") is a seaside resort city located in southern Orange County, California, in the United States. It is known for its mild year-round climate, scenic coves, environmental preservat ...

. He is also currently a

visiting researcher In academia, a visiting scholar, visiting researcher, visiting fellow, visiting lecturer, or visiting professor is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university to teach, lecture, or perform research on a topic for which the visitor ...

at the Ritsumeikan Center for Game Studies (RCGS) at the

Ritsumeikan University is a private university in Kyoto, Japan, that traces its origin to 1869. With the Kinugasa Campus (KIC) in Kyoto, and Kyoto Prefecture, the university also has a satellite called Biwako-Kusatsu Campus (BKC) and Osaka-Ibaraki Campus (OIC). Tod ...

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. For a few months in 2019 he was a

at Centre of the Digital Humanities of the

University of Gothenburg The University of Gothenburg ( sv, Göteborgs universitet) is a university in Sweden's second largest city, Gothenburg. Founded in 1891, the university is the third-oldest of the current Swedish universities and with 37,000 students and 6000 st ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

Background

Born in

Lovere Lovere (Bergamasque: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Bergamo, in Lombardy, northern Italy, at the northwest end of Lake Iseo. The houses in the city have overhanging wooden roofs, typical of Switzerland, combined with the heavy s ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, in 1978, Gualeni graduated in 2004 in

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

at the

Politecnico di Milano The Polytechnic University of Milan () is the largest technical university in Italy, with about 42,000 students. The university offers undergraduate, graduate and higher education courses in engineering, architecture and design. Founded in 186 ...

. His final thesis was developed in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

supported by

ITESM Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM) ( en, Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education), also known as Tecnológico de Monterrey or just Tec, is a secular and Mixed-sex education, coeducational private ...

(Tec de Monterrey, Campus Ciudad de Mexico).Stefano Gualeni's CV
/ref> Gualeni was awarded his

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

in 2008 at the

Utrecht School of the Arts The HKU University of the Arts Utrecht ( nl, Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Utrecht, HKU) is a performing arts and visual arts educational institution in Utrecht, Netherlands. Overview The institution has 680 teachers and staff members. The HKU co ...

. In his thesis, he proposed a model for digital

aesthetics Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed thr ...

inspired by

Martin Heidegger Martin Heidegger (; ; 26 September 188926 May 1976) was a German philosopher who is best known for contributions to phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. He is among the most important and influential philosophers of the 20th centur ...

existential phenomenology Existential phenomenology encompasses a wide range of thinkers who take up the view that philosophy must begin from experience like phenomenology, but argues for the temporality of personal existence as the framework for analysis of the human condi ...

. He obtained his

Philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

(

and

) at the

Erasmus University Rotterdam Erasmus University Rotterdam (abbreviated as ''EUR'', nl, Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam ) is a public research university located in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The university is named after Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus, a 15th-century humanist ...

in 2014. His dissertation, titled ''Augmented Ontologies'', focuses on virtual worlds in their role as mediators: as interactive, artificial environments where philosophical ideas, world-views, and thought-experiments can be experienced, manipulated, and communicated experientially.

Academic work

Gualeni's work takes place in the intersection between

continental philosophy Continental philosophy is a term used to describe some philosophers and philosophical traditions that do not fall under the umbrella of analytic philosophy. However, there is no academic consensus on the definition of continental philosophy. Pri ...

and the design of

virtual worlds A virtual world (also called a virtual space) is a computer-simulated environment which may be populated by many users who can create a personal avatar, and simultaneously and independently explore the virtual world, participate in its activities ...

. Given the practical and interdisciplinary focus of his research - and depending on the topics and the resources at hand - his output takes the form of academic texts and/or of interactive digital experiences. In his articles and essays, he presents computers as instruments to prefigure and design ourselves and our worlds, and as gateways to experience alternative possibilities of being. In 2015, Gualeni released the book
Virtual Worlds as Philosophical Tools: How to Philosophize with a Digital Hammer
' with

Palgrave Macmillan Palgrave Macmillan is a British academic and trade publishing company headquartered in the London Borough of Camden. Its programme includes textbooks, journals, monographs, professional and reference works in print and online. It maintains off ...

. Inspired by post-phenomenology and by

, the book attempts to answer questions such as: will experiencing worlds that are not 'actual' change our ways of structuring thought? Can virtual worlds open up new possibilities to philosophize? His 2020 book with Daniel Vella
''Virtual Existentialism: Meaning and Subjectivity in Virtual Worlds''
engages with the question of what it means to exist in virtual worlds. Drawing from the tradition of

, it introduces the notion of 'virtual subjectivity' and discusses the experiential and existential mechanisms by which can move into, and out of, virtual subjectivities. It also includes chapters that specifically leverage the work of

Helmuth Plessner Helmuth Plessner (4 September 1892, Wiesbaden – 12 June 1985, Göttingen) was a German philosopher and sociologist, and a primary advocate of "philosophical anthropology". Life & career Plessner had an itinerant education in Germany betwee ...

, Peter W. Zapffe,

Jean-Paul Sartre Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism (and phenomenology), a French playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and litera ...

and

Eugen Fink Eugen Fink (11 December 1905 – 25 July 1975) was a German philosopher. Biography Fink was born in 1905 as the son of a government official in Germany. He spent his first school years with an uncle who was a Catholic priest. Fink attended a gra ...

to think through the existential significance of the virtual. His contributions to the edited volumes ''Experience Machines: Philosophy in Virtual Worlds'', ''Towards a Philosophy of Digital Media'', and ''Perspectives on the European Videogame'' similarly focus on the experiential and existential effects and possibilities disclosed by virtual technologies. One of the central themes of Gualeni's work revolves around the fact that the history of philosophy has, until recently, merely been the history of written thought. He argues that we are, however, witnessing a technological shift in how philosophy is pursued, valued, and communicated. In that respect, Gualeni advances the claim that digital media can constitute an alternative and a complement to our almost-exclusively linguistic approach to developing and communicating thought. He considers virtual worlds to be philosophically viable and advantageous in contexts like

thought experiments A thought experiment is a hypothetical situation in which a hypothesis, theory, or principle is laid out for the purpose of thinking through its consequences. History The ancient Greek ''deiknymi'' (), or thought experiment, "was the most anci ...

(where we can objectively test and evaluate possible courses of action and corresponding consequences), in the case of philosophical inquiries concerning non-actual state of affairs, and for research into non-human phenomenologies.

Books

Monographic books

* Gualeni, S. & Fassone, R. 2022. ''Fictional Games: A Philosophy of Worldbuilding and Imaginary Play''. London (UK):

Bloomsbury Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural, intellectual, and educational institutions. Bloomsbury is home of the British Museum, the largest mus ...

. * Gualeni, S. & Vella, D. 2020. ''Virtual Existentialism: Meaning and Subjectivity in Virtual Worlds.'' Basingstoke (UK): Palgrave Pivot. * Gualeni, S. 2015. ''Virtual Worlds as Philosophical Tools: How to Philosophize with a Digital Hammer.'' Basingstoke (UK):

Palgrave MacMillan Palgrave Macmillan is a British academic and trade publishing company headquartered in the London Borough of Camden. Its programme includes textbooks, journals, monographs, professional and reference works in print and online. It maintains off ...

Book chapters

* Gualeni, S. & Vella, D. 2021
“Existential Ludology and Peter Wessel Zapffe”
In Navarro-Remesal, V. & Pérez-Latorre O. (eds.) ''Perspectives on the European Videogame'', 175-192. Amsterdam (The Netherlands): Amsterdam University Press. *Gualeni, S. 2019
“Virtual World-Weariness: On Delaying the Experiential Erosion of Digital Environments”
In Gerber, A. and Goetz, U. (eds.) ''The Architectonics of Game Spaces: The Spatial Logic of the Virtual and its Meaning for the Real'', 153–165. Bielefeld (Germany): Transcript. * Gualeni, S. 2018
“A Philosophy of ‘DOING’ in the digital”
In Romele, A. and Terrone, E. (eds.), ''Towards a Philosophy of Digital Media'', 225–255. Basingstoke (UK):

. * Gualeni, S. 2017
“VIRTUAL WELTSCHMERZ: Things to keep in mind while building experience machines and other tragic technologies”
In Silcox, M. (ed.), ''Experience Machines: The Philosophy of Virtual Worlds'', 113–136. London (UK): Rowman and Littlefield International. * Gualeni, S. 2015
“Playing with Puzzling Philosophical Problems”
In Zagalo, N. and Branco, P. (eds.). ''Creativity in the Digital Age''. Springer Series on Cultural Computing, XIV, 59–74. London (UK): Springer-Verlag.

Playable academic works

Stefano is a philosopher who designs games

videogames Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This feedback ...

and a game designer who is passionate about philosophy. Although his academic work largely takes the form of texts, he also designs virtual experiences that have the specific objective of disclosing thought experiments and ideas in ways that are interactive and negotiable (and perhaps even playful).Self-reflexive videogames: observations and corollaries on virtual worlds as philosophical artifacts
/ref> The following are part of his ongoing 'playable philosophy' project: *
Doors (the game)
' (2021): a weird, postmodern

point and click Point and click are the actions of a computer user moving a pointer to a certain location on a screen (''pointing'') and then pressing a button on a mouse, usually the left button (''click''), or other pointing device. An example of point and cli ...

adventure videogame about how objects (and doors in particular) are represented within

*
"HERE"
' (2018): a mock-

JRPG While the early history and distinctive traits of role-playing video games (RPGs) in East Asia come Video games in Japan, from Japan, many have also been Video games in South Korea, developed in South Korea and Video games in China, in China. ...

playfully invites to reflect on how many types of 'here' co-exist in a virtual world *'' Something Something Soup Something'' (2017): a short first-person adventure videogame about analytical definitions and family resemblances *
Necessary Evil
' (2013): a self-reflexive game about the centrality of player-experience in videogame design Other playable academic works: *
Construction BOOM!
' (2020) a strategic 2-player tile-laying game meant as a

satirical Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or e ...

take on the unrestrained residential construction in Malta. The game was a finalist for

SaltCON SaltCON is the largest gaming convention, Board Game Convention in Utah held annually in Layton, Utah, Layton at the Davis Conference Center with the "aim of bringing people together with games." The event is family friendly, and focuses on hobb ...

's 2021

Ion Award The Ion Award is the largest board game design competition in the United States. It is held annually in Utah at the SaltCON board game convention. The competition started in 2009 for unpublished game designs, with the intent to bring designers and ...

in the Strategy Category. *
CURIO
' (2021): a free, playful toolkit for primary school students to be used in class, part of a 3-year research project funded by the

Erasmus+ Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (; ; English: Erasmus of Rotterdam or Erasmus;''Erasmus'' was his Christian name, baptismal name, given after Erasmus of Formia, Erasmus of Formiae. ''Desiderius'' was an adopted additional name, which he used fro ...

program

Commercial titles released as game designer

* '' Gua-Le-Ni; or, The Horrendous Parade'' (2011) (

iPad The iPad is a brand of iOS and iPadOS-based tablet computers that are developed by Apple Inc. The iPad was conceived before the related iPhone but the iPhone was developed and released first. Speculation about the development, operating s ...

) * ''Prezzemolo in una Giornata da Incubo'' (2007) (

DVD TV game An interactive film is a video game or other interactive media that has characteristics of a cinematic film. In the video game industry, the term refers to a movie game, a video game that presents its gameplay in a cinematic, scripted manner, ...

) * '' Tony Tough 2: A Rake's Progress'' (2006) ( PC) * ''Midway Classics 2'' (2006) (

GBA The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console developed, manufactured and marketed by Nintendo as the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, in North America on June 11, 2001, in the PAL region on June 22, 2 ...

) * ''Midway Classics 1'' (2006) (

) * ''Dangerous Heaven'' (2005) (

) * '' Prezzemolo in una Giornata da Incubo'' (2003) ( PC) * '' Tony Tough and the Night of Roasted Moths'' (1997) ( PC) * '' Mikro Mortal Tennis'' (1996) (

Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and significantly improved graphi ...

)

Other game industry credits

*Stefano is listed in the 'extra credits' of the 2013

Independent Games Festival The Independent Games Festival (IGF) is an annual festival at the Game Developers Conference (GDC), the largest annual gathering of the independent video game industry. Originally founded in 1998 to promote independent video game developers, ...

(IGF) 'Student Showcase finalist' videogame ''ATUM'' for having acted as project supervisor and game design consultant. *Stefano designed ''Necessary Evil'', a small, critical videogame developed together with Dino Dini, Marcello Gòmez Maureira and Jimena Sànchez Sarquiz. The game was presented at the 2013

Digital Games Research Association Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA) is a nonprofit international learned society whose work focuses on game studies and associated activities. DiGRA was formally established in 2003 in Finland. It is a leading academic organization in th ...

conference in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

as an example of the meta-reflexive and critical potential of the medium. *Stefano is listed in the credits of the 2012 action-adventure videogame ''

The Unfinished Swan ''The Unfinished Swan'' is an adventure video game developed by Santa Monica Studio and Giant Sparrow and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 3 in October 2012. The game starts with a completely white space in which the ...

'' (

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on Novemb ...

, developed by ''

Giant Sparrow Giant Sparrow is an American independent video game company based in Santa Monica, California, led by creative director Ian Dallas. Its first game, ''The Unfinished Swan'', was released in 2012 for the PlayStation 3 and 2014 for PlayStation 4. ...

'') for having tested early versions of the game and having provided design-related feedback. *Gualeni appears in the credits of

Playlogic Entertainment Playlogic Entertainment NV was a company active in mobile gambling and console publishing, established in 2002. Their gaming and gambling products are ''Fun Play'' and ''Real Play'', handled by Microgaming Ltd. The company operates their ''Re ...

's 2009

hack-and-slash Hack and slash, also known as hack and slay (H&S or HnS) or slash 'em up, refers to a type of gameplay that emphasizes combat with melee-based weapons (such as swords or blades). They may also feature projectile-based weapons as well (such as ...

videogame ''

Fairytale Fights ''Fairytale Fights'' is a hack and slash action-adventure game developed by Playlogic Game Factory and published by Playlogic Entertainment for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Fairytale Fights allow the player a chance to reclaim the fairytale stat ...

'' (for

and

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation ...

) for having helped with quality assurance recruiting and training. *Stefano is thanked in the credits of the

''EXP'' for having helped with the structuring of the game concept and having acted as project supervisor. ''EXP'' received honorable mention in the 2011

Student Showcase. *Stefano is in the 'special thanks' section of the credits of the videogame ''Chewy!'' for having provided

guidance. ''Chewy!'' was honored with the 'Best Design' award ($25,000) at the 2011 Independent Propeller Awards at the

South by Southwest South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in m ...

(SXSW) festival in

Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

.2011 Independent Propeller Award winners announced

External links

Stefano Gualeni's personal websiteProf. Stefano Gualeni's profile at the University of MaltaThe website of the Institute of Digital Games at the University of MaltaA selection of Gualeni's articles and publicationsThe website for the free, philosophical videogame ''NECESSARY EVIL''''Something Something Soup Something'': playable philosophyThe website for the free, philosophical videogame ''HERE''''Construction BOOM!'' A satirical tile-laying board game free to print-and-playThe official website for ''CURIO'', the free, playful toolkit to stimulate curiosity in primary school students''Doors (the game)'': a playable philosophical essay

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gualeni, Stefano Italian video game designers Video game designers Video game researchers Philosophers of technology 1978 births Living people Italian designers Polytechnic University of Milan alumni Utrecht School of the Arts alumni Erasmus University Rotterdam alumni People from Lovere University of Malta academic personnel Maltese academics