Radical Game Fictionalism

This philosophical paper, presented at DiGRA 2019 and written by Grant Tavinor of Lincoln University, examines how games relate to fiction and proposes a position it calls "radical game fictionalism." The central question is how deep the connection between games and fiction runs. The author builds on earlier work by Caillois, Suits, and Walton, as well as a substantial literature on videogame fictions, and argues that the connection is more fundamental than previously recognized.

The paper distinguishes two forms of game fictionalism. Gameworld fictionalism holds that the worlds depicted in games, such as Tamriel in The Elder Scrolls series, are fictional, and that certain game media, including tabletop and card games, can count as works of fiction, or "ludofictions." Radical game fictionalism is presented as a more ambitious thesis, drawing on philosophical fictionalism as used in mathematics and morality. On this view, language about games should not be taken literally but understood as a kind of fiction, allowing us to explain how such talk functions without committing to an ontology of ludic entities such as moves, rules, and objectives. The author argues this thesis applies even to games without obvious fictional worlds.

The paper's stated contribution is to move beyond familiar forms of game fictionalism toward the claim that understanding the ontology of games requires considering fictionalism. If the thesis holds, videogames are not merely sometimes set in fictional worlds but are themselves fictions. The paper offers a partial defense of a strong version of radical game fictionalism, relying on arguments similar to those used to motivate fictionalism in other philosophical domains.

The work is theoretical and conceptual rather than empirical, so it involves no survey data, sample sizes, or quantitative findings. Its scope is confined to analytic philosophy of games, with its primary focus on videogames while also considering tabletop, card, and board games. Its evidential basis is the existing philosophical and game studies literature, which the paper draws on extensively in building and defending its argument.