Self-Reflexive Videogames: Observations and Corollaries on Virtual Worlds as Philosophical Artifacts

Stefano Gualeni's essay "Self-Reflexive Videogames: Observations and Corollaries on Virtual Worlds as Philosophical Artifacts" argues that certain videogames can function as philosophical artifacts in their own right. Its central thesis is that self-reflexive games, which use subversion, unfamiliarity, and exposed artificiality to draw attention to how games are designed, played, and understood, can prompt critical reflection on both the conventions of games and the conventions of thought. The argument draws on modernist precedents such as Brecht's epic theater, Surrealism, and the Russian Formalist concept of defamiliarization associated with Shklovsky and Pound.

The essay's principal case study is NECESSARY EVIL (2013), in which the player becomes a disposable minion of evil confined to a room with deliberately non-functional interactions. The game exposes the player-centric ideology underlying many virtual worlds, which are typically constructed around the player's perception and existence. Gualeni observes that self-reflexive games tend to rely on familiar genre conventions so that their critical subversions remain legible to players, and he frames virtual worlds through an idealist lens in which they exist only insofar as they are perceived or needed.

A further claim concerns the limits of philosophical method. Gualeni contends that Western philosophy's near-exclusive reliance on written language has constrained its ability to engage alternative media. He advocates a flexible, hybrid approach in which virtual worlds complement text in thought experiments, ethical simulations, and experiential engagement with philosophical positions, situating them as a site for new philosophical questions and a "new humanism." The essay's reference list, which draws on critical game design scholarship and formalist theory, offers no additional findings of its own.