Reflecting on video games as tools for Philosophical inquiry

Video games can be used not only as objects of analysis, but also as tools for philosophical inquiry.’ An interview with Matija Vigato.

Matija Vigato is a PhD student and research assistant at the Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, who visited the Institute of Digital Games to work closely with Prof. Stefano Gualeni and Dr Daniel Vella at the intersection of philosophy and games. In addition to her doctoral studies in philosophy, she is pursuing a Master’s degree in applied computer engineering (Game Development programme). We spoke to her about her research and the connection between philosophy and games.

What is your research focus?

My background is in metaphysics and philosophy of mind, and my current research focuses on the subject-object relation. I'm interested in ontological categories and relations of dependence under which a subject can stand in relation to something that is not reducible to subjective experience. And what makes video games especially interesting in this regard is that they instantiate worlds rather than merely depict them. Digital games therefore establish coherent domains of entities, properties, relations, and possibilities within which the experience, i.e. the game, can unfold in a multi-layered, complex way. In games, the subject-object relation is essentially built into the structure of the game world.

What drew you to be a visiting scholar at the Institute of Digital Games?

Since I work in both philosophy and game development, I am always interested in finding institutional contexts that recognise this connection and where this kind of work can be pursued, and the Institute of Digital Games at the University of Malta stood out as that kind of place, particularly because of its close alignment with the specific research topic I am currently working on.

My research topic, however, emerged as a synthesis of my interest in the philosophy of play – an interest shaped by the work of a small but important group of Croatian researchers working on the philosophy of play, including Ivana Zagorac, Matija Mato Škerbić and Luka Perušić – and my interest in the metaphysical problem of the relation between subjectivity and objectivity, which developed primarily during my stay at the University of Oxford, where I spent one semester as a Research Fellow as part of the New Generation Research Exchange programme under the mentorship of Jonathan Price.

So being a person that is always looking for connections in my research, I naturally started exploring the connection between the subject-object relation and play.

As both a practitioner, in the sense that working on games and developing games for commercial release, such as Immunauts and Murder Book, and a researcher, is it challenging to balance the video game industry with philosophical research?

The main challenge in balancing these two is the asynchrony, and occasionally the dissonance, between the production-driven processes of industry and the exploratory thought processes in philosophy. The industry tends to demand not only fast execution but also clarity of purpose and outcome, whereas philosophical work depends on openness and sustained conceptual examination.

In my experience, however, this tension has proved productive, because it has sharpened my sensitivity to how abstract ideas take form when they are made actionable and when they are constrained by systems. It has also shown me how creative practices such as game development can gain in originality, experimental value, and clarity – even coherence – through a slower, more concept-driven approach. Being involved in both industry and philosophy enables a kind of reflexivity and creativity that neither position alone fully affords.

Prof. Stefano Gualeni’s book, Virtual Worlds as Philosophical Tools: How to Philosophize with a Digital Hammer was crucial for me because it explicitly formulates a methodological approach that I'm pursuing myself. This approach shows that video games can be used not only as objects of analysis, including philosophical analysis, but also as tools for philosophical inquiry.

For example, they can be used to test different ontological assumptions through design and interaction, rather than articulating them solely in discursive form. Gualeni has created two games that exemplify this approach. In Doors, the ontological status of objects is explored through interaction with virtual objects in the game world rather than through theoretical exposition.

In Something Something Soup Something, the vagueness of ordinary concepts such as ‘soup’ is explored, and the limits of their categorical definitions are revealed through the players’ own experience of trying to define it rather than through a linear argument. This approach can be valuable in many ways, but I think it's especially valuable for the philosophy of philosophy – an inquiry into its own media, boundaries, methods, and epistemic conditions.

Is there any advice for young game researchers just starting out in the field?

Yes, lots of advice! [laughs] I could fill a whole different interview, but I will act as if I only have three pieces of advice. Three is a nice number.

First, I would encourage them to engage seriously with the classics of the philosophy of play, such as the works of Hans-Georg Gadamer, Eugen Fink, and Bernard Suits. Although philosophy has a way of unsettling the foundations on which you are standing while you are trying to build something – which can be disorienting and destabilising – it is exactly through this kind of conceptual earthquake that new perspectives and landscapes emerge. In a similar spirit, I would encourage young researchers to let games challenge their assumptions rather than merely confirm them.

Second, I would advise them to try developing video games themselves. The Game Jams organised by the Institute of Digital Games are a great place to do that. Even if they do not aspire to become professional game developers, witnessing the birth of a game – seeing its components emerge, some of them being discarded before they connect into a whole – supports a kind of reverse-architectural thinking. That kind of thinking is crucial not only for research but also for critique, because it helps to understand games not only as finished artefacts but as processes shaped by game development decisions, constraints, and compromises. For me personally, participating in game jams cemented my idea that this would be the art form I would like to work in.

Thirdly and finally, I would emphasise the importance of finding a supportive environment where creative experimentation and rigorous reflection on video games are genuinely intertwined, such as here at the Institute of Digital Games at the University of Malta.

About Matija Vigato

Matija Vigato was a visiting researcher at the Institute of Digital Games, where she worked closely with Prof. Gualeni and Dr Vella. She has also been a visiting researcher at the University of Oxford and the University of Graz. She works as a research assistant at the Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, and as a narrative designer with the game development company Gungrounds.

During her studies, she received the Google Generation Scholarship for Women in Gaming and the Rector’s Award for individual scientific work. With her team, she won third place at the Global Game Jam in Rijeka and first place at the Creative Business Cup Croatia for the video game ReMind, as well as first place at the Global Game Jam in Zagreb for the game Descent into Nawia.

Read more about Matija’s research on her ResearchGate and Academia.edu profiles.

About the Institute of Digital Games
The work of the Institute of Digital Games is at the forefront of innovative games research. We explore games and play, uncovering new playful and generative possibilities in game design and technology. We delve into everything games can teach us about ourselves.

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Interested in philosophy and games? Get involved!

Join us for an exploration of the Power of Play quick-fire talks and the launch of a new experimental, philosophical game on 24 March at 18:00 at the Valletta Campus Theatre organised together with Science in the City.

Video is available online.