Prof. Stefano Gualeni

Prof. Stefano Gualeni

Prof. Stefano Gualeni

 M.S.(Arch.),M.A.(Fine Arts),Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Institute of Digital Games
University of Malta
Msida
Trained as an architect, Dr. Stefano Gualeni is a philosopher and videogame designer who is best known for creating the videogames 'Tony Tough and the Night of Roasted Moths' (1997), 'Gua-Le-Ni; or, The Horrendous Parade' (2012), and 'Something Something Soup Something' (2017).

His work takes place at the intersections between continental philosophy and the design of virtual worlds. As a philosopher who designs videogames and a game designer who is passionate about philosophy, Dr. Gualeni studies virtual worlds in their role as mediators: as interactive, artificial environments where ideas, world-views, and thought-experiments can be encountered, manipulated, and communicated experientially.

A recent academic book of his, 'Virtual Worlds as Philosophical Tools' (Palgrave, 2015), identifies computers as gateways to experience alternative possibilities of being and as instruments to (re)design ourselves and our cultures. His contributions to the edited volumes 'Experience Machines: Philosophy in Virtual Worlds' (Rowman & Littlefield, 2017) and 'Towards a Philosophy of Digital Media' (Palgrave, 2018), focus on the existential effects and possibilities disclosed by virtual technologies.

At the Institute of Digital Games, Dr. Gualeni wanders around pensively and lectures in game design. In summer, he is a Visiting Professor at the Laguna College of Art and Design (LCAD) in Laguna Beach, California.
  • Philosophy of technology
  • Game Design
  • Philosophy of Computer Games
  • Existentialism
  • Virtual Worlds

Gualeni, S. 2017, "VIRTUAL WELTSCHMERZ: Things to keep in mind while building experience machines and other tragic technologies  " in Experience Machines: The Philosophy of Virtual Worlds, ed. M. Silcox, 1st edn, Rowman and Littlefield International, London, UK.

Gualeni, S., Vella, D. & Harrington, J. 2017, "De-Roling from Experiences and Identities in Virtual Worlds", Journal of Virtual World Research, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 1-18.

Gualeni, S. 2016, "The Experience Machine: Existential Reflections on Virtual Worlds", Journal of Virtual World Research, vol. 9, n. 3.

Gualeni, S. 2016, "Self-reflexive videogames: observations and corollaries on virtual worlds as philosophical artifacts", G|A|M|E – The Italian Journal of Game Studies, vol. 5, no. 1.

Westerlaken, M. & Gualeni, S. 2016, "Situated Knowledges through Game Design: A Transformative Exercise with Ants", Proceedings of the 10th International Conference of Philosophy of Computer Games.

Gualeni, S. 2015, Virtual Worlds as Philosophical Tools, 1st edn, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke (UK).

Prook, J., Janssen, D. & Gualeni, S. 2015, "The Negative Effects of Praise and Flattery in Casual Videogames", Proceedings of the international conference FDG 2015 (ACM).

Gualeni, S. The Philosophy of Computer Games Conference 2014, "Freer Than We Think: Game Design as a Liberation Practice", The Philosophy of Computer Games Conference. Bilgi University of Istanbul, Turkey, November 13-16, 2014.

My book 'Virtual Worlds as Philosophical Tools' (2015):
http://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9781137521774

Another book about philosophy of technology I contributed to 'Experience Machines' (2017):
https://www.rowmaninternational.com/book/experience_machines/3-156-111f1b15-a847-4572-b83b-
df76f3c1ef61

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