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The Beauty of Games
How games create beauty and meaning, and how we can use them to explore the aesthetics of thought.
Are games art? This question is a dominant mode of thinking about games and play in the twenty-first century, but it is fundamentally the wrong question. Instead, Frank Lantz proposes in his provocative new book, The Beauty of Games , that we think about games and how they create meaning through the lens of the aesthetic. We should think of games, he writes, the same way we think about literature, theater, or music—as a form that ranges from deep and profound to easy and disposable, and everything in between. Games are the aesthetic form of interactive systems, a set of possibilities connected by rules of cause and effect.
In this book, Lantz analyzes games from chess to poker to tennis to understand how games create beauty and evoke a deeper meaning. He suggests that we think of games not only as hyper-modern objects but also as forms within the ancient context of artistic production, encompassing all of the nebulous and ephemeral qualities of the aesthetic experience.
Are games art? This question is a dominant mode of thinking about games and play in the twenty-first century, but it is fundamentally the wrong question. Instead, Frank Lantz proposes in his provocative new book, The Beauty of Games , that we think about games and how they create meaning through the lens of the aesthetic. We should think of games, he writes, the same way we think about literature, theater, or music—as a form that ranges from deep and profound to easy and disposable, and everything in between. Games are the aesthetic form of interactive systems, a set of possibilities connected by rules of cause and effect.
In this book, Lantz analyzes games from chess to poker to tennis to understand how games create beauty and evoke a deeper meaning. He suggests that we think of games not only as hyper-modern objects but also as forms within the ancient context of artistic production, encompassing all of the nebulous and ephemeral qualities of the aesthetic experience.
184 pages, Hardcover
Published October 3, 2023
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548 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
January 27, 2025
What a wonderful walk through thoughts about games. I will view many things slightly differently now.
October 9, 2023
Do games really matter at the end of the day? Is this a worthwhile way to spend our time? That kind of question might be lurking somewhere in the back of our minds when we pick up a controller or open up a pack a cards. This book brings us a few steps closer to answering that sort of question in an intellectually satisfying way. Lantz reflects on the special type of value games possess as games (while accepting a kind of pluralism about the many values they can contain in other respects.)The focus here is providing an account of the value of abstract and other mechanics-first games. This is what was most interesting to me about the book.
Quite a few books defend games as culturally valuable in part because they contain elements we already independently find valuable: narrative, visual art, music, and opportunities for social experience. Lantz makes a case for the games built out of almost nothing but agency alone. He meditates on the elegance of Go, the depths of Poker, and the (intentionally) inelegant running game QWOP. All are games that have little to no representational or authored narrative content. They feature no wondrous worlds with intricate stories woven into them, there’s no wise built-in moral, there’s no one thing that they are even saying to us. Yet we still play them; and, even more significantly, we can come to love them, value them, and find them worthy of our very finite time.
And why is that? For Lantz, the answer is clear enough: there’s beauty to be experienced here— a beauty comprised of our own practical activities engaged in play. Our thoughts and actions become sculpted into unique forms as we immerse ourselves in a game. And this happens in a very particular way—taking shape according to game’s rules, hidden logic, and submerged systems. And that experience can be beautiful. And if beauty counts as a reason to value other forms of experience, why shouldn’t it count here too?
Quite a few books defend games as culturally valuable in part because they contain elements we already independently find valuable: narrative, visual art, music, and opportunities for social experience. Lantz makes a case for the games built out of almost nothing but agency alone. He meditates on the elegance of Go, the depths of Poker, and the (intentionally) inelegant running game QWOP. All are games that have little to no representational or authored narrative content. They feature no wondrous worlds with intricate stories woven into them, there’s no wise built-in moral, there’s no one thing that they are even saying to us. Yet we still play them; and, even more significantly, we can come to love them, value them, and find them worthy of our very finite time.
And why is that? For Lantz, the answer is clear enough: there’s beauty to be experienced here— a beauty comprised of our own practical activities engaged in play. Our thoughts and actions become sculpted into unique forms as we immerse ourselves in a game. And this happens in a very particular way—taking shape according to game’s rules, hidden logic, and submerged systems. And that experience can be beautiful. And if beauty counts as a reason to value other forms of experience, why shouldn’t it count here too?
June 3, 2024
Overwritten waffle
December 30, 2025
I remember, in my second year of college, Lulu turned to me as we walked to the cafe and said, “It’s all just a game.” At the time, I didn’t find that take all that striking or profound. However, Lantz’s eloquence celebrates the multi-modal art of games, and how all we enjoy and love in our lives (through struggles and delights) can be found, captured, even taught in games.
4 stars because Lantz needs to learn the difference between affect and effect…
4 stars because Lantz needs to learn the difference between affect and effect…
November 23, 2025
About 120 pages and might still have been padded out were it edited down to 5. Claims: games are an art/aesthetic form (sure) which have something to do with choice (see C Thi Nguyen’s “Games: Agency as Art” for a much clearer exploration of this thesis), rationality, and metacognition. If there’s a something to the “something” there, it’s occluded behind an aggressively banal, hedging prose redolent of the major prose tend of the last several years. I did like the conceptual handle “donkeyspace” and the discussion of knots.
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August 1, 2024Read this before I started reading "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow" and it is already having an effect on my reception of the novel...
This is a good, quick read which gives a convincing argument on games (both analog and video) as unique aesthetic experiences which foreground decision-making and thinking, as opposed to seeing, hearing, or communicating. It put a lot of sensations I have felt while playing games into terms that were cogent and easy to understand. I like the brief looks into Go and Poker, though I do wish there was more analysis of video games because I feel as though they are an odd gesamtkunstwerk that deserve the lens he is developing, though I guess the point of this book is not to do that and more to motivate OTHERS to look at video games in that way...
Sometimes it feels like he is saying the same thing over and over again. Sometimes he leaves his more theory-focused mode and drifts into anecdotes that aren't as interesting. These are small qualms, but they do diminish the message a bit. It is a wonderful diving board, but I don't think I ever reached the pool.
This is a good, quick read which gives a convincing argument on games (both analog and video) as unique aesthetic experiences which foreground decision-making and thinking, as opposed to seeing, hearing, or communicating. It put a lot of sensations I have felt while playing games into terms that were cogent and easy to understand. I like the brief looks into Go and Poker, though I do wish there was more analysis of video games because I feel as though they are an odd gesamtkunstwerk that deserve the lens he is developing, though I guess the point of this book is not to do that and more to motivate OTHERS to look at video games in that way...
Sometimes it feels like he is saying the same thing over and over again. Sometimes he leaves his more theory-focused mode and drifts into anecdotes that aren't as interesting. These are small qualms, but they do diminish the message a bit. It is a wonderful diving board, but I don't think I ever reached the pool.
August 31, 2025
Schnelle Transaktionen im digitalen Alltag
Im digitalen Zeitalter erwarten Nutzer in fast allen Lebensbereichen reibungslose und vor allem schnelle Abläufe. Ob beim Online-Shopping, beim Bezahlen von Dienstleistungen oder beim Überweisen von Geld – Zeit ist ein entscheidender Faktor. Besonders interessant wird dieser Aspekt, wenn man Plattformen betrachtet, die mit hohen Standards für Sicherheit und Effizienz arbeiten. Ein Beispiel dafür sind die Top Casinos mit schneller Auszahlung, die sich durch innovative Lösungen von anderen Anbietern abheben. Hier zeigt sich, wie wichtig optimierte Zahlungsprozesse in einer zunehmend vernetzten Welt geworden sind.
Die Top Casinos mit schneller Auszahlung haben sich in Europa, insbesondere in der Schweiz, einen guten Ruf erarbeitet. Das liegt nicht nur an den Spielen selbst, sondern vor allem an den flexiblen Möglichkeiten, Gewinne oder Einzahlungen ohne lange Wartezeiten zu verwalten. Die Schweiz gilt dabei als Vorreiter, da sie strenge Regularien mit modernster Technik verbindet. Spieler und Nutzer gleichermaßen schätzen es, wenn die Auszahlungsgeschwindigkeit mit dem hohen Sicherheitsstandard harmoniert – ein Balanceakt, den gerade Schweizer Plattformen sehr gut meistern.
Wer einen Blick auf die Top Casinos mit schneller Auszahlung wirft, erkennt, dass der Trend weit über die Glücksspielbranche hinausgeht. Auch Banken, Fintech-Unternehmen oder Streaming-Dienste setzen zunehmend auf Systeme, die Geldbewegungen in Echtzeit ermöglichen. Das Prinzip ist vergleichbar: Nutzer möchten sofortigen Zugriff auf ihr Guthaben oder ihre Leistungen haben, ohne Verzögerungen oder versteckte Hürden. Dieses Bedürfnis spiegelt die Dynamik einer Gesellschaft wider, die Schnelligkeit und Transparenz in den Vordergrund stellt.
In Europa haben sich verschiedene Branchen darauf eingestellt, diese Erwartungen zu erfüllen. Während in der Schweiz die Regulierungsbehörden sehr genau prüfen, wie digitale Transaktionen ablaufen, zeigen Länder wie Deutschland, Österreich oder Frankreich ebenfalls deutliche Fortschritte. Das Zusammenspiel aus rechtlichen Rahmenbedingungen, technischer Innovation und wachsender Nachfrage schafft ein Umfeld, das Unternehmen motiviert, immer effizientere Lösungen anzubieten.
Dabei geht es nicht allein um Komfort, sondern auch um Vertrauen. Wer weiß, dass Auszahlungen oder Rückerstattungen schnell und sicher erfolgen, entwickelt eine größere Bindung zu einem Anbieter. Ob beim Einkauf im Internet, bei internationalen Überweisungen oder bei Plattformen, die Unterhaltungsangebote bereitstellen – Geschwindigkeit wird zunehmend zu einem Qualitätsmerkmal. Gerade in der Schweiz, wo Präzision und Zuverlässigkeit traditionell großgeschrieben werden, fügt sich dieser Anspruch nahtlos in das alltägliche digitale Leben ein.
So lässt sich festhalten: Schnelle Auszahlungen und unmittelbare Geldtransfers sind längst nicht mehr auf eine Branche beschränkt. Sie sind Teil eines europaweiten Trends, der Effizienz, Vertrauen und technologische Innovation miteinander verbindet – und damit den Standard für moderne digitale Dienstleistungen setzt.
Im digitalen Zeitalter erwarten Nutzer in fast allen Lebensbereichen reibungslose und vor allem schnelle Abläufe. Ob beim Online-Shopping, beim Bezahlen von Dienstleistungen oder beim Überweisen von Geld – Zeit ist ein entscheidender Faktor. Besonders interessant wird dieser Aspekt, wenn man Plattformen betrachtet, die mit hohen Standards für Sicherheit und Effizienz arbeiten. Ein Beispiel dafür sind die Top Casinos mit schneller Auszahlung, die sich durch innovative Lösungen von anderen Anbietern abheben. Hier zeigt sich, wie wichtig optimierte Zahlungsprozesse in einer zunehmend vernetzten Welt geworden sind.
Die Top Casinos mit schneller Auszahlung haben sich in Europa, insbesondere in der Schweiz, einen guten Ruf erarbeitet. Das liegt nicht nur an den Spielen selbst, sondern vor allem an den flexiblen Möglichkeiten, Gewinne oder Einzahlungen ohne lange Wartezeiten zu verwalten. Die Schweiz gilt dabei als Vorreiter, da sie strenge Regularien mit modernster Technik verbindet. Spieler und Nutzer gleichermaßen schätzen es, wenn die Auszahlungsgeschwindigkeit mit dem hohen Sicherheitsstandard harmoniert – ein Balanceakt, den gerade Schweizer Plattformen sehr gut meistern.
Wer einen Blick auf die Top Casinos mit schneller Auszahlung wirft, erkennt, dass der Trend weit über die Glücksspielbranche hinausgeht. Auch Banken, Fintech-Unternehmen oder Streaming-Dienste setzen zunehmend auf Systeme, die Geldbewegungen in Echtzeit ermöglichen. Das Prinzip ist vergleichbar: Nutzer möchten sofortigen Zugriff auf ihr Guthaben oder ihre Leistungen haben, ohne Verzögerungen oder versteckte Hürden. Dieses Bedürfnis spiegelt die Dynamik einer Gesellschaft wider, die Schnelligkeit und Transparenz in den Vordergrund stellt.
In Europa haben sich verschiedene Branchen darauf eingestellt, diese Erwartungen zu erfüllen. Während in der Schweiz die Regulierungsbehörden sehr genau prüfen, wie digitale Transaktionen ablaufen, zeigen Länder wie Deutschland, Österreich oder Frankreich ebenfalls deutliche Fortschritte. Das Zusammenspiel aus rechtlichen Rahmenbedingungen, technischer Innovation und wachsender Nachfrage schafft ein Umfeld, das Unternehmen motiviert, immer effizientere Lösungen anzubieten.
Dabei geht es nicht allein um Komfort, sondern auch um Vertrauen. Wer weiß, dass Auszahlungen oder Rückerstattungen schnell und sicher erfolgen, entwickelt eine größere Bindung zu einem Anbieter. Ob beim Einkauf im Internet, bei internationalen Überweisungen oder bei Plattformen, die Unterhaltungsangebote bereitstellen – Geschwindigkeit wird zunehmend zu einem Qualitätsmerkmal. Gerade in der Schweiz, wo Präzision und Zuverlässigkeit traditionell großgeschrieben werden, fügt sich dieser Anspruch nahtlos in das alltägliche digitale Leben ein.
So lässt sich festhalten: Schnelle Auszahlungen und unmittelbare Geldtransfers sind längst nicht mehr auf eine Branche beschränkt. Sie sind Teil eines europaweiten Trends, der Effizienz, Vertrauen und technologische Innovation miteinander verbindet – und damit den Standard für moderne digitale Dienstleistungen setzt.
February 16, 2025
Frank Lantz’s The Beauty of Games examines games as an aesthetic form, emphasizing their role in engaging players in thought and action. Across four chapters, Lantz explores how games function as structured experiences that reveal aspects of instrumental reason and subjective engagement. He argues that games are not merely diversions or entertainment but are an essential and unique means of understanding cognition, decision-making, and human experience.
Games as an Aesthetic Form
Lantz argues that all games—digital or analog, ancient or modern—belong to the realm of aesthetics. He presents games as a distinct aesthetic experience that merges deep immersion with reflective awareness of their structures. Games, he suggests, are the aesthetic form of thinking and doing, much like how looking relates to painting or listening to music. He underscores that games are systems whose meaning emerges through participation—players explore possibilities, solve problems, and engage with outcomes. His methodology of “deep play” prioritizes understanding games through lived experience rather than abstraction, drawing upon Pauline Oliveros’ concept of deep listening. By framing games as artistic expressions that facilitate problem-solving and self-discovery, Lantz expands the traditional definition of aesthetics to include interactive engagement. He suggests that this form of aesthetic appreciation is rooted in the ways games encourage players to think critically about choices and their consequences.
Life and Death and Middle Pair
Lantz examines how games reveal thought processes. He explores Go as an example of strategic depth, allowing players to observe and refine cognitive habits. Poker, by contrast, introduces probabilistic thinking and self-examination, requiring players to navigate uncertainty and evaluate their decision-making. Both games, he argues, create spaces for self-awareness through structured play. He also highlights the distinction between local and global perspectives in strategy games, emphasizing how games encourage different modes of problem-solving and insight. Lantz’s analysis of Go suggests that the game operates as a means of externalizing thought, making the processes of strategic reasoning visible in a way that allows players to refine their decision-making skills. In Poker, the element of chance introduces another layer of complexity, pushing players to assess risk and manage psychological factors such as deception and emotional control. These games, while different in structure, both illustrate the capacity of games to function as intellectual laboratories where players can analyze their own cognitive strategies.
Hearts and Minds
This chapter expands the discussion to include cognitive and emotional dimensions of play. Lantz contrasts rational thought with intuitive, emotional experience, suggesting that games engage both modes simultaneously. Through examples such as QWOP, he explores how games create moments of “awareness of awareness,” encouraging players to reflect on their cognition. He argues that games involve not only strategic decision-making but also subconscious, instinctive reactions. By focusing on instrumental reason, Lantz suggests that games reveal the structures of thought and action that shape decision-making. Games also expose the tensions between rational control and instinctual response, highlighting the interplay between conscious decision-making and unconscious behavioral tendencies. The experience of playing a game, according to Lantz, often involves negotiating this balance, as players develop an awareness of their own thought processes while also being immersed in the immediacy of play. This dual engagement makes games uniquely capable of illustrating the limits of rational control and the importance of intuitive action.
Games, Systems, and the World
In the final chapter, Lantz discusses games as tools for understanding complex systems. He argues that games develop “systems literacy” by training players to navigate rules, interactions, and emergent behaviors. Whether in Dark Souls, Dungeons & Dragons, or Candy Crush, players engage with systems that extend beyond games into real-world applications. However, Lantz acknowledges skepticism about the broader impact of this literacy, questioning whether game-based insights translate into meaningful understanding of societal structures. He concludes by framing games as pathways to “meta-rationality,” offering opportunities to reflect on instrumental reason and its role in shaping human behavior. This discussion situates games within a broader intellectual framework, linking their structure to fundamental questions about agency, rule-following, and the ways humans interact with systems. While games allow players to experiment with problem-solving and system navigation, Lantz remains cautious about making grand claims regarding their ability to transfer these skills to real-world situations. Instead, he presents games as spaces where players can interrogate the mechanisms of structured interactions, fostering a heightened awareness of systems thinking that may have applications beyond the gaming context.
In conclusion, The Beauty of Games explores games as an aesthetic form that reveals aspects of thought and action. He presents games as structured experiences that offer self-reflection and cognitive engagement. His analysis of Go and Poker emphasizes strategic depth, while his discussion of QWOP and system-based play highlights experiential aspects of games. By situating games within the tradition of aesthetic inquiry, Lantz extends the discussion of art beyond traditional static forms, proposing that games offer a dynamic and participatory mode of aesthetic experience.
Ultimately, Lantz situates games within broader philosophical and aesthetic discussions, arguing that they encourage systems literacy and self-awareness. While he acknowledges uncertainties about their real-world implications, he presents games as an avenue for deeper engagement with instrumental reason and structured play. By emphasizing the importance of interactive experience in aesthetic appreciation, Lantz invites readers to consider games as a legitimate and valuable artistic form, one that provides meaningful insights into the nature of thought, action, and human cognition.
Games as an Aesthetic Form
Lantz argues that all games—digital or analog, ancient or modern—belong to the realm of aesthetics. He presents games as a distinct aesthetic experience that merges deep immersion with reflective awareness of their structures. Games, he suggests, are the aesthetic form of thinking and doing, much like how looking relates to painting or listening to music. He underscores that games are systems whose meaning emerges through participation—players explore possibilities, solve problems, and engage with outcomes. His methodology of “deep play” prioritizes understanding games through lived experience rather than abstraction, drawing upon Pauline Oliveros’ concept of deep listening. By framing games as artistic expressions that facilitate problem-solving and self-discovery, Lantz expands the traditional definition of aesthetics to include interactive engagement. He suggests that this form of aesthetic appreciation is rooted in the ways games encourage players to think critically about choices and their consequences.
Life and Death and Middle Pair
Lantz examines how games reveal thought processes. He explores Go as an example of strategic depth, allowing players to observe and refine cognitive habits. Poker, by contrast, introduces probabilistic thinking and self-examination, requiring players to navigate uncertainty and evaluate their decision-making. Both games, he argues, create spaces for self-awareness through structured play. He also highlights the distinction between local and global perspectives in strategy games, emphasizing how games encourage different modes of problem-solving and insight. Lantz’s analysis of Go suggests that the game operates as a means of externalizing thought, making the processes of strategic reasoning visible in a way that allows players to refine their decision-making skills. In Poker, the element of chance introduces another layer of complexity, pushing players to assess risk and manage psychological factors such as deception and emotional control. These games, while different in structure, both illustrate the capacity of games to function as intellectual laboratories where players can analyze their own cognitive strategies.
Hearts and Minds
This chapter expands the discussion to include cognitive and emotional dimensions of play. Lantz contrasts rational thought with intuitive, emotional experience, suggesting that games engage both modes simultaneously. Through examples such as QWOP, he explores how games create moments of “awareness of awareness,” encouraging players to reflect on their cognition. He argues that games involve not only strategic decision-making but also subconscious, instinctive reactions. By focusing on instrumental reason, Lantz suggests that games reveal the structures of thought and action that shape decision-making. Games also expose the tensions between rational control and instinctual response, highlighting the interplay between conscious decision-making and unconscious behavioral tendencies. The experience of playing a game, according to Lantz, often involves negotiating this balance, as players develop an awareness of their own thought processes while also being immersed in the immediacy of play. This dual engagement makes games uniquely capable of illustrating the limits of rational control and the importance of intuitive action.
Games, Systems, and the World
In the final chapter, Lantz discusses games as tools for understanding complex systems. He argues that games develop “systems literacy” by training players to navigate rules, interactions, and emergent behaviors. Whether in Dark Souls, Dungeons & Dragons, or Candy Crush, players engage with systems that extend beyond games into real-world applications. However, Lantz acknowledges skepticism about the broader impact of this literacy, questioning whether game-based insights translate into meaningful understanding of societal structures. He concludes by framing games as pathways to “meta-rationality,” offering opportunities to reflect on instrumental reason and its role in shaping human behavior. This discussion situates games within a broader intellectual framework, linking their structure to fundamental questions about agency, rule-following, and the ways humans interact with systems. While games allow players to experiment with problem-solving and system navigation, Lantz remains cautious about making grand claims regarding their ability to transfer these skills to real-world situations. Instead, he presents games as spaces where players can interrogate the mechanisms of structured interactions, fostering a heightened awareness of systems thinking that may have applications beyond the gaming context.
In conclusion, The Beauty of Games explores games as an aesthetic form that reveals aspects of thought and action. He presents games as structured experiences that offer self-reflection and cognitive engagement. His analysis of Go and Poker emphasizes strategic depth, while his discussion of QWOP and system-based play highlights experiential aspects of games. By situating games within the tradition of aesthetic inquiry, Lantz extends the discussion of art beyond traditional static forms, proposing that games offer a dynamic and participatory mode of aesthetic experience.
Ultimately, Lantz situates games within broader philosophical and aesthetic discussions, arguing that they encourage systems literacy and self-awareness. While he acknowledges uncertainties about their real-world implications, he presents games as an avenue for deeper engagement with instrumental reason and structured play. By emphasizing the importance of interactive experience in aesthetic appreciation, Lantz invites readers to consider games as a legitimate and valuable artistic form, one that provides meaningful insights into the nature of thought, action, and human cognition.
August 19, 2024
I won’t do much work giving an overview of what the book is about - I think the high level premise is quite clear. The central question: Should we treat games in a similar category as movies, music, plays, and visual art? He argues not only yes, but that games are the defining art form of the 21st century.
Now, for me, this book was powerful because of his view on aesthetics in general. To Lantz, beauty is closely connected to truth. When you look at a painting, if you find it beautiful, you likely found something about it that either reaffirms your existing understanding of the world, or it allowed you to experience your eyes, the visual sense, in a new light. Something about it rang true, and thus, was beautiful. To me this is a radical and frankly beautiful lens through which to view aesthetic experiences. In effect, art is “meta-perceiving”, or providing you with opportunities to expand or refine the senses in ways that ordinary life cannot.
So why are games the defining art form of the 21st century? If paintings are for the eyes, then games are for what he calls “instrumental reason”, which is related to your brain’s decision making capabilities. Since games can uniquely expand and refine the scope of your instrumental reason sense, and instrumental reason has become the most important commodity of the 21st century, games will quite literally shape the future. It’s an appealing argument, and it’s important to note he makes no claims on how true it is factually, just that it is an affirmation that, should you choose to follow, can be made true.
Now, for me, this book was powerful because of his view on aesthetics in general. To Lantz, beauty is closely connected to truth. When you look at a painting, if you find it beautiful, you likely found something about it that either reaffirms your existing understanding of the world, or it allowed you to experience your eyes, the visual sense, in a new light. Something about it rang true, and thus, was beautiful. To me this is a radical and frankly beautiful lens through which to view aesthetic experiences. In effect, art is “meta-perceiving”, or providing you with opportunities to expand or refine the senses in ways that ordinary life cannot.
So why are games the defining art form of the 21st century? If paintings are for the eyes, then games are for what he calls “instrumental reason”, which is related to your brain’s decision making capabilities. Since games can uniquely expand and refine the scope of your instrumental reason sense, and instrumental reason has become the most important commodity of the 21st century, games will quite literally shape the future. It’s an appealing argument, and it’s important to note he makes no claims on how true it is factually, just that it is an affirmation that, should you choose to follow, can be made true.
October 6, 2023
Computer games are the highest grossing entertainment product of our times. Yet, this form on entertainment is not considered an art form in the way that music, film, literature, painting, or even TV is. Why is that? Frank Lantz, a well known lecturer on the theory of games, takes on answering this question.
To summarize my favorite section of the book, which deals with thinking about the essence of different forms of art: Painting is the encapsulation of the act of seeing, Music the act of listening. If fiction is the crystallization of telling people what happened, then computer games are the crystallization of practical ACTION. Fixing a car, dodging a bullet, launching a missile, spinning a wheel. Much of the book after this explains the beauty of the art of Action.
His personal experiences learning Go and Poker were also interesting, and it's fascinating to see the differences between these two near perfect but very different games.
I had heard of the author after I played the author's incredibly simple, but surprisingly addictive, Universal Paperclips game for weeks on end. It's worth seeking out some of the author's talks and interviews online, he's a great speaker.
Note: this book is closer to an introductory textbook, or a collection of academic papers, than a work of mainstream non-fiction.
If you're looking for a pop-fiction novel about games, I highly recommend 'Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow' by Gabrielle Zevin which explores much of the same topic (why do we play games?) through fiction.
To summarize my favorite section of the book, which deals with thinking about the essence of different forms of art: Painting is the encapsulation of the act of seeing, Music the act of listening. If fiction is the crystallization of telling people what happened, then computer games are the crystallization of practical ACTION. Fixing a car, dodging a bullet, launching a missile, spinning a wheel. Much of the book after this explains the beauty of the art of Action.
His personal experiences learning Go and Poker were also interesting, and it's fascinating to see the differences between these two near perfect but very different games.
I had heard of the author after I played the author's incredibly simple, but surprisingly addictive, Universal Paperclips game for weeks on end. It's worth seeking out some of the author's talks and interviews online, he's a great speaker.
Note: this book is closer to an introductory textbook, or a collection of academic papers, than a work of mainstream non-fiction.
If you're looking for a pop-fiction novel about games, I highly recommend 'Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow' by Gabrielle Zevin which explores much of the same topic (why do we play games?) through fiction.
May 10, 2025
Solid attempt to justify the study of games as aesthetic objects that mostly-adequately treads the line between pop psychology and games academia. Lantz sometimes leans a little too heavily into the former and is pretty repetitious with regards to his big ideas but still manages not to completely dilute his points for the sake of appealing to a hypothetical outsider. I can't say for sure how it'd come across to such a reader, but my suspicion is pretty well?
Lantz has a cheeky tone in his writing (that often reads a little over-indulgent) and a light touch with his subject matter, each section introducing an idea, exploring it for a little, then moving on without feeling the need to make too fine a point of most of them. This makes sense for a book that explicitly frames itself as an invitation for further thought on the part of the reader, though occasionally I did want for a deeper look into this or that.
His conclusions feel a little too pie-in-the-sky optimistic to me and he's also a little too even-handed on AI for my taste, though I suspect that can be explained by this book being published in 2023 and therefore written a little before AI quite took the more-evidently-evil shape that it takes today.
Lantz has a cheeky tone in his writing (that often reads a little over-indulgent) and a light touch with his subject matter, each section introducing an idea, exploring it for a little, then moving on without feeling the need to make too fine a point of most of them. This makes sense for a book that explicitly frames itself as an invitation for further thought on the part of the reader, though occasionally I did want for a deeper look into this or that.
His conclusions feel a little too pie-in-the-sky optimistic to me and he's also a little too even-handed on AI for my taste, though I suspect that can be explained by this book being published in 2023 and therefore written a little before AI quite took the more-evidently-evil shape that it takes today.
September 1, 2025
What should have been an essay became a book. Uninspiring.
Here's an excerpt that made me giggle:
This is just bullshit. QWOP is a parody game, it's a cool gimmick. And I get what the author is trying to say, but cmon!? Appollonian, Dionysian, atavistic, primal... really!? Using sentences right out of a Nietzsche-sentence-generator won't make you any more right nor it will make you sound smart.
So if we cut out the pretentiousness we get to the bone fast. There's not much on it: games can be beautiful. They are beautiful in unexpected and somewhat mysterious ways. They can be deep. It's really hard to explain those things as it is to explain why one symphony is superior to another.
We just shouldn't hide that difficulty behind big words because it doesn't help the issue.
Here's an excerpt that made me giggle:
...playing QWOP doesn't feel like a celebration of the cold, Apollonian power or deliberate rational thought. It feels like a parody of rational thought. It feels Dionysian, atavistic, like some primal ritual that takes place in the boiler room our our brain.
This is just bullshit. QWOP is a parody game, it's a cool gimmick. And I get what the author is trying to say, but cmon!? Appollonian, Dionysian, atavistic, primal... really!? Using sentences right out of a Nietzsche-sentence-generator won't make you any more right nor it will make you sound smart.
So if we cut out the pretentiousness we get to the bone fast. There's not much on it: games can be beautiful. They are beautiful in unexpected and somewhat mysterious ways. They can be deep. It's really hard to explain those things as it is to explain why one symphony is superior to another.
We just shouldn't hide that difficulty behind big words because it doesn't help the issue.
August 11, 2024
I've read this book from the perspective of someone who's played video games for the vast majority of their life, having also recently gotten into board gaming as well.
I've always been loosely aware of the debates surrounding the hobby, whether games are 'good for you' but I've never often focused on it, often concluding that playing games is fun and a nice escapism from the stresses of life, or a means of socialising with friends and that being reason enough for me to indulge.
This book offers some fascinating and complex discussions, thoroughly justifying games as an art form in itself and where it sits among art, music, film etc. as well as delving deeper to the reasons why we chose to play games, the intricacies they offer and how they can be applied to real world situations. The application of game theory to the modern world is particularly interesting but also realistic, considering both it's current shortcomings while being optimistic for its potential.
I've always been loosely aware of the debates surrounding the hobby, whether games are 'good for you' but I've never often focused on it, often concluding that playing games is fun and a nice escapism from the stresses of life, or a means of socialising with friends and that being reason enough for me to indulge.
This book offers some fascinating and complex discussions, thoroughly justifying games as an art form in itself and where it sits among art, music, film etc. as well as delving deeper to the reasons why we chose to play games, the intricacies they offer and how they can be applied to real world situations. The application of game theory to the modern world is particularly interesting but also realistic, considering both it's current shortcomings while being optimistic for its potential.
February 5, 2025
After reiterating that "games are a way for thought to become visible to itself" and "games are the aesthetic form of instrumental reason" Lantz arrives at games being crucial to systems literacy and/or systems thinking. However, rather than using this terminology, the conclusion is that games apparently are the passage to meta-rationality, which seems like an unnecessary complication. This might feel earned with more explanation, but felt like a rather abrupt and confusing way to end an otherwise enlightening read. I thoroughly enjoyed how Lantz worked towards a central thesis balancing both the rational and intuitive sides of games.
January 11, 2024
Favorite Passage:
“I have encountered the beauty of games myself. I know for a fact that, alive and beyond and alongside and within their capacity to distract and entertain and comfort and teach and entrance and amuse and dazzle and impress, they can also be beautiful[…] It is a beauty carved out of thought and action, the way painting is carved out of sight and music is carved out of sound. The beauty of games is a window into the operation of our own minds and hearts and a chance for thought to made visible itself”
“I have encountered the beauty of games myself. I know for a fact that, alive and beyond and alongside and within their capacity to distract and entertain and comfort and teach and entrance and amuse and dazzle and impress, they can also be beautiful[…] It is a beauty carved out of thought and action, the way painting is carved out of sight and music is carved out of sound. The beauty of games is a window into the operation of our own minds and hearts and a chance for thought to made visible itself”
May 19, 2024
This book may have ruined me for other books about the nature of games and what they mean to us. It's accessible, it's beautifully written, it's transcendent. It makes me see games through whole new eyes while at the same time feeling most of the way through like it's stuff I've always known deep down. I still can't believe what he manages to cover in 160 pages without it ever feeling rushed. And I'll never look at Poker or Go (or mobile games, or AAA shooters, or board games) the same way again.
May 20, 2025
An excellent book about games as art. Lantz has a brilliant mind, and gave me many new perspectives on a topic I'm already passionate about. The interpretation of games as "practicality/reason as aesthetic" is something that's really stuck with me.
Docking one star as the writing was somewhat flowery at times, and I preferred the first half of the book to the second (which isn't bad, just treading similar ground). Fantastic content nonetheless.
Docking one star as the writing was somewhat flowery at times, and I preferred the first half of the book to the second (which isn't bad, just treading similar ground). Fantastic content nonetheless.
March 14, 2024
Chapter 1 and 2 are a good guidance for people unfamiliar with games.
Chapter 3 is a solid explanation of the essence of games, interactive experiences. Very well, universal, expressed beyond any concrete approach to games like genres.
Chapter 4 is more an outlook, the potential of games. I get many ideas from that. Here I made some notes and it's likely that I'll reread this soon.
Chapter 3 is a solid explanation of the essence of games, interactive experiences. Very well, universal, expressed beyond any concrete approach to games like genres.
Chapter 4 is more an outlook, the potential of games. I get many ideas from that. Here I made some notes and it's likely that I'll reread this soon.
December 16, 2023
An excellent (albeit very academic) argument for why games matter, why they are beautiful, and how they can shape our understanding of modern, systems-driven society. Any book that defends the importance of Wipeout is a good one.
December 18, 2023
An enjoyable and thought-provoking read. It gave me both a lot to be excited and frustrated about. I appreciated Lantz's views on the artfulness of games, while also wished he had gone further down particular pathways. It's certain to be helpful in my own future work on the topic.
October 30, 2023
Too intellectual for me.
November 11, 2023
An amazing book that challenges your view on games and, potentially, on life.
December 13, 2023
A deeply enjoyable and thoughtful exploration of games, aesthetics and systems in our world.
Written review forthcoming for Englewood Review of Books.
Written review forthcoming for Englewood Review of Books.
January 19, 2024
We need more books like this.
May 5, 2024
DNF This book was too academic, I was looking for a less academic exploration of the subject
June 17, 2024
MPA ratings: G
July 16, 2024
This is at once an inspiring and utterly infuriating book. The author is passionate, articulate, and deeply knowledgeable about his chosen subject matter, namely games in their purest form. What is it that makes a thing a game? What are its features, necessary and sufficient, and what features might lose it that status?
More importantly, Lantz has the bold claim to make that, more than games being capable and worthy of appreciation as art (which is entirely convincing to me), they are the purest contemporary art form, being not just things to be appreciated, but things that - uniquely - give their players autonomy, i.e. choices, and are therefore creations of instrumental reason. It's a great love song to games - not just the tabletop games I happen to love, but sports, playground games - any of that kind of thing.
It's all heady stuff, and the grand thesis and passion of the author is clear.
BUT: the individual sentences? They're annoyingly slippery, and often just don't make sense on their own. Propositions become questions, possible answers are juggled then partially discarded, metaphors become arguments, arguments become conclusions. The whole thing at a micro-level is a soupy confusing and nonsensical mess. It reminds me of the more empty-headed philosophy books that weren't more than "What I Reckon" musings of an armchair thinker.
BUT BUT: taken as a flow, as a vibe, the book becomes something like a musical movement, convincing and satisfying at a level where any few specific bars are frustrating and incoherent.
Heaven knows how it would read to anyone who isn't sympathetic to the idea.
More importantly, Lantz has the bold claim to make that, more than games being capable and worthy of appreciation as art (which is entirely convincing to me), they are the purest contemporary art form, being not just things to be appreciated, but things that - uniquely - give their players autonomy, i.e. choices, and are therefore creations of instrumental reason. It's a great love song to games - not just the tabletop games I happen to love, but sports, playground games - any of that kind of thing.
It's all heady stuff, and the grand thesis and passion of the author is clear.
BUT: the individual sentences? They're annoyingly slippery, and often just don't make sense on their own. Propositions become questions, possible answers are juggled then partially discarded, metaphors become arguments, arguments become conclusions. The whole thing at a micro-level is a soupy confusing and nonsensical mess. It reminds me of the more empty-headed philosophy books that weren't more than "What I Reckon" musings of an armchair thinker.
BUT BUT: taken as a flow, as a vibe, the book becomes something like a musical movement, convincing and satisfying at a level where any few specific bars are frustrating and incoherent.
Heaven knows how it would read to anyone who isn't sympathetic to the idea.
September 1, 2025
3.5⭐️
molto interessante, ma in alcuni punti molto prolisso e non si capiva quale era il fulcro del discorso.
molto interessante, ma in alcuni punti molto prolisso e non si capiva quale era il fulcro del discorso.
March 25, 2024
What joy and laughs we have in the name of games. Playful objects with charming structures. Ludic invention given purpose through an art of form and function. —From which the insights of this book; charmingly positions us. From the early chapters, Lantz expresses deeply the importance of aesthetic, and it’s relation to game. Going through the text we’re given an understanding of the intangibles of art, culture, strategy, as well as probability.
When navigating these intangibles we see a narrative can be formed relative to a game, and or an aesthetic space. We’re given an approach to aesthetic by exploring form and utility of multiple games. The strongest case studies being Go and Poker. We observe that aesthetic is the sensibility to see and understand the textures of form and function. Making legible the subtle nuances of look and feel. And it's through these subtle nuances the viewer may begin to see differently.
From the beautiful wooden corridors of a goban, to the far corners of the lucrative winning boarders of poker. A player becomes more unified with these structures. And with this unification comes this sense of salience in where your presence becomes entangled with the game. In chess; one begins to see bread crumbs of patterns and blocks highlighting a capture. In "Go" this is actualized again in the same manner, viewing patterns and responding to the game's current form. —A question and answer of sorts; one can begin to see, in a new way. Hence in where the beholder may begin to understand beauty in another way.
One final intriguing take back from Lantz's observations. Is seeing within ritual. Borrowing the mindset of Eastern practices in order to see our spaces differently. We begin to see that when ritual is present, function and meaning will ultimately change that space. In where a game, an object, or system now given new values and aesthetics from rituals; allow us to interact differently with said space. Ultimately changing the relationship of the individual to the ascribed domain.
When navigating these intangibles we see a narrative can be formed relative to a game, and or an aesthetic space. We’re given an approach to aesthetic by exploring form and utility of multiple games. The strongest case studies being Go and Poker. We observe that aesthetic is the sensibility to see and understand the textures of form and function. Making legible the subtle nuances of look and feel. And it's through these subtle nuances the viewer may begin to see differently.
From the beautiful wooden corridors of a goban, to the far corners of the lucrative winning boarders of poker. A player becomes more unified with these structures. And with this unification comes this sense of salience in where your presence becomes entangled with the game. In chess; one begins to see bread crumbs of patterns and blocks highlighting a capture. In "Go" this is actualized again in the same manner, viewing patterns and responding to the game's current form. —A question and answer of sorts; one can begin to see, in a new way. Hence in where the beholder may begin to understand beauty in another way.
One final intriguing take back from Lantz's observations. Is seeing within ritual. Borrowing the mindset of Eastern practices in order to see our spaces differently. We begin to see that when ritual is present, function and meaning will ultimately change that space. In where a game, an object, or system now given new values and aesthetics from rituals; allow us to interact differently with said space. Ultimately changing the relationship of the individual to the ascribed domain.
August 27, 2024
Dense and a little overwrought, but full of insightful nuggets. Could be argued that it lacks a critical lens.
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