What kind of an activity is a virtual game? A postmodern approach in relation to concept of phantasm by Deleuze and the philosophy of Huizinga

Abstract

Virtual games are played by millions of people today. Almost everyone has the means to access virtual worlds in most places in the world. Virtual games are new worlds for the players waiting to be discovered. Video games in this new world are considered to be sports activities by some people, while some oppose to this conception. In this regard, philosophical approaches set out and the current state of whether video games are considered as sports activities is presented. In addition to this classificatory issue an ethical one concerning the level of addiction for the players who immerse into the virtual worlds is also discussed, since the level of immersion is sometimes so high that some people die while playing video games on the computer. The answer to the question of how these video games can be so addictive is considered in relation to Johan Huizinga's Homo ludens, and the notion of phantasm by Gilles Deleuze. It is argued that the fantasy aspect of video games is more dominant their being the products of imagination. The issue of whether video games can be considered as sports activities or not is still vague. Nevertheless, video games tournaments-which are called e-sports-are more common now and the growing number of spectators of e-sports provides for greater recognition for video games. These conditions may contribute to the acceptance of video games as sports activities in the future.