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Brian Upton
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The Aesthetic of Play Hardcover – March 6, 2015

by Brian Upton (Author)
4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 35 ratings
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A game designer considers the experience of play, why games have rules, and the relationship of play and narrative.

The impulse toward play is very ancient, not only pre-cultural but pre-human; zoologists have identified play behaviors in turtles and in chimpanzees. Games have existed since antiquity; 5,000-year-old board games have been recovered from Egyptian tombs. And yet we still lack a critical language for thinking about play. Game designers are better at answering small questions (“Why is this battle boring?”) than big ones (“What does this game mean?”). In this book, the game designer Brian Upton analyzes the experience of play—how playful activities unfold from moment to moment and how the rules we adopt constrain that unfolding. Drawing on games that range from Monopoly to Dungeons & Dragons to Guitar Hero, Upton develops a framework for understanding play, introducing a set of critical tools that can help us analyze games and game designs and identify ways in which they succeed or fail.

Upton also examines the broader epistemological implications of such a framework, exploring the role of play in the construction of meaning and what the existence of play says about the relationship between our thoughts and external reality. He considers the making of meaning in play and in every aspect of human culture, and he draws on findings in pragmatic epistemology, neuroscience, and semiotics to describe how meaning emerges from playful engagement. Upton argues that play can also explain particular aspects of narrative; a play-based interpretive stance, he proposes, can help us understand the structure of books, of music, of theater, of art, and even of the process of critical engagement itself.

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  1. Print length
    336 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    The MIT Press
  4. Publication date
    March 6, 2015
  5. Grade level
    12 and up
  6. Reading age
    18 years and up
  7. Dimensions
    9.1 x 6.2 x 0.9 inches
  8. ISBN-10
    0262028514
  9. ISBN-13
    978-0262028516
  10. See all details
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The Amazon Book Review
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Editorial Reviews

Review

This thoughtful book is unusual in that the author has extensive experience in video game development and also has a strong interest in philosophy, aesthetics, and epistemology.—Choice—

About the Author

Brian Upton cofounded Red Storm Entertainment, where he was lead designer of the popular games Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon. He is now a “script doctor for games” at Sony's Santa Monica Studio.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ The MIT Press; 1st edition (March 6, 2015)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 336 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0262028514
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0262028516
  • Reading age ‏ : ‎ 18 years and up
  • Grade level ‏ : ‎ 12 and up
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.3 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 9.1 x 6.2 x 0.9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 35 ratings

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Brian Upton

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Top reviews from the United States

  • Kaylo
    5.0 out of 5 stars And now I want all my friends to read it.
    Reviewed in the United States on June 7, 2015
    Verified Purchase
    I just now finished reading this, and I really really enjoyed it. I wish I'd had it on hand when I was teaching a game design class a few years ago. I heard about it on "The Big Idea" section of Scalzi's blog (http://whatever.scalzi.com/2015/03/17/the-big-idea-brian-upton/). Neuroscience? Microsemiotics? Applications to literary criticism? I sent off for a copy.

    I'll leave a review of the technical content to others, and will instead comment on the results of my experience of reading. (Read the book, and you may see why that could be a natural move to make right after reading the book!)

    * I want to talk about it with my friends. And then talk about it with some people I've never met, for contrast.
    * I want to go back and replay some games from a couple decades ago and introspect on how I'm engaging with them.
    * I want to go to a modern art museum and try out some new approaches to looking at what I've traditionally categorized as "trash my 3 year old could make".
    * I want to run a series of experiments that involve exposing different groups of people to new games.
    * I want to read up on deconstructionism a bit more, because while I don't think I'm going to start liking it, I think I can see an interesting option for disliking it less.
    * I want to design a game that synergistically exploits both narrative and gameplay and blows a big fat raspberry at the various authors that say the two are intrinsically opposed.
    * And then I want to play it.
    12 people found this helpful
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  • Sai
    5.0 out of 5 stars Unlike most game design methodologies, 'The Aesthetic of Play' actually holds up when you put it to the test
    Reviewed in the United States on November 20, 2017
    This is definitely one of the best books on game design that I have read.

    A frequent complaint I have about game design theory is that it often breaks down when trying to apply it to an actual game. Things like MDA and the lenses of game design sound good on paper but in my opinion, don't work very well when you're in the middle of a game project and there's a million different moving pieces all at once that are constantly evolving.

    In situations like these, you need simple and flexible design rules that allow you to look at the smaller scale and NOT the bigger picture, because looking at the bigger picture all the time only means you're missing out on the short term effects of your design which exist at the micro level, which is disastrous in the long run for the feel of your game.

    Upton's idea of "constraints" and "state" and their interplay, constitutes a very adroit and flexible way of thinking about the effect that your design has on the structures of play, and is in my opinion a vital and important part of game design theory that deserves wider recognition.
    3 people found this helpful
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  • Cody
    5.0 out of 5 stars A great foundation for further inquiry
    Reviewed in the United States on August 5, 2015
    My thinking on this book has continued to change since reading it. I was initially frustrated with some of the ways it used theory (semiotics and narrative) because it doesn't dive deeply into these topics. But Upton does a great job of tackling these topics and their connections with each other in a way that's fresh, and moves the discussion forward. So while it might not be a lengthy treatment of whatever field you're from, it's a wonderful exploration of how different fields in game studies can come together to understand games and their meanings.
    7 people found this helpful
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  • Byron Despres-Berry
    5.0 out of 5 stars Interview with Brian Upton at [...]
    Reviewed in the United States on June 24, 2015
    Just got it for Father's Day. Why did I ask for it? Because Jackie Kashien's interview with Brian Upton on her podcast "The Dork Forest" sold me on Brian Upton. Man. Very cool. Here's a link to the podcast: [...]
    4 people found this helpful
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