Can I read The Art of Failure: An Essay on the Pain of Playing Video Games (Playful Thinking Series) on EtoBox?

The Art of Failure: An Essay on the Pain of Playing Video Games (Playful Thinking Series) by Juul, Jesper is a nonfiction available to read on EtoBox.

What is The Art of Failure: An Essay on the Pain of Playing Video Games (Playful Thinking Series) about?

We may think of video games as being "fun," but in The Art of Failure , Jesper Juul claims that this is almost entirely mistaken. When we play video games, our facial expressions are rarely those of happiness or bliss. Instead, we frown, grimace, and shout in frustration as we lose, or die, or fail to advance to the next level. Humans may have a fundamental desire to succeed and feel competent, but game players choose to engage in an activity in which they are nearly certain to fail and feel incompetent. So why do we play video games even though they make us unhappy? Juul examines this paradox. In video games, as in tragic works of art, literature, theater, and cinema, it seems that we want to experience unpleasantness even if we also dislike it. Reader or audience reaction to tragedy is often explained as catharsis, as a purging of negative emotions. But, Juul points out, this doesn't seem to be the case for video game players. Games do not purge us of unpleasant emotions; they produce them in the first place. What, then, does failure in video game playing do? Juul argues that failure in a game is unique in that when you fail in a game, you (not a character) are in some way inade

Who reads The Art of Failure: An Essay on the Pain of Playing Video Games (Playful Thinking Series)?

Author

Juul, Jesper

Publisher

The MIT Press

Published

2013

Language

EN

ISBN

9780262313124

Category

nonfiction

Subjects

Psychology, Sports, Engineering

Rating

3.75 / 5 (118 ratings)

Updated

2026-03-13