ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we offer an introduction to the concept of transgression and a contextualization of how transgression is relevant for understanding games. The chapter presents the three main ideas of the book – the fallacy of play, the paradox of transgression, and the ludic sublime. It contains a section on the research background and previous related work, presents the methodology and data that informs the arguments of the book, and finally gives a book overview, shortly presenting the book’s three-part structure. The first part, which consists of three chapters, discusses transgression as a term and how it relates to games. The second part discusses transgressions experienced by players and emotional or affective responses, while the third part is concerned with game aesthetics as a transgressive aesthetics.
