ABSTRACT
Henri Bergson’s philosophical aspiration to cut across the boundary that makes us think in terms of the subject/object dichotomy and the principle of Taoist ethics that the perception that any hard barrier between ourselves and the world we live in is simply an illusion traverse similar terrain, and rely on an attitude of playfulness. In this chapter, drawing on these approaches, I establish an epistemological foundation for describing the dynamic communication between player and video game. Starting from the premise that the components of game play (electricity, code, graphic user interface, input devices and human being) are less bounded than one might think and noting the central role of the interface we can relate the player’s cognitive apparatus to the inner workings of the machine. Drawing on survival games such as Minecraft, our focus will remain specifically in this association. From an investigation of the various levels of the Bergsonism-Taoism combination, it is possible to describe the playful attitude demanded by this connection to the flow of the gameworld interface.
