Welcome to a blog about gaming!
What is Abstracting Games?
“Abstracting” is the act of examining something from a complex, often philosophical, perspective. It means to think about a subject from a higher viewpoint than we might normally use in our day-to-day lives.
So Abstracting Games is a blog devoted to looking at games from these abstract viewpoints. Sometimes this might involve looking at games and gaming as a whole. Sometimes it might involve looking at particular game systems or problems of game design. Sometimes it might involve looking at particular games or game genres to better understand them.
Who’s Writing All of This?
The simple answer is that I’m just a guy who likes to play games and think.
First off, I hold a PhD in Political Science, with a specific focus on Political Theory. I currently teach political and legal philosophy at a university in an unspecified location. I’ve devoted a good portion of my life to studying philosophy and thinking deeply about a lot of complex questions, such as human nature, morality, politics, and so on. And this background and my education gave me a lot of neat tools for thinking critically.
Secondly, I play games. A lot. And it seems only reasonable that after all that time playing games, I might start thinking about games. I can’t help myself: see the above paragraph.
So after collecting a bunch of thoughts, I figured it would be a good idea to start putting them to paper (figuratively speaking) and share them for anyone who might be interested.
I am, at the end of the day, coming at all of this from the perspective of a player and critic.
Abstracting Games 