Chris Bateman

While it is uncontroversial to suggest that different players will enjoy playing different games, and that players of the same game may play it differently, the literature on games - and particularly on digital games - still has the tendency to evoke 'Grand Theories' that seek to explicate the experience of playing games in terms of an asserted essential characteristic. It is the purpose of this thesis to validate and expand upon the claims made by Roger Caillois in respect of the diversity of play, and in so doing to offer a new conception of game aesthetics as a field at the intersection of philosophy, game studies, and various empirical sciences. This concept of 'game aesthetics' entails an acceptance of the diversity of play, and critically interprets Grand Theories of play as the rhetorical products of specific aesthetic values. Additionally, a 'folk theory of play' is offered consisting of seven distinct personas, each related to different emotional experiences that can be evoked by games. On the basis of this and other player satisfaction models it can be seen that the ways that games can be enjoyed - and the aesthetic value judgements relating to play - are inherently diverse.