We’ve been playing Nobilis for some time now. It is a campaign, led by me, about the diplomacy between Heaven and Hell. The players have two sets of characters: one working for Heaven and one working for Hell. This being a somewhat typical game of Nobilis the characters are Powers, being bossed around by angels, one of which happens to be fallen. Typically a session has consisted of either the Powers of Heaven or the Powers of Hell running errands for their demanding angel-bosses, in a recurring cycle of trying to gain the upper hand for the negotiations. I designed the first four sessions as a prelude to the actual negotiations, and last week we played the negotiations. ...

According to Mike’s Philosophical Definitions Page an Eminence is a “famous living academic whose work is relevant but sloppy. I’d like to elaborate more on that. Normally, an academic must either use proper reference or sound argumentation if one is to claim something. The greater the claim, the greater the burden of proof, or “extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence”, as it is often formulated. On the contrary, an Eminence can make claims and the greater the assertion, greater the probability that it will be quoted as a fact. It is the task of the lesser academic to examine the assertion and if it is not immediately obvious to him, educate himself until it is self-evident to him. ...

There are two ways to understand this question: What makes us, humans, play games? What makes games playable and enjoyable? The first question is a question for the study of humans, namely cultural studies like anthropology. There is also the view of evolutionary biology, psychology or biology in general that can shed some light to the question by explaining play as a function for other purposes. Namely, this is one of the possible answers: function or for what other purpose does play exist. There are several possibilities, like maintaining social integrity, teaching small children about rules behavior etc. ...

Two of archetypical creatures found in horror movies, zombies and vampires, have also found their way into philosophy. To eat the delicious, undoubtedly larger than average brains, and sweet, sweet blood of philosophers you might think. No, but as serious theories of the mind and humanity. Stop laughing. Zombies Since Descartes, mind has been an important part of the philosophical lingo. Philosophy of mind is experiencing a boom in research and intentionality is a hot topic for conversation. There is also a rather new hybrid of philosophy and several other fields of research called cognitive sciences. ...

A discussion I had with some local rpg-players got me thinking about the history of rpg-theory in Finland. The best known of theories was the one based on the text known as the Turku School Manifesto (it was displayed online not long ago, but I can’t seem to find it anymore). It meant that for a long time, role-play - and especially larp - was viewed through these concepts. For those that don’t know, Turku School ideas were based on the idea of immersion, or the player “becoming” more or less, the character. That idea has been elaborated and criticized since, but for (roughly) a decade, it was the way theory worked (in Finland), at least in practice if not in all discourses of theorists. ...

Johann Huizinga’s “Homo Ludens” is one the classics in the study of play. I’ve been trying to read it but I also have a lot of essays to return during spring so my reading has been dragging itself slowly toward summer. I like the way Huizinga defines play. I’m reading it in Finnish, as I was lucky enough to find the book in my native language - it makes reading a bit more enjoyable and faster, but it also means I have to get my hands on at least the English version for comparison. Finnish is a tricky language for writing about play. Luckily, I found the definition in English also, so I don’t have trust my own translation for commenting on it. ...