Stefano Gualeni was born in
Lovere,
Italy in 1978, Gualeni graduated in 2004 in
architecture at the
Politecnico di Milano. His final thesis was developed in
Mexico and is supported by
ITESM (Tec de Monterrey, Campus Ciudad de México).[11]
He obtained his
PhD in
Philosophy (
existentialism and
philosophy of technology) at the
Erasmus University Rotterdam in 2014. His dissertation, titled Augmented Ontologies, focuses on virtual worlds in their role as mediators: as interactive, artificial environments where philosophical ideas, world-views, and thought-experiments can be experienced, manipulated, and communicated experientially.[13]
Academic work
Gualeni's work takes place in the intersection between
continental philosophy and the design of
virtual worlds.[14] Given the practical and interdisciplinary focus of his research - and depending on the topics and the resources at hand - his output takes the form of academic texts and/or of interactive digital experiences.[15] In his articles and essays, he presents computers as instruments to prefigure and design ourselves and our worlds, and as gateways to experience alternative possibilities of being.[8][9][16]
His 2020 book with Daniel Vella,
Virtual Existentialism: Meaning and Subjectivity in Virtual Worlds, engages with the question of what it means to exist in virtual worlds. Drawing from the tradition of
existentialism, it introduces the notion of 'virtual subjectivity' and discusses the experiential and existential mechanisms by which can move into, and out of, virtual subjectivities. It also includes chapters that specifically leverage the work of
Helmuth Plessner,
Peter W. Zapffe,
Jean-Paul Sartre and
Eugen Fink to think through the existential significance of the virtual.[9]
His contributions to the edited volumes Experience Machines: Philosophy in Virtual Worlds,[17]Towards a Philosophy of Digital Media,[16] and Perspectives on the European Videogame[18] similarly focus on the experiential and existential effects and possibilities disclosed by virtual technologies.
One of the central themes of Gualeni's work revolves around the fact that the history of philosophy has, until recently, merely been the history of written thought. He argues that we are, however, witnessing a technological shift in how philosophy is pursued, valued, and communicated. In that respect, Gualeni advances the claim that digital media can constitute an alternative and a complement to our almost-exclusively linguistic approach to developing and communicating thought.[8][19] He considers virtual worlds to be philosophically viable and advantageous in contexts like
thought experiments (where we can objectively test and evaluate possible courses of action and corresponding consequences), in the case of philosophical inquiries concerning non-actual state of affairs, and for research into non-human
phenomenologies.[8][16]
Books
Monographic books
Gualeni, S. 2023. The Clouds: An Experiment in Theory-Fiction. New York (NY):
Routledge.[20]
Gualeni, S. & Fassone, R. 2022. Fictional Games: A Philosophy of Worldbuilding and Imaginary Play. London (UK):
Bloomsbury.[21]
Gualeni, S. & Vella, D. 2020. Virtual Existentialism: Meaning and Subjectivity in Virtual Worlds. Basingstoke (UK):
Palgrave.[9]
Gualeni, S. 2015. Virtual Worlds as Philosophical Tools: How to Philosophize with a Digital Hammer. Basingstoke (UK):
Palgrave MacMillan.[8]
Gualeni, S. & Vella, D. 2021.
“Existential Ludology and Peter Wessel Zapffe”. In Navarro-Remesal, V. & Pérez-Latorre O. (eds.) Perspectives on the European Videogame. Amsterdam (The Netherlands): Amsterdam University Press, pp. 175-192.[18]
Gualeni, S. 2015.
“Playing with Puzzling Philosophical Problems”. In Zagalo, N. and Branco, P. (eds.). Creativity in the Digital Age. Springer Series on Cultural Computing, XIV. London (UK): Springer-Verlag, pp. 59–74.[25]
Playable academic works
Stefano is a philosopher who designs games
videogames and a game designer who is passionate about philosophy.[26] Although his academic work largely takes the form of texts, he also designs virtual experiences that have the specific objective of disclosing thought experiments and ideas in ways that are interactive and negotiable (and perhaps even playful).[27][28]
The following are part of his ongoing 'playable philosophy' project:
Necessary Evils (2013): a self-reflexive game about the centrality of player-experience in video game design[28]
Other playable academic works:
Construction BOOM! (2020): a strategic two-player tile-laying game meant as a
satirical take on the unrestrained residential construction in Malta.[31][32][33] The game was a finalist for
SaltCON's 2021
Ion Award in the Strategy Category.[34]
CURIO (2021): a free, playful toolkit for primary school students to be used in class, part of a 3-year research project funded by the
Erasmus+ program[35]
Stefano is listed in the 'extra credits' of the 2013
Independent Games Festival (IGF) 'Student Showcase finalist' videogame ATUM for having acted as project supervisor and game design consultant.[36][37]
Stefano designed Necessary Evil, a small, critical video game developed together with
Dino Dini, Marcello Gòmez Maureira and Jimena Sànchez Sarquiz. The game was presented at the 2013
Digital Games Research Association conference in
Atlanta as an example of the meta-reflexive and critical potential of the medium.[38]
Stefano is listed in the credits of the 2012 action-adventure video game The Unfinished Swan (
PlayStation 3, developed by Giant Sparrow) for having tested early versions of the game and having provided design-related feedback.[39]
Stefano is thanked in the credits of the
videogameEXP for having helped with the structuring of the game concept and having acted as project supervisor.[41]EXP received honorable mention in the 2011
Independent Games Festival Student Showcase.[42]
Stefano is in the 'special thanks' section of the credits of the videogame Chewy! for having provided
game design guidance.[43]Chewy! was honored with the 'Best Design' award ($25,000) at the 2011 Independent Propeller Awards at the
South by Southwest (SXSW) festival in
Austin,
Texas.[44]
^
abcde
Romele, Alberto (2018). Towards a Philosophy of Digital Media. Terrone, Enrico. [S.l.]: Springer International PU.
ISBN9783319757599.
OCLC1036765359.
^Gualeni, Stefano (2022). Fictional games : a philosophy of worldbuilding and imaginary play (First ed.). London [England].
ISBN9781350277106.{{
cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link)
^Martín Núñez, Marta (2023). Jugar el malestar: Ludonarrativas más allá de la diversión (in Spanish) (1st ed.). Santander (Spain): Shangrila. pp. 14–21.
ISBN9788412681406.
^Gottwald, Dave; Turner-Rahman, Gregory; Vahdat, Vahid (2022). Virtual Interiorities (Vol. 3) (1st ed.). Pittsburgh (PA): ETC Press. pp. 21–44.
ISBN978-13-8750-497-8.