Abstract: Games are paradigmatic social practices: they are structured by rules, sustained by conventions, and embedded within institutional, technological, andcultural contexts. They generate their own norms, roles, and values, producing distinctive forms of cooperation, competition, and conflict. 

This conference will explore the intersection of games and social ontology. We invite contributions that examine the social dimensions of games, including their rule-governed structure, their ontological status as artifacts or institutions, and theforms of agency they enable or constrain. Key questions include (but are not limited to) the following: What kind of social entities are games? Are they primarily institutions, artifacts, or a combination of both? How do rules and conventions constitute games as distinct social practices? In what ways do games reflect, resist, or reshape broader social structures? How do games emerge, persist, andevolve as social practices? And finally, what can the study of games reveal about the nature of institutions, norms, and collective intentionality?

Program 

Thursday, April 16

09:15— Francesco Guala (University of Milan) 

“Constitutive Rules: Still Unnecessary After All These Years?”

10:30— Indrek Reiland (University of Vienna) 

“Games and Languages: Analogies and Disanalogies”

11:30— Maryam Ebrahimi Dinani (University of Neuchâtel)

“Games and Make-Believe”

14:15— Brian Epstein (Tufts University)

“What Do We Do When We Create a Game?” 

15:15— Frank Hindriks (University of Groningen) 

“On Institutions as the Rules of the Game”

16:30— Olivier Massin & Alexandre Declos (University of Neuchatel)

“Institutions Without Rules”

Friday, April 17

9:15— Manuel García-Carpintero (University of Barcelona) 

“The Plurality of Games”  

10:30— Simon Evnine (University of Miami)

“Toys, Games, and Agency” 

11:30— Enrico Terrone (University of Genoa)

“Walls, Boundaries, Paintings, and Playing Cards: The Unity and Diversity of Cultural Entities”

14:15— Stephen Mumford (Durham University)

“Games, Sport and the Patriarchal Intrusion”

15:15— Michael Ridge (University of Edimburgh)

“The Individuation of Videogames: Reply to Declos”

16:30— Kathrin Koslicki (University of Neuchatel)

 “Rules, Artworks, and Games”

The conference is organized by the SNSF-funded project "Towards a Social Ontology of Games": https://data.snf.ch/grants/grant/10002669 

Attendance is free and open to all, but seats are limited.