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Gameography

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The Ludologist

Publications

• "Reflections on Video Games and Game History - An Interview with Jesper Juul". American Journal of Play 17/1, 2025.
• Too Much Fun: The Five Lives of the Commodore 64 Computer. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press 2024.
• Jesper Juul and Laurel Carney: "Would you like Games with that Computer? Revisiting early Game History & Culture with the Commodore 64". Proceedings of the DiGRA 2023 conference, Seville, Spain.
• "From Teams to Games: Connecting Game Development to Game Characteristics". Emil Lundedal Hammar, Alessandro Canossa, Michael Debus, Johannes Pfau, Magy Seif El-Nasr, Jesper Juul, Ahmad Azadvar, 23 Jul 2023, HCI International 2023 – Late Breaking Papers: 25th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, Copenhagen, Denmark.

• "Paths to Success: Data and Lessons from Danish Game Companies: Findings & Recommendations for the Danish Games Industry". 2023. Report for the Interreg project. Emil Lundedal Hammar, Michael S. Debus, Jesper Juul, Alessandro Canossa.

• Johannes Pfau, Michael Debus, Jesper Juul, Emil Lundedal Hammar, Alessandro Canossa & Magy Seif El-Nasr: "Predicting Success Factors of Video Game Titles and Companies". In Entertainment Computing – ICEC 2022, ed. Barbara Göbl et al.. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing, 2022, 269–82, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-20212-4_22.

• "The Game of Video Game Objects: A Minimal Theory of When We See Pixels as Objects Rather than Pictures." In Extended Abstracts of the 2021 Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play. CHI PLAY ’21.

• "The Independent Mode: A Functionalist Account of Independent Games and Game History". FDG '20: International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games.

• "Imagining a New World". In Koven, Bernard De. The Infinite Playground: A Player’s Guide to Imagination. Edited by Celia Pearce and Eric Zimmerman. Cambridge, MA, USA: MIT Press, 2020.

• “Braid: Indies”. In Nina Huntemann and Matthew Thomas Payne: How to Play Video Games. New York: NYU Press 2019.

• "Virtual Reality: Fictional all the Way Down (and that’s OK)". Disputatio journal, 2019.

• Handmade Pixels: Independent Video Games and the Quest for Authenticity. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press 2019.
• Half-Real: Videogames entre regras reais e mundos ficcionais. Brazilian Portuguese translation of Half-Real, translated by Alan Richard da Luz . Blucher 2019.

• "航行於無盡的遊戲之河:以歷史上的設計模式為例" . Chinese translation of Sailing the endless River of Games. DigiArts journal 2018.

• "The Aesthetics of the Aesthetics of the Aesthetics of Video Games: Walking Simulators as Response to the problem of Optimization”. 12^th International Conference on the Philosophy of Computer Games Conference, Copenhagen, 2018.

• “The Arts of Failure: Jack Halberstam in Conversation with Jesper Juul” in Ruberg, Bonnie, and Adrienne Shaw, eds.: Queer Game Studies. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press 2017.

• "Playing". In Henry Lowood and Raiford Guins (eds.): Debugging Game History - A Critical Lexicon. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press 2016.

• ハーフリアル ― 虚実のあいだのビデオゲーム. Japanese translation of Half-Real. Tokyo: New Games Order 2016.

• "Avatar", with Rune Klevjer in Jensen, Klaus Bruhn (eds.): The International Encyclopedia of Communication Theory and Philosophy. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons 2016.

• "Sailing the Endless River of Games: The case for Historical Design Patterns". 1st International Joint Conference of DiGRA and FDG, Dundee 2016.

• Sztuka przegrywania. Esej o bólu, jaki wywołują gry wideo. Polish translation of The Art of Failure. Kraków: Korporacja Ha!art 2016.

• しかめっ面にさせるゲームは成功する 悔しさをモチベーション . Japanese transation of The Art of Failure. Tokyo: Born Digital 2016.

• Die Kunst des Scheiterns: Warum wir Videospiele lieben, obwohl wir immer verlieren. German translation of The Art of Failure. Wiesbaden, Germany: Luxbooks 2014.

• “On Absent Carrot Sticks: The Level of Abstraction in Video Games”. In Ryan, Marie-Laure, and Jan-Noël Thon, eds. Storyworlds across Media: Toward a Media-Conscious Narratology. University of Nebraska Press, 2014.

• "High-tech Low-tech Authenticity: The Creation of Independent Style at the Independent Games Festival". In Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, 2014.

• "Gameplay." entry in Marie-Laure Ryan, Lori Emerson, and Benjamin J. Robertson (eds.) The Johns Hopkins Guide to Digital Media. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press 2014.

"Gameplay". translated to Spanish by Miguel Olmedo Morell.

• The Art of Failure: An Essay on the Pain of Playing Video Games. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press 2013.
• "Narrative" and "Defender" entries in Wolf, Mark J. P. (ed.) Encyclopedia of Video Games: The Culture, Technology, and Art of Gaming. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2012.

• Staffan Björk & Jesper Juul: "Zero-Player Games Or: What We Talk about When We Talk about Players". Conference paper presented at the The Philosophy of Computer Games Conference, Madrid, 2012.

  • Staffan Björk & Jesper Juul: "Jogos zero-jogador ou: do que falamos quando falamos de jogadores". Portuguese translation of "Zero-Player Games", Intexto journa 2019.
    

• 游戏抽象度. Chinese translation of A Certain Level of Abstraction , 2012.

• 캐주얼 게임- 비디오게임과 플레이어의 재창조. Korean translation of A Casual Revolution, 2012.

• "In Search of Lost Time: On Game Goals and Failure Costs" In Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, ACM 2010.

• Mia Consalvo, John Sharp, Ulrika Bennerstedt, Jesper Juul: "Tweeting GDC" in Dikkers, Steinkuehler, Squire & Zimmerman (eds): Real Time Research: Improvisational Game Scholarship. Pittsburg, PA: ETC Press 2010.

• Jesper Juul, Rasmus Keldorff: Depth in one Minute: A Conversation about Bejeweled Blitz. In Davidson, Drew (ed).: Well Played 2.0: Video Games, Value and Meaning. Pittsburg, PA: ETC Press 2010.

• "After Game Graphics". Catalogue text for the Press Play exhibition, Permanenten, Bergen, Norway, 2010.

• A Casual Revolution: Reinventing Video Games and Their Players. Cambridge: MIT Press 2009.

• "Easy to use and incredibly difficult: on the mythical border between interface and gameplay". Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Foundations of Digital Games, ACM (2009), 107-112. With Marleigh Norton.

• "Fear of Failing? The Many Meanings of Difficulty in Video Games". In Bernard Perron and Mark J. P. Wolf (eds.): The Video Game Theory Reader 2, 2009.

• "Rules and Fiction". In Juan Antonia and Àlvarez Reyes: Try Again. Madrid: La Case Encendida 2008.

• "The Magic Circle and the Puzzle Piece". In Stephan Günzel, Michael Liebe and Dieter Mersch (eds.): Conference Proceedings of the Philosophy of Computer Games 2008. Potsdam: Potsdam University Press 2008.

• "A Certain Level of Abstraction". Conference paper at the DiGRA conference, Tokyo Japan, September 2007.

• "Variation over Time: The Transformation of Space in Single-Screen Action Games". In Friedrich von Borries, Steffen P. Walz, Ulrich Brinkmann, Matthias Böttger (eds): Space Time Play. Basel: Birkhäuser 2007.

• Swap Adjacent Gems to Make Sets of Three: A History of Matching Tile Games. In the Artifact journal. Volume 2, 2007. London: Routledge.

• Without a Goal: On Open and Expressive Games. In Videogame/Player/Text, edited by Tanya Krzywinska and Barry Atkins. Manchester: Manchester University Press 2007.

• Bez celu. O grach otwartych i ekspresyjnych. Polish translation of "Without a Goal" in Kultura i Historia 13/2008.

• Half-real: Video Games between Real Rules and Fictional Worlds. Cambridge: MIT Press 2005.

• [Danish language] "Hvad spillet betyder" / "What the Game Means". In Ida Engholm & Lisbeth Klastrup (eds:): Digitale Verdener. Copenhagen: Gyldendal 2005.

• [Danish language] "Tid til at Spille". In Carsten Jessen and Bo Kampmann Walther (eds.): Spillets Verden. Copenhagen: Danmarks Pædagogiske Universitets Forlag 2005.

• Introduction to Game Time / Time to play. In Noah Wardrip-Fruin and Pat Harrigan: First Person, Cambridge: MIT Press 2004.

  • Introducción al tiempo de juego / Tiempo para jugar , Spanish translation of Introduction to Game Time / Time to play. Translated by Miguel Olmedo Morell.

• The Game, the Player, the World: Looking for a Heart of Gameness. Keynote at the Level Up conference, Utrecht, November 2003.

  • "ゲーム, プレイヤ, ワールド : ゲームたらしめるものの核心を探る". Japanese translation of "The Game, the Player, the World". Translated by Haruhisa Tanaka.

  • "游戏、玩家、世界: 对游戏本质的探讨". Chinese translation of "The Game, the Player, the World". Translated by Guan Pingping.

• Just what is it that makes computer games so different, so appealing? Column for the IGDA (international game developers association) website. April 2003.

  • ¿Qué es exactamente lo que hace que los videojuegos sean tan diferentes, tan atractivos? Spanish translation of Just what is it... Translated by Miguel Olmedo Morell.

• The Open and the Closed: Games of Emergence and Games of Progression. Paper from Computer Games and Digital Cultures, Tampere Finland, June 2002.

• Games telling stories? Article in the Game Studies journal, July 2001.

• What computer games can and can't do. Paper from the DAC conference, Bergen, August 2000.

  • Co potrafią,a czego nie potrafią gry komputerowe. Polish translation in Wiedza i Edukacja, 2008.

• English translation of my master's thesis on computer games and interactive fiction.

• [Danish language] my Master's thesis: En Kamp Mellem Spil og Fortælling

• Paper from the DAC conference, November 1998: A clash between Game and Narrative.

  • El choque entre juego y narración, Spanish translation of A clash between Game and Narrative. Translated by Mike Morell (Miguel Bernardo Olmedo Morell).

Posters

• "The Suicide Game: Player Perception of Self-destruction in a Game".
  With Albert Dang and Kan Yang Li. Conference poster presented at the DiGRA conference, Tokyo Japan, September 2007.

• August 2016: "Good Feedback for bad Players? A preliminary Study of ‘juicy’ Interface feedback". With Jason Begy. Conference poster presented at 1st International Joint Conference of DiGRA and FDG, Dundee 2016.

Reviews

• "The repeatedly lost art of studying games". Review of The Study of Games in the Game Studies journal, July 2001.

• "Defender: Unnecessarily Hard". "Asteroids: Forgotten Futurism". Reviews in Friedrich von Borries, Steffen P. Walz, Ulrich Brinkmann, Matthias Böttger (eds): Space Time Play. Basel: Birkhäuser 2007.

• Review: Alexander R. Galloway Gaming: Essays on Algorithmic Culture. International Journal of Cultural Studies 2007; 10; 508.

Theory games

• (A world's first!) Game about theorising about computer games: Game liberation (Published in the M/C journal, November 2000.)

• 4:32. Conceptual and deceptive video game made in response to Petri Purho in response to John Cage. February 2010.

Other projects

• Tic Tac Toe. Unbeatable Tic Tac Toe program and some observations about the game.

• Eliza. Java version of Joseph Weizenbaum's famous psychiatrist program.
• Petscii Jetski. Commodore 64 10-line BASIC visual game poem. With Nick Montfort. 2020.