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Utopia, Play, and Fictional Games: A conversation with Prof. Stefano Gualeni

Record-breaking box office series, The Hunger Games builds its narrative around a fictional game. How do fictional games work as world-building tools and what can the games we play reveal about the values held by society? Learn more about the role of fictional games as Prof. Stefano Gualeni discusses utopias and dystopias, play and fictional games on the Utopian and Dystopian Fictions podcast hosted by Dr Matthew Leggatt (Senior Lecturer in English Literature at the University of Winchester) and Dr Liam Knight (Independent Scholar).

A Philosophy of Worldbuilding and Imaginary Play
Games have long been an important world-building tool with the games people play revealing the kind of values held by a society. In The Hunger Games for example, the game reflects the ideology of the oligarchic, oppressive structure of power in which it is played and this is a common world-building tool in utopias and dystopias, the topic of the podcast. Games, both real and fictional, tend to map the oppressive structures of society. In this podcasts the hosts explore fictional games in relation to Stefano’s academic and literary work.

In this podcast, the focus is mainly on his latest scifi novel titled emerges from reflecting on themes like:

• Personhood (philosophy of mind)
• Our duties towards our predecessors (ethics)
• Fictional games (philosophy of fiction / game studies).

Stefano’s work often blends the theoretical with the practical, both in his fiction writing as well as his games.

Theory of Fictional Games
The Hunger Games is only one prominent example, fictional games have a more prominent place in world-building than you may initially expect. Fictional worlds from Harry Potter to Ender’s Game use games as blocks to build believable worlds. In addition to his practical work, through science fiction, Stefano is the main theorist of fictional games and, together with Riccardo Fassone, the author of the premiere book examining the phenomenon: .

Playable Philosophy
Science fiction, , just like games allows us to communicate ideas and possibilities through fiction. Stefano explores the possibilities of fictional games by having What We Owe the Dead, revolve around a very unique kind of fictional game, one that is not designed, but found and repurposed (inside an immensely old, crashed alien vessel).

But speculative fiction isn’t the only way to investigate complex ideas and possibilities. Stefano’s academic research in books like Virtual Worlds as Philosophical Tools and Virtual Existentialism are precisely about this idea: using virtual worlds and playful interactions as ways to communicate ideas, give rise to thought experiments, explore different kinds of possibilities and actions, approach non-human kinds of perceptions and phenomenologies. Putting that theory into practice he also has developed a number of , that is games that - through their aesthetics and interactions - give rise to experiences and present situations and courses of action that can be considered philosophical.

Utopian and Dystopian Fictions
Utopian and Dystopian Fictions is a podcast for scholars, thinkers, and anyone with an interest in utopian and dystopian theory, literature, film, and television. In each episode they interview a different academic in the field and interrogate myths and common misconceptions about the genre. Listen to Stefano’s episode here:

Science Fiction Festival: SFeraKon in Zagreb
Stefano will be at SFeraKon in Zagreb, Croatia, 8-10 May 2026 where he will be talking about his novel What We Owe the Dead.

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