What is the nature of computer games and what happens when we play them? This book describes
human play as a semiotic process and computer game play as a fundamental act of human cognition
or «semiosis». Offering one of the first fully articulated theories of computer games based on
game play rather than game texts The Nature of Computer Games mounts a serious challenge to
literary critics cultural theorists and others who might assume computer game play is best
understood with reference to preexisting social contexts. David Myers argues that computer game
play displays a fundamentally intractable self-reflexive structure - analogous to certain
structures of thought - integral to language consciousness and our sense of self.
