Virtual Ninja Manifesto

Can playing Street Fighter, Call of Duty, or Destiny transform gamers into better, more enlightened people?  Drawing on classics of Zen and bushidō, this booklet suggests that it’s possible to answer this question in the affirmative.

Videogames have changed the way people interact with the world and, vitally, the way they view themselves.  Moving beyond the question of whether violence in videogames makes gamers violent, this experimental manifesto is a call for gamers to embrace their chosen medium as a vehicle for self-transformation.  Building on the classic philosophy of the martial arts, this short text emerges from a 5-year university research project about the philosophical, ethical, and political significance of techno-culture today.  It is illustrated by SIKU.