Hi Mark

I know very little about computer games so I can't really answer your first question. But the only ones I have played seemed to strive very hard to achieve the kind of "page-turner" effect a thriller aims for - i.e. at all costs keep the player on the hook. I guess that's why they’re often called “addictive". This "page-turner" effect is, to my mind, very different from the aim of a true work of art.

Which thrillers? I don't think there's a huge difference between Le Carré, or even Greene, and the others. But I’m not an expert on thrillers either. I usually avoid them. For me, a work of art worthy of the name is something like Crime and Punishment, Le Père Goriot or Les Liaisons dangereuses. 

But as you rightly point out, there’s no reliable definition that might separate the sheep from the goats, so there’s really no reliable way of answering the question. Personally, I don’t share the interest some aestheticians are showing in computer games. I think there’s a number of much more important issues that the philosophy of art should be facing – but isn’t.

DA