Particle Data Platform
Design Matters with Debbie Millman

C. Thi Nguyen

2/23/20261 hr 11 min

C. Thi Nguyen—philosopher, professor, and author of Games: Agency as Art—joins to discuss his new book, The Score: How to Stop Playing Somebody Else’s Game, and how metrics, from grades to likes, quietly reshape what we value and who we become. Together, they explore games as “libraries of agency,” the allure of scoring systems, and the vital question: Is this the game you really want to be playing?

Learn more about our flagship conference happening this April at attend.ted.com/podcast

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Clips

Email That Sparked The Book
Drunk Post Lands LA Times
Why AI-Made Art Feels Empty
Value Capture Explained
Go’s Ten-Fight Perspective

Transcript preview

First 90 seconds

  1. C. Thi Nguyen· Guest0:01

    The fact that they're gonna say, "I love this game. I wanna play it." Why? 'Cause, I don't know, it's got weird, deep social vibes. I can't say more. [laughs] Right?

  2. Debbie Millman· Host0:10

    Yeah.

  3. C. Thi Nguyen· Guest0:11

    That's permissible, and you can modify games.

  4. Speaker 20:14

    [gentle music] From the TED Audio Collective, this is Design Matters with Debbie Millman. On Design Matters, Debbie talks with some of the most creative people in the world about what they do, how they got to be who they are, and what they're thinking about and working on. On this episode, a conversation with C. Thi Nguyen about what games teach us about the real world and about ourselves.

  5. C. Thi Nguyen· Guest0:41

    Games are designed to make the beauty and the interest emerge in you, the player.

  6. Speaker 30:49

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  7. Speaker 41:08

    Follow your dreams?

  8. Speaker 31:09

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  9. Speaker 51:20

    It's never too early to plan your summer story in Europe with WestJet. From rolling countryside to cobblestone streets,

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