Bennett Foddy was an academic philosopher when he wrote the game QWOP, in which players control an athlete using only the Q, W, O and P keys on their keyboards. The game became an Internet meme and helped Foddy’s website to reach 300 million hits. Eventually, Foddy left academia to become an independent games designer. He tells John Tregoning about the overlaps between game design, philosophy and academic careers.
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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-026-00895-0
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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