I will be speaking at CMS / MIT in Boston on November 28, 2006 at 5:00 PM.
Location: 1-136
Half-Real: A Video Game in the Hands of a Player
What happens when a player picks up video game, learns to play it, masters it, and leaves it? Using concepts from my book on video games, Half-Real: Video Games between Real Rules and Fictional Worlds, I will argue that video game players are neither rational solvers of abstract problems, nor daydreamers in fictional worlds, but both of these things with shifting emphasis. The unique quality of video games is to be located in their intricate interplay of rules and fictions, which I will examine across genres, from casual games to massively multiplayer games.
Are they going to post that as a video on MITWorld?
Possibly – I will post the details if that happens.
I wish I could be there to see the talk…I just finished “Half-Real” last night, and it was very convincing. Unfortunately, I just moved out of Cambridge a few months ago.
Hey, are you going to be hanging around Cambridge at all afterwards, or will you be heading straight back to NYC? I’d love to catch up even for a few minutes.