Category: games

Game Studies 19/1

For your theoretical scrutiny: Game Studies volume 19, issue 1.
 
 

“This Action Will Have Consequences”: Interactivity and Player Agency
by Sarah Stang

This article discusses interactivity and player agency in video games and uses BioShock and The Walking Dead as case studies to explore ways in which developers connect morality and the illusion of player agency. It also discusses the ways in which players have exercised agency by engaging with fan communities and making demands of game developers.[more]

Novel Subjects: Robinson Crusoe & Minecraft and the Production of Sovereign Selfhood
by Phillip Lobo

A comparative analysis of Robinson Crusoe and Minecraft as works of formal realism, with a focus on subjectivity-generation and sovereignty.[more]

Older adults’ digital gameplay, social capital, social connectedness, and civic participation
by Yu-Hao Lee

Can older adults maintain social connectedness, social capital, and civic participation through playing games? This study found that older adults who played with local and distant ties reported higher social connectedness and social capital. Playing with online friends was associated with more bridging social capital and more civic participation.​[more]

The right way to play a game
by C. Thi Nguyen

Is there a right way to play a game? Some have argued that, by following the rules, we give too much weight to the author’s intent and destroy the freedom of play. I argue that the rules are essential for shared experience. They make possible the communication of sculpted experiences of activity.[more]

Book Reviews

Venturing into the House of Digital Horrors: A Review of The World of Scary Video Games
by Daniel Vella

The World of Scary Video Games: a Study in Videoludic Horror (2018) by Bernard Perron. New York : Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN: 9781501316210, 1501316214. 488 pp.[more]

Virtual Reality: Fictional all the Way Down (and that’s OK)

Are virtual reality objects real? I have a new paper out in the Disputatio journal, titled Virtual Reality: Fictional all the Way Down (and that’s OK) .

The paper came about as a response to David Chalmer’s 2017 paper The Virtual and the Real, about which Pawel Grabarczyk organized a seminar in Copenhagen in the summer of 2018.

TL;DR: Chalmers uses virtual reality to argue that there are structures (such as calculators) that exist regardless of their physical or non-physical implementation, and as such virtual reality objects can be perfectly real.

I argue, orthogonally, that virtual reality is not becoming “just-like-the-real-thing” based on any fidelity to the physical world. VR is not just technology, but art; a human act of communication and selective implementation. I also argue that VR is half-real: we are not magically transported to another world, as VR is only selectively implemented (it rarely has the photons that make up light, for example), and as users we we are conscious of how the world is a limited implementation made for the purpose of a particular experience.

No Don’t Die interview online

Here I am interviewed by David Wolinsky as part of his No Don’t Die series.

“In the first half of our conversation, we discuss what people deeply immersed in videogame culture don’t understand about people who don’t play for any number of reasons, how that disconnect stunts the medium’s growth and acceptance, and why the image of people who play videogames was once seen as being predominantly young and male — why that went away and then came back.”

And part two:

“In the second half of our conversation, we talk about how game critics frequently don’t have a grasp on the medium’s history and how that ripples out into broader conversations about games that become more circular then they ought to be, how exploring parallel topics in other industries isn’t always helpful or instructive, and much more.”

ROMchip journal issue 1/1

The inaugural issue of the ROMchip journal on game history is out now.

ARTICLES

INTERVIEWS

MATERIALS

My next book, Handmade Pixels, will be out in September

Handmade Pixels

It’s real: My new book, Handmade Pixels: Independent Video Games and the Quest for Authenticity is now in the MIT Press fall catalog, and will be out in September 2019.

For the book I interviewed 21 developers, artists, and festival organizers, and I will be posting interviews as we get closer.

Interviewees: Celia Pearce, David Kanaga, Jason Rohrer, Jonathan Blow, Kelly Wallick, Mattie Brice, Naomi Clark, Nathalie Lawhead, Pippin Barr, Rami Ismail, Robin Hunicke, Sam Roberts, Simon Carless, Tale of Tales, Thorsten Wiedemann, Tracy Fullerton, Zach gage, Anna Anthropy, Bennett Foddy, Paolo Pedercini, Bernie Dekoven.

Thanks to all who helped, made the games, or let themselves be interviewed!

https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/handmade-pixels

G|A|M|E 7/2018: Digital Games for Special Needs; Special Needs for Digital Games

For your theoretical processing, G|A|M|E 7/2018 on Digital Games for Special Needs; Special Needs for Digital Games.

 

Join the Visual Game and Media Design Master’s program in Copenhagen, deadline March 1st

This is for the program I run in Copenhagen. Join us!

Apply to the Visual Game and Media Design Master’s program at KADK in Copenhagen. The Application deadline for the 2019-2021 class is March 1st.

The application process is now open for the two-year Visual Game And Media Design master’s program at KADK – the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Design in Copenhagen.

Visual Game and Media Design is an intensive two-year program for students wishing to do creative work in game design, visual media, and beyond. During the program, you will continually combine the hands-on creation of digital games, animations, motion graphics and visual designs with innovative conceptual approaches to game design and storyworld design.

Who can apply?
The master’s program in Visual Game and Media Design is in English, and is open to all students, Danish and International, with a relevant bachelor’s degree in fields such as graphic design, game design, animation, or 3D modeling. We encourage students with nontraditional backgrounds to apply.

More about the program and application process
To learn more about the program, and to apply, go to the website or email program head Jesper Juul, jjuul@kadk.dk
https://kadk.dk/en/programme/visual-game-and-media-design

We have frequent lectures by industry luminaries. We have recently had talks by designers such as Richard Lemarchand, Mary Flanagan, Nathalie Pozzi, Eric Zimmerman, Robert Yang, Henrike Lode, Alfred Nguyen (Forgotten Anne), Trine Laier (Cosmic Top Secret), Mikkel Pedersen (Deep Rock Galactic), and Petter Henriksen (Landfall Games).

We also organize game jams in collaboration with the local industry, including the 2019 Nordic Game Jam.

Why study at KADK in Copenhagen?
KADK is a leading academy in Scandinavia in the fields of architecture, design and conservation. It is located centrally by the Copenhagen harbor.

Copenhagen is a hub for video game development, with a vibrant English-language game development community, and home to both small and large companies such as Sybo games, IO Interactive, Playdead and Unity3D.

KADK works closely with (and is situated next to) the National Film School of Denmark, and with the professional TV and Film community in Denmark.