Category: readings

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(Yes, 10 years of Game Studies!)

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by J. Alison Bryant, Anna Akerman, Jordana Drell

This article details the “user-centered” research process adopted to create Nintendo DS games for preschoolers and addresses how new titles for specific populations can be approached. We review the role of exploratory and formative research in game development for young audiences and provide findings and design tips from the laboratory and field. [more]

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Tags, Threads, and Frames: Toward a Synthesis of Interaction Ritual and Livejournal Roleplaying
by Sarah Wanenchak

Game designers often limit the availability of powerful cards in collectible card games. This approach can have negative consequences on a game’s suitability for casual play. This paper explores case studies of two online collectible card games and a design philosophy that argues that powerful game effects should be commonly available to players. [more]

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This article criticises influential MMO scholarship approaching virtual worlds as if they were outside the real world, and presents an alternative view based on Anselm Strauss’s concept of overlapping social worlds. MMOs are seen as sites where the world of players meshes with families and workplaces, and often flows over to other sites and forums. [more]

Rand Miller, who with his brother Robyn designed Myst, the first blockbuster CD-ROM, talks about his legacy of vanguard game design, and the complex history of its multiplayer sequel Uru: Ages Beyond Myst. This interview, conducted via e-mail, took place shortly before the third re-opening of Uru. [more]

Review of “Digital Culture, Play and Identity: A World of Warcraft Reader” edited by Hilde G. Corneliussen and Jill Walker Rettberg, (MIT Press, 2008). [more]

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by Frans Mäyrä Review of “Cheating: Gaining Advantage in Videogames” by Mia Consalvo, (MIT Press 2007). [more]

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Review of “Critical Play: Radical Game Design” by Mary Flanagan (MIT Press, 2009) [more]

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Review of “Critical Play: Radical Game Design” by Mary Flanagan, (MIT Press, 2009). [more]

Editor′s Corner

Why Virtual-World Economies Matter

Mandy Salomon, Serge Soudoplatoff

Abstract | PDF

Interactive Online Exhibits and Demonstrations

Rethinking Virtual Commodification, or The Virtual Kitchen Sink

Lori Landay

Movie | PDF

Invited Articles

On Money and Magic

Edward Castronova

Abstract | PDF

Characteristics of the Virtual Economy (after ‘State of Play VI’ Conference , 2009)

Julian Dibbel

Interview

China′s New Gold Farm

Anthony Gilmore

Abstract | PDF

Virtual Goods: Good for Business?

Nic Mitham

Abstract | PDF

Peer Reviewed Research Papers

“We Will Always Be One Step Ahead of Them” A Case Study on the Economy of Cheating in MMORPGs

Stefano de Paoli, Aphra Kerr

Abstract | PDF

An Exploration of Entrepreneurship in Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games: Second Life and Entropia Universe

Stéphane Kieger

Abstract | PDF

Born Virtuals and Avapreneurship: A case study of achieving successful outcomes in Peace Train – a Second Life organization

Robin Teigland

Abstract | PDF

Virtual Commerce (V-Commerce) in Second Life: The Roles of Physical Presence and Brand-Self Connection

Seung-A Annie Jin, Justin Bolebruch

Abstract | PDF

Research Papers

Understanding “Gold Farming” and Real-Money Trading as the Intersection of Real and Virtual Economies

Richard Heeks

Abstract | PDF

World of Warcraft: The Viability of Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games as Platforms for Modeling and Evaluating Perfect Competition

Eli Kosminsky

Abstract | PDF

“Think Pieces”

Currencies and Capitalisms on the Internet

Minna Ruckenstein

Abstract | PDF

Licensing Considerations for OpenSim-Based Virtual Worlds

Shenlei E. Winkler

Abstract | PDF

Monographs

Teens and Virtual Goods: The Fun, Useful and Affordable Luxuries that are Driving the Virtual Economy

Maura Welch

Abstract | PDF

Editor-in-Chief′s Corner

Topping from the Viewfinder: The Visual Language of Virtual BDSM Photographs in Second Life

Shaowen Bardzell

Abstract | PDF