Play’s Republic

This past weekend, Prof. Ted Castronova hosted the Second Ludium, this one on “videogames and public policy.” It was an extraordinarily interesting experience for various reasons, not the least of which was the outcome: A Synthetic Worlds Initiative-sponsored Declaration of Virtual Worlds Policy, comprising 10 planks relating to the future of virtual space. […]

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So much to point to, so little time. I’m heading to Ludium 2 on Thursday: For the nonce, here’s a really interesting note from Wired on the illusion-shattering nature of Voice Chat. We’re reminded that the willing suspension of disbelief takes more effort than some would suppose.

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Yesterday’s The New York Times Magazine has a lengthy article about WoW gold farmers in China:
“The Life of the Chinese Gold Farmer” by Julian Dibbell

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If ever there were an interesting opportunity for political, historical, and rhetorical analysis of videogames, here it is. Wired has an photo-essay on “Lost Arcade Games of the Soviet Union.” See the accompanying article, too. A synchronic comparative analysis of Cold-War-era superpower videogames would be thoroughly original research that would make a […]

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Digital playgrounds like the ones mentioned here are incredibly popular with the kids these days. Neopets and the Cartoon Network are also sites that are incredibly popular. The catch with this are the masses of commercial messages being targeted at children through these tools. It’s particularly concerning considering how susceptible children are to advertising messages. […]

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A note about this post: Soon after publishing it, I received an amiable email from the author of the blog to which I refer below. He’s suggested I read his whitepaper in order better to understand his argument. I’ll post an update presently.
Let this link stand as a reminder that there is […]

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