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. […]

[Read more →]

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.

[Read more →]

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 […]

[Read more →]

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 […]

[Read more →]

There’s been a lot of talk lately about the looming death of the Sim franchise (the Urbz expansion pack, for example, was already DOA). But here’s a new twist that is both appalling and ingenious:

Of course, we needn’t even think about the possible dissolution of the play frame, and concurrent intrusion of the real […]

[Read more →]

Fresh from the UK’s Eduserv Foundation, here are some presentations on Second Life and education from their 2007 symposium. Some good material here, including information on the University of Edinburgh’s presence in virtual space and IBM’s place there, too. Plus: Lots of PowerPoint.
http://www.eduserv.org.uk/foundation/symposium/2007/presentations

[Read more →]

CALL FOR PAPERS
3rd International Second Life Community Convention (SLCC07)
August 24-26, 2007, Chicago, USA
Track: *Business in Second Life*
Visit the SLCC07 blog.
SCOPE
The emergence of virtual worlds and Web 3.D change the way of
doing business. Web 3.D is the synonym for Internet-based virtual
worlds, where people can create own 3-D *virtual*
personalities. One of the most famous of these virtual […]

[Read more →]

FYI: It is my goal to review your papers, etc., and submit your grades by 10AM Tuesday May 15th. (Faculty must provide grades for non-graduating grad students by Noon, May 21st.)

[Read more →]

In the very early planning stages for this course, I had intended to end the semester with the game Spore–which (at one point in time) was to have been released in March. But now the much anticipated game has been delayed. Again.
According to Next Generation, an industry newsletter:
Stocks were down over 3.5 percent, […]

[Read more →]