Play’s Republic

To begin, above are two 16th century paintings by Pieter Brueghel the Elder. The first painting is entitled Netherlandish Proverbs and the second The Triumph of Death.
Essentially, I think that Grand Theft Auto is similar to these works. To begin, I disagree with some of the conclusions that Bogost draws concerning GTA. […]

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I would like to share the findings of a study that I read about in New York Mag this weekend. A disclaimer: the study is directly related to education but it is only loosely related to games.
Anyway, a Columbia University psychologist studied the effects that praise has on a child’s achievement. […]

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The Kline reading seems to veer away from technological determinism and take a more social construction of technology approach. Here is a quick overview of the theory from Wikipedia:
Technological determinism is a reductionist doctrine that a society’s technology determines its cultural values, social structure, or history.
Technological determinism has been summarized as ‘The belief […]

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I am somewhat new to Second Life and have not yet explored everything the virtual world has to offer. And my post might seem like old news to more seasoned users. Anyway, I’d like to introduce an Avatar named Adam Reuters. He keeps regular hours in Second Life as Reuters’ bureau chief. […]

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Initially I was not exactly sure how Carrol’s The Hunting of the Snark fit into our class discussions about the study of play. So in order to unlock the mystery of the poem’s pertinence, I did what seemed logical: I thought about it. After considering the poem and our discussion last Tues evening, […]

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