Play’s Republic

So, it seems to me that the scientists in this article may have read Sutton-Smith (or perhaps – and admittedly more likely – read the same evolutionary theorists he had) because their rational seems similar to his. The article is discussing the intelligent and playful nature of the common raven. The researchers are asking why [...]

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In a recent interview, WoW’s VP of game design, Rob Pardo, discussed the creative process behind the development of WoW, its updates and expansions, and its future. Pardo compared the WoW development process to that of a sitcom. Drawing parallels between his team’s development process and that of the writers of Lost and Seinfeld, Pardo [...]

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After looking at sexuality and video games, I got a little curious about what conservative religious groups are doing with video games. I imagine there’s some controversy over material appropriateness etc, but I also imagine that there are several conservative religious organizations creating their own material. In God in the Console (2003), Tom Loftus argues [...]

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The British Board of Film Classification (“We are not, as some people seem to think, a Government funded or controlled body”) has just released a smattering of findings  about “Playing Video Games.” Beyond a cursory visit to their website, I’m not familiar with the BBFC, but (if the material described in the press release is [...]

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(Updated) Tomorrow’s conversation will be about games, public policy, political discourse, and so on. One of the interesting, motivating tensions I see here returns us to Huizinga and Caillois, and has all sorts of interesting echoes: If, per Caillois, we may read a culture by reading its games, then what are we to make of [...]

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The NYTimes has an interesting article this afternoon about the return of vigor to the PC gaming sector. It is interesting to think about how this market segment will be served by Vista’s integration of a game-friendly menus and displays within the OS, as well as (soon) a transparent interface to Microsoft’s XBox Live online [...]

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Yes, we had terrible news today. Personally, I don’t really believe the idea that cultural products including music, movies, and video games with violent images have a strong cultivation effect that might tacitly incites people to a crime. But when we face some tragic cases like the massacre at Virginia Tech, it’s easy to find how media try to link video games (such as first-person shooting game ) and [...]

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An industry newsletter this AM points to a new Harris poll on videogames and kids: Percentage of households where children report that their parents limit “how much time they can spend playing games:” * 54 percent of 8-12-year-olds * 38 percent of 13-18s Additionally, “71 percent of the younger group said they must abide by [...]

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If you’re interested in learning more about the growing phenomenon of the Chinese gold farmers, there are three good clips posted on YouTube from a documentary-in-progress. If you have no idea what I’m referring to, low-cost labour (especially in China) is being used to play games like World of Warcraft for 12 hours a day [...]

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