Search Results for games

There are three ideas I want to share in this short piece on mobile persuasion through videogames. First, how do videogames express ideas? Without understanding how games can be expressive in a general sense, it is hard to understand how they might be persuasive. Second, how do videogames make arguments? Videogames are different from oral, textual, visual, or filmic media… read more

Read the entire article in print in Second Person: : Roleplaying and Story in Games and Playable Media On December 16, 2003, popular web magazine Slate published an article by journalist and author Steven Johnson (Johnson 2003). Reviewing simulation games that engage problems of social organization, Johnson posed a question: â??The [2004] U.S. presidential campaign may be the first true… read more

Interest in exergames has grown in recent years, largely on account of their potential to replace sedentary leisure activity with active leisure activity. Instead of sitting in front of the television idle, mouth agape as we ponder our love for Raymond or hatred for House, we might step-to with DDR or jump around with Eye Toy.

Recently Burger King released three Xbox and Xbox 360 titles featuring the creepy King mascot that has graced the companyâ??s advertising of late, as well as memorable former spokescreatures like the Subservient Chicken and Brooke Burke. The titles include Pocketbike Racer, a Mario Kart-style battle racer; Big Bumpinâ??, a collection of head-to-head bumper car games including races, battles, and hockey;… read more

Videogames have dominated popular culture for some time, but only in 2004 did they make a significant break into the world of politics, advocacy, and activism. This paper provides an overview of a variety of types of games used for political speech, from endorsed party messages to activist dissent. After explaining the state of the field, I discuss approaches to… read more

Based on cognitive linguist George Lakoffâ??s notions of metaphor and frame as the principle organizers of political discourse, this article offers an approach to analyzing political rhetoric in videogames intended to carry ideological bias. I then argue for three ways games function in relation to ideological frames — reinforcement, contestation, and exposition — through examples of political games (Tax Invaders),… read more

One of the unique properties of video games is their ability to put us in someone elseâ??s shoes. But most of the time, those shoes are bigger than our own. When we play video games, we are like children clopping around in their parentâ??s loafers or pumps, imagining what it would be like to see over the kitchen counter. As… read more

The Games for Health 2005 conference, produced by the Serious Games Initiative, was held last week on Sept. 22 and 23 in Baltimore, Maryland. The conference’s content focuses on serious games as used specifically in health and health sciences, including games used for training students in healthcare-related studies as well as games used for treating patients. Ian Bogost, a researcher… read more