How gameplay makes changes in the real world. From my "Persuasive Games" column at Gamasutra.
Playing a video game is usually something we do outside of our everyday lives. As with any medium, our experiences with video games can influence how we think about our real lives, whether now or in the future. But when we play games, we take a break from that life. Playing a game is different from sorting digital photos, filing… read more
My experience with Make My Own Monster
I received a Make My Own Monster kit for Christmas last year. It’s a service offered by the North American Bear Company, which has the distinction of having the worst shopping site I’ve seen in some time. Anyway, the Make My Own Monster concept is great: kids (of all ages, in my case) draw a monster, send in the drawing,… read more
Photography, Flickr, and Me
As regular readers may have noticed, I have an interest in photography. I’ve started a photography section on this website, where you can view some of the photographs I have taken. Right now I’ve added galleries for Objects, Places, and People, as well as a photo project I’m slowly working on called Street Portraits. Over the last year I’ve gone… read more
Why Facebook Ads are Stupid
From a business perspective, it was my impression that one of the great promises of Facebook and other social networking sites is that they can offer extremely selective ad targeting. Facebook users willingly provide large amounts of enormously specific information about themselves, from their age and location to their artistic interests and sexual preferences. Why, then, are Facebook ads targeted… read more
A reprise of the central chapter of Ulysses, performed on Twitter
Last year, Ian McCarthy and I puppeted over 50 characters from the Wandering Rocks chapter of James Joyce’s Ulysses on the microblogging platform Twitter. We’re planning a reprise for this year, including much more notice than we gave in 2007 (Bloomsday is June 16). You might want to consult the original announcement and abstract of the project. It includes links… read more
115 years of sports game adaptation
I have an interest in game adaptation, something that we normally think of only as it relates to film-to-game licensing. In our forthcoming book on the Atari VCS, Nick Montfort and I also discuss another kind of videogame adaptation that was once its primary form: from arcade coin-ops to home consoles.
I use Apple Mail instead of competing products like Microsoft Entourage or Google Gmail. I don’t use Entourage because I try not to use Microsoft products if I can help it, not just as conscientious objection but also because they are bloated. I refuse to use Gmail because I try not to use Google products if I can help it,… read more
Using the collapsible Elmar-M 50mm f/2.8 on the Leica M8
As I’ve discussed before, one of the main ideas behind the 35mm rangefinder camera was its small size and subsequent portability. Since their beginning 80 years ago, Leica cameras have often been coupled to collapsible lenses. The early production Leicas in the 20s and 30s were all designed for a lens that collapsed into the body of the device, making… read more
This website in The Industry Standard's Top 25 B-to-Z List Blogs
The Industry Standard has compiled a list of the top 25 “B-to-Z List Blogs”… you know, the ones that come after the A-list. It seems that this humble site was selected as one. Quoth the Standard: This videogame theorist and assistant professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology waxes between scholarly navel-gazing and witty media references. Ian really knows his… read more
On the way games can be felt. From my "Persuasive Games" column at Gamasutra
I enjoy the ancient Chinese strategy game Go, although I am hardly an expert. The open-source GnuGO AI built into the computer version of the game I play overpowers me much of the time. After many years of having gone without, I recently received a Go board and set of stones as a gift. Immediately I noticed the most important… read more