News
Independent Games Festival CfP
The call is open for the 11th IGF at next year’s GDC. Deadline: Nov 1st for main competition and Nov 15th for student competition. More info here. Note, that our very own alumni Chaim Gingold is on the jury.
DM Controversy in the Blogosphere
As some may already be aware, there has been a bit of Internet traffic this week around an article that was written by one of our incoming Ph.D. students, Douglas Wilson, and which received some rather harsh rebuttals from another author. It has been recommended to me to make post on the topic in support of our students and faculty.
First, I’d like to support Doug in what I think most of us concur was a valid critique of gamer culture. It is unfortunate that it spawned such a vehement personal attack against our program, students and faculty. While we welcome constructive feedback, I think these personal attacks were misplaced and spurious. I also wish to thank Ian Bogost for stepping up to the plate and making a well-reasoned, rational argument in defense of our program and our colleagues. I suppose the moral of this story is: never try to beat a rhetorician at his own game. Our position is and continues to be that we encourage our faculty and students to engage in open discourse on subjects of import to the culture digital media, so I sincerely hope that this in no way discourages other students from voicing their views.
The response to Doug’s article actually succeeds in reinforcing his view more than countering it. There are some factions within the culture Doug critiques who feel they are beyond reproach, and this is not the first time I’ve encountered backlash for a public criticism that many agreed was completely valid. As Ian mentions, some of us here have made similar critiques (see Ludica’s DiGRA 2007 paper). In terms of Doug’s specific criticism, I would have to agree and add that the game industry has been appallingly apolitical and unphilanthropic as compared to other branches of the entertainment industry. There is a long tradition of activism within film dating back to the very birth of the medium (see Chrarlie Chaplain and Frank Capra). Filmmakers played a major role in the labor movement of the 1930s, and were among those targeted during the McCarthy era. (It’s hard to imagine either of these things happening in the game industry today.) Filmmakers continue to make films about serious, political topics, and they even have mainstream production groups like Participant Productions and directors like Michael Moore devoted to issues-based entertainment. There is no Game Developers’ Choice Award devoted to documentary games. In fact, Serious Games is still a fringe activity in game development, whereas “serious” films are a healthy part of the medium’s ecosystem. The music industry also has a long tradition of activism, going back to early folk music, and coming to the fore during the 1960s. Rock benefits for social causes, from the Concert for Bangladesh to the SOS/Live Earth concert for climate change, are commonplace. The ESA has a small foundation that quietly funds children’s cancer research, summer camps, and programs for at-risk youth, but that’s about it.
While Doug’s critique is more of gamers than of the game industry as a whole, I do not think the two are unrelated, and like many aspects of game culture, they feed each other. I would really hope that more critiques like this will lead to a higher level of civic engagement, and the game industry ought to be a role model here to its constituents, like its cousins in music and film.
"The Truth About Baby Boomer Gamers"/EGL students featured in Games and Culture
Celia Pearce’s report, “The Truth About Baby Boomer Gamers,” as well as studies by EGL grad students José Zagal and Betsy DiSalvo, are featured in the current issue of Games & Culture.
SPECIAL TALK:
Hardcore players of casual games:
Locating the “casual” in casual games
who: Jesper Juul
when: Monday, March 31st
where: TSRB 132
when: 1:30-2:30 pm
what: Casual games are usually described as relaxing games to be played for short periods of time, but studies have shown that many players of casual games play more than 10 hours a week. In essence, it seems that casual players play in “hardcore” ways. In this talk I will discuss the problematic distinction between “hardcore” and “casual” players by examining the new field of casual games and answering the question: Should we talk about casual games or casual players?
more: Jesper’s blog, The Ludologist, can be found at
http://www.jesperjuul.net/ludologist
http://www.jesperjuul.net
If you are in the Atlanta Area, it’s worth checking out this years Game Developers Exchange conference. It’s hosted by Savannah College of Art and Design and this years speaker list looks great. Georgia Tech students can register for only $25!
Game Developers eXchange 2008 focuses on alternative and independent gaming
Keynote speaker Eric Zimmerman to share his
“independent game developer’s survival guide”
ATLANTA – The Savannah College of Art and Design-Atlanta will host the fourth annual Game Developers eXchange April 10-11, 1600 Peachtree St. This year’s conference will spotlight alternative gaming and emerging modes of design, production and distribution.
Matthew Maloney, animation professor and academic director of the animation program at SCAD-Atlanta, said, “We’re breaking away from the constricted classification of gaming simply as ‘digital first-person shooters for teenage males.’ We are proud to have representatives from virtually every aspect of the games community involved in this two-day event.”
Eric Zimmerman, game designer, educator, entrepreneur and co-founder of Gamelab, will be the keynote speaker at GDX 2008. Gamelab creates and self-publishes innovative single-player and multiplayer games that are distributed online, on mobile phones and through retail, including the hit downloadable games “Diner Dash” and “Miss Management.”
Zimmerman’s keynote address, “Going Indie: An Independent Game Developer’s Survival Guide,” draws from 14 years of experience to share the highs and lows of being an “indie” in the game industry. From cash flow to company culture, he will cover the tangibles and intangibles of what it takes to survive. Along the way, he’ll address bigger questions, such as what’s wrong with the game industry today, why other forms of pop culture seem to have more independent creators, and what might be in store for the future of independent games.
More than 20 industry experts will be on hand to share their expertise and behind-the-scenes knowledge. Among this year’s list of distinguished guests:
Brenda Brathwaite
A 26-year veteran of the video game industry, Brathwaite is an award-winning game designer and professor of interactive design and game development at SCAD. In 2006, Brathwaite was named one of the “100 most influential women in the game industry” by Next Generation magazine and her peers.
Greg Costikyan
Costikyan is CEO of Manifesto Games, a start-up devoted to creating a viable path to market for independently developed games. At the most recent Game Developers’ Conference, he received the Maverick Award for his tireless promotion of independent games.
Chris Crawford
Crawford has written five published books including “The Art of Computer Game Design” and “Balance of Power.” He founded and served as chairman of the Computer Game Developers’ Conference, now known as the Game Developers’ Conference.
Matt Dominianni
Dominianni is the lead machinima director for The Electric Sheep Company, the top virtual worlds developer, and founder of ILL Clan Inc. As a founder of ILL Clan, an award-winning 3-D movie-making team, he created his first machinima short in 1998. He recently directed machinima scenes in Second Life that appeared on “CSI: NY” on CBS, and were seen by 11 million viewers.
Tracy Fullerton
Fullerton is a game designer, author and co-director of USC’s Electronic Arts Game Innovation Lab. Prior to joining the USC faculty, Fullerton was president and founder of the interactive television game developer, Spiderdance Inc., whose games included NBC’s “Weakest Link,” MTV’s “webRIOT,” the WB’s “No Boundaries,” History Channel’s “History IQ,” Sony Game Show Network’s “Inquizition” and TBS’s “Cyber Bond.”
GDX is a two-day event full of activities. Attendees can expect roundtable discussions, interactive gaming workshops, a reception and “Entelechy 2008” — SCAD’s annual student exhibition of interactive and game design artwork.
For the full list of speakers and to register to attend, visit www.scad.edu/gdx. Early registration ends March 13. For more information, call 404.253.2759 or e-mail gdx@scad.edu.
Playology Monday February 25, 4:30pm Topic - Game Developers Conference Debriefing
Playology The EGL’s Weekly Game Salon Monday February 25,
4:30pm Experimental Game Lab/Skiles 354
Topic: Game Developers Conference Debriefing Join GaTech & EGL faculty and students for a debriefing on GDC08.
If you went to GDC, please come and share your experiences!
What is Playology? Playology is a weekly salon devoted to hands-on gameplay and critical discussion. Each week will focus on a particular theme, game, genre or aspect of game culture and design. Participants may be asked to bring games that relate to these themes. Game genres may include PC, console, board games, casual games, indie and alternative games, MMORPGs and virtual worlds. Readings may also be recommended, and special guests may be featured. Playologly is open to Digital Media and CM faculty and students, as well as other schools and departments, friends and spouses.
Living Game Worlds IV - Interplay: NEW DATES - December 1-2, 2008
Living Game Worlds IV will focus on the theme of networked play and engage dialogues on the rapidly growing domain of multiplayer games and virtual worlds, including online networked entertainment as well as pervasive, mobile and tangible gaming. The symposium will explore various aspects of networked play from historical, cultural, technological and design perspectives, as well as current and future trends such as user-created content and the rising use of virtual worlds in the workplace.
Living Game Worlds is an annual symposium presented by the Experimental Game Lab, the School of Literature, Communication and Culture and the GVU Center of the Georgia Institute of Technology. Each year, Living Game Worlds brings together luminaries from academia, industry and the arts to explore topics related to research, design and cultural practices of digital games.
For details and registration, visit the Living Game Worlds Web Site.
Playology Monday January 28th at 6pm - Topic Weird Board Games
This week we will be playing weird board games such as Oy Vey!, Careers, What Shall I Be? and Munchkin and discussing their subject matter, conventions and gameplay.About the games -
“OY VEY” -
Game Where You Become a Jewish Mother
Ages 12 and up.
Each player becomes a Jewish mother with a family of two sons and two daughters.
The object of the game is to get both sons to become doctors and both daughters to marry doctors.
Careers -
Careers is a game where the players set their own victory conditions. A player may choose to pursue Fame, Happiness, Money, or a combination of all three. The limitation being that the total number of “points” earned in the 3 categories must total 60. eg. 60 Happiness, 0 Fame, 0 Money; 20 of each; or any other combination. The players endeavor to fulfill their goal by going through any number of different “occupation paths”. All paths have some prerequisite for entry, and benefits accrue from going through any of the paths more than once. The different occupations are designed to be suited to different strategies, eg. Hollywood is good for fame points, while “Going to Sea” is good for happiness. In the end it is the player (or team of players) who gets to their pre-set goal first who will be the winner, and achieve everything they ever wanted in life.
What shall I be girls -
Object of the game is to the first player to become a Career Girl.
Players move around the board collecting School Cards, Subject Cards and Personality Cards.
Game ends when one of the players has collected 4 School Cards of one Profession and 2 Subject Cards and 2 Personality Cards that are good for that Profession.
Professions and their respective schools are:
College - Teacher
Airline Training School - Airline Hostess
Drama School - Actress
Nursing School - Nurse
Charm School - Model
Ballet School - Ballet Dancer
Munchkin -
Go down in the dungeon. Kill everything you meet. Backstab your friends and steal their stuff. Grab the treasure and run.
Admit it. You love it.
This award-winning card game, designed by Steve Jackson, captures the essence of the dungeon experience . . . with none of that stupid roleplaying stuff. You and your friends compete to kill monsters and grab magic items. And what magic items! Don the Horny Helmet and the Boots of Butt-Kicking. Wield the Staff of Napalm . . . or maybe the Chainsaw of Bloody Dismemberment. Start by slaughtering the Potted Plant and the Drooling Slime, and work your way up to the Plutonium Dragon . . .
And it’s illustrated by John Kovalic! Fast-playing and silly, Munchkin can reduce any roleplaying group to hysteria. And, while they’re laughing, you can steal their stuff.
Munchkin won the Origins award for Best Traditional Card Game of 2001!
About Playology -
Playology is a weekly salon-style evening devoted to hands-on gameplay and critical discussion. Each week will focus on a particular theme, game, genre or aspect of game culture and design. Participants may be asked to bring games that relate to these themes. Game genres may include PC, console, board games, casual games, indie and alternative games, MMORPGs and virtual worlds. Readings may also be recommended, and special guests may be featured. Playologly is open to Digital Media and CM faculty and students, as well as other schools and departments, friends and spouses.
Fatworld Featured on PBS Homepage
Ian Bogost’s FATWORLD, featured today on the PBS homepage as part of Independent Lens’ web exclusive content. http://www.pbs.org/ http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/interactive.html
Winter Demo Day featuring Ali Mazalek and Michael Nitsche on CNN
Click here to see CNN’s segemnt segment on Digital Media’s Winter Demo Day featuring Ali Mazalek on Tangible Play and Michael Nitsche on augmented reality in Second Life.
