Eric Zimmerman and Katie Salen wrote a really interesting book called Rules of Play a couple of years ago. They are now coming out with a new book called The Game Design Reader.
On December 9, 2005 at Parsons School of Design, they will be debuting their book and offering an interesting forum on gaming and design. The event is called Deathmatch in the Sacks.
Anyone interested in the New York area should check it out. This is a free event!
Steve
2 comments:
A theoretical discussion on gaming? It seems rather superflous, while strangely enough, it appears that in the expression of its own quiddity, (in the words of Hommer Simpson) "it is absolutely meaningless!!"
My first impression when I began to explore this was just like yours. It sounded like absolute absurdity!
However, the more that I have explored it in relationship to educational psychology, the more my mind has been changed. Twenty-five years ago people scoffed at the idea of film studies as part of a growing multiliteracy discourse, but today it forms a reputable part of academia.
I would really encourage you to look at two books: (1) James Paul Gee's 'What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy' (published Palgrave, 2003) and (2) Joost Raaesens (ed.) 'Handbook of computer game studies' (published MIT Press, 2005).
With the increasing complexity of game design and simulation, we are in the beginning stages of seeing education and professional training modelled in a much more sophisticated, situated way. Even the Pentagon has recognized this and has invested billions of dollars in this industry.
As to good ole' Homer Simpson, Barbara Bush referred to the Simpsons as being 'the dumbest show on television' and that the show would barely survive... a decade and a half later, we discover that some of the best writers out of Harvard et al. are the wizards behind the curtain! So much for name calling!
I think we could be pleasantly suprised with the gaming industry - not necessarily the latest Commercial-Off-the-Shelf shoot-em up game, but hybrids built upon the sophisticated architecture and game theory.
Thank you for your comments! I invite you to continue this discourse.
Best,
Steve
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