I am flying off to Austin tonight, but I kind of wish I could attend this event in Boston! if you happen to live there, stop by and then post a comment here telling us all about it, please!

Who Plays Games and Why: Evolutionary Biology Looks at Videogames

A discussion with Harvard Human Evolutionary Biology Professor Richard Wrangham, Emmanuel College Psychology Professor Joyce Benenson, and game developers Noah Falstein and Kent Quirk.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010.   5:30 -7:30 p.m. (registration begins at 5:00 p.m.)

Location: Harvard Science Center, One Oxford Street, Cambridge

Full description after the break:

Electronic games are competing with television for that essential resource: consumer attention.  But exactly who is playing these games? And what is their appeal? Indeed, why do people find games “fun” at all, from simple board games to immersive 3D fantasy worlds? Is there a biological reason that males and females play dramatically different kinds of games?

The many genres and formats of games will be surveyed in a brief multimedia overview, with a look at the different populations that play these different games. Then, human-behavioral scientists will collaborate with game-design professionals to explore the biological roots of our attraction to these experiences.

Please join this discussion, with:

• Richard Wrangham, Harvard College Professor, Ruth B. Moore Professor of Biological Anthropology, Director of Graduate Studies of Harvard’s Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, author of Demonic Males: Apes and the Origins of Human Violence, and of Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human.
• Joyce Benenson, Associate Professor of Psychology at Emmanuel College, and Associate Member of Harvard’s Department of Human Evolutionary Biology.
• Kent Quirk, Director of Engineering for Client Software, Linden Lab (creators of the virtual world Second Life).
• Noah Falstein, President, The Inspiracy (design and production of entertainment and serious games).
• Dan Scherlis (moderator), Principal, Scherlis.com (executive production and market strategy for online games and social media).

Alumni and friends of the Harvard community: $10.    Undergraduate Students: complimentary

– Tomorrow at Harvard: Evolutionary Biology Looks at Videogames (Who Plays Games and Why) « Dan Scherlis.