Cool event at Harvard tonight
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
5 Responses to “Cool event at Harvard tonight”
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Thanks for the mention, Raph.
This is a conversation that I want to continue. More precisely: tonight’s panel is one that I hope to repeat. Especially for an audience of game developers. (Whereas tonight I expect a mix of game people, academics, and random interested others.)
Sorry you’ll not be here, but I would enjoy talking to you about it.
(Boston folk: Walk-ins are entirely welcome. Full details at my site.)
Sounds very interesting, I love to reference EvoPysch to justify design decisions, the suits don’t know what hit’em.
I hope to see some kind of write-up afterwards.
@ Dan Scherlis I imagine if you want to repeat the panel for an audience of game developers you’d find a warm reception at one of the big gaming industry conventions like Pax or Dice.
I’m fascinated by the concept of video games as an anthropological phenomenon. As a gamer it’s not a line I’ve seen people really explore. Can anyone recommend further reading?
It was fun and I’d love to do one with you Raph, felt like we barely scratched the surface. Interesting gender-based role discussion from Joyce. I’m introducing her to Sheri.
I’d be interested to see transcripts, particularly the material relating to gender differentiation in play. Much of the existing body of work is colored by the flawed assumption that biological sex is deterministic of gender, rather than recognizing that gender is a purely cultural construct, is not immutable, and is not inherently binary.