This is the catch-all category for stuff about games and game design. It easily makes up the vast majority of the site’s content. If you are looking for something specific, I highly recommend looking into the tags used on the site instead. They can narrow down the hunt immensely.
Could playing computer games enhance mental agility enough to turn people over 50 into better drivers? Allstate Corp. wants to find out, and if the answer is yes, it might offer insurance discounts to people who play the games.
Alas,I am not old enough to qualify. But it sure seems like a classic application of my theory of fun. 🙂
PsycPORT.com | Testing whether computer games can improve driving.
(Via Morgan).
While I was in London, an interview with F13.net came out. We also did a small key giveaway for entry into the Metaplace testing, but those are all gone. Don’t worry, there will be more. 🙂
We covered stuff ranging from Metaplace to academia and game studies, to the AAA MMO market.
F13: What do you make of Blow’s assertion that “modern game design is actually unethical”?
Raph: Jon’s take on the underlying mechanics of fun, from a chemical point of view, isn’t very different from mine. I think that Dan Cook probably said it most succinctly, that “game designers are hijacking the learning systems of the brain.” But perhaps we might tweak that to “the REWARD systems” of the brain.
Lots of other things accomplish this, sometimes for good and sometimes for evil. A lot of work goes into devices and designs built to encourage gambling, for example, and if you read up on the subject, you quickly find that there’s something deeply manipulative about it.
On the other hand, we are also tapping into that when we give someone a gold star for doing well in grade school, and this is usually used for a positive purpose.
Well, the actual conference may not have happened, but there was quite a nice series of events anyway. I had several appointments that occupied the first day. Then the event proper got back on track. First, the SXSW party took place, which was a nice meet and greet. Then the next day we gathered at the Hospital Club for an unconference.
I missed all the sessions (!) but it didn’t matter — the in-between and around discussions were excellent. Among other things, there was a Virtual Policy Network meeting, discussions of mirror worlds, several sessions on metrics, much discussion of kids’ worlds, and so on.
Afterwards, a group of us went to Covent Garden to keep chatting over beer, followed by dinner — mostly about the history and architecture of Second Life, the nature of a liberal arts education, the present and future of UDP, whether the food we ate was actually Mexican, and game grammar.
Alas, the nature of the unconference and the fact that I missed all the “sessions” — which were merely larger circles of chairs — means that I don’t really have any liveblogs or transcripts for you…
Today’s workshops are not taking place, so that means I basically have a day off before my flight back.
In a rather unbelievable turn of events, last night the organizers let all of us know that the venue for the conference is unavailable, because someone was shot there and the police have closed it off for three days!
A variety of side events are still happening, since so many people flew halfway around the world to attend, but the main sessions are not. For example, both the SXSW party and the reciting poetry at Bartle events shall go on as scheduled. 😉
It is rainy and yet quite warm outside.
I was told to take the Heathrow Express into town, but instead I went by Underground just so I would end up at King’s Cross so I could take the photo that is to the right of this post. My kids should be much happier now, because I’d told them i didn’t know if I would have the chance to go by there. There were a fair amount of people there taking pictures, so I had to be patient to get a shot without anyone else in it.
The wall seemed quite solid to me, so I suppose I am a Muggle.
Normally, I combat jet lag by walking. But it’s so dreary out that I am not sure that’s the right solution today! Although the hotel did supply a complimentary umbrella.
I think I am going to go find some lunch instead, and then maybe brave the elements after.
