Ok, so I am doing the unthinkable and rehashing a post from the past (albeit from my personal blog) because it’s a topic that I have been thinking a lot about and one that I have been thinking a lot about recently, especially with the release of the Dead Island […]
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Well, yes. I’ve argued again and again that gender, race, class, and all sorts of social constructions can be influenced by the way those things are depicted in entertainment media like video games. But, I’m a hypocrite. I would also argue against anyone who claims that violence in video games […]
Guilt has finally gotten the better of me. It has been too long since I posted a real post. I have been doing a lot of work behind the scenes lately and was really feeling like a slacker. Then I asked myself the big question…how is that any different from […]
In a recent article on CNN.com, Omar Gallaga, who is a technology contributor to NPR’s All Tech Considered, feels “haunted and sad” by what he considers a disturbing trend in video games—“putting children in peril and, often, allowing them to be gruesomely killed.” The trailer for a new survival horror […]
I’m writing this as a response to a thoughtful article called “If tech discussion was really about tech, it wouldn’t be sexist” by Restructure. The author writes, “There is sexism in tech culture. However, I continue to love tech, because I think of the sexism as a separate, unnecessary appendage […]
So this week Alex did 2 things to suck my time dry. First she talked me into going back into WoW and then she agreed to my hair-brained idea to make a video about Skinner Box Logic in video games. To make it even funnier, we spaced it and made […]
“It was a simpler time, when games were primarily marketed to children, and they were easy enough that your sister could jump in for a few hours and not be intimidated” Why do I love Bejeweled 3? More interestingly, why is my first reaction to keep my love of Bejeweled […]
When I was little, I ran around with a black leather belt around my waist and a red ball cap on my head. On one side of my belt, I stuffed a plastic ax; on the other side was a toy handgun that thudded when the trigger was pulled. Some […]
What’s exciting about the potential of this theorycraft is that, sort of like writing, knowing the (rhetorical) situation can make you better prepared to respond to the variable you may face, whether it be a wily audience or a rogue barrel.
Our students don't just value our classes because we play World of Warcraft or add achievements and leader boards to our grading policies. They are playing the game because their grade is at stake. They may enjoy it in the meantime, but ultimately they have an ulterior motive.
Who assassinated John F. Kennedy? What was the Wild West like? I admit I haven’t had a history class in over fifteen years. If you’re like most people, a lot of what you “learn” about history is from Wikipedia these days—because our curiosity usually stops after we read the first hit […]
The post in which I lament the continuing madness that is edutainment gaming in the age of games and education.
A discussion of why I love Civ 5, why I think it can be used how to study the gamification of history and education, as well as some reflections on the representations of different cultures.