I was chatting with some of the NYMG folks the other day, and it occurred to me that everyone, even game scholars, need to be reminded of the value of making time for play. This summer I’ve been playing a ton of sports (mostly disc golf), but I haven’t been […]
play
12 posts
Last night I completed my first playthrough of Mass Effect: Andromeda. This post isn’t particularly about that, my thoughts on that game still need some processing, but as I watched the end credits roll after a difficult but satisfying end-boss encounter, I found myself reflecting on the other game that’s […]
Episode 148: It’s All Fun and Games: On Childhood, Play, and Video Games (Right click and save as to download, or find us on iTunes, BlogTalk Radio, Stitcher, Google Play, or TuneIn). This week are joined by early childhood education specialist Heather Bernt (@ece_nerd) of the Cause An Effect podcast and Lauren Woolbright, Assistant Professor of […]
I’m currently writing my dissertation, a process that is simultaneously going better and worse than I anticipated. Writing the dissertation, it seems, brings a lot of my anxieties to the forefront. Finishing the dissertation is symbolic of leaving my program and community, leaving grad school (and my identity as a […]
I took a feminist methodologies class this past semester, and, as a result, I’ve been thinking a lot about how to make use of feminist methodologies in my own work and my own research on games and literature. What seems important when conceptualizing of such thinking and practice is that there […]
I’ve been chatting with a friend about Metal Gear Solid V and the art of the sneak recently, and it made me think a little differently about what I wrote regarding combat avoidance back in the summer. We were talking about stealth first as a puzzle — discussing MGSV and […]
This week I played The Beginner’s Guide, the latest effort from Davey Wreden, creator of the much-lauded The Stanley Parable. The Beginner’s Guide, much like that game, is a short experience, built in Source, and as The Stanley Parable is a commentary on agency and game design, The Beginner’s Guide […]
I’ve been catching up on some much overdue research this summer, and in the course of my reading, I’ve found myself thinking a lot about critique and immersion. Indeed, it would seem that, often, when people discuss critical thinking and scholarship in relation to video games, they usually work under […]
Right now and for the next few weeks, I’m under a self-imposed ban on LEGO building. I’m moving, so instead of building, I’m dismantling my LEGO models. It’s horrible. Not that I mind the dismantling process, it’s still gives me something to do while watching TV, but dismantling does not […]
I’ll never forget the moment, years ago, when I mentally “picked” a flower while walking into a Blockbuster Video. I glanced at their sidewalk planter, which had a number of beautiful pink and purple flowers in it, and I swear I saw a hand icon in my vision and heard […]
Lately in an attempt to see if Pea would be interested in something other than Ni No Kuni (now logging 100+ hours) which has less playability now that the main quest is complete, we have started to play around with Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Now this iteration of Zelda […]
So I’m reading this book called Finite and Infinite Play by James P. Carse, a religion professor. His take on play has inspired some interesting possibilities that I can see being very useful in the current debate about gaming and education. First, and he makes this very clear, “whoever […]