My ITU Game Lecture on 5 Sep

On 5 September (15:00 – 17:00) I’ll be speaking at the ITU as part of the Game Center‘s Game Lecture Series.

Title: A practical guide to winning and losing: How players deal with shame, glory, and each other

Abstract: A computer will handle the rules of a game in a fair-minded algorithmic fashion. Players, however, will not. To players, interaction during play (and how to deal with victory and defeat) entails a complex negotiation of social norms. Based on empirical data on multi-player gaming, this talk will explore how players handle competition, collaboration, shame, and glory as they strive to achieve the game goals.

Badly eruptive

PompeiiLacking judgment Roman Polanski has set out to cinema-fy Robert Harris‘ novel Pompeii. Odd how these things happen, since Pompeii is clearly (at least to me) inferior to Harris’ more recent Imperium. Of course it follows the tradition of betting large on Harris’ dramatic low-points instead of his genuinely lucid moments.
They really should remember to ask me, before they go ahead with these things…

I speak with angels through horses, says Princess of Norway

Horses

Says princess Märtha Louise of Norway: “I learned to systematize sensory impressions enabling me to read others and through the horses I learned to communicate with animals at a deeper level. It was while working with horses that I assumed contact with the angels. Recently I have appreciated the value of this enormous gift and would like to share it with others.”

Perhaps there is some cosmic link to a previous post on David Lynch or perhaps the Nordic monarchies are just headed for trouble.

(quote from Politiken)

Oh, and on the subject of baroqueness, the guy next to the demonstrator around 55 seconds into this clip is just off the charts. They live among us.

[Photo by dcJohn]

Limited character enactment in computer RPGs

The degree to which computer RPG players speak in-character vs. out-of-character
This graph shows the ratio of in-character to out-of-character statements during five sessions of the PS2 RPG Champions of Norrath. While coding the data, any utterance which could be construed as in-character was categorized as such, heavily favoring this category.
Interestingly, the in-character percentage is significantly lower than in similarly coded pen-and-paper RPG sessions.
As discussed in (*) and in the article I’m currently writing with Anders Tychsen.

* Tychsen, Anders & Smith, Jonas Heide & Hitchens, Michael & Tosca, Susana (2006). Communication in Multi-Player Role Playing Games – The Effect of Medium. Technologies for Interactive Digital Storytelling and Entertainment (Lecture Notes in Computer Science). Berlin: Springer Verlag. (If you don’t have Springer access, try this version).

Game Lecture at ITU tomorrow: Can you make them cry without tearing your hair out?

Can you make them cry without tearing your hair out?
– Emotional Characters

Associate Professor Katherine Isbister, Rensselaer Politechnic Institute

Time and Place:
Thursday June 7th, 16:15-17:30. Auditorium 3, ITU.
Continue reading Game Lecture at ITU tomorrow: Can you make them cry without tearing your hair out?