As we may watch

Ex-co-PhD student Martin Sønderlev Christensen (of nowuseit fame) defends his thesis masterpiece at ITU tomorrow (14:00, Auditorium 4 or 2).

The thesis is here (draft version).

Update:



By stilleben [‘stelle:bƏn] http://www.flickr.com/people/stilleben/

The abstract reads:

Abstract
This dissertation offers a cultural theoretical interpretation of the emergence of personal affective mobile media [PAMM]. By interpreting the apparent cultural changes and representation of mobile devices, the dissertation provides a description that emphasizes a conceptual shift from understanding technology as efficiency to using it affectively.

Continue reading As we may watch

Sing, O goddess

All good things – and apparently also the barely bearable ones – must come to an end.

As implied, my dissertation was sent on its merry way through the labyrinthine ways of the Danish PhD system, beyond human interference. That is well and good.

In recent weeks I’ve been in recovery spending much-appreciated (by me, at least) quality time with the family. Venturing a premature diagnosis, I’d say I’ve come through with only curable wounds (but the dreams! the dreams!!!).

The old “What now?” question rears its head. From now on I’ll focus on embedded gender values in late modernity leisure practices in a strictly hermeneutic pperspective. No seriously, here’s what: From 1 Sep I’ll return to the ITU to co-teach the “Digital Media” course and to head (in practice from October-November or so) the Digital Design and Communication study line. Formally, I’ll be a member of the Innovative Communication research group but I will of course stay closely in touch with the illustrious Game Center.

I guess all these changes makes this a good time to take stock. This blog, I believe, has suffered from a lack of focus. Rest assured this will only get worse. I will be finger-thinking about new topics and generally allow myself the luxury of constraintlessness. On the other hand, I will be more systematic with entry categorization so it will be possible to RSS-read more specifically.

And so, I need only say welcome back to TDSoTit’s not new, but it’s not very old either.

(I’ll be uploading the dissertation here as soon as I can create a web-friendly PDF).

Like Hell I lost, I was trying to feed the mushroom creatures!

Have you noticed that sometimes during video game play, players try to redefine the goals?
This can happen verbally or it can happen through actions as when a player starts shooting his team-mates for the heck of it.

Often, I think, it is related to certain future defeat. The losing player tries to redefine the goals to signal that he wasn’t really playing that game after all. When he loses, he will not really have lost.

Do you agree? Do you recognize the phenonenon?

Anyway, I wrote a brief section for my dissertation on the topic. Continue reading Like Hell I lost, I was trying to feed the mushroom creatures!

New statistics problem

At least one good thing can be said about my data analysis: I’ve now specified the actual question which needs to be tested. But I’m still not entirely certain how I should test it. Suggestions much appreciated.

I’ve done a study of what players talk about when playing different types of video games.
An example: One group played three games and each spoken statement was coded YES/NO on a number of variables. For instance, a statement could be: “Critique of other player” YES or NO.

One group made 481 statements playing Game 1, 670 statements playing Game 2, and 328 statements playing Game 3.
In this case “Critique of other player” occured 0 times in Game 1, 0 times in Game 2, and 7 times in Game 3 (i.e. 0%, 0% and 2,1%).

The hypothesis is that game type affects (verbal) behaviour. Thus, the null hypothesis is: The percentages are the same for all three game types.

How do I test this?

(I have various resource persons working on this and will post any solution that they come up with).

Back North



Diverse 430, originally uploaded by Agent Smith.

I’ve just returned from a 2 month research stay with Macquarie University‘s Dept. of Computing (Sydney). It’s been most productive and inspiring being around Anders Tychsen, Michael Hitchens, Manolia Kavakli and others.
Time to adapt to the so-called climate here and for trying not to miss the Manly sunsets too much.

To-read

gamingasculture_.jpg

New games book out: Gaming As Culture: Essays on Reality, Identity And Experience in Fantasy Games

From the description:

Since tabletop fantasy role-playing games emerged in the 1970s, fantasy gaming has made a unique contribution to popular culture and perceptions of social realities in America and around the world. This contribution is increasingly apparent as the gaming industry has diversified with the addition of collectible strategy games and other innovative products, as well as the recent advancements in videogame technology. This book presents the most current research in fantasy games and examines the cultural and constructionist dimensions of fantasy gaming as a leisure activity. Each chapter investigates some social or behavioral aspect of fantasy gaming and provides insight into the cultural, linguistic, sociological, and psychological impact of games on both the individual and society. Section I discusses the intersection of fantasy and real-world scenarios and how the construction of a fantasy world is dialectically related to the construction of a gamer’s social reality. Because the basic premise of fantasy gaming is the assumption of virtual identities, Section II looks at the relationship between gaming and various aspects of identity. The third and final section examines what the personal experiences of gamers can tell us about how humans experience reality.

Fascinating stuff

The latest issue of SIMULATION & GAMING has an interesting article by Zagal, Rick, and Hsi: Collaborative games: Lessons learned from board games.
It seeks to explore collaborative games, focusing on board games in order to extract principles which can be used by video game designers.

The article makes interesting points, and a few debatable ones (here I’ll just quibble about theory, without adressing the content).
The article starts of by delivering the “good news” that the number of single-player games will probably soon decrease. A rather odd normative statement. Continue reading Fascinating stuff

Sydney-bound (apartment for rent)

All signs indicate that I’ll be spending February and March of 2006 as a visiting research fellow at Macquarie University, Sydney. I’ll be associated with a group of game research-oriented people there. Among other things I’m excited to learn more about a project they’re doing on multiplayer game-play analysis (central to Anders Tychsen ‘s PhD).

Also: That leaves a nice 3 room Copenhagen apartment for rent in February and March 2006. So if you – or someone you know – need Copenhagen housing in that period, don’t hesitate to drop me a line.

 

Jack Thompson does a Godwin

A part of me refuses to believe that anti-game crusader Jack Thompsom really exists.
But it would appear, according to Game Politics, that he just pulled a Godwin in a letter to Senator Joe Lieberman:

I think Doug [Lowenstein] is a liar… Doug Lowenstein, in my opinion, is personally responsible for a number of deaths. He is paid well to spin like the worst propagandists in history. I don’t need to tell you the harm that propagandists can cause, the lives they can cost. The Third Reich was founded upon propaganda as surely as it was founded upon armaments. When Doug Lowenstein says the industry wants kids not to buy these games, he is lying. When he says there is no proof that these games hurt kids, he is lying. Dave would not say so. I say so. I’m not nice, and I don’t pretend to be.

The Third Reich? Isn’t that a bit mild? What about the dark lord Sauron himself?