See also my resources on interactive fiction (text adventure games), programming in Inform 7, making games in Scratch, and coding hypertext stories in Twine.
The History of the Future of Writing (CCCC 2006 Chicago — Day 3) These are rough notes, typed as the presenters were speaking, and lightly edited back in my hotel room before being posted online. Helen J. Burgess Washington State University. “Whatever Happened to My MOO?” Administered Appalachia Moo, had fun building and coding, “absolutely no…
In the past 24 hours, we learned of allegations that Ben Domenech plagiarized material that appeared under his byline in various publications prior to washingtonpost.com contracting with him to write a blog that launched Tuesday. —Ben Domenech Resigns (post.blog) That was quick.
Gaming tends to be regarded as a harmless diversion at best, a vile corruptor of youth at worst. But the usual critiques fail to recognize its potential for experiential learning. Unlike education acquired through textbooks, lectures, and classroom instruction, what takes place in massively multiplayer online games is what we call accidental learning. It’s learning…
Why Plagiarism Makes Sense in the Digital Age: Copying, Remixing, and Composing (CCCC 2006 Chicago — Day 2) This was a jam-packed, no-downtime, hardly-time-to-breathe presentation. I’m posting the notes that I took while the presenters were speaking, very lightedly edited afterwards in my hotel room. I hope whatever inadvertent remixing I did while taking these notes…
Technology, Play and Pedagogy: Video Gaming and New Literacies (CCCC 2006 Chicago — Day 2) As is always the case with a conference blogging exercise, these are my rough notes, typed as the speakers were talking, and lightly edited in my hotel room at the end of the day. Matthew S. S. Johnson, Indiana University, Bloomington:…
Publish, Plagiarize, and/or Perish? (CCCC 2006 Chicago — Day 2) Lila Harper, Central Washington University, Ellensburg. “What Can We Learn about Plagiarism from Master’s Theses?” Is often asked, “Why in the world are you reading so many of these theses?” For the past 3-4 years, she has read, copy-edited and checked the references of every completed…
1UP: Perspectives from Scholars/Practitioners of Video Games (CCCC 2006 Chicago — Day 1) I arrived early at this session and spent some time reconnecting with Matt Barton, whom I know from previous conferences. Barton is working on a book on graphic adventure games, and gave me some suggestions on what I might do with my interactive…
Leeroy Jenkins Meets the CCCC Program (CCCC 2006 Chicago — Day 1) The wireless internet access at the Palmer House Hilton charges an hourly rate, so I’ll batch-post my notes to my blog when I get back to my hotel. As is always the case with live blogging (or near-live blogging), these will be rough notes…
They’re meant to educate people by simulating real-world events and are often created with the best of intentions. Problem is, education, science and health care aren’t exactly the stuff of exciting entertainment, let alone video games. —Daniel Terdiman —What’s wrong with serious games? (C|Net News.com) Okay, but I’m uncomfortable with the word “entertanment,” since that carries…
Oh newfanglenesse! Y have learned the privitees of the manye abbreviaciouns ywritten on the internette. OMG: “oh mine ++DOMINUS++”. ROFL: “rollinge on the floore laughinge”. IRL: “in reale lyfe.” WTF: “whatte the swyve?” Beinge somethinge of an innovator myselfe, Y presente to yow, churles and gentils alle, the followynge abbreviaciouns. May they serven yow welle…
Protagonist –> click –> a regional Canadian airline Protagonist = pilot Setting –> click –> some African herd animal Setting = a savannah Problem –> click –> some antidepressant drug Problem = need to acquire medicine Antagonist –> click –> some historical doctor Antagonist = a doctor who won’t dispense the medicine (nice synch on…
The 6th annual Game Developers Choice Awards will devote a portion of the ceremony to honoring a group of individuals whose efforts stand out in the advancement of the interactive entertainment industry. The ceremony, which is produced and hosted by the Game Developers Conference (GDC) and presented by the International Game Developers Association (IGDA), will…
There never has been a better time to get into Web journalism. We are making money, we are hiring, and we are actively searching for new, innovative ideas. After ten years, there are no veterans in this field. This is your chance to be among the first. —Anthony Moor —Go to the Web, young journalist! (Online…
Then one night Lisberger went to visit his in-laws, and everyone was crouched around the TV, playing Pong. “They kept referring to the games, ‘Play the game,’ and since I had been working on a project called “Animalympics,” the idea of games to me meant more than that. It meant Olympic or gladiatorial games,” the…
Singer says he plans to use the late Marlon Brando in the new film. Brando, who played Superman’s father, Jor-El, in the 1978 Superman and died in 2004, will return in the same role. Singer says he found stock footage of Brando shot by director Richard Donner in 1978, which will provide Brando’s voice. Special-effects…
Think back to John Henry racing a steam drill and forward to Garry Kasparov trying to outmaneuver IBM’s Deep Blue in 1997 to the Onion tweaking the genre with its accountant battles Excel story. But the latest twist on the meme takes it to the meta-level by raising the question: in the future, will you…
Thanks to a comment a former student added to last week’s post, I found some pleasant, lush models of trees, along with numerous other realistic residential items. I’ve added the fluorescent light fixtures and wall sconces inside, and some pretty trees outside. I also started working with a street model (curbs and sidewalks), but ran…
Welcome to World of Warcraft: The Text Adventure. You are standing at the end of a road before a small brick building. Around you is a forest. A small stream flows out of the building and down a gully. There is an elf with an exclamation point above her head here. >Talk elf “Alas,” she…
In late 1982, my best friend had a Sony TCS-310 Stereo Cassette Recorder. Audio cassette tape was the affordable recording media at the time and one wintery November day while on our way to the arcade ‘Just Fun’ in Ithaca, NY, we came up with the idea to record video game sounds. —Daniel P. Hower…
The first fully-automated performance of the 1924 Futurist/Dadaist/Cubist composition “Ballet mécanique” by George Antheil takes place this weekend in the East Wing of the National Gallery of Art, on the Mall in Washington, DC–in conjunction with the larges exhibit in history on Dadaist art. Programmed by composer/author/music technologist Paul Lehrman, and using robots built by…