"Immersion" is the big watchword that game people use all the time. But to me it's not a matter of being "immersed" so much as it is simply being interested. (A game designer and academic named Richard Lemarchand made this argument beautifully at the G.D.C. [the Game Developers Conference] a couple years ago.) And you can be interested in all sorts of ways. One of the frustrating things for me in the last few weeks has been seeing the "video-game violence" debate. There's been a dispiriting lack of recognition of the sheer number of games out there that aren't violent, that are thoughtful.

"The future of games culture: I can see a time where we sell tickets to stories, ones that are told through the written word, film, games and theatre to various degrees. I would love to be in a violent shipwreck as part of an immersive experience and then go home and play a survival horror game continuing that story."

Transmogrification isn't just for making your character pretty or wearing old sets. Where's the fun in that? There are thousands of pieces to choose from for your look, and there's no reason you can't make it a distinctive one -- paying homage to video games or popular comics is just as much fun as being pretty.

From HASTAC: "In the unsettledness of this field, this forum recognizes those disciplinary forces that frequently attempt to silo the study of digital games into a narrow set of purposes, such as edutainment or gamification, or relegates digital gaming completely into the margins of "low" or "pop" culture. We seek to address how games have contributed to the digital humanities specifically, and how they might impact its future. In other words, where is video game studies in the digital humanities? And more broadly where can we identify intersections in cultural criticism, video game studies, and video game development? "

Microsoft today embraced the gamification trend by introducing a new plug-in for its Visual Studio development program that will let software developers unlock achievements, receive badges and work their way up a leaderboard based on the code they write.

"Think gamification is amateur and doesn't belong in the workplace? You might be surprised to find some recent reports and analysts will disagree. "

CastleVille may be the newest "Ville" game in Zynga's lineup, but it is a game all its own, thanks to its living world and MMORPG (massive multiplayer online role playing game) elements. The game, which is making its debut Friday on Facebook, brings many of the traditional elements that have turned FarmVille and CityVille into multi-billion dollar successes, including city building, exploration, self expression and playing with friends. However, the game also boasts some gaming aspects that have popularized MMORGPs such as World of Warcraft, including player customization, an enhanced reputation system and a trade system that will roll out in the coming weeks.

"Games provide a framework for bringing together the strengths of computers and humans. The results in this week's paper show that gaming, science and computation can be combined to make advances that were not possible before."

Hugh Pickens writes "Portland, Oregon will be the first city to use IBM's new software called Systems Dynamics for Smarter Cities, containing 3,000 equations which collectively seek to model cities' emergent behavior and help them figure out how policy can affect the lives of their citizens. The pro...

Trepidity writes "Controversy continues over the seemingly unstoppable trend of 'gamification' (something we've discussed previously). The University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business held a Gamification Symposium entitled 'For The Win' this week, indicating apparent academic respectabili...

The lovely folks at the National Endowment of the Arts, the US government body that awards grants to arts institutions and individual artists, have just expanded the categories of art it considers to include "media platforms such as... digital games", along with other Internet-driven mediums. As one of the country's most prominent arts organizations (taxpayer-funded, no less), this represents a huge milestone in the mainstream acknowledgement of games and other interactive media as art. It's part of the Arts in Media awards, with grants ranging from $10,000 to $200,000, with an application deadline of September 1. (Go here for all the details.)

"This acknowledges that film, TV and games can stand side by side and be independently recognized," said Steve Schnur, Worldwide Executive, Music, Electronic Arts. "Hopefully, this will create an even playing field when people vote next year. I expect there to be a tidal wave of submissions from the game industry."

From Slashdot pertaining to the pros and cons related to Wikipedia as the source for video game history: "Wikipedia requires reliable, third-party sources for content to stick, and most of the sites that covered MUDs throughout the '80s were user-generated, heavily specialized or buried deep within forums, user groups and newsletters. Despite their mammoth influence on the current gaming landscape, their insular communities were rarely explored by a nascent games journalist crowd. ... while cataloging gaming history is a vitally important move for this culture or art form, and Wikipedia makes a very valiant contribution, the site can't be held accountable as the singular destination for gaming archeology. But as it's often treated as one, due care must be paid to the site to ensure that its recollection doesn't become clouded or irresponsible, and to ensure its coalition of editors and administrators are not using its stringent rule set to sweep anything as vitally relevant as MUDS under the rug of history."

From O'Reilly: "Gamification is a hot topic, with big brands and startups alike trying to leverage the power of points, badges, levels, challenges and rewards to engage users, generate virality and solve problems. Join Gabe Zichermann, Gamification Expert and Author as he discusses some of the main ways that gamification will change your business. He shares examples of gamification done right - and done poorly, and gives you a preview of some of the amazing content that will be shared at the upcoming Gamification Summit in San Francisco - GSummit.com."

"I find people's altruism extraordinary. In RL, much altruism is met with suspicion... 'if you're trying to help me, you must want something'. Or it's dangerous to be altruistic, like picking up hitchhikers, or intervening if there is a crime in progress. But in virtual worlds, I find an outlet. I get a lot of satisfaction from performing random acts of altruism. And I'm always touched when people do the same with me. I think it taps into people's need to be needed. I'm not sure that it's clear that people are needed in RL. Certainly my husband spends so much time playing because he feels that his group 'needs' him. But I also just like making people happy... so a lot of it is about an outlet for generosity" [CoH, F, 35].

I'm pretty sure that this is what Jair was referring to at the game group session.

This appears to be an extension of the "Influence of Gaming" transcript

Primitive, but amazing first step to real-time socio-virtual interaction. Possibilities include distance/virtual education, collaboration, social media 2.0.