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Brett Boessen

Why I Blog - Andrew Sullivan - The Atlantic - 4 views

www.theatlantic.com/...307060

Sullivan atlantic blogging opinion

shared by Brett Boessen on 29 Oct 12 - No Cached
  • For a long time, columns were essentially monologues published to applause, muffled murmurs, silence, or a distant heckle. I’d gotten blowback from pieces before—but in an amorphous, time-delayed, distant way. Now the feedback was instant, personal, and brutal.
    • Brett Boessen
      Brett Boessen on 29 Oct 12
       
      Instant Feedback -- blogging is the gamification of authorship?
  • The form was more accountable, not less, because there is nothing more conducive to professionalism than being publicly humiliated for sloppiness.
  • The blog remained a superficial medium, of course. By superficial, I mean simply that blogging rewards brevity and immediacy
  • ...26 more annotations...
  • the key to understanding a blog is to realize that it’s a broadcast, not a publication. If it stops moving, it dies. If it stops paddling, it sinks.
  • But the superficiality masked considerable depth—greater depth, from one perspective, than the traditional media could offer. The reason was a single technological innovation: the hyperlink.
  • in reading it on paper, you have to take the columnist’s presentation of the material on faith, or be convinced by a brief quotation (which can always be misleading out of context).
  • a hyperlink to the original source transforms the experience.
  • A blog, therefore, bobs on the surface of the ocean but has its anchorage in waters deeper than those print media is technologically able to exploit.
  • The blogger
  • a node among other nodes, connected but unfinished without the links and the comments and the track-backs that make the blogosphere, at its best, a conversation, rather than a production.
  • If you compare the meandering, questioning, unresolved dialogues of Plato with the definitive, logical treatises of Aristotle, you see the difference between a skeptic’s spirit translated into writing and a spirit that seeks to bring some finality to the argument.
  • Perhaps the greatest single piece of Christian apologetics, Pascal’s Pensées, is a series of meandering, short, and incomplete stabs at arguments, observations, insights. Their lack of finish is what makes them so compelling—arguably more compelling than a polished treatise by Aquinas.
  • Montaigne was living his skepticism, daring to show how a writer evolves, changes his mind, learns new things, shifts perspectives, grows older—and that this, far from being something that needs to be hidden behind a veneer of unchanging authority, can become a virtue, a new way of looking at the pretensions of authorship and text and truth.
  • To blog is therefore to let go of your writing in a way, to hold it at arm’s length, open it to scrutiny, allow it to float in the ether for a while, and to let others, as Montaigne did, pivot you toward relative truth
  • Some e-mailers, unsurprisingly, know more about a subject than the blogger does
  • The role of a blogger is not to defend against this but to embrace it.
  • He is similar in this way to the host of a dinner party. He can provoke discussion or take a position, even passionately, but he also must create an atmosphere in which others want to participate.
  • You can’t have blogger’s block. You have to express yourself now, while your emotions roil, while your temper flares, while your humor lasts. You can try to hide yourself from real scrutiny, and the exposure it demands, but it’s hard.
  • Alone in front of a computer, at any moment, are two people: a blogger and a reader.
  • The proximity is palpable, the moment human
  • friendship
  • Bloggers can be spun and misled as easily as traditional writers—and the rigorous source assessment that good reporters do can’t be done by e-mail. But you’d be surprised by what comes unsolicited into the in-box, and how helpful it often is.
  • A good blog is your own private Wikipedia.
  • There is a distinction here, of course, between the edited use of e-mailed sources by a careful blogger and the often mercurial cacophony on an unmediated comments section. But the truth is out there—and the miracle of e-mail allows it to come to you.
  • The reason this open-source market of thinking and writing has such potential is that the always adjusting and evolving collective mind can rapidly filter out bad arguments and bad ideas. The flip side, of course, is that bloggers are also human beings.
  • You can disappear into the partisan blogosphere and never stumble onto a site you disagree with. But linkage mitigates this. A Democratic blog will, for example, be forced to link to Republican ones, if only to attack and mock.
  • If all this sounds postmodern, that’s because it is. And blogging suffers from the same flaws as postmodernism: a failure to provide stable truth or a permanent perspective.
  • To use an obvious analogy, jazz entered our civilization much later than composed, formal music. But it hasn’t replaced it; and no jazz musician would ever claim that it could. Jazz merely demands a different way of playing and listening, just as blogging requires a different mode of writing and reading.
  • The reason they talk while listening, and comment or link while reading, is that they understand that this is a kind of music that needs to be engaged rather than merely absorbed.
  • Bryan Alexander on 30 Oct 12
     
    Good one, Brett. Some people were talking about social media as gamification, in terms of checking points (hits, links) and getting rewards. Can't remember where.
  • Brett Boessen on 31 Oct 12
     
    If you think of it, drop me a line; I'd be interested to see what came of that discussion.
Ed Webb

A COMPUTERLESS VIDEOGAME MODDING WORKSHOP | Molleindustria - 5 views

www.molleindustria.org/...ess-videogame-modding-workshop

games gaming modding

shared by Ed Webb on 29 Oct 12 - No Cached
  • Brett Boessen on 29 Oct 12
     
    Thank you, sir: we were *just* talking about not only games and rhetoric/ideology last week but several Molle Industria games in particular in my Persuasive Media class. I'm posting a quick entry on our class blog (http://acpm12.wordpress.com/).
  • Bryan Alexander on 30 Oct 12
     
    Very cool. (Molle has a blog? To the RSS reader!)
Ed Webb

BLOG « failbetter - 2 views

about.failbettergames.com/blog

games text storytelling platforms

shared by Ed Webb on 17 Oct 12 - No Cached
  • Ed Webb on 17 Oct 12
     
    I sense possibilities. Maybe it will be a little more user-friendy than Inform 7.
  • Brett Boessen on 17 Oct 12
     
    I've been playing around with it a little bit; had my students look at it briefly last week. It is *more* user friendly in that there are forms and boxes for you to input your story elements (ie, a little more visual than Inform). It is *less* useful in that the product is always in the Fallen London format, ie, cards/decks are "dealt" and story elements are uncovered in a point-based system. So if you're not looking for that particular format to deliver your story, I'm not sure it's as flexible as Inform is. But I think it's pretty neat that they've opened up their process to the public, and their wiki is CHOCK full of ideas, tips, hints, and other useful stuff for producing an engaging story of the Fallen London variety. And, they've got a new game to play in addition to FL called Cabinet Noir which is set in Richelieu/Musketeers France and is fun in a more historically accurate (maybe?) way than FL was/is. Kudos to Failbetter all around, if you're into IF. :)
  • Bryan Alexander on 17 Oct 12
     
    Pretty usable. I quickly generated a French Revolution game/story. Would be fun to do that right.
Brett Boessen

Raph's Website » The best game design articles on the site - 1 views

www.raphkoster.com/...the-best-articles

games gamedesign design raphkoster koster

shared by Brett Boessen on 19 Mar 12 - No Cached
  • Brett Boessen on 19 Mar 12
     
    A thorough compendium of Koster's blogging over the past several years.
Brett Boessen

Press Start to Continue: Toward a New Video Game Studies | HASTAC - 3 views

hastac.org/...-toward-new-video-game-studies

games criticism hastac pedagogy theory forum

shared by Brett Boessen on 08 Feb 12 - No Cached
Erik Hanson liked it
  • being a gamer is less an inherent attribute—either you are or you aren’t—than it is a malleable description of practices that change throughout one’s lifetime, whether from “hardcore” to “casual,” single-player to “social,” or genre to genre
  • one could argue that part of the origin story of game studies was the struggle to establish the idea that games are not narratives--that they were a radically "new" textuality, but this just delayed the needful discussions of how games related to the inherited media ecology, how they used narrative, music, video, etc. to new effects
  • students tend not to be "well-played," on an analogy to "well-read," but knowledgeable in one or a few genres
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • what about our students' physical abilities and skill sets? How does skill play into their experiences of games?
  • Can or should one philosophize about a medium one has not embraced to the point of design?  I vote:  no.
  • In an academic paper, I don't think that I would feel legitimate in citing something from a designer. It doesn't feel credible, even though the designer may be someone like Ron Gilbert
  • a senior-level seminar in “Digital Games and Culture”
  • Betty Hayes and I have been teaching an undergrad games studies course uniting new media reading/writing, academic readings across disciplines, and gameplay across genres for two years now
  • Brett Boessen on 08 Feb 12
     
    HASTAC has started a forum (a blog post with lots o' comments) to discuss video game studies.
Bryan Alexander

Spotlight on DML | Turning Point for Video Games with Learning Goals? - 1 views

spotlight.macfound.org/...ing_point_games_learning_goals

gaming education learning

shared by Bryan Alexander on 23 Jun 09 - Cached
  • Bryan Alexander on 23 Jun 09
     
    Looking at progress and challenges in .edu gaming over the past 5 years. Notes here: http://let.blog.nitle.org/2009/06/23/progress-and-challenges-in-games-for-learning/
Ed Webb

Ian Bogost - Against Aca-Fandom - 2 views

www.bogost.com/...against_aca-fandom.shtml

culture criticism fandom television games opinion blog bogost

shared by Ed Webb on 04 Aug 10 - No Cached
  • Scholars need to make more kinds of things
  • I also question whether traditional academic distance may not often be as lazy, as simple-minded, as the kind of "vulgar aca-fandom" you are critiquing. It seems to me that it often comes from a refusal to engage with texts and the people who consume them. It often starts from an easy dismissal of the value of the work, a disdain for its fans and creators, and a desire to signal one's distance from anything commercial or popular. It often does not ask the kinds of hard questions you are claiming for the virtue of skepticism. For me, then, there is no special virtue from either starting place -- only the need to be honest about where you are starting from and your own stakes in the analytic process and to be unsettled and multivalient in constantly questioning the texts in which you are engaged. To me, this represents the virtues of the best fan criticism and it represents the virtues of the best outsider criticism.
  • I'm not suggesting that fans of pop culture artifact X (for any X) are wasting their time and ought to read Chaucer instead. Rather, I'm just not sure I agree that intense fans are sharp critics. I think they are pedantically detailed and vehement investigators, but I don't know that such digging leads to criticism. Let's take this further: it's a criticism I would extend to most academics too... many "careful readers" of whatever (Chaucer, even!) aren't really any better. In that respect, I agree with you that traditional academic distance isn't a salve (as I begin to suggest above, most "traditional" academics suffer from the same negative fandom that concerns me).
  • Bryan Alexander on 04 Aug 10
     
    I like the distinction between criticism and investigation. Cf the devoted readers of Tolkien, Austen, etc. I wonder how often liberal arts folks interested in gaming get accused of being (just) fans?
Ed Webb

The Fallout Out of Our Choices - 3 views

dickinsonkaiserz.wordpress.com/...the-fallout-out-of-our-choices

climate environment games gaming sci-fi sciencefiction

shared by Ed Webb on 04 Oct 10 - No Cached
  • Ed Webb on 04 Oct 10
     
    Student blog - note seamlessness of experience between movie and game story lines.
  • Bryan Alexander on 05 Oct 10
     
    Say more, Ed. Do you think that seamlessness is part of the global imaginary now?
  • Ed Webb on 05 Oct 10
     
    I think it is becoming less remarkable to treat game worlds and storylines as similar to/comparable to/continuous with longer-established media such as movies, novels etc. I don't know whether it's generational, or just longevity of the medium. Maybe the technology has grown to allow more complex/complete world depictions.
Ed Webb

Simulation - 3 views

alliereedsblog.blogspot.com/...simulation.html

simulation game opinion blog

shared by Ed Webb on 15 Nov 10 - No Cached
  • Ed Webb on 15 Nov 10
     
    First of several posts by students playing Peacemaker as a way of thinking about the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
  • ...1 more comment...
  • Bryan Alexander on 17 Nov 10
     
    Are these from that Army College down the road from you guys?
  • Ed Webb on 17 Nov 10
     
    These are students in my Int'l Politics of the Middle East Class: https://www.google.com/reader/bundle/user/02949324672354748984/bundle/IntPolMidEast Shalom's Conflict Resolution class also recently did an exercise with Peacemaker, and will shortly be invited to comment on this series of blog posts.
  • Bryan Alexander on 17 Nov 10
     
    Oh great!
Todd Bryant

CellCraft - 1 views

www.cellcraftgame.com/Home.html

Science Cell Biology

shared by Todd Bryant on 06 Dec 10 - Cached
  • Todd Bryant on 06 Dec 10
     
    Third science game in a month. Check out the blog for a bit of controversy. It seems at least one advisor to the game is a proponent of "intelligent design", but I agree it makes sense for the game to focus on cell mechanics. Just because you control the cell, doesn't mean the game is making an argument for an omnipotent creator of all living things. Found it via an article in Kill Screen magazine "Back to School" (no online version)
Bryan Alexander

World of Warcraft Finds Its Way Into Class | MindShift - 1 views

blogs.kqed.org/...craft-finds-its-way-into-class

pedagogy gaming

shared by Bryan Alexander on 27 Mar 13 - No Cached
  • Bryan Alexander on 27 Mar 13
     
    World of Warcraft Students' passions can be a powerful driver for deeper and more creative learning. With this knowledge, some educators are using popular commercial games like World of Warcraft (WoW) to create curriculum around the game.
Bryan Alexander

University Offers Class on Skyrim and Medieval Scandinavia | HackCollege - 2 views

www.hackcollege.com/...university-class-skyrim.html

game education fun

shared by Bryan Alexander on 22 Oct 12 - No Cached
Erik Hanson liked it
  • Bryan Alexander on 22 Oct 12
     
    Money isn't everything, but not having it sure can but a dent in everything. In college, your money is thin and the things you can spend it on- trips, food and drinks- are everywhere. So with that in mind, here are five ways to stretch your money further. 1.
Ed Webb

Most Gamification is Just Pointsification | The Ludus Project - 5 views

ludusproject.org/...cation-is-just-pointsification

gamification

shared by Ed Webb on 01 Nov 12 - No Cached
  • Rebecca Davis on 02 Nov 12
     
    Just the title sounds true on this one--many of the gamification discussions I've heard have focused on points as incentive.
  • Bryan Alexander on 15 Nov 12
     
    That's really good. What can you do with those points?
Bryan Alexander

U. of Utah to Help Students Publish Video Games - Wired Campus - The Chronicle of Highe... - 0 views

chronicle.com/...37181

education games

shared by Bryan Alexander on 25 Jun 12 - No Cached
  • Bryan Alexander on 25 Jun 12
     
    Many universities offer programs that teach video-game design, but the University of Utah has taken the unusual step of creating a company to help its students bring their electronic amusements to market. The company, Utah Game Forge, opened in May and just released its first game, Heroes of Hat!
Lisa Spiro

What Makes Educational Games Work? | MindShift - 3 views

blogs.kqed.org/...t-makes-educational-games-work

gaming

shared by Lisa Spiro on 15 Aug 12 - No Cached
  • Lisa Spiro on 15 Aug 12
     
    "As the gaming in education continues to grow, one of the foremost experts in the field, Constance Steinkuehler, makes the case for why it's important to pay attention to what works in gaming and how it could be applied to learning. At the recent Aspen Ideas Festival, Steinkuehler, who's now a Senior Policy Analyst at the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President, spoke with author and researcher John Seely Brown about some of the more prominent issues in gaming and education."
Bryan Alexander

Study of mobile gamers - 1 views

blog.flurry.com/...The-New-Mass-Market-Powerhouse

mobile

shared by Bryan Alexander on 30 Nov 11 - No Cached
  • Bryan Alexander on 30 Nov 11
     
    Women more into mobile games than men.
Brett Boessen

Terra Nova: Movies Stink - 15 views

terranova.blogs.com/...movies-stink.html

rant castranova systems design games narrative stories storytelling

shared by Brett Boessen on 06 Jan 12 - No Cached
  • Brett Boessen on 06 Jan 12
     
    Castranova is not usually so passionate in his writing.  Very interesting perspective, though.
  • ...12 more comments...
  • Bryan Alexander on 06 Jan 12
     
    Interesting to see him split games from stories.
  • Bryan Alexander on 06 Jan 12
     
    I do chime in with his grumpiness about Hollywood, generally.
  • Brett Boessen on 07 Jan 12
     
    Honestly, I'm starting to feel similarly. Though I am finding many of the long-form serial narratives of TV pretty engaging. Still, I appreciate the value in *doing* over watching/consuming. And yet what he's saying is essentially a version of the old "film/tv makes you passive" argument, which I've always recoiled against. So I'm torn.
  • Bryan Alexander on 10 Jan 12
     
    I've been coming back to the tv=passive line, more and more each year. It's hard, because I know so many active fans engaged in all kinds of practices. But then I see the silent fans, the ones who just... soak. And I'm reminded of William Gibson's line about couch potatoes.
  • Brett Boessen on 11 Jan 12
     
    I don't know that one...do tell. :)
  • Bryan Alexander on 11 Jan 12
     
    I think this is textually correct, more or less: "a vicious, lazy, profoundly ignorant, perpetually hungry organism craving the warm god-flesh of the anointed. Personally I like to imagine something the size of a baby hippo, the color of a week-old boiled potato, that lives by itself, in the dark, in a double-wide on the outskirts of Topeka. It's covered with eyes and it sweats constantly. The sweat runs into those eyes and makes them sting. It has no mouth, Laney, no genitals, and can only express its mute extremes of murderous rage and infantile desire by changing the channels on a universal remote. Or by voting in presidential elections."
  • Bryan Alexander on 11 Jan 12
     
    Or, more succinctly: couch potatoes, like taters, are kept in the dark, buried under manure.
  • Brett Boessen on 12 Jan 12
     
    Wow. That's...very detailed. Doesn't leave a lot of room for empathy or understanding: pretty cut and dried. :)
  • Bryan Alexander on 12 Jan 12
     
    Jeremaiad. One I sympathize with. I need to spend time with you happy media studies folks and regain my old empathy.
  • Brett Boessen on 13 Jan 12
     
    THAT Camp - Games. Done and done. :)
  • Bryan Alexander on 13 Jan 12
     
    That's right - when do you arrive?
  • Brett Boessen on 13 Jan 12
     
    I'll actually be there Thursday evening, but I'm going to dinner with my parents and brother (who live in the area). I am staying through Monday morning, though. We should be able to find some time to catch it, I'd guess. What are your travel plans?
  • Bryan Alexander on 14 Jan 12
     
    Coming in Thursday, leaving Sunday @3.
  • Brett Boessen on 14 Jan 12
     
    Cool -- I'll see you Friday morning then. Let's try to grab a meal at some point. :)
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