Gameology: Commentary and Resources for the Game Studies Community

The Refractory journal's Issue 13: Games and Metamateriality, is online. It includes an article by Gameology's own Zach Whalen.

I remember making a short film with some friends after one of them had bought an early digital video camera, and being somewhat surprised that the whole process didn't consist of lining up actors in front of the lens, having them say their lines in order and then calling it a day. There was makeup, props, continuity, sound and lighting to worry about, and scenes were shot in haphazard order. Then it was all editing, editing, editing.

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Two postdoctoral positions in the digital humanities and two fellowship positions in digital art are now available at HUMlab, Umeå University, Sweden from August 1, 2008 (the actual start date may be later).

The postdoctoral fellowships are one-year positions, with a possible extension of one year. The digital art fellowships are one-year positions. For the postdoc positions, applicants will be expected to have a Ph.D. in a humanities discipline (from a non-Swedish university) and a specialty in any of the following five research areas: participatory media, digital cultural heritage, digital art/architecture, electronic literature, and critical perspectives. For the digital art fellowships, applicants will be expected to have an M.F.A or the equivalent (from a non-Swedish institute/school). In exceptional cases, other areas and backgrounds can be of interest as well.

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I've started reading The Innovator's Dilemma after seeing it recommended as a business-based perspective on technological change. Early on, the book has an example of how disruptive innovations are problematic for businesses because they change the business model--costing a great deal to develop and not being saleable to the same market, so they're neglected until it's too late and the old model starts to fail (the historical emergence of personal computers with mainframes vs. personal computers in the early days when some needs could be met by both). While I haven't finished the book (or the follow-up book), I started thinking of game-related innovations that could fit the same model and it seems like the multi-touch-sensitivity of the MacBook Air and the iPhone as well as the other types of user interfaces (Nintendo DS with sound, air and Nintendo Wii with movement) are the best current examples of what's to come (or at least the best examples related to my interests since narrative, complexity, personalization, procedurality, and many other areas are also developing rapidly).

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Visiting Assistant Professor in Professional Writing Position, U of Central Florida, Department of English, PO Box 161346 Orlando FL 32816

The Department of English at the University of Central Florida seeks a Visiting Assistant Professor specializing in Professional Writing to be employed at our Southern region campus. The non-tenure track position requires a PhD in English, Rhetoric/Composition, or a related field with specialization in technical and/or professional communication from an accredited institution and the ability to teach undergraduate and graduate courses. Position begins August 2008. Teaching load is 4/4. Possible assignments will include courses in our online Graduate Certificate in Professional Writing and our online M.A. in Technical Communication as well as our undergraduate professional writing and technical communication courses. Face-to-face courses and office hours will be primarily on UCF's Southern region campus in Cocoa. Must have expertise in developing and teaching web-based courses or be willing to teach online after receiving training on campus.

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Now I realise that videogame academia isn't about spruiking specific products - Anatomy of the FPS anyone? - but Grand Theft Auto IV has just come out! Just what grad students and academics need in addition to papers, teaching and unwritten theses.

Even for those of us who aren't playing/researching the GTA IV, it's fascinating how hard it is to avoid the game's cultural splash damage. Within hours of the release, I saw online videos of people doing stupid things in Liberty City or hunting out Easter Eggs. Apparently the in-game radio stations are pitch-perfect parodies of grating deejays and cretinous shock-jocks as well as the mellifluous , expansively liberal tones of NPR's All Things Considered (the latter interview also interesting for those who want to hear Lazlo Jones' take on Stravinsky).

GTA IV has prised open existing issues surrounding videogames, and thrown up new ones. Concerns about violence and sex, of course, are doing the rounds; but also their converse - Australia, which lacks a 18+ designation for games, has a censored version appearing in shops (apparently New Zealand also has to suffer the indignity). Does the increasing realism of games such as GTA IV affect the status of sexuality and violence within them? How do we read the portrayal of race and the function of stereotypes in such a text? Is there any political potential to the vicious satire, or is it simply symptomatic of consumer culture's morbid self-obsession? Does the success of this iteration highlight a growing preference for sandbox style game design over more tightly structured advancement through virtual space and time? What are some of the most interesting peripheral cultural forms arising from the game and how does the fan culture work? Is there more to this all than succès de scandale?

So are any Gameologists hanging out in Liberty City? What are your thoughts?

A little over a year ago the NY Times and various other media outlets and blogs reported on Henry Lowood, Warren Spector, Steve Meretzky, Mario Bittanti, and Christopher Grant's list of the ten most important games of all time.

Many referred to it as the creation of the first video game canon.

Certainly we are all aware of the problems of creating any kind of canon yet I think we all recognize their usefulness as well---if only as the subject of critique.

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A few Gameology folks are on Twitter. Thus far, I've found Zach and Matt B., and I'm on it too, but I'll be looking to find others, and hopefully those not on will join. I'd previously abstained from microblogging/twittering because I thought it was too short and quick to be as useful as I wanted, but it's all I have time for lately and that makes it much more useful than the alternative. Plus, it's fun right now and anything fun is especially nice at the end of the semester and with the ever-rising heat of summer. It's more fun with more people so those with the time should join and follow their Gameology friends.

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The time for Ph.D. exam preparation is fast approaching (I really should start this summer) and I have been trying to develop strategies for successful note taking, organization, research, and scheduling.

I was initially inspired by D. Travers Scott's blog courageously chronicling his exam reading. After some more searching I stumbled across David Parry's excellent blog discussing a variety of different tech tools for academics, Academhack.

So far I have gotten a hold of EndNote on the recommendation of a colleague, but have yet to really play around with it. I have been told it is incredibly helpful in terms of managing and implementing citations.

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