mattscape

RANDOM: Freaks and Geeks in SF (GDC 2009)

Simone Crosignani, yours truly, Fabio Ravetto

EVENT: AVATARS @ Stanford (April 10, 2009)

I'm delighted to announce that I will be giving the keynote at AVATARS, 3rd Annual Comparative Literature Graduate Conference at Stanford University, on April 10 2009 at 5 PM. The title of my talk is "WYSIWYG. Avatars, Doppelgängers, Performers."

 Here's a description of the event:

"Who can see us?  How do we make ourselves visible, or readable, to the world at large? How do we portray or define ourselves— to ourselves? 

The Sanskrit word "avatara" means "descent"; an avatar, in Hindu theology, embodies the descent of a deity from a higher to a lower realm.  The term has recently been repurposed for use in online interaction and gaming— notably in the popular online multi-player environment Second Life— itself marking a kind of descent from the hieratic realm of theology into the de-divinized world of the Internet. The virtualization of certain areas of our societies has provided new fora for experimenting with and reflecting on the images we construct and project, the personae we mimic and adopt, and the ways in which we interact with each other. That said, virtual culture may merely highlight issues that have emerged in different forms through visual art and literature both transnationally and transtemporally: for example, the use of gender-altering pseudonyms as a method of alternative self-representation; the adoption of myriad personae as a tool in artistic creation and performance; and the veneration of icons both religious and social. 
 
The third annual Comparative Literature Graduate Student Conference at Stanford University will trace the various descents, ascents, descendants and ascendancies of the avatar, as well as the various representational iterations of alternate or constructed personae, such as pseudonyms."

And here is the full program: Download Avatars

Link to the official website

EVENT: Play-Machinma-Law (Stanford University, April 24-25)

RESEARCH: "Before It's Too Late: A Digital Game Preservation White Paper" Released!

We are delighted to announce that the 2008 white paper on Digital Preservation is now complete!

Titled Before It's Too Late: A Digital Game Preservation White Paper, can be freely downloaded, and also printed via  the Lulu.com service. The goal of this document is to explain why game history needs preserving, what needs preserving, and what you can do to help preserve game history.  Spread this to developers, academics and anybody interested in videogame history! Feedback is welcome.

Such ambititous project was made possible by the contribution of several researchers:  Henry Lowood (lead project manager), Andrew Armstrong, Devin Monnens, Zach Vowell, Judd Ruggill, Ken McAllister, Rachel Donahue, Jon-Paul Dyson, Stuart Feldhamer and Jo Barwick. 

Look out for our next white paper looking at the best practices for game preservation coming in 2010!

NEWS: Preserving Virtual Worlds @ GDC 2009

Game Preservation SIG @ GDC 2009

Speaker: Henry Lowood (Curator/Professor, Stanford University)

Date/Time: Friday (March 27, 2009)   2:30pm — 3:30pm

Location (room): Room 113, North Hall

Track: Game Design

Format: 60-minute Roundtable

Experience Level: All

Session Description

The Game Preservation SIG will recap discussions and projects of the last year, including the improvement of the SIG wiki and blog, the memorial pages project, the beginning of work on the White Paper, and the opening of new projects such as Preserving Virtual Worlds, the UT Austin Videogame Archive, and the National Videogame Archive in the UK. Attendees should be prepared to discuss their own projects and ideas.

RESEARCH: New Media Practices Around the World: Brazil, China, India & South Korea

Heather Horst, a former colleague of mine at The Digital Youth Project, now at UC Irvine, has written a fabulous essay on gaming in Brazil for Futures of Learning," a collective blog dedicated to the topic of new media and learning. The members of the blog are part of a project, funded by the MacArthur Foundation, that is conducting an international survey of research in the field". A must-read:

"Much like we see in school and afterschool programs in the United States, these attitudes towards video games also impact the accessibility to gaming. Bar (personal communication) notes that telecenters and POS make it a point to ban gaming and other activities, such as accessing Orkut, downloading music, that are viewed as “unproductive” or “a waste of time”. While the field of game studies, new media and learning reveal the importance of gaming for entertainment, collaboration, organizing and mobilizing and civic engagement (see Gee 2004, Ito and Bittanti Forthcoming, Ito, et. al. Forthcoming, Kahne 2008, Squire and Steinkhuehler 2005), it is clear that video games continue to be perceived as antithetical to the educational and civic missions of the telecenter effort. This attitude has two implications. In the first instance, and coupled with efforts to offer low-cost loans to individuals and families to purchase computers for use at home, many youth and others who enjoy playing video games simply do not use the telecenter. The second, more common practice is the use of LAN houses." (Heather Horst et al, Futures of Learning)

Read more 

Also: Gaming in India, Korea and China

PRINTED MATTER: WIRED 2 is out

The second issue of WIRED magazine (April 2009) has reached the newstands in Italy. The cover story is about the environment - here's Riccardo Luna's take on the subject. The PLAY section features my stories on Resident Evil 5, The Godfather II, Mad World and my favorite, Machinarium.

Take a look at WIRED Italy

EVENT: "E-Sports and Cyberathleticism: A How They Got Game Workshop" @ Stanford University (May 8 2009)

Heads up, fellow gamers: The How They Got Game project at Stanford University is happy to announce "E-Sports and Cyberathleticism: A How They Got Game Workshop". This event will be held in Wallenberg Hall @ Stanford University on May 8 2009 between 9 Am - 5 PM. The mastermind behind this event is T.L. Taylor, who is currently visiting the Stanford Humanities Lab. 

Expect full details in a few days. 

RESEARCH: CFP: Ludic Cartography. Mapping GameSpaces

[Image courtesy of Sony]

CFP: Ludic Cartography. Mapping GameSpaces
 
Full Name/Name of Organization
Matteo Bittanti, Henry Lowood, Bonnie De Varco
 
Stanford University

Contact email: Matteo Bittanti at bittanti at Stanford dot edu and/or Henry Lowood at lowood at Stanford dot edu and/or bonnie de varco at devarco at cruzio. dot com 

 
CFP categories:
Video Games, Cartography, Virtual Worlds, Game Studies, Sociology
 
Description

The How They Got Game Project at Stanford University is currently seeking papers that explore the connections between mapping, cartographic practices, and electronic gaming for an illustrated book that will be published in 2010. Specifically, we are interested in representations of spaces in video games through the aid of maps and mapping tools. Video games establish  new topographies and new geographies that - while making obvious references to pre-existing models - create a new understanding of the world and its spaces. Our goal is to show and explain how digital spaces [i.e. video games and virtual worlds] are being mapped by a new generation of cartographers. 

Topics might include:
 
-         History and evolution of mapping in games
-         Origins and evolution of strategy guides
-         Uses of modern cartographic tools (e.g. Google Earth) for video games
-         Uses of innovative displays for mapping/visualizing games
-         Case studies of key games that use innovative cartographic solutions
-         Legal issues related to cartography in gaming
-         Visual display of game related  information on-screen and off-screen
-         The relationship between traditional (analog) and digital ludic cartography
 

We invite participation from anyone who is currently involved in a mapping project. We imagine that contributors could include, but are certainly not limited to, critical geographers, cartographers, literary historians, artists, architects and urban planners, community-based researchers, cultural anthropologists, information scientists, students in digital humanities courses, public intellectuals, and scholars of new media, design, and composition.

Please send a one to two page proposal by April 25th to Matteo Bittanti at bittanti at Stanford dot edu and/or Henry Lowood at lowood at Stanford dot edu and/or bonnie de varco at devarco at cruzio. dot com. 

Interdisciplinarity will be a key feature of this project. Authors are encouraged to include high-resolution images in their essays and to use pictorial material in a creative, rather than complementary, way in their essay.

 Authors of papers accepted be notified by June 1, 2009. In addition to the book, we are currently evaluating various spin-offs (e.g. organizing an exhibition).

EVENT: Play-Law-Machinima @ Stanford (April 24-25 2009)

The word is out.  Mark your calendar and get ready for:

Play-Machinima-Law is a two-day conference to be held at Stanford University on Friday and Saturday, April 24th-25th, 2009. Organized by the Stanford Center for Internet and Society and the Preserving Virtual Worlds project of the Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources, Play-Machinima-Law will explore a series of key issues relating to what is often called "player-generated" or "user-created" content based on digital games or created in game and virtual worlds. 

Topics will include machinima, game art, game hacking, open source ideas and "modding", technology studies, player/consumer-driven innovation, cultural studies, fan culture, legal and business issues, transgressive play, game preservation, and notions of collaborative co-creation drawn from virtual worlds and online games. 

Experts from the major players in the digital game arena, lawyers, practitioners, and academics will convene at Stanford to discuss the legal issues associated with gameplay in regards to user-generated content, machinima, and game-related practices.

Expect several updates (program, schedule, speaker list, extras) in the next few weeks.