Blog posts and articles written by Play the Past authors, and guest authors.
In my last few posts, I’ve argued that Plato’s Republic and Irrational Games’ BioShock present a challenge to culture, and, in particular, to the educational systems (read “school”) that transmit that culture. Still more, I’ve tried to show, do they present a challenge to those who are trying to harnessContinue Reading
[This is a guest article from Andrew D. Devenney. Andrew is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor of World History at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan. A life-long and avid gamer of both video and role-playing games, he is currently spending far too much time playing through the variousContinue Reading
Last week a controversy erupted when a player discovered that the newly released Steam version of Dead Island contained a fragment of code with a variable named “FeministWhore.” The developer of the zombie shooter, Techland, quickly offered an apology and explained that code was in one of the game’s “leftoverContinue Reading
So here’s where I make the connection between BioShock and gamification–or rather, try to show that as ways of doing education, the two are radically different. More, I try to show that they’re different in a way that’s inspired what my team is doing with practomimetic learning. There’s a contextContinue Reading
[This is a guest post by Paul Gestwicki. Paul is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at Ball State University, where he serves as Undergraduate Program Director and teaches courses on game development and human-computer interaction. His earlier game-related scholarship involved using game engine development to teach advanced topics of Computer Science. This has evolvedContinue Reading
When I saw that archaeologists were using Second Life for the creation of meaningful archaeological games I was of two mindsets. My first thought was how awesome it would be to play an adult version of an archaeological game. As seen from my previous post on gaming in archaeology, mostContinue Reading
Just blitzed my way through Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One, a slab of late summer fiction sure to be of interest to many here at Play the Past. This is Cline’s debut novel, though he’s also known for the 2009 film Fanboys. The two titles of the works alone oughtContinue Reading
For many of us, the semester has started (or is starting imminently). Students are flooding back to campus, syllabi have been finalized, first classes are on the horizon, and first official type meetings have been scheduled (or, if you are like me, they’ve never really relented over the summer). A senseContinue Reading
You probably didn’t notice this happening, as you read my previous posts, but I’m drawing ever closer to the point where my abstruse Homeric epic into Platonic philosophy classics stuff will at last intersect with my pragmatic practomimetic learning stuff. (Certainly you didn’t notice as you didn’t read my previousContinue Reading
While Play the Past gravitates towards games that simulate, teach, or reimagine cultural heritage, we also consider games as cultural heritage; games are social practices and products as rich in historical value as any of the more familiar artifacts and documents we use to uncover the past. I want toContinue Reading