Some of you may know I’m currently working on a digital translation of Euripides’ Medea. Originally a play in the 5th century BC, it has seen itself revived many times, not only on the stage, but also in film. I am now introducing it through an even more modern mediumContinue Reading
This post is about the the way the essential mechanical aspect of the ludic system called homeric epic–the re-composition of heroic tales by the elaboration of formulas and themes, recurrent elements that could be combined in infinite variety by the virtuosic performers who were perhaps called homerids–gives us a compellingContinue Reading
A lot of players care about the histories of the fictive worlds they spend their time in. Case and point, a handful of World of Warcraft books have made it on the New York Times Bestseller list. As I have been thinking about these game world histories it strikes meContinue Reading
The Importance of Defensive Driving for Bus Drivers As a bus driver, you are responsible for the safety of your passengers and yourself. Defensive driving is a crucial skill that can help you avoid accidents and keep everyone on board safe. In this blog post, we will discuss the importanceContinue Reading
This Thursday night at 9:30 Eastern I’ll be trying to begin something new and perhaps promising at the Video Games and Human Values Initiative: a monthly symposium (you know, a drinking party) on “Roots of Humanistic Game Criticism” inside the world of Turbine’s The Lord of the Rings OnlineContinue Reading
This post picks up where my last one left off, and does the heavy oral formulaic lifting I mentioned before. If we take the phrase “Playing the Past” as loosely as I think all of us here would like, playing the past is exactly what the homeric bards were doing,Continue Reading
A True Story of Digital Heritage Hijinks and Augmented Reality Adventure Where YOU Write The Ending Chapter 1: Rebuffed! One of the most difficult tasks people can perform, however much others may despise it, is the invention of good games. —Carl Jung The year is 2008. The month is AprilContinue Reading
The men of the “A” companies of the 2nd Light Infantry had been hearing odd noises for the last half hour. One of the sentries said that he too had heard the noises and all he had seen was a local farmer out early driving some cows. That seemed toContinue Reading
One of the beauties of the MMO genre is its ability to create a virtual world that feels inhabitable and real. Players live in this other place, existing at a particular time in its history, perhaps slowly progressing along a storyline. In Lord of the Rings Online, although Tolkien’s narrativeContinue Reading
We won tickets to see the Ottawa – Tampa Bay game on Saturday night. 100 level. Row B. This is a big deal for a hockey fan, since those are the kind of tickets that are normally not within your average budget. More to the point of this post, itContinue Reading