playful historical thinking

We discussed Ethan Watrall’s foundational role in The Story of Play the Past, with regards to the Play the Past website, and community. Because of the demands and responsibilities incumbent to his role as Play the Past founder and manager—not to mention his academic career—Watrall’s writerly contributions on the blogContinue Reading

This is a mostly serious and occasionally tongue-in-cheek open response to Kevin Bacon’s (@fauxtoegrafik) thoughtful and honest blog post “Nameless Gameless.” I’m hoping it will spark some open dialogue between a variety of folks interested in cultural heritage and meaningful play (and of course, those tricky games). Bacon, the Digital Development OfficerContinue Reading

Axis & Allies Russian Front

The videogame industry, like other computer and tech industries, tends to have a very buzzword-heavy culture.  Certain phrases just seem to resonate with game makers, who latch on to them, often overusing or even misusing them.  As some people have already pointed out, the new videogame buzzword seems to beContinue Reading

OR, The Nefarious Pop-ups of Mr. Ting AKA, Chapter 2 of TECUMSEH’S CURSE A TRUE Story of Historical ARG Design Where YOU Are Invited To Comment and Thus EVER SO SLIGHTLY Affect The Ending “I know it’s a game, and you know it’s a game, but the game doesn’t knowContinue 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

Why is it that when we set out to talk about history and play, we always end up talking about games? One thing that attracted me to the blog you’re reading right now, besides the terrific set of co-conspirators Ethan has assembled, was its title and the broad set ofContinue Reading