game studies – Page 26 – frans goes blog

Fantasy, horror and games panel in Tracon V

The fifth fantasy and anime (visibly also cosplay) convention of Tampere, Tracon, took place last weekend in Tampere Hall. I took part as the chair to the “Fantasy, Horror and Games panel”, and even while we ended up having half the time we had been originally promised by organisers, at least we managed to evoke some essential questions on the subject matter, like:

Is fantastic focused on the ‘sense of wonder’, whether the art form is literature, cinema, games, or something else?
If we are talking about horror, is the key in the management of moods, or emotions: on the careful evocation of suspense, thrill, terror, horror, revulsion (to adapt Stephen King here)?
As contrasted to narratively controlled horror and fantasy, is the player freedom in games more likely to lead into instrumental, problem-solving style of player attitudes, rather than to emotional involvement with the fiction?
In contrast, there is the alternative: that player involvement while acting within the game’s reality is likely to lead in deeper — or different kind of — involvement or immersion than narrative fiction?

There were many more interesting topics that our panelists discussed, many only briefly, before the panel was closed. Thanks to: Jaakko Koivula, Nestori Lehtonen, Mixu Lauronen, Markku Soikkeli, and Jukka Särkijärvi.

CFP: Finnish Fantasy Researcher Meeting

Note that this event also accepts papers on fantastic/SF games (English below):

CFP: Teorian käytäntö – FANTASTISTA TUTKIMASSA

XI SCIFI- JA FANTASIATUTKIJATAPAAMINEN

Jyväskylässä torstaina 15.7. & perjantaina 16.7. 2010

Finnconin yhteydessä järjestettävän yhdennentoista scifi- ja fantasiatutkijoiden tapaamisen teemana on teorian käytäntö. Fantastinen asettaa jo peruslähtökohdissaan tutkijalle joukon teoreettisia kysymyksiä. Mikä on ”fantasian” suhde ”fantastisen” usein kuvaamaan “luonnollisen” ja “yliluonnollisen” suhteen ratkaisemattomuuteen? Miten tämä liittyy lajikysymykseen ja fantastisen kerronnan muotojen todellisuutta kyseenalaistavaan ja sitä uudeksi määrittelevään kerrontaan?” Continue reading “CFP: Finnish Fantasy Researcher Meeting”

iPad unpacking

iPad unpacking, originally uploaded by FransBadger.

Here are the very first impressions: yes, Apple has created a very cool and smart device in iPad. I want one for myself (typing this with our gamelab iPad), even while I am not sure what I would be really using it for. Yet. The real power of this thing is in the user experience; it it so futuristic it feels like entering into sci-fi — and for me that is not a bad thing.

The UI logic is pretty much that of iPhone, the size makes huge difference though. The bright window into media, combined with the intuitiveness of touch, plus the fact that iPad is very fast, makes common tasks feel a bit magical.

There are the obvious downsides, too. Not having flash makes no sense to me at all. This thing would be the killer Facebook gaming device. Now, apparently Apple is trying to kill flash and make eveyone develop native iPhone OS apps. Shame on them. Also, the virtual keyboard is pretty ok, but it is not something that is intended for serious typing tasks. This is mostly a rich media plaything.

Together with rest of the UTA Gamelab folks we will continue to test iPad, but currently there is the technical limitation that there appears to be no way to get paid iPad apps (games, nor books, or movies) for testing. iPad apps are not yet available in the Finnish iTunes, and you need a US credit card or bank account to be able to buy from the US iTunes/App Store. Damn. Need to continue testing the free sample apps then.

Games Research Methods Seminar

Today was the first day of the Games Research Methods Seminar — loads of stimulating papers, and critical and inspiring discussions. There will also be publication project (or two) coming up based on this event, so: watch this space. More: http://gamesmethods.wordpress.com/

iPhone OS 4 and the Game Center

An interesting development in the Apple front: they published today the key features of upcoming iPhone OS 4: multitasking (more power to the user), iAd system for monetization (more money to the developer), and Game Center (friend invites – here we go, Facebook apps). Nice to see how this will work out. – Oh yes, and our Apple iPad should arrive from the States tomorrow (thanks, Lori!), so going to the extended touch screen experience will also be interesting. The version 4 OS will not be arriving to iPad sooner than next autumn, but I will be installing one to my iPhone 3GS in the summer, though.

Jane McGonical: Game us a better reality

This TED video is definitely worth sharing. Jane McGonigal, a game designer and researcher, makes a bold and entertaining claim that we actually need to play more online games to solve the world problems. Not convinced? Maybe you need to hear what she has to say:

Digarec lecture visit

In February 4th, I will be doing a lecture visit to Potsdam, who are running an interesting Digarec lecture series. My title is “The Dual Structure: Experiencing Digital Games in the Intersection of Gameplay and Media” and you can find an abstract of it from here:

http://www.digarec.de/2010/01/25/digarec-lecture-february-4-2010-with-frans-mayra/#more-911

There should be materials and even a video recording or transcript available online later, so check it out some time after the lecture. [Edit: fixed couple of typos in 6th of February, 2010.]

Gamelab at Facebook, Twitter

We are adopting a more active role in our utilization of social media networking tools in order to distribute information and awareness of what is going at the Game Research Lab at the University of Tampere. You can now both follow us in Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/UTAgamelab) and in Twitter (https://twitter.com/UTAgamelab). See you around! 🙂

Future Play and GIIP: new research projects

Some news: our team has been awarded with funding from Tekes Verso programme to two new games research projects. The other one is GIIP (Games Industry Innovation Processes), which aims to survey and strengthen the state of innovation processes in Finnish games industry. This project is part of the TDP (Transformation of Digital Play) research consortium, and continues the work carried out in GaIn and GameSpace projects earlier. The other one is called Future Play and it will look into the future of game design, play and technology through expert interviews and analyses. Particularly it will pay attention to the digital distribution and publication models as well as to the games becoming embedded and integrated with online social media, thus continuing the work carried out in Games as Services project particularly. For more information, please contact the project managers: Annakaisa Kultima (GIIP) and Olli Sotamaa (Future Play).

Kolumni, Profile 2.09

Kolumni, Profile 2.09, originally uploaded by FransBadger.

(This column piece is in Finnish, but the main point is to set the ‘learning through games’ discourse in context, and challenge it by approaching games and play as an end in themselves, as autotelic phenomena.)

Kolumni: “Oppia Peleistä” (julkaistu: Profiili, 2/2009, s. 26-27)

Pelit ovat näinä päivinä näkyvästi otsikoissa: toisaalta hehkutetaan peliteollisuuden saavutuksia ja pelimyyntilukuja, jotka tuntuvat uhmaavan taantumankin vaikutuksia. Toisaalta pelit helposti nousevat otsikoihin myös silloin kun haetaan syitä nuorison henkiseen pahoinvointiin tai fyysisen kunnon rappioon. Harvemmin pysähdytään pohtimaan, mitä pelaaminen itse asiassa nykyihmiselle merkitsee. Mitä pelatessa oppii? Continue reading “Kolumni, Profile 2.09”