Continuing my blog stream from MindTrek: I went to listen to the “Business of Playing Together” session with Ville Mujunen, Joakim Achrén and Jussi Laakkonen (chaired by Peter Vesterbacka). I made some notes during Jussi’s talk:
Blizzard/Vivendi made 517 million in profit in 2007 from WoW. On the other hand, it will cost 50 million dollars to make a MMO. Facebook games are already making million dollars per year in revenue (e.g. Friends for Sale, MobWars). Introducing concept ‘FunWare’; providing games-like interaction for non-game applications.
Today is the second day of MindTrek conference, and I am happy just to lean back, listen, and participate as an audience. This camera-photo is taken during the opening session, showing the chief scientist (Yahoo’s Connected Life) Marc Davis speaking about social media from a system oriented and ecosystem perspective.
I am today, tomorrow and until Thursday participating in the MindTrek conference, first as the chair of the Games Track in Tuesday, then giving a short presentation on SoPlay project in Thursday. See the program (note two versions!) here:
Jim Gee is offering an interesting lecture today in Helsinki University. I wanted to hear him comment on the state of literacy and the current dilemmas the US is facing, and he did not disappoint. Games provide valuable tools for learning to understand and to handle complex systems with multiple interrelated variables. (Something that people responsible for the US economy were not apparently capable to manage.) Interesting opportunities are also opened up for future collaboration, considering that our University Alliance games & learning spearhead group will be focusing exactly on similar themes.
There was a nasty piece of news yesterday that revealed how Alma Media (a major news corporation in Finland) had cancelled the work contract of journalist Johanna Korhonen after finding out that she was living as a family with another woman and two children. It appears that CEO Kai Telanne and his associates believe that one can be an editor-in-chief only if one is living in a heterosexual relationship, and failing to reveal such personal information as one’s sexual orientation in a work interview is close to a criminal act. It is sad and funny that they apparently claimed that because the work would have involved leading Lapin Kansa newspaper, which is located in Rovaniemi, Lapland, it is particularly impossible to consider “this kind of woman” for that position any more — even after being elected as the most competent candidate in the first place. Lapland, the black hole of intolerance, hmm. Great, they managed to insult the Lappish people, too.
There is serious lack of credibility towards Alma Media right now, and I can only hope that they will soon realise that they need to change their executives. Meanwhile, a boycott campaign is growing; I myself cancelled my subscription to Aamulehti (another Alma Media newspaper) starting from today.
The CFP for the next DiGRA conference is out — I am not sure if DiGRA site has this yet, but here is the text:
First Call for Papers
DiGRA 2009
Breaking New Ground: Innovation in Games, Play, Practice and Theory
Brunel University, West London, United Kingdom, Tuesday 1st September — Friday 4th September 2009
The South of Britain Consortium are pleased to announce the first Call for Papers for the Digital Games Research Association 2009. DiGRA is an organisation that embraces all aspects of game studies, and the conference aims to provide a diverse platform for discussion, and a lively forum for debate. We therefore welcome papers from any discipline focused on any aspect of games, play, game culture and the games industry. Continue reading “DiGRA 2009 CFP”
Less than a year ago I wrote about the Tuusula/Jokela school shootings; today, the same seems to repeat in Kauhajoki, another peaceful small town. I can only feel sorrow, and repeat what I have said earlier: there appears to be deep lack of dialogue and contact in our society, particularly between generations. If there is no real contact and wellbeing constructed daily in close human relationships, then the road is open for self-destruction. And one should never forget that these incidents are, after all, suicides. The child of media age will be drawn to a media spectacle, rather than the quiet and lonely death of previous generations… Another grim day, indeed.
Next week we will be presenting core findings from our online poker player study in an expert seminar — if you are interested, contact Tellervo Nenonen (tellervo.nenonen(at)hel.fi), there might still be places in the seminar. More information: http://www.stakes.fi/FI/ajankohtaista/Tapahtumakalenteri/Tapahtuma/240908b.htm
Much really interesting talk about Japan, its role in the world of new media and media culture. My talk is titled “Japanese Fantasy and the East-West Dialectic”. (Pictured is Ateneum, where they have a Hokusai exhibition — much of Japan going around today!)
frans goes blog 
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