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as far as I can remember Caillois suggested that play and games can be placed along an axis whereby some games tend more towards ludus and some more towards paidia – the former is more rule governed and goal directed and the later more unstructured and open.
I guess Facade and maybe the SIMS would be more towards the paidia end of the spectrum..much more open ended and player directed…
Aphra.
thanks Hugh
well blame our old Dutch friend Johan Huizinga for going back to, I believe the latin, ‘ludens’ for play and calling his book written in the 1930s homo ludens which I suppose translates roughly as playful man or man, the player. Not having ever done latin please feel free to correct me.
A ludologist is defined by some as a theoretician who rejects the narrative and literary theory approach to the formal analysis of games. they focus more on theories from play and games..It was all a mad big debate around the first DIGRA and it has all rather run out of steam by now.
So at the next DIGRA there might be no self professed ‘ludologists’ left…you will be safe..
then again we could all call ourselves homo ludens…or homette ludens…:)
Aphra.
I have just reviewed the new Salen and Zimmerman book for Mute, a UK based politics and culture website.
If you are interested see http://www.metamute.org/?q=en/Dungeons-and-Dragnets
If you have read it I would be interested in your opinion of it..
Aphra.
I think this has been a useful discussion and perhaps once the exams are over we can invite some other parties in the debate to contribute.
A related and interesting development is the Games Academy in Berlin which our german friend Julian K is now teaching at. I might get him to give us some insights into how the game courses there are run.
See http://www.games-academy.de/?id=aktuell-en
Aphra.
oh, and we announced on the night that Michael from Bit Rabbit (bomberman), who spoke at last year’s birthdya event, is going full time in mobile game development in about a month’s time. Best of luck to him.
Aphra.
oh, and I forgot to say that everyone who attended the shindig got a vochure for 2 free hours in the new Multiplay run Xbox play centre in dublin…just more and more reasons to attend events..
Aphra.
Thanks Peter….Pavel is afraid I am going to take his job!
One a more serious note, I think it is important that wanna be entrepeneurs realise just how hard it is to start up a game company and go in with their eyes wide open..
Aphra.
well in my unbiased opinion (!) pretty well.
I will write up a proper report and post images later. On the night there was a slightly smaller crowd than last year (40ish), probably given the bank holiday but I think our three speakers (Will, Sarah and Tony) gave some very useful insights into their companies and the casual and mobile games industry.
This was followed by the awards and the winners were
1) newbie – nifty
2) Stamina – Skyclad
3) Salmon of knowledge – Mal
4) Humour – kyotokid
5) group of the year – Demonwarethe event continued after in McGruders where gossip, slagging and the usual ensued…
Aphra.
I’ll be thanking them again tomorrow but a bit thank you to the Digital Hub for providing the venue and security for our birthday event, to Gamestop for sponsoring our awards and to Upstart Games for sponsoring the refreshments.
All coming together nicely so far..
More on confirmed speakers etc. http://www.gamedevelopers.ie/news/viewnews.php?article=265
Aphra.
most applied courses in uni are run by permanent staff who may not have the expertise but know the broad area well and specialist modules are taught by part timers/contractors. To get a permanent job in a uni you usually need to have a PhD which is not exactly conducive to having industry experience in a new field..
ITs will hire lecturers without PhDs but a key problem for their computer courses at the moment is that student nos are falling and in order to keep permanent staff they need to launch new courses but the permanent staff may not be very experienced in the new areas. And usually there is not the money to hire more part timers..
Very chicken and egg –
now in sociology..it is a different matter – loads of students, not enough staff..
assistant and part time lecturers are not paid that well and lecturers to have to forego salaries for 3-5 years while they do Phds so arguably they deserve to be paid accordingly..I guess it is when we get old and out of date that the real problem arises..
Aphra.
demonware have just sent us 2 summer internships for programmers which we have posted under jobs..a great opportunity…
Aphra.
