Category Archives: Games and Gaming

Who’s That?

Posted on April 24, 2008 by Timothy Burke

Met with my undergraduate class that is studying digital games in World of Warcraft this week. One of them took an interesting name for his character…

Posted in Games and Gaming, Swarthmore | Comments Off

NITLE Gaming and Teaching Workshop

Posted on March 10, 2008 by Timothy Burke

It’s the beginning of break for us. There was a cancellation at this workshop, so I decided to come up to Bryn Mawr. I’m actually very interested to hear what other faculty and IT specialists are doing with regard to … Continue reading →

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Dungeons and Dragons as Pedagogy and Sociology

Posted on March 7, 2008 by Timothy Burke

I may be the last person this week to blog about Gary Gygax’s death. This spares me of having to come up with a variant form of the “he failed his saving roll” jokes, at least. A lot of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Games and Gaming, Popular Culture | 5 Comments

Now You Know, and Knowing Is Half the Battle

Posted on January 24, 2008 by Timothy Burke

Geeky Mom gets two things right about the recent Frontline special about children’s use of the Internet. First, that some of the parents shown in the show have no one to blame but themselves for not knowing what their kids … Continue reading →

Posted in Blogging, Games and Gaming, Information Technology and Information Literacy | 14 Comments

One-A-Day: Alexander Galloway, Gaming: Essays in Algorithimic Culture

Posted on January 24, 2008 by Timothy Burke

Remember: these aren’t reviews. If I were reviewing Galloway’s Gaming, I’d spend a long while talking about why I like much of it, and think it works very well alongside similar works of critical theory applied to games and digital … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Games and Gaming, The Mixed-Up Bookshelves | 7 Comments

The Same Game

Posted on January 3, 2008 by Timothy Burke

Raph Koster has an interesting post covering many of the major game releases of 2007. The gist of his argument, as I see it, is that underneath their graphics and storytelling, games like God of War 2, Bioshock, Mass Effect, … Continue reading →

Posted in Games and Gaming | 8 Comments

Traveller IQ Challenge and Learning

Posted on December 20, 2007 by Timothy Burke

The Traveller IQ Challenge, besides being a great little bit of casual-game design, strikes me as showing how potentially useful certain kinds of instant-feedback quizzes and games could be in a fully wired classroom, while also showing the limitations of … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Africa, Games and Gaming, Information Technology and Information Literacy, Popular Culture | 8 Comments

BTW on Mass Effect

Posted on November 13, 2007 by Timothy Burke

I really am looking forward to playing Mass Effect, especially now that the word on some other big releases this month is mixed. (However: Super Mario Galaxy? Exceptionally fun. One of the best multiplayer set-ups I’ve seen. More to come … Continue reading →

Posted in Games and Gaming | 4 Comments

Memoirs of Play: Any Ideas?

Posted on November 6, 2007 by Timothy Burke

I’m putting the finishing touches on my syllabus for next semester’s History of Play and Leisure, just trying to find one or two more perfect or unusual readings to round out a few of the weeks. (And then I need … Continue reading →

Posted in Games and Gaming | 25 Comments

On the Road

Posted on October 24, 2007 by Timothy Burke

I’ll be in Washington DC tomorrow for a talk to alumni on virtual worlds. See you there, Swatties.

Posted in Games and Gaming, Swarthmore | 6 Comments