game

Minecraft – Game As Dialogue

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So I returned to playing Minecraft again.  I do this now and then because it’s fun, well-planned, and evolving.  Every few version’s there’s something new as Notch tweaks and adds and changes.  Then I spent way too much time building stuff.

I actually enjoy starting games over.  Each time it’s a new adventure, each time it’s different:

  • I remember my first game where I built a network of quick travel tunnels.
  • I remember my second game where I spent days exploring a huge underground ravine filled with treasures and twists and turns.
  • In my current game I’ve got a lovely small home built into a mountain by a beach, and I’m alternately exploring caves, farming, and trying to penetrate the dense nearby jungle (largely by fire).

I’m sure I’ll stop playing at some point, and I’m sure there will be enough changes and additions I’ll fire it up again.  There’s conventions and events and suggestions and mods that I might even get involved in, should I wish.  Always something new.

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Many Platforms, Many Choices: Gaming and Socialization

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I've been talking a lot about the role of socialization in media in the last few weeks.  I came to the conclusion that the social connection we get is usually more important than traits like originality (or at times, familiarity).  I based my theories off my various readings (such as Starstruck's theories on socializing), watching the phenomena, and pure intuition, and I believe in an abstract way, I really did hit on something.

My experience became less abstract recently, in a way that I think further confirms my basic theory: the ability to experience social ties with a media is a major part of what we choose.

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Go, Go Gamification!

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I hear a lot of talk lately about "gamifictation" – adding gamelike elements to non-gaming software and services.  It may be achievements, titles, even controls – and the goal of course is to get people interested and using the software and services.

Let me state frankly that this is a great idea.  I'm bang alongside it, and I wanted to explore just why I think it works, and why we need to pay attention to it:

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