Gaming as

I recently read a magazine article in my first issues of killscreen magazine. The writer, whose name escapes me at the moment, discussed whether gaming research contributed anything valuable to the design of video games. Does gaming research inform industry? He gives a brief history of how video games actually originated from within academic walls, but now academia has lost track of their long lost child.

This article makes us consider why we need gaming research. I personally question the research that implies that kids learn to be violent from video games, but t the same time I do feel that these for of media sometimes promote stereotyping and sexism. It’s difficult to discern the good research from the poor research when we have research funded with political agendas to blame video games for our social ills. If anything, aren’t these reflections of our society? Good and bad reflections.

If you ever find yourself interested in these type of topics (i.e. how video games can be good for learning, analyzing games, even research to help create better games) you might want to check out ThatCamp. It’s what they call an unconference, which just means that it’s less formal and more laid back. There’s no need to dress up for these conferences buddy!