Once more, the intermingling of real and virtual
Or, how real is real?
This just in: the Chinese government is placing limits on the use of virtual currency in massively-multiplayer online games:
The buying and selling of the make-believe currencies used in online gaming has become so widespread that Chinese authorities fear it will affect the real economy.
One more way that game worlds can be very, very real.
In love with cyberspace
In a recent article, Virginia Heffernan argues that Internet romances (like the recent love affair of South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford) are actually about people falling in love with the Internet itself:
Fresh new look
Update: July 13, 2009
Welcome!
The Epistemic Games group recently did some dusting off and sprucing up for our website, and we’re hoping you’ll enjoy the results. We’ve added an email subscription option for those interested in RSS feeds, and we’re looking forward to sharing more news about the many endeavors we’re engaged in. We’re also eager to hear your thoughts, so the comment process has undergone some improvements as well. Let us know what you think.
And the bandwagon gets bigger
Overheard during a forum at the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop announcing the release of a report on how increased national investment in research-based digital games can play a cost-effective and transformative role in children’s health and education:
"America is falling behind as an economic leader in a globalized economy," said Michael H. Levine, executive director of the Cooney Center. "We’re not keeping pace, not doing what we need to do to propel children’s learning and development."
Now… where have I heard that argument made before?
Reblogged: Epistemic Games, the Movie
Reblogged from the MacArthur Foundation’s Digital Media and Learning blog:
As researchers studying new media, it only seemed appropriate to let people know about our work using, well, new media.
This short video gives an overview of our work on Urban Science and other epistemic games as part of the Macarthur Digital Media and Learning Project.
In these games, players have a chance to learn 21st century skills by playing as urban planners, engineers, journalists, and other professionals in the knowledge economy.
I suppose next we’ll need to make an epistemic game about making epistemic games….
