Published May 22nd 2008
Abstract: Laurie Johnson tracks conflicting messages of embodiment and symbolic exchange in the infamous “Mr. Bungle” affair in which a chatroom avatar was forcibly removed from the participant’s control. Arguing that many scholarly treatments recapitulate a binary of real and virtual space in order to evaluate the event according to broader social norms, rather than attending to its specific material context. A discussion of the history of the internet and Vannevar Bush’s ‘memex’ authorises a more nuanced reading of the metaphor of rape in terms of systematised memory and narrativity.
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Filed in Games, Internet, Volume 13 | No responses yet
Published May 21st 2008
Abstract Felicity J. Colman opens up the variety of virtual positions and affective regimes with which we form space and play-place. Drawing on Deleuze and Guattari, the piece considers the orientation to action of gaming bodies through intensities of affect. The modality of such auto-affections allows response by other bodies in motion, and in this invitation to response constitutes the potential for community and political engagement within and beyond its own space.
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Filed in Games, Other, Volume 13 | No responses yet
Published May 13th 2008
Abstract: Peter Eric Bayliss analyses the video installation A Game of Marbles, whose unique relation between control and visualisation dislocates our assumptions about the ‘location’ of gameplay and player. Experimental efforts by audiences to engage with the piece further open up the consequences of the installation’s premise, a complex interplay between computation, control and representation.
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Filed in Games, Volume 13 | No responses yet
Published Sep 4th 2001
Why the Australian Computer game industry should avoid following the film industry’s lead. At all costs.
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Filed in Games, State of Play | No responses yet
Published May 4th 2001
Andrew Britton thinks entertainment is all about escaping from real life, but playing a game like Half-Life doesn’t mean just ‘tuning out’.
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Published Mar 8th 2001
The tagline for Project IGI is ‘Think your way in, shoot your way out!’ but how well does it really live up to this promised gameplay? Does Project IGI have anything to make it stand out from the plethora of other ‘realistic’ first person shooters on the PC market?
http://www.refractory.unimelb.edu.au/journalissues/stateofplay/articles/jbatt_project-igi.html
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Published Mar 8th 2001
Jim had the privilege of interviewing Paul McInnes at the 2001 Australian Game Developers Conference, on a variety of topics including his previous academic study as well as his current work on Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs).
Paul McInnes is lead game designer on Micro Forte’s upcoming Citizen Zero online game. He is also a PhD candidate in social anthropology.
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