Monday, January 29, 2007

Caffeinated baked goods and state of affairs

As I sit here in a post-big house move coffee stupor, feeling the cumulative effects of sleep deprived nights, I share a bit from Wired (heh), Dr. Robert Bohannon in Durham, North Carolina has apparently found a way to keep caffeine in tact during the baking process, which enables the creation of things like... caffeinated doughnuts and bagels. I wonder if people would be for, or against the shaking up of a morning ritual in which many (especially central/eastern) Canadians partake. I mean, what would you drink with your caffeinated doughnut? Man.
I have a book chapter draft to finish by this Wednesday. Talk about timing.
Where is my stuff?

In other news, I heard that ebay is banning the sale of 'virtual' items, RMT, etc claiming that the IP ultimately doesn't reside with the player. I tell ya, when these debates turn into policy things get really sticky. This is one such example. I remember being in a meeting where unnamed dude X says that people are bidding on things that "aren't real." But, to sound totally postmodern even though I hate being called that, it's a rather normative assumption (and somewhat hypocritical if you partake in any type of symbolic transactions... think about credit cards, bidding on ebay itself) to say that something like an avatar or an item that someone spent time/labour/what have you to get ain't 'real'. Oh well. Why am I ranting about this now?

The move continues, my RAing continues, the comps continue, the writing continues.... ad nauseam.

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Monday, January 15, 2007

Publication in Internet Research Annual

More lovely surprises in the mail, my own copy of the latest AOIR Internet Research Annual. It contains selected papers from the Association of Internet Researchers Conference from 2005 that got flagged for the publication and underwent subsequent revisions. The final product looks great. The editors did a fabulous job keeping everything going and making the process as painless as possible!

New this year from Peter Lang Publishers, is the Internet Research Annual Volume 4, edited by Mia Consalvo and Caroline Haythornthwaite. It is #33 in the Digital Formations series.

My contribution: Florence Chee/Richard K. Smith: Online Gamers and the Ambiguity of Community: Korean Definitions of Togetherness for a New Generation.

Specs:
Year of Publication: 2007
New York, Bern, Berlin, Bruxelles, Frankfurt am Main, Oxford, Wien, 2007. VI, 213 pp.
ISBN 978-0-8204-7857-9 pb.

For more info, book synopsis, contents, and ordering, go here.

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Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Eric Zimmerman to Speak at SFU

Game Expert Eric Zimmerman to Speak at SFU Surrey - this Friday.

~Personal aside~ He definitely sticks out in my memory of the first international DiGRA conference in 2003. It's always a treat to hear him speak. Anyone in the area is encouraged to attend!

Special Speaker - Eric Zimmerman - 4 PM Friday January 12 - SFU
Surrey Room 3170
"Making and Breaking Rules: Game Design as a Critical Practice"

SIAT has a very special speaker this Friday - Eric Zimmerman. This is a rare opportunity to see a first-rate game designer and scholar in action. He is an award-winning games producer, and is the co-author of the foremost text on games studies - "Rules of Play" - as well as the comprehensive anthology "The Game Studies Reader". You can see more of his work at www.ericzimmerman.com

Eric is one of the most dynamic and engaged presenters you will ever see. You do NOT want to miss this - he always gives a good show - he's a terrific speaker. His topic will be "Making and Breaking Rules: Game Design as a Critical Practice"

You can also bring your own practical questions or intellectual issues about game design, game play or game culture.

Monday, January 08, 2007

CFP: Sandbox: an ACM Video Game Symposium

The 2nd annual ACM SIGGRAPH Sandbox Symposium is now accepting papers, hot games, and panel proposals. More details are here: http://sandbox.siggraph.org/

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

New Year's Resolutions

Happy New Year to all!

While this blog may not be currently under construction--my current life is, in a way. And believe me, it's amusing. This semester holds many opportunities to do exciting research (to a fault, sometimes), along with the things that just need to get done like papers, abstracts, and....COMPS (I'm starting to get sick of that word btw...).

To top it all off, I'll be moving MUCH CLOSER to the SFU library on the Hill, which will help me with the comps because the books will be, like, right there man. Just how close? You'll see. Pics will be on Flickr soon at which time I will solicit some decorating advice.

In the meantime, I continue beating my head against my laptop for a few things as per usual. I spent New Year's south of the border and at midnight my friends and I declared our resolutions. My main one: To do more things a little at a time than all at once, to avoid overwhelm. Here's to sticking with that in 2007.

(written while chugging some unnamed caffeinated energy drink imported from the USA....:) Dangerous stuff, this.