I’m delighted to be joining a panel of world class professionals from the creative industries at the University of Bradford’s Start Your Story event at the British Film Institute on the Southbank on Monday 6 November. The event is designed to help and encourage students considering a career in film, television, visual effects, animation, games and […]
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The ET Game – learning how to fail better
The history of the videogames industry is littered with the corpses of terrible games. Many of the gravestones are for games based on feature films and today’s story in the BBC Magazine about the epic failure of the ET game – described as the worst video game in history – is a majestic tomb to […]
Join us at the new Play + Learn conference
I delighted to announce a brand new initiative focussing on play and learning in the UK. The inaugural Play+Learn conference will take place on 17-19 June 2015 at the University of Bradford. Play is our most elemental vehicle for learning, and new digital tools like games provide whole new worlds for exploration and interaction. Together we’ll explore how we can make learning and training more engaging […]
The best video games need not imitate films to be worth a Bafta
With the spectacle delivered by increasingly photo-realistic video games with budgets running into tens of millions of pounds on a par with that of the film industry, it seems only right that video games should be offered awards by the same organisation, the Baftas. On the list of nominees for the British Academy Games Awards […]
Learning wherever
I’m delighted to announce that in a collaboration led by Richard Hudson from Twin Cities Public Television (TPT) and with Sean Duncan of Indiana University, I will be starting a new project in the New Year focussing on affinity spaces. Affinity spaces is a term coined by James Paul Gee to describe places (both virtual […]
Board of Rights and Responsibilities
Making a game of the Magna Carta Next year, the Magna Carta is 800 years old. As a seminal piece of human rights legislation it is arguably one of the most significant documents ever written. It describes the balance of rights and responsibilities between the English king and his lords (the closest it could get […]
Kids, Social Media & Computer Games – A Guide for Grown Ups
As the parent of two young children, I’m often in conversation with other adults about the ways kids use technology. We sometimes feel a bit out of our depth and almost intimated by the boundless confidence our children exhibit when engaging with games, apps and social media. However daunted we might feel, we can’t sit […]
Game Mechanics
Recently I’ve talked a number of groups about making experiences more playful. Instrumental in those discussions has been a consideration of the elements at our disposal. Here is my combination of the various definitions of game mechanics offered by Wikipedia, SCVNGR & Gamification.org. Achievements – Achievements are a virtual or physical representation of having accomplished something. Action points […]
The Benefits of Gaming
Games are everywhere aren’t they? Never before have games had such a high profile or generated so much debate. I enjoy playing a lot of games but I’m equally interested in the psychology of gameplay and how we can benefit socially, emotionally and intellectually from play. Although I am concerned that without additional support (or […]
Aristotle & The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Storytelling is one of the oldest and most common forms of human communication. Well told stories engage us on the deepest emotional level, form indelible memories and make a profound impact on our lives. It’s hardly surprisingly that storytelling is such a popular phrase in today’s multiplatform world. I have the immense pleasure of regularly […]