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Listen to Ludocrats 1: Ren Reynolds
A new, hopefully fortnightly feature on The Play Ethic - a series of podcast conversations called "Ludocrats".
Who's a ludocrat? Someone who's interested in the power and potential of play, as it operates in their lives and their projects - and who also believes that an awareness of play can shape the public realm for the better. Why the podcast? Well, I'm having these conversations anyway - so I thought I may as well record them, smartphone in hand, and share them with the world.
Our first ludocrat is Ren Reynolds, otherwise known on Twitter as RenZephyr. Ren's day job is helping government get the best deals from private IT contractors. But his day-and-night job is thinking quite brilliantly about the philosophy, ethics and governance of computer and online games (usually through his think-tank, Virtual Policy Network, but also on the collective blog Terra Nova). Ren also advises national and international bodies about how the law and politics should relate to what goes on in virtual worlds - and how not to crush, whether through fear or ignorance, the emerging potential of these global, creative spaces.
My thanks to Ren (and the clarity of his good Northern tones in the hubbub!). Here's some links that Ren mentions in his piece:Thomas Mallaby, Against Exceptionalism and Games, Meaning and Bureaucracy
Key quote: "[games are] domains of contrived contingency, capable of generating emergent practices and interpretations.".
Ren adds: "My argument with Malaby is that I think the definition is incomplete without that game acts are backed by a ludic intentionality. This I think is critical and is not necessarily entailed by his definition."B
Bruno Latour's Actor Network Theory (Wikipedia entry)
Richard Bartle's Guardian piece on the triumph of the games generation
Bernard Suits definition of play (and Jesper Juul's summary of it in his round up of game theories) ]
30th anniversary this year (2009) of creation of MUD, first online multiplayer virtual world, by Richard Bartle
Jack Balkin - and paper quoted: Virtual Liberty: Freedom to Design and Freedom to Play in Virtual Worlds, 90 Va. L. Rev. 2043 (2004).
Fable (video game)
Ian Bogost on distinction between code of game and code of its culture
The Hooker Cheat in GFA - Ren's essay, Playing the 'Good' Game, discusses this. And more on the Cheat (google books).
A tale in the desert (video game)
Eve Online "the most complex game ever created by humanity"
Dimitri Williams's longtitudinal study on gamers, turning to immediate friends and global news, and away from local news
More references to Ren's writings:
Reynolds R (2009), The Philosophy of Virtual Worlds, in Third Person: Authoring and Exploring Vast Narratives, eds Harrigan, P. & Wardrip-Fruin, N. MIT Press
Reynolds R (2008), Hands off MY avatar - Issues with claims of virtual property and identity in Settlers of the New Virtual Worlds eds Bethke E and Hoffman E, BookSurge Publishing
Reynolds, R., (2007), ‘MMO’s as Practices’, in DIGRA 2007 Situated Play - conference proceedings (ed Baba, A.), University of Tokyo
...and more at http://www.renreynolds.com
