Some articles that I enjoyed in the past few weeks. First one is a breakdown of the recent hot topic gamification by Ian Bogost, game researcher and opponent of the concept. As he mentions in the opening paragraph, he finally decided to write something properly after he “had been trying to ignore gamification, hoping it would go away, like an ill-placed pimple or an annoying party guest or a Katy Perry earworm.”
Another feature involving Ian Bogost, or more specifically Cow Clicker, his satirical/critical game about the nature of social gaming. The irony here is that the game’s attracting alot of players who aren’t aware of his intentions and are playing it for reals. Success?
Speaking of how social games work, here’s a pretty in-depth four part walk through the mechanics of a successful social game by examining Zynga’s CityVille.
A discussion of modest length about the future of Square-Enix games after its polarizing Final Fantasy XIII, written by the guy at actionbutton.net, a games review site I remember mainly for its novel-length reviews. Notice that it is only a “semi-serious analysis”.
Researcher reveals how “Computer Geeks“
replaced “Computer Girls”
This was quite surprising, I always thought the socially-awkward male image has gone hand in hand with computers since forever. It’s crazy how a stereotype can become so deeply ingrained in such a short time.
Oh, and llamas.
