Angry Birds Matter

Sourced via Flickr.

In March, I began hosting a series at TheHighCalling.org called Everything Matters. The premise is somewhat simple: What you do during your day is a cultural act, and it will either create, manage, or consume the world God has given to you. (Consume here has no negative connotations—rather, think consuming art or consuming broccoli.) Whether I'm digging out a new flower bed, balancing my checkbook, or, as I said, eating broccoli, I'm participating in the world as a cultural being, one who is called to create, manage, and consume the goods that surround us.

The most recent series entry was written by Kevin Schut, a professor of media + communication at Trinity Western University in Langley, BC, Canada. Kevin tells people he plays video games for a living, and it’s partly true. His book Of Games and God: A Christian Exploration of Video Games will be released by Brazos Press in early 2013.

Here is an excerpt of the article. I hope you'll join the conversation.

My new iPad contains several dozen worlds. There’s a boy’s bed where little wind-up robots protect him from scary dinosaurs. There’s the Caribbean, where I get to sail, hoist the Jolly Roger, and relieve Spanish merchants of their sugar. There’s a fantasy kingdom under siege from hostile orcs and skeletons. And, of course, there are rooms of boxes, glass, and stones erected by pigs desperate to stave off assaults from irate avians.

While it is amazing that one digital device can be a doorway to so many imaginary places, not everyone is excited about this... (Read more here.)

TheHighCalling.org hosts conversations about work, life, and God.
 

Read more...

Level Up with Your Fries: Gamification in Advertising

The Escapist produces high quality videos on gaming and related topics and though I don't play much more than Monopoly Deal and Mille Bornes these days, I admire their work. The following episode covers the topic of gamification and how common video game elements can be translated into real life to make us more productive. But it also addresses potential evils when this concept gets into the hands of advertisers: 

The Escapist : Extra Credits : Gamification

Read more...

Game Over: It's Time to Live It

Photo by Iris Jones, with permission via Flickr.

I knew my mom should have let me own an Atari. She never budged. I had to do my best mastering Asteroids and Ms. Pac-Man at the bars with dad instead. We were poor, but quarters were one thing I could get in abundance from him when there was no money for anything else. Maybe it was his subversive way of investing in me – helping his boy gain real life skills that might, you know, some day save the world.

Or maybe he was just keeping me happy and out of his hair.

Either way, I have fond memories of those early days gaming. Shooting descending centipedes, saving a girl from a computerized ape, hopping across the road to safety before being flattened by cars and trucks, all while moderately sloshed patrons cheered me on from their nearby stools. Quarter by quarter, I got lost in these virtual worlds despite the clunky, pixilated graphics and limited adventure space of arcade games.

Fast forward 30 years to last week, and I’m now wondering if I should have stuck with those playful quests. If it were up to Jane McGonigal, that’s exactly what would have happened.

To see what McGonigal has in mind, click here to read the rest of this post at the The High Calling.

TheHighCalling.org is a site about work, life and God.

Read more...