A screenshot from Skyrim. The dead body of a mage slumps in a chair, his hand still resting on the table next to him.

Readings: Conflict Management

December 18, 2011 / 2 comments

You know, in future, I should just be honest and go on hiatus during the work crush between mid-October and mid-December. Anyhow, I’ve got a bit of a links backlog to get through, so let’s get to it! This set of readings sees the player at war with the text, other characters, and the player…

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Fenris and Isabella from Dragon Age 2, in fighting poses.

Readings: Outside the Lines

November 29, 2011 / 3 comments

Holy crap, I’m back! And I’ve even had time to read things! Here are some of those things. First off, Kirk Battle brings his uniquely legal perspective to explain the difference between playing Magic on a tabletop versus a computer in a Kill Screen post called In Brief: Who Rules the Rules? He makes a convincing argument…

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Readings: Dynamic Systems

October 19, 2011 / 2 comments

Posting a day late due to some travel kerfuffles yesterday. For the record, and since I haven’t announced it before, here’s the planned schedule I have in my head: Readings on Tuesday, a Mouthwash update on Thursday (if there’s been progress), Short Reviews on Friday, and a feature every week but whenever. Next week will…

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Readings: Lost in Transition

October 13, 2011 / 5 comments

I’ve been neglecting the old blog for a while, due to a combination of work piling up and not being able to get back into my old routine. But I’m back, hello! Here’s some of what I’ve been reading while I was gone. A Fate That We Deserve: Choice, Triumph, and All That Remains. This is…

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Weekly Update: Blocks World

September 27, 2011 / 0 comments

After two weeks of nose-to-the-grindstone paper writing, I am delighted to return to writing that no one will pay me for with Players Are Planners, a new feature up at Robot Geek. This was inspired by a volley of blog posts that went down while I was away, starting with Michael Abbot’s Games Aren’t Clocks and followed…

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Weekly Update: Non-Linear Trend

September 19, 2011 / 0 comments

Haha, I was totally kidding last week when I said I’d get a real post together for today. Fortunately there are people out there who are writing things. Go read things they write! I’ma go die. In Case You Wondered, a Real Human Wrote This Column. This is a week late, but someone just pointed me…

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Weekly Update: Non-Linear

September 12, 2011 / 0 comments

So hey, on account of some deadlines at my day job, I’ll be lying pretty low for the next couple of weeks. No post at Robot Geek this week, but I’ll see if I can’t throw something together for next week. (e.g., “How Not Playing Videogames for Two Weeks Makes People Go Crazy,” or perhaps…

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Weekly Update: This Ends Nothing!

September 5, 2011 / 0 comments

This week at Robot Geek, I discuss the recent fake findings about how rarely players finish games in the context of narrative theory in Ending vs. Resolution. (Sorry about the video ads. We’re working on it.)  Some of this is inspired by some weird behavior I’ve noticed in my own play style. With a lot…

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Weekly Update: Slow Lives and Nagging Wives

August 30, 2011 / 0 comments

What’s up, travelers from Gamasutra! This week at Robot Geek, I talk about an emerging cliché in art games, where it comes from, and what it’s good for. I call them Leaning Games, and they’re multiplying like rabbits. (If that phrasing just grossed out a few people who follow me on Twitter, bonus!) I don’t…

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Weekly Update: Dying Is Easy

August 22, 2011 / 1 comment

This week at Robot Geek, I talk about comedy in games in Dying Is Easy. It’s an extension of an offhand remark from this post, and a topic I’ll probably revisit at some point. Comedy is fascinating! So here’s what I’m reading this week. Art restoration… er, game modification? Chris Johnson tries to figure out…

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