Why Do Games Have Gods?
“Why God?” is often asked about the real world. It seems like a hangover from our goat-herding days. How odd, then, that Gods are everywhere in fantasy worlds. Why?
10 Souls: A Theodicy Engine
If you created your own world, would you allow evil? Here’s a game that lets you try.
Games and the Future of Low-Skill Work
Within a generation, millions of low-income people will support themselves by playing games.
What is game design doing on campus?
Game design belongs at universities.
Games and Cancer
I was invited to introduce the film Thank You For Playing, a documentary…
Know Your Games
If you work on games, you ought to know them well. Tip: Play Dungeons and Dragons
Jane Austen
Strategies of husband-hunting in Regency England.
Climate Policy
Simulating policy responses to global warming.
The Game Design Major
Undergraduates at Indiana University can receive a Bachelor of Science degree in Game Design.
Virtual Economies: Design and Analysis
A primer in building and running your own digital economy. With Vili Lehdonvirta.
Wildcat Currency
Anybody can launch their own money.
Election 2012
Transforming a 1960 Kennedy-Nixon game into 2012 Obama-Romney.
Be a Gamer
A TED talk.
Online Behavior is Real
“Virtual economic behavior follows real-world patterns.”
Exodus
How migrations to online life will affect us all.
Big Games, Big Research
“While we might believe that society operates a certain way, and we might have small-scale experiments that support our beliefs, it has generally not been possible to observe whole societies under controlled conditions. Now, however…”
Synthetic Worlds
The business and culture of online games.
A First-Hand Look at Virtual Society
“These changes – such as granting people the freedom to have whatever appearance and skills they wish – are sufficient to generate a society.”
