Playing at Leadership: Games, Gaming, & Leadership Studies
"Reality, unlike games, is broken." – Jane McGonigal
Fair warning, regular readers, that this blog is about to become inundated with class things. The reason for this is that this semester (and next) I’m teaching a course called Games, Game Theory, and Leadership Studies, and that means that … Read More »
So today my class actually sat down and played Settlers of Catan to explore issues of resource management and game theory. At the end of class, one student actually borrowed the game from me to play with his roommates. They … Read More »
This week, Gamasutra ran a blog post about gaming and academia by Rami Ismail. In it, Ismail talks about an encounter he had with an academic at IndieCade East: Last week, I gave a talk at the first ever New … Read More »
Today’s classroom game brought to you by my Critical Thinking and Methods of Inquiry class, with whom I will be conducting more trials of games in the classroom. Last week we played a disaster-simulation game with two decks of cards … Read More »
I’ve posted about the process of gamification before, but an article from GamesRadar today reminded me just how prevalent it really is… ironic, really, considering my current obsession with Fitocracy and the fact that I deliberately chose to do 100 … Read More »
So much to my delight, yesterday SMCRVA posted an article about the “gamification” of social media. This idea is not new to me, but I’m pleased to see people picking up on it. A few weeks back, I posted about … Read More »
I‘ve posted about Junta before. But this time, things are a bit different and infinitely more awesome. Most of the time, when the game ends, someone wins. That’s how games work. Sometimes, the GM goes a little crazy, develops a … Read More »
Since at present I’m both replaying and revising a paper on Dragon Age II, when I saw Tom Biggs’s article on morality and gaming at IGN, I was intrigued, and then a bit annoyed. Biggs argues that “real-world morals” have … Read More »
So here’s an interesting article about a photo project concerning real people and their online avatars by Maria Popova on Brain Pickings. I think I mentioned at one point that most of the time, if given a choice, I will … Read More »
Because it was requested… a post on leadership and Settlers of Catan. My history with this game goes all the way back to high school, and I have distinct memories of it from then, from college (when one associate of … Read More »
For those who choose to go into academia, Jane McGonigal’s observation that people actually prefer work to entertainment may not be surprising. After all, we’ve chosen to enter into a discipline in which we make our own work. For McGonigal, … Read More »
One of the reasons why we play games is that they make us feel good – especially when we win. Athletics – sports, specifically – are the epitome of this sensation, as they integrate physical exertion and adrenaline with the … Read More »
The design of the work flow is key here: the game constantly challenging you to try something just a little bit more difficult than what you’ve just accomplished. These microincreases in challenge are just big enough to keep sparking your … Read More »
The term “utility” keeps coming up in my readings and research, both leadership studies and gaming. David Hume mentions “utility” in “Of the First Principles of Government.” Garry Wills mentions it in Certain Trumpets: The Nature of Leadership. And it … Read More »
Having recently finished Jane McGonigal’s (2011) Reality is Broken, I’ve begun noticing a new trend in the study of “virtual worlds” popping up all over the place. This past fall, I was privileged to hear Edward Castronova’s plenary talk at … Read More »