ETC Press, the publishing imprint of Carnegie Mellon's Entertainment Technology Center, recently released a new volume that's deserving of a mention here. The book, Well Played 1.0: Video Game, Value and Meaning, is a collection of 22 readings, each focused on a specific video game. I share this with you because I enjoyed following the story of an afternoon Civilization 4 session, recounted by LGN co-founder Kurt Squire, Shree Durga, and Ben DeVane:
Consider, for example, the discussion around what historical mod we would play that day. At the after-school club, we commonly played multiplayer games using a mod related to a historical theme or time-period that one of the participants was studying in school. Consequently, we have developed and played many scenarios over the years, ranging in topic from ancient Mesopotamian civilizations to the 100 Years War to the Industrial Revolution. This practice enabled us to not only create scenarios that might have immediate pay-off in school, but also (and probably more critically), created an atmosphere in which it was normal (and indeed desirable) for participants to talk about the academic study of history in relation to their game play. Asked if they preferred playing a random game-generated map or a historical scenario, Josh and Morgan both quickly agreed that they wanted to play a scenario, and they immediately began discussing what they were studying in school.
(If you're unfamiliar with mods, learn more here.)
Well Played 1.0 is available for free as a pdf and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 License. (You can also buy a hardcopy here.)
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