“There are over two million prisoners in America—men, women, and children who are confined to prisons, jails, or detention facilities. And despite the fact that they cannot walk to a GameStop or load up Steam, many of them play games. This week, Waypoint is devoting a substantial portion of our publishing schedule to exploring this part of games culture. We’re calling it At Play in the Carceral State.” – Austin Walker, Waypoint
“Urban Ministries of Durham serves over 6,000 people every year. But you’d never need help, right? Over 14 million Americans are unemployed. Now imagine you are one of them. Your savings are gone, you’ve lost your house, and you’re down to your last $1000. Can you make it through the month?” – Spent
“In Cart Life the player controls one of three street vendors, and attempts to run their shop whilst looking after their health, interests, and families…Vinny sells bagels, Andrus runs a newspaper stand, and Melanie sells coffee from a cart. While at their stalls players interact with customers by selling them items and can manage their stall by selecting stock, setting prices, and buying new equipment.” – Wikipedia
“We’re a group of gaming academics, developers, hobbyists and enthusiasts. We have a keen interest in board games, tabletop games, video games, and all things in-between. It is our intention on this site to offer reviews and teardowns of tabletop gaming titles. We’ll be looking at these with an emphasis on the wider context of the games, especially that of how accessible the games are in a physical, cognitive or sociological sense.” – Meeple Like Us
“A feature documentary about the world of South-Korean professional video gamers” – State of Play
Geertz’s Deep Play is an essay (I think) everyone should read. So much so I wrote about it: http://t.co/s1VP6L3rP5 […]
“According to Roger Caillois, play is ‘an occasion of pure waste: waste of time, energy, ingenuity, skill, and often of money.’ In spite of this–or because of it–play constitutes an essential element of human social and spiritual development. In this classic study, Caillois defines play as a free and voluntary activity that occurs in a pure space, isolated and protected from the rest of life…”
“Endgame: Syria is a free interactive exploration of events unfolding in Syria today. It is a news-game; a simulation that uses interactivity to explore a real world event.” – Endgame: Syria
“And the Moment Is Gone is an experimental game about regrets, insecurities, internal monologues and the moments of life you relive over and over.” – And the Moment Is Gone
“This is a story of how harmless choices can make a harmful world…Our cute segregation sim [Parable of the Polygons] […]