games

Play the Impossible: Indie Gamer

12/13/2012 7:00 pm
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Several months ago Paolo Pedercini gave at a talk at Indiecade 2012 titled "Towards Independence" - where he discussed what it meant to be an indie game designer today. Rather than a category that is defined by a series of questions with an either / or value that makes one an "indie" developer, he said that being an indie designer is something that exists on a gradient. He said that no matter what, we are always constrained: by technology, capital, protocols, hardware, class, race, sexuality & privilege. What this means is, being indie is an ideal, rather than a stable formation. It is a utopia, a horizon ever receding as we run towards it.

Indie seems, at least in its best formations, to be something diametrically opposed to capital, to the dominant cadre that controls how videogames are made. Recently, Daniel Joseph released a video concerning the oppositional nature of indie and amateur games - showing how in many cases their existence, the practice of making videogames outside massive publishing corporations allows people to articulate politics in new ways.

Manifestos have been written. Feminism is exploding through gamer culture (especially here in Toronto) in a way that 5 years ago would have appeared to be impossible. Class is on the agenda again. What happens next?

Minecraft: Multi-School Mayhem & Learning

08/23/2012 7:00 pm

Minecraft Wolf OutpostWhat do you get when 30 students from three different schools share a single Minecraft world?

Lots of explosions, plenty of failing, some pvping and a whole bunch of authentic learning.

Join three TDSB teachers, as they talk about the successes and challenges behind their Multi-School Minecraft Server Project, a single virtual world open to selected low-performing students from three schools across the Toronto District School Board.

Learn why Minecraft (and other video games) are ideal at teaching when schools seem to fail at it, get the basics on running your own Minecraft server and see how educators, parents or kids themselves can use Minecraft in student-led, inquiry-based projects that foster authentic learning and critical thinking skills.

Liam O'Donnell (@liamodonnell) , Diana Maliszewski (@MzMollyTL) and Denise Colby (@Niecsa) are three gamers who happen to be teachers. Together, they are the GamingEdus and can be found at: http://gamingeducators.pbworks.com. For the past five years, they each have used video games to support student success in literacy, numeracy, social skills development and where ever else the students take the learning.

In 2012, they teamed up with the EDGE Lab at Ryerson University, (http://edgelab.ryerson.ca/) to create North America's first Multi-School Minecraft server, where 30 students from 3 schools play Minecraft, then write and create media around their experiences. You can see their work at: http://minecraftclubhub.pbworks.com.

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Play the Impossible: Jaime Woo and Gaming Grindr

07/26/2012 7:00 pm

Gaming GrindrGamification continues to be a hot topic in marketing, education and politics, but there are many areas around the topic that have yet to be explored and discussed.

The intersections between gaming and sexuality, identity and geography are increasingly becoming apparent, especially with the rise of the popular "crusing app" Grindr.

Game designer, journalist, and organizer Jaime Woo has started work on a book (using crowd funding) about what Grindr means for gaming and what gaming means for Grindr.

Join us for a discussion with Jaime about his book, his experiences and where we see gaming going in the months ahead.

"Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."
—Red Queen, Alice in Wonderland

“Be Realistic:
Demand the Impossible"
—political slogan used by
the Situationists in 1968

“Let's set our sights beyond the abominations of today to divine another possible world.”
—Eduardo Galeano

"Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing."
- Muhammad Ali