This essay compares the relative successes of sport-related films and sport-related digital games. Where sport-related films are relatively infrequent and even more rarely successful when compared with other genres of film, sport-related games are a popular and successful genre of digital gaming. In order to understand this discrepancy, and in particular, sport fans' relationship with both film and games, this essays draws on the concept of 'narrative' and, specifically, Ricoeur's 'narrative identity'. Specifically, this essay suggests that sport teams/clubs are to some degree polysemic texts, which allow supporters to construct their own individual narratives around them. However, it is suggested that sport-related films, which tend to offer only limited narratives, are unlikely to fit with fans' own narrative identities, whereas digital games, with their more fluid narratives, are more easily located within fans' relationships and narratives with the teams/clubs they support. Read more...

In recent years, a sharp increase in the number of academic studies around the use of video games and new media for educational purposes has greatly expanded our understanding of their potential for enhancing learning. At the same time, the field of foreign language pedagogy has been racing to keep pace with the numerous opportunities afforded by the internet and interactive media forms. Surprisingly, however, there has been little cross-over between the two bodies of academic literature. This site seeks to present many of the latest theories in game studies and new media literacies alongside theories of language learning. Numerous examples are presented of how video games and web applications such as The Sims 2, Grim Fandango, Google Earth, Social Networking, DVD functionality and others could shift the way we approach language learning. Read more...

During the past two decades, the popularity of computer and video games has prompted games to become a source of study for educational researchers and instructional designers investigating how various aspects of game design might be appropriated, borrowed, and re-purposed for the design of educational materials. The purpose of this paper is to present an analysis of how the structure in massively multiple online role-playing games (MMORPGs) might inform the design of interactive learning and game-based learning environments by looking at the elements which support intrinsic motivation. Specifically, this analysis presents (a) an overview of the two primary elements in MMORPGs game design: character design and narrative environment, (b) a discussion of intrinsic motivation in character role-playing, (c) a discussion of intrinsic motivational supports and cognitive support of the narrative structure of small quests, and (d) a discussion of how the narrative structure of MMORPGs might foster learning in various types of knowledge. Read more...

First Person Games induce presence, thus fulfilling Steuer’s definition as virtual realities. As such, it is worth considering the qualities of the realities they form and how these may help us understand the relationship between the player, the contents of the game and the game system itself. Ludic reality is proposed as a construct to elucidate this relationship: an artificial temporal space in which the constrained rules of the system, the semantic contents and sequencing constructs it contains, and the behaviour and subjective experience of the player are combined into a more-or-less stable and effective state of being-in-theworld. Ludic reality directly addresses the question of the impact of internal, semantic factors in the experience, such as world, narrative and agency, together with the adoption, by the player, of a schematic, structured means of effectively interacting with the system to draw out its specific systems of affordances and reward. Read more...

This article examines one of the most popular computer games The Sims to consider whether the shared understanding of the game's "rules' can be understood through the concept of genre. The main argument is that the genre being used is "real life'. The game's creators are assuming the players share with them, and with each other, an understanding of real life, which can be transposed into the game world. The article explores this notion of a real-life narrative that is shared, by considering the ways in which family and other relationships are both conceptualized and played out in the game. Whilst real life as genre is problematized here, the tensions and conflicts of contemporary real-world conceptualizations of family and other relationships do appear to be represented in the game. What is interesting then, given this, are the ways in which players negotiate the gameplay. The article concludes by suggesting that players are active agents negotiating both the game' s version of real life, and their own real-world experiences. Read more...