Water Cooler Games
Water Cooler Games served as the web's primary forum for "videogames with an agenda" — coverage of the uses of video games in advertising, politics, education, and other everyday activities, outside the sphere of entertainment.
The site was maintained at watercoolergames.org from 2003-2009, where it was edited by myself and Gonzalo Frasca. It is now archived here in full.
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Two Outstanding Perspectives
by Ian Bogost August 18, 2007
categories:
Game Design
Andy Nulman on why there's nothing wrong with single-player games:
But, given the success of community Web sites like MySpace and Facebook, all of a sudden everyone thinks there needs to be "community" associated with everything. It's "community this" and "community that." Hey, have you ever heard of the game "Solitaire"? It's one of the most popular games in the world and it's just one person enjoying a game all by themselves. Nothing wrong with that.
Rob Fahey on why "game" needs to mean more than gamers let it:
Besides, the accuracy doesn't matter; the word "game" is a label for interactivity, not a pigeon-hole which must be dispensed with because of its older connotations. After all, very few films are actually created using film any more, and there are a lot of novels which aren't exactly novel - the names remain, because they are intricately linked in people's minds with the class of entertainment they represent.
Hallelujah.
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Playing Political Games
Jobs of the Future: Coffee Engineer
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Aaron Lanterman on Jobs of the Future: Coffee Engineer
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