FNG 2006
Recently returned from FNG2006. It was a fine conference. Cosy in the most positive sense of the word. It turned out to be more of a HCI-conference than I first expected it to be. No problem there however.
I got my chance to talk about Geek Culture and I got the impression that a lot of people liked my concept and undertanding of geek culture, implying that we have to look further into this area of research in order to understand videogames and gaming culture.

Here is my contribution:

Geek culture: The 3rd Counter-Culture

Geek Culture: The New Counter-Culture
I'm looking forward to present my paper about geek culture on FNG 2006.

Geek culture is moving fast these years, transforming the main stream culture into becoming more geekish. We are witnessing a culture revolution before our very eyes. It's a counter-culture changing the world today. They do not care about sports, fashion, and selfishness. Instead they want to make communities of interests. They like gadgets, toys, media, and computers. They've got good sense of humour. They think a lot too. And they love games and the fantastic.

Danmark kan blive verdens førende spilnation [in Danish]

Shared Fantasy.
Gary Alan Fine wrote a ground-breaking study of non-computer RPG back in 1983. His approach was sociological, and has been copied by other researchers ever since.

He writes:
"Fantasy is constrained by the social expectations of the players and of their world."

and later...
"Collective fantasy lacks the seemingly random, illogical feature of dreaming; it does not have the egocentric or autistic qualities that Freud and Piaget discuss as characteristic of fantasy (or psychotic states). Because gaming fantasy is based in shared experiences, it must be constructed through communication. This communication is possible only when a shared set of references exist for the key images and a clear set of expectations exist for which action are legitimate."

What we need today is to understand the aesthetic and artistic qualities of con-computer RPG. Yes, it is a shared fantasy! It's not an egocentric or autistic dream. How do we create criticism and poetics for these shared fantasies?