tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31062272011-11-17T12:01:18.232+01:00ISSN:1601-6025<br> Weblog on ludology and game research<br> <br>Lars Konzack<br>Game researcher from Denmark<br> email: lars [att] konzack [dot] dkLars Konzacknoreply@blogger.comBlogger2891100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-297556602208888242011-11-14T22:04:00.000+01:002011-11-14T22:04:32.764+01:00

Youth Rebellion 2011 North-African spring against old dictators in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya. Demonstrations against failed economic politics in Spain, Greece, and Italy. Demonstrations against cut-backs and privatization of university education in London, England. The Occupy Wall Street movement in USA. DDoS-attacks by Anonymous.

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-26253950223019788872011-11-06T17:38:00.000+01:002011-11-06T17:38:32.664+01:00

Philosophical game design. Leela is a game that represents the thoughts of Deepak Chopra. Admittedly, I am not very fond of the philosophy of Deepak Chopra, I will however claim that it seems that his world vied has been thoroughly well expressed throug this video game. See: THQ Deepak Chopra's Leela

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-64458881794907778692011-08-12T21:37:00.001+02:002011-08-12T21:37:50.971+02:00

Review of Racing the Beam: The fun is back!

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-29581311431075531862011-08-10T00:45:00.000+02:002011-08-10T00:45:24.428+02:00

"Geek Culture: The 3rd Counter-Culture" in turkish translation. GEEK KÜLTÜRÜ: ÜÇÜNCÜ KARŞIT-KÜLTÜR

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-20264958898497038742011-08-06T17:14:00.005+02:002011-08-06T19:21:21.889+02:00

More Criticism of Philosophical Game Design Mike Gamm writes in Gaming Journal #2: "Earlier in the term we read the essay, "Philisophical Game Design" by Lars Konzack, in which he says that a game must have at least one dualist philisophical aspect in order to be successful in our society, because this is what gamers want." My response: I have never made the claim that a game must have at

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-43228995196860822032011-08-06T15:30:00.011+02:002011-08-06T17:36:10.049+02:00

Criticism of Philosophical Game Design Mike Gamm writes in New Age Socialities:  "As you have heard me say before, I really disagree with Lars Konzack and the idea that most players prefer philosophical game design above all other aspects of gaming (). I believe that the multiplayer component is going to be the largest part of gaming in the years to come; in fact I have noticed small but

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-80849236902018262782011-08-06T10:06:00.001+02:002011-08-06T10:27:05.425+02:00

ON PHILOSOPHICAL GAME DESIGN This is an interesting question: "With Konzack’s notion of philosophical gaming in mind, the question I have is where to draw lines between philosophical games, educational games, and games like Tetris, Checkers or other games that do not really offer any kind of immediate knowledge gain (although I admit that the latter can develop reflexes, a competitive

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-11286518735090666912011-08-04T02:23:00.004+02:002011-08-04T07:51:42.853+02:00

The Problem with The Magic Circle as a Way to Comprehend Games I don't think that the term magic circle is actually what Johan Huizinga had in mind when he defined games. Admittedly, Huizinga uses this term but it is not central to his theory at all. In Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play-Element in Culture, Huizinga wrote: All play moves and has its being within a play-ground marked off

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-70214079057628956042011-06-03T21:24:00.004+02:002011-06-03T22:10:10.830+02:00

Anon Pirate Flags Mask and Bones. Beware! Anonymous pirates.

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-90849625039714327112011-05-11T23:38:00.003+02:002011-05-11T23:40:28.630+02:00

In Soviet Russia YOU don't build wall. Wall builds YOU!

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-20523068905544017872010-06-02T13:56:00.005+02:002010-06-02T14:29:59.320+02:00

Prince of Persia Went to see Prince of Persia with low expectations. Movies based on video games tend to be bad. Mostly because they lack content, focusing only on action packed drama. PoP turned out differently. It may not be the best movie ever. If that was their ambition they would have to look deeper into the cultural and mythological material they were dealing with. That said it was

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-86824495762747514402010-04-18T18:59:00.000+02:002010-04-18T18:59:14.353+02:00

I had friends on that Deathstar, y'know!  

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-82747453745015686322010-03-26T17:57:00.000+01:002010-03-26T17:57:22.565+01:00

The Gaming Industry’s Need For A Literary Revolution

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-71438795385876288302010-02-21T20:10:00.006+01:002010-02-22T18:00:25.768+01:00

Project Freeweb On February 10, 2010 Anonymous DDoS-attacked Australian Government websites due to the fact that they are going to filter the Internet. The DDoS-attack was followed up ten days later (February 20) by a IRL demonstrations in Australian cities. They failed. Only a few people showed up. They were not supposed to wear V-masks even though it has become the trademark of Anon actions.

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-83523412151906154532010-01-11T17:57:00.000+01:002010-01-11T17:58:41.000+01:00

Suddenly, the world smiles back at you.

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-13263988841345641282009-08-07T17:49:00.001+02:002009-08-07T17:50:54.035+02:00

NETGENERATION OG NØRDKULTUREn debatbog om det næste kulturskifte i Danmark, der finder sted i 2010erne. Den gamle kollektivistgeneration går på pension, og den nye netgeneration overtager den kulturelle magt. Det er en generation præget af Internettet og nørdkultur, og de vil sammen sætte en helt ny dagsorden både kunstnerisk og politisk.Lars Konzack og Ian Dall viser med provokerende og

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-10187126394189112732009-08-03T14:26:00.005+02:002009-08-03T19:51:14.958+02:00

THE BLAZING WORLDTo any sub-creator, role-player,or fantasy enthusiast out there. When you have finished re-reading JRR Tolkien's "On Fairy-Stories" and during this process actually understanding what he is saying. (Hint: He believes fantasy to be created thorugh Rational thought and not made for children.) You may want to read "On Science Fiction" by CS Lewis. And when you are finished

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-52904656468442191292009-07-27T14:25:00.003+02:002009-07-27T14:30:19.054+02:00

Narratology vs. Ludology DebateOne of the big issues in video game studies of this decade has been the so-called Narratology vs. Ludology Debate sometimes referred to as the N&L Debate. The main problem used to be that video games were analysed as narratives only, which wasn’t fair to the game part of the video game. Games like Tetris and Pong didn’t make much sense from a pure Narratologist

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-64822063832206692562009-06-29T13:52:00.002+02:002009-06-29T13:53:20.346+02:00

GEEK CULTURE Living in an information-driven society, people engage in activity based on information and service instead of industry and agriculture as in the past. The ability to generate and acquire new information is critical, and many in geek culture embrace media technology for work and play and as well as their powerful effects on society. Geeks approach aesthetics and culture differently,

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-32145989623928222542009-04-08T20:53:00.001+02:002009-04-08T20:55:07.859+02:00

Tomorrow I will join Fastaval 2009.Fastaval.

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-55024881339410874992009-02-22T08:45:00.010+01:002009-02-23T08:57:27.661+01:00

Whenever a Postmodernist start babbling about how nowadays you cannot say anything, I can't help thinking: "Why don't you shut the #¤%& up then."

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-62326214121608442432009-02-14T23:43:00.000+01:002009-02-14T23:44:26.032+01:00

Video Games in Europe.

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-48896760950752363732009-02-11T22:19:00.002+01:002009-02-11T22:29:20.824+01:00

Twilight is to Generation Y what Pretty Woman was to Generation X.

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-61644719967563615572009-02-02T22:01:00.006+01:002009-02-02T22:04:07.169+01:00

Philososphical Game Design.

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-32603839202515051822009-01-24T07:53:00.002+01:002009-01-24T07:57:34.280+01:00

GOLD follows the American and British Goblins & Gold RPG teams as they prepare for the World Role Playing Games Championships. Told in traditional narrative style with a mix of drama and subtle comedy, GOLD. is both a comic look at the American portrayal of sports in television and film, and a loving tribute to the wonderful world of traditional, pen-and-paper style role playing games.

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-48221710365679905062009-01-21T20:48:00.004+01:002009-01-24T07:57:45.852+01:00

The Elephant's LullabyThe stars light up at the night-blue sky.The half-moon stares at a chipmunk.I am keeping an eye, that the wicked micethey won’t sneak into your grip trunk.Sleep well little Jumbo and lullabynow darkness comes to the jungle.The ostrich your aunt just slipped her eyesand sleeps with the rhino, your uncle.A slumbering wilderbeest cries tonightin the bush of the big lianasand

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-14019075112449735152009-01-16T16:26:00.002+01:002009-01-16T16:31:43.104+01:00

I was interviewed for Berlingske Tidende (in Danish):Kultur-nørdernes indtogI dag er det nørdernes værdier og interesser, der sætter dagsordenen inden for en række kulturelle områder. Men hvad sker der, når Harry Potter-fans bliver dem, der for alvor bestemmer?

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-12246573809783467312009-01-10T15:50:00.004+01:002009-01-16T16:31:24.649+01:00

Lately, I've been working on the concept of mauppies (middle-aged urban professionals) and how they influence our world today in a manner that has become almost invisible to us. Furthermore, I'm woking on geek culture and the netgeneration.

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-33702777235650787122008-12-08T19:51:00.005+01:002008-12-08T20:14:09.966+01:00

I just got my copy of The Video Game Theory Reader 2.CONTENT:1 Gaming Literacy: Game Design as a Model for Literacy in the 21st CenturyEric Zimmerman2 Philosophical Game DesignLars Konzack3 The Video Game Aesthetic: Play as FormDavid Myers4 Embodiment and InterfaceAndreas Gregersen and Torben Grodal5 Understanding Video Games as Emotional ExperiencesAki Jarvinen6 In the Frame of the Magic Cycle:

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-90053959041347327732008-11-03T13:44:00.001+01:002009-02-02T22:04:39.504+01:00

Video Games and the Rise of the Geek

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-72120208827348545482008-09-04T11:04:00.005+02:002009-02-02T22:05:20.793+01:00

Lars KonzackSubkreacja Wtórnego Świata Giertłumaczenie: Joanna Lach

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-45992982765830026182008-09-04T10:48:00.002+02:002009-02-02T22:05:35.340+01:00

Lars Konzack, Ian Dall:Fantasy i mediewalizm w grach RPG tłumaczył: Adrian Peplak.

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-76185294613921995922008-07-29T13:25:00.002+02:002008-07-29T13:30:57.608+02:00

I´m in Dublin, Ireland right now, waiting for another build for The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon. As I said to my daughter I´m learning Spyro to speak Danish. Well, sort of makes sense, doesn´t it.

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-36338635180591978432008-06-06T10:54:00.000+02:002008-06-06T10:54:35.475+02:00

The problem with Michael Moorcock's notion of fantasy:Shadows of Clockwork Men: Review of Epic Pooh

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-4197079150874431452008-06-06T10:28:00.001+02:002008-06-06T10:56:19.073+02:00

: RevolutionSF - Epic Pooh : FeatureMichael Moorocok's points about High Fantasy in general and Tolkien in particular. He obviously misses the point og Tolkien's fantasy and get caught up in old-fashioned ideology criticism.

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-39396860872076598512008-05-20T18:58:00.002+02:002008-05-20T19:08:57.741+02:00

Geek Culture in PolishKultura Maniaków. Trzecia kultura manipulacjiTranslated by Joanna Lach.

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-4851094229979336742008-04-07T22:19:00.003+02:002008-04-07T22:31:11.869+02:00

Solmukohta 2008Safely home from Solmukohta 2008. My tribute to Gary Gyax went fine.People was dressed up as retro-science fiction characters and there was good German beer.I look forward to actually read the proceedings.

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-14508763241805238032008-03-05T16:55:00.000+01:002008-03-05T17:02:27.473+01:00

Tributes to Gygax:WeregeekOrder of the StickCostikyan

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-8590679129103030092008-03-05T11:36:00.003+01:002008-03-05T11:50:18.354+01:00

Gary Gygax is deadYesterday, Gary Gygax died at the age of 69. He was the inventor of a new media: role-playing games. His influence on geek culture was immense and certainly videogames today would have been a lot more boring without his visions. He encouraged what is now known as user-generated content by putting up a system in which the players themselves were able to put thoughts and ideas

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-1231689843693141382008-02-27T21:23:00.002+01:002008-02-27T21:27:56.289+01:00

Computer Game Criticism: A Method for Computer Game Analysis has just been translated into Polish as Krytyka gier komputerowych: metoda analizy gier komputerowych.I noticed that articles by Espen Aarseth and Jesper Juul has been translated too.

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-78651890379992617322008-01-30T21:15:00.000+01:002008-01-30T21:19:18.594+01:00

I just registred for the Solmukohta conference 2008.www.solmukohta.org/

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-31634641277667353412007-11-03T20:24:00.000+01:002007-11-06T19:58:36.377+01:00

Bretteville Yesterday was the official opening reception for Bretteville in Aalborg. It is a new and exciting entrepreneur center for digital innovation e.g. videogame development.Every VIP was there. The trolls simply had to be there too.Steen K. Rasmussen (right) held a VIP-lecture on web 2.0 and innovative journalism. Donal Sund Nielsen (left) is the initiator of house Bretteville.Gunnar Wille

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-19377926349814889242007-09-26T19:50:00.000+02:002007-09-27T17:25:09.458+02:00

Eurocon 2007This weekend I went to Eurocon 2007 in Copenhagen. It was a science fiction and fantasy conference. Anne McCaffrey and Zoran Zivkovic were guests of honor. It was fun to be there among fellow geeks.And now for the pictures:Furry CatLocal Storm Troopers in actionMartin Jürgensen from SleazehoundNiels Dalgaard, Fan Guest of honorLene Kaaberbøl and Flemming P. RaschH. H. LøycheEllen

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-24997285511251606722007-09-20T17:47:00.000+02:002007-09-20T18:20:54.219+02:00

Konzackism Konzackism is the belief that game and narrative may co-exist in videogames. Contrary to ludologists and narratologists thinking that say videogames should be studied as either games or narratives, Konzackism is a moderate ludologist perspective that says games should primarily be considered as games and consequently be studied as such but if there is any narrative content then that

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-85527226201975427552007-09-16T18:23:00.000+02:002007-09-16T18:24:45.091+02:00

Commodore 64 skabte en spilgenerationCommodore 64 trak computerspillerne ud af frituredampene på landets grillbarer og ind på drengeværelserne. Den lille brødkasses indtog skabte derved den første spilgeneration.Læs mere >

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-82895545488596566622007-08-16T15:19:00.000+02:002007-08-16T15:20:41.019+02:00

D&D 4th. EditionToday, Wizards of the Coast confirms that the new edition will launch in May 2008 with the release of the D&D Player's Handbook. A pop culture icon, Dungeons & Dragons is the #1 tabletop roleplaying game in the world, and is revered by legions of gamers of all ages.

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-23212447134598712762007-07-29T17:17:00.000+02:002007-07-30T11:05:30.358+02:00

Lovecraft deconstructedI came across an old post-structuralist approach to H. P. Lovecraft in Donald R. Burleson: "Lovecraft: Disturbing the Universe" (1990).Well, I don't know what to say. The work really shows how dogmatic post-structuralism really is (even though they themselves claim differently). Every short story is self-reflective, subversive, labyrinthic. illogical etc. This may actually

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-40377530366868882102007-07-10T09:14:00.000+02:002007-07-10T09:18:39.923+02:00

Don't do this in churchOpreation PedopriestThis ia a video game in which the player helps to cover up pedophilia in the Catholic church. Yes, it is certainly possible to make a statement using video games as a way to express oneself.

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-50254162222721848212007-06-14T13:31:00.000+02:002007-06-14T13:38:20.613+02:00

Willing Suspension of Disbelief vs. Inner Consistency of RealityWhenever I hear the term Willing Suspernsion of Disbelief it hurts, because the idea is that when I approach the fictious world I'm supposed to believe in anything. I can see what comes out of this concept and it's simply bad game worlds without inner consistency of reality. If game worlds are approached as something that is given

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-71200562901027679962007-05-29T20:44:00.000+02:002007-05-29T20:48:34.747+02:00

So boring! I don't know what to say, really.

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-70235454657814532042007-05-21T18:28:00.001+02:002007-05-22T09:18:17.158+02:00

Lilia, I am your FatherWell, on the 10th. of May (ten days ago - time flies when your having fun) at 21.04 my second daughter was born.Mother and child:

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-87403617109803458112007-04-04T19:28:00.000+02:002007-04-04T19:38:11.312+02:00

The Player's RealmThe Player's Realm has been released.Digital games have become an increasingly pervasive aspect of everyday life as well as an embattled cultural phenomenon in the twenty-first century. As new media technologies diffuse around the world and as the depth and complexity of gaming networks increase, scholars are becoming increasingly savvy in their approach to digital games. While

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-68495816939714858802007-02-28T17:07:00.000+01:002007-03-01T12:41:44.222+01:00

Battle for the futureMy article entitled The battle for our culture in FO/futureorientation was launched today. It's about how the net-generation is going to take over from the old boomer generation, challenging the views of the middle-aged yuppies.

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-85362376006752775992007-02-27T16:55:00.000+01:002007-02-27T16:59:20.837+01:00

The Knudepunkt-bookLifelike

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-16512503795407840992007-02-20T20:36:00.000+01:002007-02-27T16:53:04.539+01:00

Knudepunkt 2007: from Denmark with loveFebruary 15th to 18th 2007 at Helsinge in Denmark.Knudepunkt is a larp (live action role-playing) conference that shifts between the Scandinavian countries.It was my first Knudepunkt and even though I do not consider myself a larper, I must say it was a marvelous conference. Personally I would have prefered to hear more of P&P (pen and paper) role-playing

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-1171373613552127192007-02-13T14:33:00.000+01:002007-02-13T14:34:28.203+01:00

Knudepunkt 2007This thursday I'm going to Knudepunkt 2007. I have a presentation concerning live action role-playing experience design, which by the way is what my conference paper is all about too. Coincidence? I think not!

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-1168088054101862532007-01-06T13:48:00.000+01:002007-01-06T13:55:22.126+01:00

Five-layer modelNick Montfort is discussing my old (2002) paper Computer Game Criticism. He suggests a five-layer model as an alternative to my seven-layer model in his article Combat in Context. Still, the main point that there are several layers from which we are able to analyse videogames remains the same.

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-1167667119341297472007-01-01T16:58:00.000+01:002007-01-02T10:44:52.426+01:00

Happy New Year 2007!I would like to point towards a recently published article about pen 'n' paper role-playing games by Joris Dormans:On the Role of the Die: A brief ludologic study of pen-and-paper roleplaying games and their rules

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-1165932445166056192006-12-12T15:07:00.000+01:002006-12-12T15:08:49.946+01:00

I just got an article in Futuriblerne, Nov. 2006.The article is titled "Net-generationen" [The Net Generation].

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-1165827227671426532006-12-11T09:52:00.000+01:002006-12-11T09:53:47.683+01:00

Stephen Henderson wrote: two of my favorite artists on inspiration and notes on sub-creation.

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-1165647834637478542006-12-09T08:03:00.000+01:002006-12-09T08:30:17.253+01:00

DANIMA 06Last weekend I went to the Danima 06 conference at University of Copenhagen. I would like to thank Samuel Ben Israel for making this event come to life.I lectured about how videogame animation aesthetics was different from other kinds of animation. I did that by showing music video presenting videogame animation. The point was that if one could recognise videogame aesthetics in a music

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-1164633151551038702006-11-27T14:11:00.000+01:002006-11-27T14:18:36.876+01:00

Weird Al Yankovic: White 'n' Nerdy.

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-1163580409161505062006-11-15T09:46:00.000+01:002006-11-15T09:55:45.490+01:00

Ola Janson wrote to me that he had used my geek culture paper in his class. The students received his lecture with standing ovations, and he told me that the words The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth echoed down the corridors.I'm impressed.

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-1163256231430988742006-11-11T15:43:00.000+01:002006-11-11T15:49:48.460+01:00

Dreamgames and ComITopOn the 10th of November Dreamgames and ComITop held a seminar at Aalborg University with guest speakers from managers coming from FUNCOM and IO Interactive. Jørgen Tharaldsen (FUNCOM) told about their new project Conan Online and earlier projects like Anarchy Online and The Longest Journey.Thomas Howalt (IO Interactive) talked about the future of the gaming industry. He used

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-1162657433805865742006-11-04T17:04:00.000+01:002007-01-16T13:32:15.970+01:00

Philosophy, geek culture, and Gunnar WilleTesterday, I went to Odense with my colleague Thessa Jensen to the seminar "Philosophy and Popular Culture". I held a lecture on geek culture based on my paper Geek Culture: The 3rd Counter-Culture. Afterwards Cynthia Grund told us about Star Trek and art conception.Cynthia GrundCouldn't stay for long though because I had to go to Gunnar Wille's 60th

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-1162150224950084382006-10-29T20:18:00.001+01:002006-10-30T09:03:03.950+01:00

MINE: Digital Arts Festival 06Today, I visited MINE: Digital Arts Festival 06 in Thingbæk Kalkminer. Well, there was lots of light and sounds in a cave. I especially found the videogame art exciting, and I would like to emphasize: Samorost 1 and Samorost 2 by Amanita Design and Edge Bomber by Susigames due to the high standard for each of these games. The Samorost games were an artistically

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-1160991862562931932006-10-16T11:31:00.000+02:002006-10-18T15:17:40.263+02:00

Viking-Con 25, CopenhagenThis weekend I role-played Jonas van Courtland at Viking-Con 25 in Copenhagen. It's amazing 25 years of game fiction! The live role-playing game was a classical World of Darkness scenario with lots of intrigues. I had a fantastic co-player in Signe Demuth Winther Rasmussen who played Caroline van Courtland.The scenario was titled: Hjertenes Nat, Skyggernes Nat [Night of

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-1160682216157709492006-10-12T21:35:00.000+02:002006-10-16T11:47:14.960+02:00

Ultima Online lectureKjetil Sandvik lectured this afternoon here at Aalborg University on the subject of Online Worlds, presenting Ultima Online as the main case. The students got insights into how computer games may be percieved as theatre. It was of course to some extent based on Brenda Laurel, but Kjetil had gone a lot further with this approach.Kjetil Sandvik

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-1160126123317318202006-10-06T11:10:00.000+02:002006-10-16T11:47:58.943+02:00

MarvãoJoseph Olin e-mailed me this picture of the steps leading up to the castle Marvão [pron. Marvaong] in Portugal. I'm a bit afraid of heights, I must add. Still, I managed to climb these dangerous steps.Steps to Marvão

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-1160078016912609202006-10-05T21:53:00.000+02:002006-10-05T22:22:46.623+02:00

Jason Della Rocca's travel report about Games 2006 in Portalegre, Portugal.

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-1159728056835911112006-10-01T20:40:00.000+02:002006-10-03T17:39:25.163+02:00

Games 2006 in Portalegre, PortugalChris Crawford made an outstanding performance, saying that the paradigm shift in videogames would go from "fun, spectacle, and excitement" towards "interactive storytelling". This might have been a convincing statement ten or twenty years ago, but now it seemed as if he was the old paradigm. As I said he was quite a performer. Yes, it certainly was not boring to

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-1159188040704587072006-09-25T14:40:00.000+02:002006-09-25T14:40:41.086+02:00

I am off to Games 2006 in Portalegre, Portugal.I look forward to put the concept of sub-creation on the agenda in the game research community. The term has been used on some occasions, but as I see it no-one has really understood the implications of this way of thinking.

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-1158583031324729312006-09-18T14:37:00.000+02:002006-09-18T14:38:38.556+02:00

If you do not have anything better to do at New Years Eve 2006, then please feel free to read our upcoming anthology: The Players' Realm.It's available for pre-order now and will be released December 31, 2006.

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-1157110680121411192006-09-01T13:38:00.000+02:002006-09-01T13:40:37.680+02:00

Game-artist Janine Fron from (art)n made this beautyful homepage entitled Prêt-à-voir.Sit back. Take a look, and enjoy the close atmosphere.

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-1155745177769519232006-08-16T18:19:00.000+02:002006-10-07T09:48:03.200+02:00

My paper about subcreation was accepted for the Games 2006 conference in Portalegre, Portugal.This is the paper: Subcreation of Secondary Game Worlds.

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-1153511026661644792006-07-21T21:43:00.000+02:002006-07-23T16:25:49.790+02:00

Went to see Pirates of the Caribbean 2 yesterday. I like it. What is there more to say really. It's funny, exciting and the renewal of pirate movies.Today I had the chance to inspire High School students into becoming game designers at Future Entertainment Week. I was asked to tell them how to create games. I gave them some basics about game mechanics and level design and they were ready to go.

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-1153160497521152312006-07-17T20:21:00.000+02:002006-07-17T20:21:37.590+02:00

Benni Bødker skriver om fantasy: "Hvad vi kan håbe på, når bølgen er overstået, er, at vi har opnået et mere afbalanceret forhold til genren, så fantastisk litteratur naturligt kan blive accepteret ved siden af den realistiske tradition og blive vurderet ud fra de samme præmisser. Altså ikke: er denne genre lødig? Men: er denne bog god?""Den fantastiske litteratur er ikke nødvendigvis eskapisme,

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-1152905470558514802006-07-14T21:31:00.000+02:002006-07-14T21:31:10.620+02:00

Do you feel like Zidane?Well, here is a chance to try out his rage in this little game: Zidane.

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-1151582416903875222006-06-29T14:00:00.000+02:002006-06-29T14:04:51.906+02:00

FNG 2006Recently 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

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-1150449266784588592006-06-16T10:59:00.000+02:002006-06-17T15:19:13.446+02:00

Geek Culture: The New Counter-CultureI'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

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-1150210942772658302006-06-13T17:02:00.000+02:002006-06-13T17:07:06.673+02:00

Danmark kan blive verdens førende spilnation [in Danish]

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-1149240793177129532006-06-02T11:33:00.000+02:002006-06-02T11:41:24.503+02:00

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

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-1148217969855747042006-05-21T15:24:00.001+02:002006-05-22T15:01:57.693+02:00

European Geek Culture wonThis year the Finnish heavy metal monster rock band Lordi won the Eurovision Song Contest. Times are really changing, geek culture pops up everywhere, even in least expected places.Music video:Hard Rock Halleluja

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-1148217850177742932006-05-21T15:24:00.000+02:002006-06-16T10:59:22.423+02:00

Understanding TolkienA lot of people has difficulties understanding the works of Tolkien. I can understand that because contrary to (post-)modernist beliefs he is in fact difficult to grasp.I've come across a certain kind of people who likes fantasy but dislikes the Lord of the rings. It is of course ok to dislike what others might like. But in this case there is a central argument. They were

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-1148217789398442912006-05-21T15:22:00.000+02:002006-05-21T15:30:30.576+02:00

Denmark has a roleplaying school.(This was originally posted May 3rd. 2006.)

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-1146198790823248202006-04-28T06:33:00.000+02:002006-04-28T06:34:19.146+02:00

My paper for the FNG 2006 conference just got accepted.Reviewers comments:This is certainly a highly unusual paper for a computer science related conference! Taking the form of a discursive essay, this paper argues that the rise of ‘the geek’ may well be a portent to geek culture establishing itself as the 3rd counter culture (after hippies and yuppies) to modern society. The paper is well

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-1143449254811505332006-03-27T10:47:00.000+02:002006-03-27T14:14:35.416+02:00

Lately, I've been playing Total Overdose. I like this game because, contrary to GTA, it focuses the attention on fun and excitement, the clichés are having a ball. It's a fun shooter.The story stinks and that's actually a good thing in this case. I wouldn't have it another way. The action counts. Have a laugh, shoot some bad guys, jump on a wire, tequilas, steal a car, sombreros, etc.And then it

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-1139839618757540202006-02-13T15:06:00.000+01:002006-02-13T15:06:59.263+01:00

A casual style ruins any serious fantasy.

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-1138873389534751982006-02-02T10:14:00.000+01:002006-02-02T10:43:09.593+01:00

Videofun: Fear of girlsI smiled but did not laugh. It used to be fun. The joke in this case was way to old. I had heard it before - not just once but several times: Geeks taking their fantasy worlds too seriously and having trouble finding girls. Ha ha!It would be nice see another approach to gamers. It might even be fun.

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-1138127854128768602006-01-24T19:28:00.000+01:002006-01-24T20:07:54.240+01:00

Today the Danish Minister of Culture presented a list of canonised Danish culture. It's not suppossed to be a laughing matter but I can't help myself. Donald duck, large buildings and pop-music altogether into top-twelve hit-lists. I must apologise they are presented in Danish only.ArchitectureArtDesignFilmLiteratureMusicPerformance/TheatreChildren's cultureIt is simply ridiculous. On the serious

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-1138091994241993582006-01-24T09:18:00.000+01:002006-01-24T12:46:53.140+01:00

I don't know why but at some point I knew I had to take this test to find out more about my personality.What male archetype are you?... and as everyone could predict I happened to be Lord of the Underworld (Hades, Osiris, Arawn). This fact did of course not help me very much to find my true self, so I had to take the real test:What D&D character are you?The result was inevitable, I was as you

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-1137665763095339182006-01-19T11:16:00.000+01:002006-01-19T13:05:02.013+01:00

Watching Ringers, I'll have to admit it was a tremendous statement of the Tolkien fan-culture. It took the long brave step to depict the Tolkien-scene from the hippie counterculture of the late 1960s to the present day gaming geek culture. It is important to realise that indeed this movie is about the fans not about Tolkien's work and must be seen from this point of view. Otherwise one would have

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-1137273032561349322006-01-14T21:39:00.000+01:002006-01-14T22:28:03.936+01:00

Susanna Clarke has of course been "victim" of fan fiction. It seems as if the original author is quite positive as long as it is written with a sense of style.A fan-writer by the name of Jennifer-Oksana has created a mix between Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell and the movie Pirates of the Caribbean called Introduction to the Books of Caribbean Magic, 2nd Edition. According to melusinehr, Susanna

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-1137065083750434162006-01-12T11:32:00.000+01:002006-01-14T22:32:14.086+01:00

The 10 most commonly used works for fan fiction on fanfiction.netHarry PotterLord of the RingsGundamYu-Gi-OhFinal FantasyDragon Ball ZBuffy: The Vampire SlayerDigimonNarutoSailor MoonPlease notice there are two fantasy works at the top of the list, seven manga, and one fantasy-horror tv-series.Did you know that 9 out of 10 fanwriters are in fact women?

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-1136810872380919822006-01-09T13:44:00.000+01:002006-01-12T11:32:09.566+01:00

Went to see the Narnia movie. The adaption was very close to the original - even though the Jungian was popping up. Andrew Rilstone has made a thoughtful review on his blog.Although I do not think Tilda Swinton should win an oscar.

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-1136402742007185812006-01-04T20:07:00.000+01:002006-01-06T14:25:42.253+01:00

I'm reading Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke. It has been compared to the works of Tolkien but this comparisson doesn't really make any sense. Even though they've got elves and magic in common they are very different. Like Tolkien she takes her work seriously. Compared to Tolkien not seriously enough though, however that comparison is unfair.No it's more like War and Peace meets

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-1134990461831141492005-12-19T11:54:00.000+01:002005-12-28T11:03:26.906+01:00

This thursday (December 15. 2005) I was quoted in a newspaper article (in Urban) about whether driving videogames had a bad influence on the young peoples driving experience - forcing them to drive to fast. I said it could have some sort of influence but on the other hand, people playing these driving games also improved their driving skills. Furthermore, I reckoned that young people always want

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-1134136960590447472005-12-09T14:59:00.000+01:002005-12-09T15:02:40.603+01:00

Yesterday we had a the annual general meeting in spilforskning.dk [Game-Research Deanmark]. It was a chat-meeting and worked fine. I was reelected as the chairman. The last few years we've been working on the national games-education program. Now we are moving forward towards research programs.

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-1131535816455825202005-11-09T12:28:00.000+01:002005-12-28T11:52:04.906+01:00

Blogger-thoughts on postmodernism and scepticism in general:Characterizing a Fogbank: What Is Postmodernism, and Why Do I Take Such a Dim View of It?

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3106227.post-1131391327044395022005-11-07T20:17:00.000+01:002005-11-07T20:22:07.053+01:00

Lately, I've been working on wendish mythology. We know what gods they had but most of the stories have been lost. The reconstruction of these narratives through Tolkien's method of subcreation makes sense. It's fun working with subcreation of myths long gone.

Lars Konzacknoreply@blogger.com0