Love video games? Then you’re a perfect scientist!

What if all the world’s not a stage, but a game? The men and women would still be players, but of a very different kind. And scientists would be the biggest gamers of all…

Read on…

I wrote this for the final issue of Imperial student newspaper Felix. I like the analogy, and find that it works on many levels. And yeah, yeah, I’ve been going on about games a lot recently, but this is a very different angle to the other stuff! Hope you enjoy, and I’d love to hear your thoughts – does the analogy work?

This isn't really panda abuse, its just button mashing in Tekken

Gamification has landed

On the warpath to Oxford... Picture: fusedfilm.com

It’s one of the buzz words of 2011: gamification. But what does it mean? Who uses the word, and where is it in your life? I went on a mission to find out.

Have a listen – or download this, using the little arrow on the right, from Soundcloud to take it portable – and find out!

Are scientists making our video games?

… and other important questions, answered by Kim Blake!

At the 2011 Science Communication Conference, I sat in on the Science and Games session. Kim Blake, of Blitz Games Studios, and Martha Henson, of the Wellcome Trust, gave talks. I caught up with them both to chat about science and games afterwards.

Blake had taken an industry-focused approach to the talk, outlining the need for science to engage more with the game industry. Computer games are bigger business now than movies, with enormous market reach and financial turnover. They are also a major employer of people with science skills, especially maths and physics. Think about your favourite game – someone had to work out how all the bits and pieces move in their environment, and to do that, they had to understand the equations and principles behind it.

More than that, though, Blake explained how the most effective game designers are often from a science, rather than computing, background, because they have the creativity and training to look beyond existing solutions and paradigms. She called for better accreditation for courses touting training for the games industry, and a better awareness for students of the opportunities in this large, and growing, area of employment.

Oh, and she’s got some good thoughts on gamification too! Have a listen.

(Note: please ignore my rather nervous introduction!)

She mentions TrueSim… patient triage simulation!

We’re all being gamified

I’ve been delving into the world of games of late. It’s a fascinating topic, and one with a surprising amount of literature and theory behind it. Did you know, for instance, that 6 million person-years have been spent playing World of Warcraft?

…

Yeah. You can pick your jaw up now, it’s under the desk to the left.

Jane McGonigal has a fascinating TED talk about the possible positive impacts of gaming; it’s very idealistic, but idealism is something I have in fairly substantial measure, so it’s fine! And now, I’m off to playtest a science trivial pursuit game… wish me luck.

2011 Sci Comm Conference: Get my game on!

In the recent moments where my gaze has lifted beyond my impending exams, one event looms large in May. I have been fortunate enough to receive a bursary to attend the 2011 Science Communication Conference, run by the British Science Association.

The whole two-day event promises to be interesting, but one session in particular has me keen. It’s titled “Using games to explain science, using science to create games”, which is a fusion of two of my favourite activities!

For those who don’t know, I’m a closet gamer. Not particularly deep in the closet: just mention games and I’ll probably get excited. I’ve always particularly enjoyed strategy and resource management games; from the old SimCity and SimAnt box set my parents got me as a kid, to Knights and Merchants, Age of Empires, the card game Magic the Gathering and more recently board games Settlers of Catan and Puerto Rico.

Some kind of complicated railway-building game I arrived too late to play...

I’ve also tried my hand at the BBC’s Climate Challenge game, a decision-making simulator in which you must balance political popularity, both regional and global, with carbon reduction targets and your economy. The game led to the recent, far more complex Fate of the World, which I haven’t had a chance to play yet but hope to before the conference.

It’ll be great to hear the thoughts of the people who are involved in the industry: like all spheres of science media, there needs to be a balance between something being entertaining and informative. With games, especially, it has to be a good game at its heart, otherwise there’s no point playing it. It’s possible to slog through a poorly written 500 words or 5 minutes of video if it is talking about an interesting idea, but no-one’s going to commit to 50 hours of gaming if it’s poorly designed. How can this be tied together with the potential for a far more in-depth, immersive and memorable scientific experience that games could offer?

I’ll find out in a month’s time, and no doubt you’ll hear my thoughts on it shortly afterwards!