I’m on a fellowship leave this semester and, while I’ve got a long list of research and writing to accomplish, there’s no denying that sabbatical has opened up more time in my schedule for reading. I admit I’ve been slacking somewhat on my games reading, and it’s been great to have a chance to catch up on game-based learning and game studies blogs and books.
Before I was a librarian I was an archaeologist, and I’m always interested in reading about gaming and archaeology or history. Play the Past is a group blog “dedicated to thoughtfully exploring and discussing the intersection of cultural heritage (very broadly defined) and games/meaningful play (equally broadly defined).” I’ve read the Play the Past blog intermittently for several years now and I’ve enjoyed the range of topics the blog team covers. The most recent post by Angela R. Cox tackles the challenges of studying and preserving games and play that is ephemeral, and should be of interest to historians, librarians, archaeologists, and museum studies folks, among others.
More recently I’ve stumbled upon the Archaeogaming blog, which covers “the archaeology both of and in video games (console, computer, mobile, etc.).” Archaeogaming is primarily written and maintained by Andrew Reinhard, though guest posts are also welcomed on the site, and posts have ranged from analysis of archaeological components of specific digital games, to discussions about video games at archaeology (and other cultural heritage) conferences, to the excavation of the “Atari Dump Site” in New Mexico a few years ago. This year Andrew has been blogging his PhD thesis research at the University of York, including sharing his bibliography and other preliminary notes.
I’m also a big fan of Not Your Mama’s Gamer, a group blog that aims to “combine feminist interrogation of games with the games community.” The NYMG bloggers discuss both physical and digital games, which fits well with our interests here at the CUNY Games Network and with my own interests, too. Posts cover a range of topics from those that are more analytical games studies pieces to discussions of game-based learning. I especially like the posts in the play with your kids category — they’re typically useful and thought-provoking both from the perspective of a parent/gamer and an educator/gamer. The blog is fairly high volume and I’m still working through my RSS backlog, I confess, but I’m glad to have more time to dig in here this semester.
What game-related blogs, books, and articles are you reading, either for yourself or for your courses (or for your students to read!)? Leave a comment and let us know!
Image by Ed Mitchell
