making virtual worlds: games and the human for a digital age (idea 2009 presentation)

Making Virtual Worlds: Games and the Human for a Digital Age

IDEA2009 Toronto

Thomas Malaby University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Virtual Worlds

World of Warcraft

Second Life

Photo by Shane Willis

“I was always struck by the expressive and, not so much societal elements…I didn’t go in feeling like we’re going to make people’s lives better. But I did go into it feeling like none of it was interesting unless there were a lot of people involved.”

- Philip Rosedale, Founder of Linden Lab

Playing and Making the World

(pre-D7UX ;) )

Norbert Wiener & Socio-Technical Systems

Stewart Brand & The Whole Earth Catalog

Ken Kesey & The Merry Pranksters

Games, Mastery, & Complex Systems

Homo Ludens - Man the Player

Homo Fabricans - Man the Maker

Homo Creans - Man the Creator

Homo Creans - Man the Creator _________________

Homo Fabricans - Man the Maker Homo Ludens - Man the Player

Designer/Developer _________________

Player/Users/Content Creators

Constant and his New Babylon -- http://members.chello.nl/j.seegers1/situationist/constant.html

Thomas Malaby University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

malaby@uwm.edu www.uwm.edu/~malaby

Making Virtual Worlds: Linden Lab and Second Life (June 2009, Cornell University Press)