Betterblog

when Recaptcha just isn't enough. Someone really wants to sell Ugg boots. I'm going to turn comment moderation on and see how it goes. Sorry for the inevitable lag.

At Playful 2010 on Friday, Margaret Robertson asked how many people in the room had played Minecraft (perhaps 5%). She asked how many people kept hearing about it on the internets and couldn't understand what all the fuss was about (perhaps 60%). She then went on to do a bravura presentation/demo, e... [More]

Last week, as part of an ongoing effort to educate me even just a bit about games, Alex lent me Tom Bissell's Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter. I've not played many 'proper' video games and most of my relationships with them have been at one remove. By which I mean I've spent a lot more time lazi... [More]

[This is the second part of a guest post by writer-designer Elizabeth Shoemaker Sampat of Two Scooters Press. Part one is here.] Previously, I discussed the concept of narrative physics, and talked about two different creative agendas: the Right to Dream, which is exemplified by Echo Bazaar, a... [More]

[This is a guest post by writer-designer Elizabeth Shoemaker Sampat of Two Scooters Press, who produced the much-admired indie tabletop RPGs Mist-Robed Gate, It's Complicated and more recently Blowback.]I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that all games are simulations. Sure, they&rsquo... [More]

We've just been asked to speak at Playful - http://www.thisisplayful.com - a very fun game-oriented cross-disciplinary conference - in Holborn on the 24th September. Which is lovely. If you're in London, do come along and say hello. For those who aren't, I'm sure Paul will do another one of his... [More]

You may have noticed there's a link under your action candle, asking you if you want a second one. In response to player feedback we've added a (rather reasonably priced) Fate option: you can buy a second candle and double the size of your action bank from ten to twenty. The second candle comes prel... [More]