Gaming: Too Cool for School?

[Mars]

Check THIS out! Just got this off the Wired News newsletter that keeps invading my mailbox.....

http://www.wirednews.com/news/culture/0,1284,40967,00.html

"Robert Nideffer, an assistant professor of studio art at the University of California at Irvine, is trying to bring a somewhat unconventional idea to a place where some feel it does not belong.

Nideffer has proposed that the school offer a minor in computer games and gaming, an initiative that has sparked heated debate."

Fantastic. Now you can go to college and get credit for playing computer games and Magic. Apprentice 101, anyone?

[Edited by Mars on 01-15-01 at 02:45 PM]

 

[fuzzy510]

I'd never pass though. I'd always be stuck with really bad decks. Darn!

 

[superguy]

Man, I so hope that passes through! It will give me a reason to play magic more often. Sweet! Imagine getting a Harvard degree in Magic...

 

[Gerode]

Now that playing games might actually involve school and learning, the games might not seem as entertaining anymore

 

[Mars]

I forget about that. IF you turn a hobby into work, it ceases to become interesting. Hmmm. But Magic? Not entertaining? I dunno, I'd always have fun ranting about Mag2's phony cards such as Tsabo's Manipulation.

 

[Daggertooth]

Now this might sound crazy, but there is a theory of too much magic as well as "sick of magic."

If you increase the rate of play faster than the rate of changing new decks the game soon becomes boring and mundane. The cure that becomes the curse.

I am expiriencing this disturbing phenomenon right now. I am in an Isolated circle of magic. Most of us don't make enough money to spend on magic. So we have been playing relatively the same decks for a long time. I'm ashamed to tell you all that I actualy once declined a game of magic because I was "sick of Magic"

Beware, this horrible trend could happen to you.


Daggertooth

 

[Zadok001]

I can't see PhDs in Magic... Sorry, nope - I'm not visualizing that.

 

[arhar]

I think you misinterpreted the article a little bit. The professor is planning a minor not for PLAYING computer games, but for DESIGNING them. It's not such a new idea, there is a college in Canada that already exists, and the only major it has is computer games design. I actually thought of applying there, since designing computer games is my goal in life, but decided to choose something closer to home and now I'm pursuing a computer science degree at University at Stony Brook

 

[Spiderman]

I didn't quite get that impression from the article, that the purpose is to design games. At least, it didn't say that flat-out. It sounds like it's going to perhaps be a mix, with playing games AND looking at design. It was hard to get the idea from the article since the proposal wasn't written in "plain English"

But I think the theory behind designing games is a good one. Lord enough a lot of crappy games come out on the market and people wonder how the heck they made it through the design and review process...

 

[theorgg]

Interactive entertainment?

What would that mean?

To lady you just met: I'm a Doctor of Interactive Entertainment.
She: What's that mean to me?
You: It means that when I play monopoly, I go for all the slums in front of go and the second township after the jail instead of Boardwalk and Park Place
She: Oh... <eyes you nervoisly> Bartender? Check plese.
You: I also know how to design games so that they have equal parts luck, strategy and politics
She: I think I hear my dentist's appointment calling my oven is on and UUh.. it might burn a hole through my ironing board. bye!
You: well, there's another notch on the ole' barstool...

 

[arhar]

Lol!!! Is "Professional Magic: the Gathering Playah" sounds better?

Him: Hey babe.. uh-huh... Last week, I mized a Top 8 at GP: New Orleans.

 

[sageridder]

LOL The better pickup line will allways be "Hey baby You know I am a casual player.(Wink) Want to know my member status?" Of course the fully pimped out polyester leisure suit is a must.

 

[DÛke]

...:

Me: Hello there babe...I'm a Magic playa'!

Girl: NO WAY! OH MY GOD!

Me: NOT only that, but I collect Angels...

Girl: NO way!

Me: On top of all that, I'm a member of the CPA!

Girl: <faints from disbelief>

<after a revive>

Me: So, you wanna catch a tourney this Friday?

Girl: YES! I'd love to!

Me: Oh, don't worry...I'll pay ALL expenses...

Girl: Don't forget to bring your Unmask collection...

Me: Suuuure...

Girl: Oh, and wear that sexy Magic shirt, with a Black Lotus on it...it makes you look rich...

Me: Ok...