Category Archives: Games

Games, Geeky

House Rules: Player-Imposed Challenge in Video Games

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When you play Monopoly, what happens when you land on Free Parking? Depending on who you ask, you get a different answer. Some say you get $500. Others say you get a pool of money collected by Income or Luxury Tax. Still others say that nothing happens. Why the disparity in answers? Welcome to the world of “house rules.”

Chances are you’re familiar with house rules. They’re prevalent in a great many card and board games. They add variety, challenge or are used to clarify unclear or ambiguous rules in games. But they’re not necessarily exclusive to just tabletop games.
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Books, Culture, Games, Television

Culture, Taste, and What We’re Thankful For

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What we like can say a lot about us. As sociologist Pierre Bourdieu said, “Taste classifies, and it classifies the classifier.” The claim is that you’re born into a certain milieu, and that ends up influencing what you like. More interestingly, though, these tastes end up “classifying you” through your attitudes toward the tastes of others. You defer to those whose tastes you view as superior and look down on those who can’t match your own cultural cred. When this plays out, we have ourselves a class system.

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Games, Technology

Indies to Watch – The Mandate

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For our first ever “Indies to Watch”, we bring you an early look at “The Mandate”, a futuristic game in which you lead your crew on an adventure of your choosing throughout the Universe. Sound like the same old song and dance you hear from the rest of the Sci-Fi genre, right? Guess again.

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