Tag Archives: Arma II

Second Nature: Language, Exclusion, and Gamer Rage

by Edcrab A little after its release, my dad played Baldur’s Gate. I remember him being amused that hitting livestock with a quarterstaff had shifted his reputation to that of a heinous slayer of innocents. Wanting to know exactly how much harm he was doing to said cows, he checked out his weapon’s stats. “What’s a d6?” In a fit of rage I threw him out the window and then told everyone on Facebook, which existed back then if you knew where to look, what a newb he was and how I’d totally owned him, and then I got all the likes. After my father had dusted himself off and we cleared up all the broken glass, I explained the term’s origins. He seemed quite happy to accept that it was shorthand for a six-sided dice, and therefore designated a value of one to six. And then he cursed the Continue reading

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Minecraft: Development, Discovery, and The Final Frontier

Minecraft is a stunning precedent for independent game developers. It’s a game that made Notch, its sole developer, a multi-millionaire before anyone really knew what was happening or what to do about it. There have been a number of copycats in Minecraft’s wake, simulating its blocky aesthetic, its open-ended approach to “world-building,” crafting, and interaction. However, what these copycats can’t duplicate is the most unprecedented part of Minecraft’s success: that it sold millions of copies as an alpha build, an unfinished game. Continue reading

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