From the historic archives of 15th-century Italy to the contemporary landscape of the commercial gaming industry, this episode explores the intricate interplay of power dynamics within the realm of play with our guest Mary Flanagan. Dr. Flanagan is an artist, author, educator, and designer who pioneered the field of game research with her ideas on critical play. In this interview we dive into Dr. Flanagan's research, her books and what it takes to design and market a game today.

For full transcript and show notes please visit weirdeconomies.com.

Credits:

Founder and organizer of Weird Economies: Bahar Noorizadeh

Host: Max Haiven

Producer: Halle Frost

Sound editor: Faye Harvey

Sponsor: Canada Council for the Arts

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 3 of "The Exploits of Play" with guest Dr. Tom Boland explores how the game changes the player and how this fits into western literature's beloved 'character arc' as well as the new age obsession with personal transformation. Tom Boland is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sociology and Criminology at the University College Cork. His main research interests are in critique, culture, unemployment and welfare though recently Dr. Boland has been interested in the proliferance of dystopian games media such as The Hunger Games and “Squid Game”.

For full transcript and show notes please visit weirdeconomies.com.

Credits:

Founder and organizer of Weird Economies: Bahar Noorizadeh

Host: Max Haiven

Producer: Halle Frost

Sound editor: Faye Harvey

Sponsor: Canada Council for the Arts

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Held close to the hearts of many of today's major decision makers, fundamentally believed by most politicians and business leaders as well as the gospel truth by many of the people designing software in Silicon Valley– the influence of game theory is difficult to underestimate. Because it masks itself in the language of reason, rationality and zero sum mathematical decision making, it's very difficult to challenge those people who hold this theory as truth about human nature. In this episode we interview Dr. S.M. Amadae whose work over the last decades has set out to deconstruct game theory by offering us a really incredible intellectual history of this concept and design new frameworks for moving us forward.

For full transcript and show notes please visit weirdeconomies.com.

Credits:

Founder and organizer of Weird Economies: Bahar Noorizadeh

Host: Max Haiven

Producer: Halle Frost

Sound editor: Faye Harvey

Sponsor: Canada Council for the Arts

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 1 of "The Exploits of Play" is an interview with Dr. Hugh Davies who is an artist, curator, and researcher. Working across digital media, academic scholarship, and creative practice, he explores the social, cultural, and political dimensions of art and technology. He’s written two books on game culture and ethnographies of play and is currently a research fellow with a focus on Chinese Platform Studies at RMIT in Melbourne.

"The Exploits of Play" is a 10-episode, interview-driven podcast hosted by Max Haiven and produced by Halle Frost for Weird Economies. We examine what play may have lured us into participating in these games we know we cannot win and where on the fringes play is a tool of resistance changing the game itself.

For full transcript and show notes please visit weirdeconomies.com.

Credits:

Founder and organizer of Weird Economies: Bahar Noorizadeh

Host: Max Haiven

Producer: Halle Frost

Sound editor: Faye Harvey

Sponsor: Canada Council for the Arts

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.