Note: This is a longer form essay drawn from a shorter piece that I published with The Conversation at https://theconversation.com/gaming-fosters-social-connection-at-a-time-of-physical-distance-135809 Like many of us, I am doing a lot of stuff at home these days, with a number of shelter-in-place and stay-at-home orders in place across the country and around…

[A Story in 10 Slices] The Set-Up and the Let-Down In May of last year, I left the directorship of the RIT MAGIC Center and MAGIC Spell Studios, just at the tail end of readying the new building (that I had led the design and development of), which if you had asked me even a month prior if that was…

PART 1: MOTIVATION The following is an extended artist’s statement for my latest game, Fragile Equilibrium [FE]. FE is the latest game I’ve created, along with my friend Aaron Cloutier and a number of RIT students working in various contexts ranging from students in a class to employees at MAGIC…

I am, Lord help me, thinking about eSports. This isn’t a thing I do that often, nor is it something I particularly relish, but it is nonetheless something I am doing now. I’m not a particularly competitive gamer myself, I fall into those ‘explorer’ and ‘achiever’ player types (if you…

A week ago I had the pleasure of attending the Games 4 Change Festival in New York, the quintessential home of American finance. The conference is put together by the Games 4 Change curators and organizers, with some collaboration with a bunch of folks also affiliated with NYU in various…

This is an attempt to explain a little bit about MAGIC Spell Studios (LLC) at the Rochester Institute of Technology’s Center for Media, Arts, Games, Interaction & Creativity (MAGIC Center). Right from the beginning, we created MAGIC in two halves: part university research center, part production studio. While there were…

Of Art & Circumstance Dear Colleagues, It is with mixed emotions that I announce I have decided, upon much consideration and reflection, to move my tenure and faculty appointment to the College of Imaging Arts & Sciences (CIAS) at RIT. This appointment begins July 1, 2018. I am thankful for…

This past Thursday, the President of the United States of America spoke to reporters in the wake of the latest national tragedy, the murder of 17 people, most of them children, at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. His comments focused not on gun control, on policy, or even on…

NOTE: This was originally (and publically) posted to Facebook, January 31st, 2017. I am recording it here so it’s easier to link to for others. We can and must do better. I spend my days creating, studying, deploying and consuming digital media. I am intensely passionate about it, and it…