Richard Lucic lucic@cs.duke.edu Richard Lucic (lucic@cs.duke.edu) This podcast is for the use of the students and faculty associated with the Game2Know FOCUS IDC. http://dukecast.oit.duke.edu/documents/serve/540/isisLogo.gif http://dukecast.oit.duke.edu/albums/show/82 Higher Education en no http://dukecast.oit.duke.edu/installments/show/475 Serious Games Serious Games Serious Games no Wed Aug 23 13:41:00 EDT 2006 http://dukecast.oit.duke.edu/installments/show/442 The Wisdom of Crowds The Wisdom of Crowds [runtime: 00:28:06, 12.9 mb, recorded 2005-03-16] In technophile circles, the idea that networks and network effects will inherently provide for better decision making is an understood, a truism widely agreed. Author and New Yorker columnist James Surowiecki, argues that while there are many benefits to aggregate decision making, there are several perils and misbehavior that individuals and observers would be wise to take into account. Drawing on research for his recent book The Wisdom of Crowds, Surowiecki explores several areas in which a group's process can result in improper decisions. These failures are traced to the problem of individual humans acting when aware of their membership - the irony of group wisdom is that it is only when a group is unaware of its intelligence that it can be effective. In aggregate, individuals in groups can fall into one of two behavioral traps - either herd behavior (where the group will inherently move in one direction), or imitative behavior, where each member of the group will, for rational reasons, become like any other member of the group. Upon exploring these contradictions, Surowiecki provides several 'food for thought' points by which actors can make better decisions by maintaining weak rather than strong ties with other group members and by tuning into a cacophony of contrary opinions rather than the self-reinforcing common opinions of a small group. James Surowiecki is the a staff writer at the New Yorker for the Financial Page. Surowiecki has contributed as writer and editor to many publications, including Slate, Fortune, and the New York Times Magazine. Hiss most recent book is The Wisdom of Crowds. Audio content provided by IT conversations http://www.itconversations.com no Tue Sep 12 17:00:00 EDT 2006 http://dukecast.oit.duke.edu/installments/show/448 VP of Research at Linden Labs, creators of SecondLife VP of Research at Linden Labs, creators of SecondLife [runtime: 00:43:34, 19.9 mb, recorded 2004-11-06] "Living the Dream: Business, Community and Innovation at the Dawn of Digital Worlds" presented by Cory Ondrejka, VP of Product Development, Linden Lab, creators of Second Life. Digital worlds are established destinations for fun and adventure. Like all frontiers, entrepreneurs are in these worlds, generating real-world profits. Digital worlds face important decisions around whether, and how, to embrace these business activities. As their populations grow, digital worlds are drawing from all walks of life. People from around the globe are discovering worlds where the only limit is human creativity. People, ideas and cultures are interacting in ways never before possible. Sustained economic growth relies on innovation. Historically, innovation has been a function of transportation and communication costs, property rights, belief structures, and capital markets. Digital worlds optimize these factors in ways the real world cannot, allowing significantly higher per capita growth than any terrestrial nation. Over the next decade, visionary entrepreneurs will emerge from the digital melting pot of distributed and connected populations. Innovation and growth will allow digital worlds to capture an increasing share of the global economy. They will soon be in direct economic competition with real-world nations. Cory Ondrejka joined Linden Lab in November of 2000 and brought an extensive background in software development and project management. Most recently, Ondrejka served as project leader and lead programmer for Pacific Coast Power and Light's Nintendo 64 title, Road Rash. Previous experience includes a position as lead programmer for Acclaim Entertainment's first internal coin-op title. Prior to Acclaim, Ondrejka worked on Department of Defense electronic warfare software projects for Lockheed Sanders. While an officer in the United States Navy, he worked at the National Security Agency and graduated from the Navy Nuclear Power School. Ondrejka is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy, where he was a Presidential "Thousand Points of Light" recipient and became the first person ever to earn Bachelors of Science degrees in two technical majors: Weapons and Systems Engineering and Computer Science. This presentation was recorded at Accelerating Change 2004, November 5-7, 2004. Audio content provided by IT Conversations http://www.itconversations.com no Tue Sep 26 17:00:00 EDT 2006 http://dukecast.oit.duke.edu/installments/show/449 Gold From Thin Air: The Economy of Virtual Worlds Gold From Thin Air: The Economy of Virtual Worlds [runtime: 00:27:22, 12.5 mb, recorded 2005-10-31] In this PopTech 2005 session, Ed Castronova, who is considered to be at the top of a very short list of the world's leading economists on virtual worlds, discusses the relevance of synthetic world economies as it relates to, and impacts the real world. Ed encapsulates the theme of his talk as "the salience of massively multi-player, avatar-mediated communication in the world." Ed's personable and witty speaking style easily keeps his audience's attention during the fast moving presentation. He shares some of his groundbreaking thoughts and statistical data that certainly appear to confirm his findings. During his talk, Ed compares the very lucrative game of golf and Hollywood’s movie market to the gaming industry. He discusses participation levels possible in online gaming and how that compares with Hollywood’s passive entertainment industry, movies. It would seem that unlike Hollywood’s offerings at the box office, multi-player online gaming is interactive, productive, and aggressively growing. He clearly makes a case that gaming is serious business these days. Ed talks about a couple of games in particular and expands on the discussion by actually logging in to one of the games and interacting with one of the online players and later shows his auction room where all they do is buy and sell virtual gear and gold. He also mentions that there are hundreds of servers around the world online, 24/7. Ed also discusses how the virtual gold and gear acquired in the synthetic worlds can be, and often is, sold to other players in the real world through what is called RMT (Real Money Trades). Some people are not only willing, but also able to make these transactions, which total into the billions of dollars worldwide. Ed pointes out that about a third of all online gamers spend more time in their virtual worlds than in the real world. He further discusses the correlation between what is going on inside the games and what's going on in the real world culturally and socially, income level wise, and more. Some players have actually stated that they live in the synthetic world, and simply spend some time here in the real world. Within these virtual worlds, they are productive and although life may not always be rosy inside the games, it is a world where players may wish to remain. Virtual worlds can be a great incubator to see the results of political studies such as seeing how democracy plays out in a given region, as well as other educational studies. Ed shares his thoughts on commercial applications and the cost of building virtual worlds. He has some very profound things to say about synthetic worlds and what they might mean to the future for us as a species and the way we experience the world. Edward Castronova is an Associate Professor of Telecommunications at Indiana University, Bloomington. He is also the Director of Graduate Studies for the department. Edward obtained a BS in International Affairs from Georgetown University in 1985 and a PhD in Economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1991. During his studies he also spent several years at research institutes in Mannheim, Frankfurt, and Berlin. Audio content provided by IT Conversations http://www.itconversations.com no Tue Oct 10 17:00:00 EDT 2006 http://dukecast.oit.duke.edu/installments/show/489 Online Gambling Online Gambling [runtime: 00:25:56, 11.9 mb, recorded 2005-10-03] To most of us, online gambling means email spam and other annoyances. But to Peter Marcus and his customers it's a $6 billion/year legitimate business that represents more than 5% of the total gambling market worldwide. You may be surprised at the legitimacy of this operation. (Did you imagine that they might be audited by PriceWaterhouseCoopers?) Peter and host Larry Magid discuss the legality, safety and morality of online gambling. Why can you use some credit cards and not others? Is it legal in the U.S.? And might online poker actually be safer than day trading? Peter claims the online gaming industry is socially responsible and explains how his company tries to keep gamblers from playing beyond their means. Larry tells the story of a teenage friend who's paying his way through college on a six-figures online-poker income. If poker is your thing, you'll learn how to find a safe online casino. If not, you'll gain a new understanding of why and how so many people are now playing poker in their pajamas. Audio content provided by IT Conversations http://www.itconversations.com no Wed Sep 06 05:55:00 EDT 2006 http://dukecast.oit.duke.edu/installments/show/519 Lessons from Game Design Lessons from Game Design [runtime: 01:44:39, 35.9 mb, recorded 2003-11-20] Consider the impact auto racing (visibility, technologies) has had on the automotive industry. Computer games have evolved into a similar relationship with the computer industry. Because we get to design the problems that our players face (the game challenges) we have an opportunity to push the boundaries of graphics, user interface, AI, metrics and simulation. What we're currently learning about mapping these abilitites to the psychology of our players will be used in the mainstream software of the future. This presentation is from the IT Conversations archives of the SDForum Distinguished Speaker Series. Will Wright, Maxis� Chief Designer, co-founded Maxis with Jeff Braun in 1987. Wright began working on what would become SimCity�The City Simulator in 1985. Using a complex technique, he found a way to bring realistic simulations to desktop PCs. Previously simulations of this sort were only available to the military, scientists and academicians. But now, using an easy to use graphic interface, the world of simulations opened up to consumers. Wright has had a lifelong fascination with simulations. His interest in plastic models of ships and airplanes during his childhood in Georgia eventually led to his designing computer models of cities, ecosystems and ant colonies. Audio content provided by IT Conversations http://www.itconversations.com no Tue Sep 19 17:00:00 EDT 2006 http://dukecast.oit.duke.edu/installments/show/542 Gold From Thin Air: The Economy of Virtual Worlds Gold From Thin Air: The Economy of Virtual Worlds [runtime: 00:27:30, 12.6 mb, recorded 2005-10-31] In this PopTech 2005 session, Ed Castronova, who is considered to be at the top of a very short list of the world's leading economists on virtual worlds, discusses the relevance of synthetic world economies as it relates to, and impacts the real world. Ed encapsulates the theme of his talk as "the salience of massively multi-player, avatar-mediated communication in the world." Ed's personable and witty speaking style easily keeps his audience's attention during the fast moving presentation. He shares some of his groundbreaking thoughts and statistical data that certainly appear to confirm his findings. During his talk, Ed compares the very lucrative game of golf and Hollywood’s movie market to the gaming industry. He discusses participation levels possible in online gaming and how that compares with Hollywood’s passive entertainment industry, movies. It would seem that unlike Hollywood’s offerings at the box office, multi-player online gaming is interactive, productive, and aggressively growing. He clearly makes a case that gaming is serious business these days. Ed talks about a couple of games in particular and expands on the discussion by actually logging in to one of the games and interacting with one of the online players and later shows his auction room where all they do is buy and sell virtual gear and gold. He also mentions that there are hundreds of servers around the world online, 24/7. Ed also discusses how the virtual gold and gear acquired in the synthetic worlds can be, and often is, sold to other players in the real world through what is called RMT (Real Money Trades). Some people are not only willing, but also able to make these transactions, which total into the billions of dollars worldwide. Ed pointes out that about a third of all online gamers spend more time in their virtual worlds than in the real world. He further discusses the correlation between what is going on inside the games and what's going on in the real world culturally and socially, income level wise, and more. Some players have actually stated that they live in the synthetic world, and simply spend some time here in the real world. Within these virtual worlds, they are productive and although life may not always be rosy inside the games, it is a world where players may wish to remain. Virtual worlds can be a great incubator to see the results of political studies such as seeing how democracy plays out in a given region, as well as other educational studies. Ed shares his thoughts on commercial applications and the cost of building virtual worlds. He has some very profound things to say about synthetic worlds and what they might mean to the future for us as a species and the way we experience the world. Audio Content Provided by IT Conversations http://www.itconversations.com no Tue Oct 10 12:00:00 EDT 2006 http://dukecast.oit.duke.edu/installments/show/543 The future of user-created content The future of user-created content [runtime: 00:45:02, 20.6 mb, recorded 2004-11-07] This debate will clue you in to one of the biggest new emergences that most of us haven't yet heard of: virtual property markets and their intellectual property issues. The interchange may produce a few new business plans and should also be a whole lot of fun. The participants make legal, dollar, behavioral, and design forecasts for the virtual property markets within massively multi-player games, debating the practice from seller and designer viewpoints, and business vs. gaming intentions. Some background: First listen to Bill Gurley's massively multi-player market talk from O'Reilly's Web 2.0 Conference for one recent overview. In late 2001, economist Edward Castronova published a landmark paper entitled "Virtual Worlds: A First-Hand Account of Market Society on the Cyberian Frontier" describing how new trading markets for virtual items produced within the massively multi-user virtual world of EverQuest were translating into real dollars, on auction sites (such as eBay, at the time). Castronovas paper became the most downloaded paper on the Social Science Research Network. Since then, such worlds have become increasingly popular, complex, and connected to a number of real world economic systems, including secondary market sellers like IGE and Gaming Open Market. Some gamers today are making a living offering virtual services (eg., avatar creation), goods (producing or trading goods) and currency market development and arbitrage. There is now an annual conference at New York Law School dedicated to sorting out the legal implications of these new physical-virtual relationships (State of Play). Dr. Castronova now has a tenured professorship at Indiana University where he will be focusing on virtual worlds studies. Brian Green, co-founder, Near Death Studios, has been an avid gamer for years; he's played numerous computer, console, board games as well as traditional tabletop RPGs. Brian's interest in online games began with an addiction to a text MUD in college. He quickly became a coding "wizard" on the MUD, which lead to a long-term love of online game development. After gaining degrees in both Computer Science and Spanish Literature, he got a job that would have made Dilbert cringe. After he recognized a passion for online games that never went away, he had the privilege of working on Meridian 59 where he helped design and program three updates to the game before he worked on a single player game at 3DO. Afterwards, he worked a short time at Communities.com. He currently does programming, design, and writing for innovative online games with the other co-founders at Near Death Studios. Jamie Hale started playing computer games and writing software at age 9. He is now the president of Gaming Open Market Corp., a Canadian company that has built the world's first foreign exchange website for MMOG currencies. Jamie has a degree in computer science and software engineering from the University of Toronto, and maintains a healthy if somewhat dusty library of economics and finance textbooks. He is studying for his Canadian Securities Course in the hopes that he might some day convince the finance world to let him trade currency futures for real. Until then, you can find him peddling his wares in digital cities everywhere: "Will trade linden dollars for food." Daniel James is CEO of Three Rings, an independent developer of online games based in San Francisco, and Lead Designer of Three Rings' first game, Yohoho! Puzzle Pirates, a skill-based persistent world based on casual puzzle games. Prior to founding Three Rings, Daniel consulted on online games design, endeavoured to create Middle-earth Online, and founded two successful start-ups. He has been playing and building online games since 1983. Steve Salyer is President of Internet Gaming Entertainment (IGE), the worlds largest secondary market for goods and currencies from massively multi-player games and virtual worlds. He has over twenty five years of experience in senior management roles in companies providing technology-based entertainment products. Prior to joining IGE, he was president of business development for Ubisoft. Steve has produced music, television, and interactive products and is an avid online gamer. Cory Ondrejka, who moderates the debate, is VP of Product development at Linden Lab, the creators of Second Life -- a unique massively multi-user online world built and owned by its users. He has an extensive background in software development and project management. Cory will also deliver a keynote presentation in the Virtual Space theme at AC2004, entitled, "Living the Dream: Business, Community and Innovation at the Dawn of Digital Worlds." This presentation was recorded at Accelerating Change 2004, November 5-7, 2004. Check here for the complete Accelerating Change archives. Audio Content Provided by IT Conversations http://www.itconversations.com no Tue Oct 17 12:00:00 EDT 2006 http://dukecast.oit.duke.edu/installments/show/544 Big Games: Large-scale, Mulit-player, Real-world Games Big Games: Large-scale, Mulit-player, Real-world Games [runtime: 00:20:11, 9.2 mb, recorded 2005-06-30] We tell stories - real or imaginary - in order to add meaning and create a sense of place in the world. Large-scale, real-world games, aka Big Games, capture the magic of shared fiction by engaging players in an interactive narrative across time and space using mobile communication and location technologies. A Big Game might involve transforming a city into a giant board game, hundreds of players roaming the streets looking for invisible treasure, or a TV show built on real-time audience interactions. Kevin Slavin takes us on an entertaining tour of today's Big Games, the technology behind them, and what lies ahead in the future of big play. Big Games are games with computers in them, rather than computers with games in them, explains Slavin. Cell phones, messaging, wifi, GPS, and semicode (barcode recognition via a phone cam) connect players in a giant social network. Game rules and clues are worked right into the landscape. Slavin highlights several humorous stories and activities in Big Game space. Along with other measures of popularity, he notes a satisfying sign of success: people care enough about the games to figure out how to cheat. Orchestrating the logistics for Big Game events such as Pac Manhattan (a city-sized version of the popular Pacman video game) or ConQwest (a recent multi-city search game) can be a challenge. Games may depend on multiple network services which can and do go down. A lot of manpower is needed for testing codes, charging gadgets, and coordinating activities in multiple cities. Slavin sees potential to spin Big Games in new directions, and on different scales such as more persistent, pervasive play. The next generation of games will include even more location-based services, cross media integration with TV, and use of more subtle location cues. Progress often begins with play, Savin concludes. Imaginative application of new location technologies will serve the ultimate goal of Big Games: bigger lies, told better. Kevin Slavin is the Managing Director and co-Founder of area/code, the New York-based big games developer. He has worked in corporate communications for technology-based clients for 13 years, including IBM, Compaq, Dell, TiVo, Time/Warner Cable, Microsoft, Wild Tangent, and Qwest Wireless.__For over five years, Kevin was the Vice President, Digital Markets, at SS+K in New York, which is partially owned by the Hollywood talent agency CAA (Creative Artists Agency). Previously, he served in similar roles at Chiat/Day and at DDB, where he was Creative Director for the New York office of DDB's digital division.__Slavin has lectured at the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, the American Institute of Graphic Arts, and the Parsons school of design, and has written for various publications on games and game culture. His work has received honors from the AIGA, the One Show, the Art Directors Club, and the Clios, and he has exhibited internationally, including the Frankfurt Museum fuer Moderne Kunst. Audio content provided by IT Conversations http://www.itconversations.com no Tue Oct 24 12:00:00 EDT 2006 http://dukecast.oit.duke.edu/installments/show/545 von Neuman's Universe von Neuman's Universe [runtime: 00:35:10, 16.1 mb, recorded 2005-03-15] John Van Neumann was a founder of the modern digital computer, member of the Manhattan Project Team, creator of game theory and the concept of cellular automata. In this presentation from O'Reilly's Emerging Technology 2005, George Dyson, technology historian, presents a talk on Von Neumann's life as he was developing the foundations of computing at Princeton University during the 1930's, 40's and 50's. An interesting look into the quirky life of one of the great scientists of the past. George Dyson, Historian of Technology, is a boat designer, writer, and historian of technology whose interests have ranged from the development and redevelopment of the Aleut kayak (Baidarka, 1986) to the evolution of digital computing and telecommunications (Darwin Among the Machines, 1997) and, most recently, nuclear bomb-propelled space exploration (Project Orion, 2002). Audio Content provided by IT Conversations http://www.itconversations.com no Tue Oct 31 12:00:00 EST 2006 http://dukecast.oit.duke.edu/installments/show/546 Panel from Web 2.0 Conference Panel from Web 2.0 Conference [runtime: 00:29:21, 13.4 mb, recorded 2005-10-06] In this freewheeling panel discussion from Web 2.0, three game industry leaders discuss with Mark C. Stevens the changes they've seen in the gaming world and how they believe it will develop in the future. The gaming community is huge, with over 30 billion hours played each year. 70% of 18-34 year old, PC-using males, are gamers. But it's a changing world too. The average age is increasing, and more women are joining. And play is slowly migrating from console games to mobile devices. The predominant business model today is advertising-supported and subscription-based. But the micro-payment sale of virtual goods and services is growing fast within the gaming worlds. Not just purchasing items like virtual real estate and tools, but paying to affect the outcome of the game. For example, you may be able to pause your online golf game in order to purchase a fix for the bad slice you just hit. Although the large game development companies do have a lot of clout, the small ones are still able to make an impact. They can move faster to respond to gamer needs. And they will continue to partner with the large companies to share their expertise. Branded content - games and gaming experiences which are labeled with the name of an established company or product - is currently very common and very successful. This will continue but user-created content will increase to become a very large part of the gaming experience and economy. Online gaming has become huge but that's only the start. With the widespread arrival of broadband connections, more and more people will be interacting together in gaming worlds. Change seems to be the word in the gaming world. Things are very different than in the early days and the rate of change will only accelerate in the future. Mark C. Stevens is a partner in the Corporate and Intellectual Property Groups of Fenwick & West LLP, a law firm specializing in high technology matters. Fenwick & West is headquartered in Mountain View, California, with an office in San Francisco, California. Stevens represents companies ranging from newly formed startup teams to mature public companies, venture capitalists, and investment banks involved in the information technology industries, with particular focus on complex transactions. As a lawyer and a business principal, Stevens has lead teams handling merger, acquisition, and divestiture transactions with total announced value in excess of $20 billion. He has directed over 25 initial public offerings and hundreds of strategic alliance transactions, ranging from technology and distribution partnerships to multinational joint venture transactions. Stevens' varied background includes work from the legal, business and venture capital sides of the table. In addition, he has served on several Boards of Directors, including the Board of Mercator Software, where he was active in the sale of Mercator to Ascential Software. Stevens received his J.D., cum laude, in 1983 from Northwestern University where he was elected to the Order of the Coif and served on the Law Review. Prior to attending law school, he worked as a software engineer. Stevens received his B.S., magna cum laude, in mathematics in 1979 from Santa Clara University. Greg Ballard has had a distinguished career in the gaming, entertainment and multimedia industries. He has served as CEO at SONICblue, makers of ReplayTV and Rio digital music players; MyFamily.com, a successful subscription-based Internet service; and 3Dfx where, over a three-year period, he grew the company from $4 million to an annualized rate of more than $400 million. He previously served as CEO and COO for Warner Custom Music, a division of Time Warner, Inc. Ballard was also president of Capcom Software, the U.S. subsidiary known for hits such as Street Fighter, Mega-Man and Resident Evil, as well as COO and CFO of Digital Pictures, a leading video game developer for Sega CD. Ballard currently sits on the board of directors for Pinnacle Systems (NASDAQ: PCLE). Ballard holds a B.A. from the University of Redlands and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. Mike Cassidy has been the co-founder and CEO of three start-ups: Xfire, Direct Hit, and Stylus Innovation. Xfire helps gamers play with their friends much more easily. Xfire is also an IM designed just for gamers and has reached over 1.5 million gamers in over 100 countries. Direct Hit was a revolutionary internet search engine whose customers included MSN, Lycos, AOL, and dozens of others. Ask Jeeves acquired Direct Hit for $500 million. Stylus Innovation's flagship product was the award winning computer telephony software Visual Voice. Cassidy studied jazz piano at the Berklee College of Music. He has a B.S. (1985) and M.S. (1986) in Aerospace Engineering from MIT and graduated from Harvard Business School in 1991. Raph Koster has been working professionally and as a hobbyist in the field of online worlds for over a decade. At SOE, he consults on all of SOE's titles, and is responsible for setting community relations policies and ongoing research into future technologies for games. He entered the industry professionally working as the creative lead and lead designer for Ultima Online, for Electronic Arts. He joined Sony in 2000. At SOE, he was the creative director for Star Wars Galaxies.Koster holds a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Alabama. Koster is a member of the International Game Developers Association, the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, the International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences, and ASCAP. He was a nominee for MIT Technology Review's TR100 Young Innovators awards. He is the author of "A Theory of Fun for Game Design" as well as numerous articles and essays that are widely quoted and used on academic syllabi in the United States and Europe. Koster writes frequently on issues of internet community management, interactive narrative, and online games. He has spoken at conferences all over the world on game design, the legal issues of online communities, and social policy. Audio content provided by IT Conversations http://www.itconversations.com no Tue Nov 07 12:00:00 EST 2006 http://dukecast.oit.duke.edu/installments/show/547 Brave New Virtual Worlds Brave New Virtual Worlds [runtime: 00:20:34, 9.4 mb, recorded 2005-09-17] When will we see the "year of the avatar" - the year that the internet becomes a fully immersive experience? Some pioneers in three-dimensional gaming and programming believe that this new experience is just around the corner. As 3D open ended environments like Second Life become more accessible and popular, the ability to interact with a network in a "realistic" manner becomes available for more applications. Taking inspiration from Neal Stephenson's novel Snow Crash and David Gelernter's non-fiction Mirror Worlds, Jerry Paffendorf imagines a future beyond the web browser. In this talk from Accelerating Change 2005, he presents examples of ways in which 3D immersive experiences are already being used in software, and extrapolates a future using these techniques. Already Google Earth allows users to share geographical information with a three-dimensional representation of the spaces being referenced. Some meetings of the Accelerating Studies Foundation's Future Salons are held virtually within Second Life. As more users and creators adopt the avatar as the mode of interaction, we will come closer to the virtual reality internet of science fiction. Now based in New York City, Jerry Paffendorf is Community Director of the Acceleration Studies Foundation where he helps curate a broad, serious dialog on the future. His personal focus is the growing landscape of media-rich 3D virtual worlds and location-based applications of search and social software. Jerry has an MS in Studies of the Future from the University of Houston-Clear Lake and a bachelor degree in Fine Arts from Montclair State University in New Jersey. Each month you can find him moderating the Second Life Future Salon within the virtual world of Second Life. Audio content provided by IT Conversations http://www.itconversations.com no Tue Nov 14 12:00:00 EST 2006 http://dukecast.oit.duke.edu/installments/show/548 Your Brain on Video Games Your Brain on Video Games The life of a video game tester. Audio content provided by NPR. no Tue Nov 21 12:00:00 EST 2006 http://dukecast.oit.duke.edu/installments/show/549 Video Games 101 Video Games 101 Current perspective on video games. no Tue Nov 21 12:00:00 EST 2006