Bainbridge on eGods and Faith Versus Fantasy
PopMatters includes a lengthy excerpt and summary of an intriguing volume by William Sims Bainbridge, eGods: Faith Versus Fantasy in Computer Gaming (Oxford University Press, 2012). The publisher’s website includes the following description: What is the relationship between religion and multi-player online roleplaying games? Are such games simply a secular distraction from traditional religious practices, [...]
Forthcoming Dungeons & Dragons Documentary
Dungeons and Dragons is one of the most influential, and controversial games of the 20th century. A forthcoming film aims to tell the story in Dungeons & Dragons: A Documentary, produced by Andrew Pascal, Anthony Savini, and James Sprattley. See the story on the film and some background on D&D in an essay in WIRED [...]
Raffle for Autographed Copy of “Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks” – Revised
Readers may recall my previous post on Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks: An Epic Quest for Reality Among Role Players, Online Gamers, and Other Dwellers of Imaginary Realms by Ethan Gilsdorf (The Lyons Press, 2009). This volume unfolds the personal quest of Gilsdorf as a teenage Dungeons and Dragons player and his later adult quest [...]
Review and Commentary: Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks
Not long ago while I was reflecting on the layers of significance underlying Avatar and its connection to fantasy, I first became aware, through Cinefantastique Online, of an article by Ethan Gilsdorf touching on these topics which he had written for Psychology Today. I was intrigued by the insights that Gilsdorf brought to the subject [...]
Darkon: Documentary on Fantasy Role Playing Game
At the recent Cornerstone Festival I had the opportunity to facilitate a film discussion in the Flickerings area surrounding a documentary Darkon that is based upon the fantasy role playing (FRP) game of the same name. It wasn’t until I viewed this film that I realized that FRP gaming goes beyond board games and the [...]
