Dr. Doris Rusch visited Dartmouth today, and offered a compelling discussion of the purposeful use of games. She looked at the ways in which the human condition is expressed through other media such as language, literature, and film, and went on to argue for the value of thinking about games in their use of metaphor. Discussion several important recent design trend, Rusch skillfully moved between the theoretical and the practical, making lofty goals ideas concrete in designed form. This was followed by a game night at Tiltfactor, hosted with the help of the Jewel of India.
in the Tiltfactor laboratory
Rusch’s game, Akrasia, was featured, as was a performative achievement in DDR by our own E. McNeill. Finally, a seemingly neverending Settlers of Catan rounded out the evening, with an unsettling trend of rolling 9s and an overpopulation of sheep and monumental robot-building among teams.