Well Played is a concept of providing in-depth close readings of video games that parse out the various meanings found in the experience of playing a game. Around Halloween in 2020, the Well Played Journal started its 10th volume. Looking back, the first “well played” presentation and article was in 2003, the first book came out in 2009, and the first journal issue was released in 2011. Thinking of Well Played during the pandemic underscored how games have been a part of our experiences and the value and role games have had in people’s lives this past year or so. This...
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Well Played on post-mortems on ar & vr games: volume 13 number 1 2024 Introduction Drew Davidson Paws and Presence: The Impact of a Quadrupedal Avatar on Virtual Reality Locomotion Laureline Chiapello & Charles-René Chouinard Exploring Reinforcement Learning as an pproach to Developing VR Games Mitchell Foo, Jingyuan Kang, & Olivia Zhang Making Copies: The Creation of a Virtual Reality Sculpting Game Jonah Warren Lessons Learned From Designing in Mixed Reality Marie Leung
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Well Played on esports and community: volume 12 number 1 2023 Barry Joseph, Stan Altman and Nick Fortugno The City College of New York Introduction: Esports as Community Barry Joseph Gaming Pathways: a theme song Mega Ran The Digital Gaming Pathway Program: using digital games to diversify the tech fields Stan Altman Games as Gateway to College: why colleges should value esports Nick Fortugno The Power of Collegiate Esports Clubs: collegiate gaming during COVID Matthew Lopez Women Gamers Comming within a Toxic Community: threats & opportunities Jessie Su An Inside View: getting esports into Madison Square Garden Asi Burak Esports...
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Well Played on ethics: volume 11 number 1 2022 José P. Zagal To Ethically Play Well José P. Zagal The Dilemmas of a Disco Cop 5: Ethically Well Played Experiences in Disco Elysium Mia Consalvo, E. Jules Maier-Zucchino, & Robert Marinov From Skillful to Courageous Players: Vampyr and the Development of Virtues Maxime Deslongchamps-Gagnon Trophies, Typhon, and Trolley Problems: Moral Play and Playing Well in Prey Dan Staines, Ryan Scheiding, & Myles Blasonato The Thrill of Psychomachia: Deciding When Not to Stop Can’t Stop Barry Joseph The Philosopher and the Game Producer: Am I a Bad Person if I Enjoy...
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Well Played on playable theatre: volume 10 number 2 2021 Celia Pearce and Nick Fortugno Introduction: Building a Plane in Mid-Air Celia Pearce TPK in Elsinore: The Larp Inside Hamlet (2015) Evan Torner Interpreting Interactive Role-Playing at Evermore Park Bobby Schweizer. & Stephanie Williams-Turkowski From Excavation to Reconfiguration: Emergent co-creation in playful performance Jamie Harper Curiosity and Collaboration: Values at Play in Meow Wolf’s House of Eternal Return Dickie Cox Curate It Yourself! Game Mechanics and Personalized Experience in the Immersive Performance Installation Strawpeople (Das Heuvolk) by Signa Ágnes Karolina Bakk Audience and Emojis: A #TheRealColdtown Post-Mortem Katherine Castiello Jones...
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Well Played on escape rooms: volume 10 number 1 2021 Clara Fernández-Vara and Ira Fay Introduction Clara Fernández-Vara and Ira Fay A Descriptive Schema for Escape Games Mirek Stolee Players’ Accounts of Cultural Bias in Escape Rooms Shannon McDowell & Scott Nicholson Character is Key: The critical role of staff in escape games Rachel Donley In Praise of the Mundane: Time as an element of escape room design Kellian Adams Sister Jill: Escape rooms and spatial storytelling in comparative media education Josefine Hansson, Maria Eklund, Johan Hellgren, Manfred Hlina, Sonia Prado Perez, & Simon Niedenthal Educational Escape Rooms: Challenges in...
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Well Played on the sporting mindset: volume 8 number 3 2019 John Sharp Introduction John Sharp Exploring the Sporting Metagames of Competitive Android: Netrunner Sean C. Duncan Playing the CrossFit Open 2018 Usva Friman & Riikka Turtiainen Beating a fake normality: The phenomenon of e-athletes with special needs on Twitch.tv Enrico Gandolfi & Richard E. Ferdig Fantasy Football as Sport and Game Osvaldo Jiménez The relation of play, fan culture and sports experience in the video game Destiny Fares Kayali The Story of Bonehead Merkle: Appraising the Fictional Component of Sports Rory Summerley
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Well Played on intergenerational play: volume 8 number 2 2019 Eric Klopfer Introduction Eric Klopfer Games, Play, Meaning and Minecraft Diane Carr & Cheesycat Puff It is dangerous to play alone, share this! Simulacra and simulations via inter-generational games Enrico Gandolfi, Sofia Gandolfi, & Giulia Cerasi Escaping With the Family: Cooperation and Collaboration in a Single-use Boardgame Melissa J. Rogerson, Claudia R. R. McHarg, & Eleanor I. R. McHarg A Father and Son Experience in Gloomhaven Paul Gestwicki & Alexander Gestwicki Play and Performance: Confronting Vulnerability through Karaoke Jeffrey S. Bryan, Fallon Bryan, & Quinn Bryan Pursuits for the Heart:...
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Well Played connected learning summit: volume 8 number 1 2019 The Logical Journey of Reimagining “Zoombinis:” Adventure, Research, and Computational Thinking Jodi Asbell-Clarke, David Libby, Sarah Ditkoff, Peter Stidwill, & Scot Osterweil The Architecture of Assassin’s Creed II’s Florence: An Analysis with the History-Game Relations (HGR) Framework Gabriele Aroni Players as Transitional Characters: How Youth Can “Breakaway” from Gender-Based Violence Hua Wang, Yishin Wu, Ji Hye Choi, & Ann DeMarle Hearthstone: Managing Randomness and Collectible Card Game Playing as Collective Cognitive Achievement Nicholas Persa, Kurt Squire & Mike Tissenbaum
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Well Played on meaningful play and games for social and emotional learning: volume 7 number 2 2018 Susan E. Rivers and Heidi McDonald iThrive Games Founder’s Letter Dorothy N. Batten Introduction to the Special Issue: Thriving Through Gameplay Susan E. Rivers Prosocial Religion and Games: Lost & Found Owen Gottlieb and Ian Schreiber Skazka: Exploring Empathy Through Cooperative Mechanics and Narrative Sarah A. Abraham GUIDE and Dangerous Play: An Empathetic Game About Coping and Resilience Rebecca Goodine, Jade A. Yhap, and Jeffrey T. Mundee Butterfly Lovers: Design Rationale of a Cooperative Virtual Reality Game for Promoting Compassion in Multigenerational Families...
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