Okay, so... I went and submitted a "Game OverThinker" panel pitch to PAXEast (which I'll be at this year, in one capacity or another) and since I know some of my fellow games-industry-affiliated folks check these blogs I figured it'd be as good a place as any to see if anyone would be interested in possibly taking part as well, as it's my experience that an interesting group of potential panelists can help a panel get "picked up" (though either way, no real garauntee it actually happens as TGO is still a growing show and this is a huge convention.)
The proposed panel I've named "THE POLITICS OF GAMING," and it'd be exactly what it sounds like: a forum for panelists and the audience (mostly the audience, one hopes) to talk about gaming issues that have crossed over and/or into broader political discussions - the Red Cross issue, the Supreme Court decision, "Bioshock" as a critique of libertarianism, treatment of LGBT characters, Call of Duty etc as endorsements/condemnations of The War on Terror, all that sort of thing.
Though I'll take who/what I can get in terms of fellow panelists, ideally I'd like to get people with differing views on this or that from myself or from others. So if you're going to be at the show and would be interested in taking part (IF it gets picked up at all, of course) hit me up in the comments below - please identify yourself in posting "Anonymous"- preferably with some kind of contact info so we can talk shop.
Let's see what happens!
6 comments:
Bob,
As I mentioned on Twitter, I've been putting together a similar panel with an international focus. We should talk, either about cross-pollinating our panels or at the least making sure there isn't too much overlap in our pitches (no sense in going into direct competition if it can be avoided).
I've freelanced some articles for Escapist on the topics of games and the Mexican Cartel War as well as the use of videogame tech in treating combat PTSD (along with some less political topics). I also served as a consultant on the Extra Credits episode dealing with Call of Juarez: The Cartel. If you want to see my articles, just search Escapist for "Robert Rath."
You can get me at robrath (at) gmail (dot) com
Hey Bob. This is Oscar from original-gamer.com. I interviewed you at SGC last year. I'm working on getting to PAX East and I'd be interested in partaking. While I share some of your views, there are some views that I see differently, most notably my disagreement with FilmCritHulk's Arkham City article. I have some articles on my site, original-gamer.com.
Hay Bob.
Have you seen Nintendo's official Zelda timeline.
http://i.imgur.com/TMDNf.jpg
Hi Bob,
This is Marshall, a news correspondent and occasional feature writer from The Escapist. We met briefly at PAX East 2010. I checked with Susan, and I have her permission to cast my hat in the ring for your panel.
A big part of the political dialogue is how it gets portrayed in the media. Whenever we write up politically-themed gaming stories for The Escapist, we have to research the issue at hand and offer up at least some basic analysis. If we don't, we get burned.
My day job is as a medical writer, and while the politics of medicine and the politics of gaming don't always overlap, they definitely both defer to the current political climate, both in the U.S. and overseas.
If you're interested, please shoot me a message at mhonoro1 (at) jhu (dot) edu or PM me on The Escapist. Thanks for your consideration, and good luck pitching the panel!
Best,
Marshall
I'm not pitching myself, but I would love to see you and the guess at Extra Credits go toe to toe in a video game debate. Would be very informative and interesting to watch.
1)I was wondering what the gameoverthinker (or his secret identity moviebob) thought of http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.331768-Headset-Company-Sends-Gamer-to-Iraq-in-Promotional-Campaign Is this a further desensitizing of the audience in a "It can't be that bad, this guy went there and it was cool"? Is this a continuation of the 'worst person gamer'? Is this actually educational, like publicizing sending a fan of Alias to CIA headquarters in langley so they can realize that analysts sit around all day listening to tapes of Farsi?
2)No matter the powers of a thinker, the Extra Credits guys are professionals. Any debate topic that was about games production would swing so far over to Extra Credits favor, the centrifugal force alone may take the Overthinker off the planet.
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