May 2, 2021

Emma and Gil welcome returning guest
Eric Zimmerman, who last appeared on the show on
Episode 79 to discuss the magic circle in
gaming.

This time, Eric discusses his idea
of the 21st century being a “ludic century,” and what makes games
especially important today. We also discuss how games’ powers can
be used for evil, if tabletop games can become more environmentally
sustainable, and see if there can be an equivalent to farmers’
markets or slow food in tabletop game.

SHOW NOTES

1m26s: Eric’s previous tabletop
games: Quantum, The Metagame (with Colleen Macklin and John Sharp).
He also mentions Gamelab, Diner
Dash, Sissyfight, Dear
Reader, NYU Game
Center (where Gil and Geoff are also adjuncts), and
Rules of Play.

Eric also mentions his large-scale
art installation games that he’s done with his partner Nathalie
Pozzi. Here are a few of them: Interference,
Starry Heavens, and
Waiting Rooms.

5m34s: Here is Eric’s
original Ludic Century essay/manifesto,
published in 2013.

16m27s: More info about Bernie De Koven and his influential book The Well-Played Game.

18m13s: More info about the slimy
practice of gerrymandering. Eric also mentions the board game
El Grande.

21m45s: More info about systemic racism.

24m17s: More info about Ultimate, also known as Ultimate
Frisbee.

25m53s: One thing to note here is
that impartial referees in sports are a relatively recent
development. In the mid-19th century, both baseball and association
football (soccer) originally had each team bring their own umpire,
who would attempt to agree on calls. Back then, umpires did not
make calls proactively; players had to appeal to the umpire in
order to get a decision. 

This changed as teams got more
competitive and team-based umpires failed to be impartial. Both
sports brought in a neutral referee who could resolve disputes
between the umpires; baseball in 1857, soccer in 1881. Eventually,
the team-based umpires were dropped entirely, with soccer keeping
the single referee (though they eventually added two linesmen to
help make calls) and baseball renaming the referee back to “umpire”
and adding three additional umpires to handle calls at each
base.

(Sources:
Strike Four: The Evolution of Baseball,
Richard Hershberger, and
The Ball is Round: A Global History of
Soccer, David Goldblatt.)

30m52s: Jane McGonigal’s book

Reality is Broken.

36m34s: The influential behavioral
psychologist B.F.
Skinner.

48m32s: Cheapass Games has made many
of their older “envelope” games available as print-and-play downloads.

49m00s: The
gone-and-gladly-forgotten CD
longbox.

50m15s: The Zoomable game RATS: High Tea at
Sea by Eric and Josh DeBonis. 

55m42s: More information about the

environmental concerns around
cryptocurrency.

1h03m10s: Slow
Food is an organization related to the
slow movement that pushes back against the fast pace of
modern life.

1h09m35s: The game Gil mentions is

Avatar Stalker, from the folks at
Project Avatar. He also mentions The Nest,
which was first mentioned on the show by Hayley Cooper of Strange
Bird Immersive on
Ludology 214 – Escape from Reality.

1h12m27s: Eric mentions the artists
Alex
Katz and Kara
Walker.

1h15m55s: Eric’s
website, the NYU Game
Center, and Eric’s partner Nathalie
Pozzi.