Jason Rohrer (of Passage, Gravitation, and others) has put together a very different experience in his latest, Between. Hosted by US Esquire as part of their ‘Best and Brightest 2008′ feature, it’s a two-player game with a twist. In his latest Gamasutra feature, Ian Bogost takes a look at the game and the element of disjunctive play we find — a game designed to highlight just how far apart we all are, not bring us together:
Despite the fact that I spend my nonexistent spare time writing for Kotaku and being pretty immersed in the wild, wild world of “game culture,” I harbor a bit of ‘game shame.’ OK, a lot. I’ve gotten a little bolder in discussing my Kotaku gig, but I still keep my love of games and gaming under wraps in most situations, unless it’s apparent that I’m talking to someone who isn’t going to look at me like I have three heads when I bring the topic up in anything more than a detached, academic way. Michael Abbott of the Brainy Gamer takes a look at ‘game shame’ and how we attempt to justify gaming — ‘they make learning fun!’; ‘they stimulate cognitive processes!’; ‘they teach us things! Lots of things!’. And while all of these things may be true to varying degrees, he asks what’s so wrong with admitting that some games facilitate play in the best, self-indulgent sense of the word:
