GeekNights Live at PAX Prime/Dev 2012!
August 8 2012
Academia vs Reality: Psychology, Game Theory, and Games
Wednesday, August 29th at 2:30pm in Grand II
At PAX Dev, we present a moderated discussion of game design. Everyone knows how games should be made. “Should,” however, can be very far from “are.” Academics assert various design methodologies, game theorists and mathematicians propose quantitative solutions, psychologists talk of “Skinner boxes” and incentivization models, armchair designers rationalize post-hoc “this is how they did it” stories, and actual designers… well, that’s what we’re here to discuss. Join Rym, Scott, Conrad Kreyling, Avery Alix, Luke Crane, and Jared Sorensen.
Short Subjects in Gaming
Friday, August 31st at 3:30pm in our Wolfman theatre
At PAX Prime, we present for your consideration three short subjects: three 20 minute mini-lectures on various topics in gaming. In no particular order: "When the Game Plays the Player," "A Competitive Test of Skill," and "On the Ethics of Mind Control." From rhythm games to CounterStrike, casino gambling to euro-style board games, the relevance of these topics is not to be understated.
GeekNights Boardgame Workshop
Saturday, September 1st at 8:00pm in Room 302
Dive into tabletop gaming! Rym and Scott (GeekNights) are here to teach you to play (and more importantly, to win). Agricola is a super popular resource management game with little wooden animals and surprising strategic depth. Carcassonne is a classic tile-laying area control game that teaches the fundamentals of optimal play and point denial. We're here to teach you both -- first the rules, then the strategy -- in a hands-on workshop with no experience necessary.