Post DiGRA reflection

What an experience. I have had the chance now to attend a few different academic conferences, and can now compare and contrast them all. While a couple of theme (ICA & NCA) are communications-based, and mostly filled with comms scholars, DiGRA was the one that was focused solely on video games as a medium, capturing the interdisciplinary aspect of the field. NCA and ICA also were stateside, but still had different flavors compared to each other. I know that many institutions have their “go-to” conferences that they recommend their faculty attend (mostly the big name ones), I’m not sure which of the three I’ve attended really felt more like home.

I think I did like the international aspect of DiGRA, being surrounded by so many different voices and scholars from so many different regions and countries. It was cool to hear about how different and also how similar video games are in Australia, Germany, and China to name a few of the countries represented. And DiGRA felt very young, not a lot of big egos and old guard. And the papers presented felt very theoretical. It is nice as a PhD student to know that there are research projects out there that aren’t focused on the methods or the findings. I felt like at ICA and NCA, sometimes the focus was on the experiments conducted, or the quantitative data presented. From my scientific paradigm, sometimes I just want to explore what is going on first, try to explain why it is happening, or understand what has been researched related to it. Especially when I move into my dissertation, where a lot of the questions are “what are you doing?” or how am I going to measure it.

DiGRA also gave me a lot to think about when it comes to eSports and university teams. There is a little part of me that wants to get more involved, but probably not for my dissertation. I feel very much energized and motivated to keep researching, even if I didn’t get nearly as much writing done as I hoped. Perhaps it was good for my mental health though to play video games in Japan and act a tourist though.

Review of OpenRCT2

If you were to tell me two weeks ago that I would be obsessed with managing the needs of a growing amusement park, and debating the merits of food stands versus roller coasters, I would have believed you. As a teen, I have fond memories of playing hours and hours of Roller Coaster Tycoon 2 with my friend at his house. But while I remember the best part of that game being the building of custom roller coasters, now I am sucked into the resource management aspect of the game, and trying to overcome the objectives and obstacles.

Last week the YouTube algorithm fed me a retrospective analysis of Roller Coaster Tycoon 2, and immediately I was filled with nostalgia for this game. I sat back as this essayist described his experiences with the game then, as well as now. I later found out that his channel is filled with Roller Coaster Tycoon 2 videos and streams. He mentioned however an unofficial remaster of the game, known as Open RSCT2. This software brings much needed updates to the game, such as improved upscaling for HD and widescreen monitors, new campaigns, and the option to play online multiplayer. In many ways, it can be seen as a form of an expansion pack (it only works if you have a copy of the original game), but it reinvigorates this game and has a community of devoted fans behind it.

Stepping back into this game has been fun, addicting, and fascinating. Is this game as good as I remember? Yes and no. I enjoy it for different reasons, and I’m playing an updated version of it (granted, one that doesn’t change much of the core gameplay, so it still feels like the same mechanics). The game still feels polished, well made, and exciting, but something seems to still be missing. Maybe it’s the fact that I was a different person then, a different age, or something.

But regardless of how this experience feels differently than before (nostalgia goggles I guess), I still highly recommend Open RCT2. It’s improvements capture what made the original game great, while updating it for modern convenience. Five out of five hearts.