Wednesday, September 15, 2010

EXP Podcast #95: Masters of Mastery

Scott and have once again ventured into the frigid north - Canada. This time we return with Chris Lepine of The Artful Gamer, who brings with him some marvelous insight into "mastery" as an aspect of fun. Continuing last week's discussion about the "fun factor," we delve deeper into one particular notion of enjoyment. Along the way we chat about poetic play, the dangerous of neurotic mastery, multiplayer mastery, and the joys of griefing. If we stir up your thoughts along the way, we encourage you to share them in the comments section below. You can also find a link to Chris's original article and more of his work in the show notes.

Some discussion starters:

- In what way does the pursuit of mastery of a game affect your experience? How can we best describe the joy that comes from mastery in a positive way?
- How does mastery in a single-player game differ from a multiplayer game?
- Are mastery and "poetic play" contradictory? Is shifting from one style of play into the other jarring?

To listen to the podcast:

- Subscribe to the EXP Podcast via iTunes here. Additionally, here is the stand-alone feed.
- Listen to the podcast in your browser by left-clicking the title. Or, right-click and select "save as link" to download the show in MP3 format.
- Subscribe to this podcast and EXP's written content with the RSS link on the right.

Show notes:

- Run time: 63 min 23 sec
- "The Neurotic Joy of Gaming," by Chris Lepine of The Artful Gamer
- "Mad Skills," by Nels Anderson of Above49
- Music provided by Brad Sucks

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