I guest-posted a summary of my dissertation on Terra Nova! TN is a blog on virtual worlds research that was started by a bunch of luminaries in the field. Go take part in the conversation!
Tag Archives: dissertation
Dr. Video Games: Reflections of a PhD Graduate
[cross-posted to CGP and markdangerchen.net]
After I defended (YouTube) and submitted (PDF) my dissertation, for a few weeks I’d been meaning to write some reflections on the whole PhD process. The problem is that I’m not sure where to start. The image I have in my mind when I think of the process or journey or whatever you want to call it is that of slow extrusion, like being dumped into a meat grinder by the giant named Academia who revels in slowly cranking away at your bones until you plop into a mixer bowl piled with the chunky grounds of previous scholars. But I figured that wasn’t necessarily a useful image for other students to have while they are trying to successfully navigate academic life.
So, instead, I thought maybe it’d be useful to just create a list of things you should know if you are interested or are now attempting to get a PhD related to games (lots of Wikipedia refs incoming!):
Continue reading Dr. Video Games: Reflections of a PhD Graduate
Dissertation ready for download
Here’s the PDF (4MB) of my dissertation:, submitted to the graduate school on September 2, 2010:
Now to make it into a book…