From the Interactive Media & Games Seminar Series; David Sarno, Founder & President of Lighthaus Inc. describes how powerful storytelling tools can be aimed towards reality: allowing the user to explore the inside of a human cell, great events in history, or the underground workings of an oil tanker. Interactive 3D visualizations -- whether they have game-like elements or not -- can take us to frontiers of reality that cameras can't reach, and that words can't describe.

From the Interactive Media & Games Seminar Series; Bireswar Laha, from the Virtual Human Interaction Lab at Stanford University examines how VR leverages immersive hardware components to create an alternate environment for the viewer. This alternate world has 'avatars' (virtual representation of humans), and can produce feedback (visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory and haptic) to all the five senses, often with a fidelity closely matching that of the real world. The designers of this...

From the Interactive Media & Games Seminar Series; Chris Bennett with the Stanford Peace Innovation Lab, discusses when educators think of using games in learning environments, they typically assume digital games. But tabletop games have been used to teach all sorts of concepts including strategy, scenarios, role playing, emotional intelligence for centuries. By removing the constraints of technology, students can get closer to the mechanics of the game and acquire a more profound and...

From the Interactive Media & Games Seminar Series; Dylan Arena, Co-founder and Chief Learning Scientist of Kidaptive, describes a massively multiplayer online roleplaying game intended to help elementary-aged children in Korea learn to speak English. Dylan also offers a behind-the-scenes look at how an academic-minded educational-technology startup (Stanford-founded Kidaptive, which recently acquired Hodoo English) researches and designs improvements to an extant ed-tech product.

From the Interactive Media & Games Seminar Series; Miguel Sicart, Computer Games & Research, IT University of Copenhagen asks what roles do playthings, from games to other forms of interactive entertainment, play in shaping our culture? Are games, and play, in realms beyond morality, or is play an intrinsically moral activity? And how can we make games more ethically compelling, while still respecting the creative nature of play? Drawing on virtue ethics, philosophy of information,...

From the Interactive Media & Games Seminar Series; Todd Smithline, Principal of Smithline PC addresses how the rules and mechanics of a game have historically not been protected by copyright. A recent spate of cases involving clones of mobile video games, however, is challenging that understanding with consequences already being felt well beyond the phone. Todd explores these new cases and considers how they may limit creative choices for all kinds of game developers.

From the Interactive Media & Games Seminar Series; Michael Genesereth, Associate Professor of Computer Science at Stanford University, examines the challenges of general game playing and techniques for meeting those challenges. He also describes the annual GGP competition; and talks about the practical and theoretical value of work in this area.

From the Interactive Media & Games Seminar Series; Tain Barzso, Lecturer in the Department of English at Stanford University examines the Role of Story in Interactive Media. This lecture explores the ways in which story defines the difference between intellectual puzzles and immersive games, discussing the role of literature and narrative play in creating the identification and interest that connect us to interactive media experiences. Pulling from examples and frameworks ranging from...

From the Interactive Media & Games Seminar Series; Paul Wallace with Modern Thought & Literature at Stanford University asks Do you live in one world, or many? Do you have one identity, or do you contain multitudes? Grappling with such questions will lead us into the heart of contemporary video games, whose gameworlds can be thought of as “explorable conceptual models”.

From the Interactive Media & Games Seminar Series; Vander Caballero, Creative Director & CEO Minority Media Inc. discusses the implications of bringing VR tech into the development process as a means to deepen empathy.