ETC Press (Carnegie Mellon University)
Research2 reports
Open-access academic press of Carnegie Mellon University's Entertainment Technology Center, publishing books on game design, game studies and interactive media.
Documents
Report217 pages
Generation Analog 2021
Generation Analog 2021 is a proceedings volume from the Tabletop Games and Education Conference, edited by Torner, Jones, Chang, Condis, and Trammell and published by Carnegie Mellon's ETC Press.
- The volume's central thesis is that analog tabletop gameplay cannot be separated from the digital platforms and social forces that shape it, a claim organized across fourteen essays in four sections.
- Evidence for Game-Making Education, where students design games to learn subjects, is largely qualitative and instructor-reported, with only one controlled study (n=21, eighth-grade science) showing gains in intrinsic motivation.
- Surveys and database analyses find persistent demographic imbalance in tabletop gaming, with women and BIPOC individuals underrepresented among players, designers, and cover art.
ETC Press (Carnegie Mellon University)Feb 2023
Report57 pages
Well Played Single: The Pleasure of Playing Less
"Well Played Single: The Pleasure of Playing Less" examines incremental and idle games, a genre in which players click or tap to generate resources, spend them to automate production, and watch progress continue in the background.
- Incremental and idle games let players click or tap to generate resources, spend them to automate production, and watch progress continue in the background, with the genre tracing roots to Ian Bogost's satirical critiques of Facebook games and mainstream success through Cow Clicker, Cookie Clicker, and Universal Paperclips.
- The authors describe 'self-obviating' play, in which expert players shift from frequent micromanagement toward strategic, long-term planning with minimal active involvement.
- The case study Kittens Game (2014) uses non-linear phases and a meta-economy created by 'New Game' reset mechanics, and a collaborative close reading over weeks, months, and years of real-time play found player experiences to be indeterminate, with paths that diverge and converge.
ETC Press (Carnegie Mellon University)Jan 2018