Let me first start off by saying that I love my job and I think I’ll be able to share my experiences there in the upcoming

year. I haven’t decided if I’ll start a new blog or continue writing here, though. I like this space for all my “other” activities. But there are few of them and I suspect there’ll be fewer still. One of my main goals for the rest of the year is to do a little analysis of how I see my education being put to good use. I keep noticing skills I learned from Media Studies and I’m thankful for having them.  I really do feel like I have the right skills to do this job well – and that’s reassuring. I want to spread the confidence to other media students, you know? Because there is little understanding of what Media Studies skills can be used in jobs and the corporate world – but I see myself using these skills all the time.

Motivation

So I feel myself wandering a little away from Machinima and being lured back into game design and players. Although I still carry a torch for Machinima but it’s falling into the category of my fascination with the “players of games” category. I’m also finding myself more compelled to create and write – rather than analyze and have opinions about stuff. I think this year (notice how I still think of a year starting with the beginning of semesters and not years) will be more about me experimenting with my own creative skills and I’ll be playing a lot. I have a few stories I want to tell and I have different ideas of how I want to tell them.

I’m really excited about this shift though there was some frustration and depression involved with getting here. In June, Maren and I gave a talk to librarians and I had such a great time there. I remember standing there talking enthusiastically about Alice and Kev and feeling that I captivated the audience. I remember thinking “How lucky am I?!”. I get to give  presentations about fascinating things and share my enthusiasm for all things wonderful and go have a great day at work after. It was such a great high – followed by an emptiness because this was the last in a long line of presentations, lectures and other activities. Suddenly my spare time was about watching TV – and boy oh boy is that depressing. So after a summer of cleaning the apartment, my computers, my online life and ignoring all new great ideas – I feel like I’m ready to map out a little plan type thing. I’ve got two creative projects that I’ll be working on that I’m not ready to reveal here yet, otherwise.

Linn’s Fall

• Press Play – The Art of Computer Games opening on 18th of September.

I’m so looking forward to this. I’ve contributed with an article for the catalogue about designing governance in games. This was the first I realised that I may be wandering off the Machinima path. I had originally thought about writing about Machinima but we were very free in our topics and I found that I wanted to touch on the subject of design. I barely scratch the surface – which makes me want to dig a little deeper. Will of course link to everything as soon as it’s all published. Crazy to see my name among such superstars like Jesper Juul and Espen Aarseth. I feel like I’m some sort of cheat that will be publicly outed.

Kari Pettersen and her assistent Marie are amazing and have put together a really fabulous exhibition! It was fun to brainstorm with them – and to be honest – even funner to brainstorm with ideas of what they could do and then leaving the work up to them! The exhibition will be gorgeous!

• Spillpikene

I’ll be focusing on games as art these next few months on our blog. I’ve got two articles that have started formulating in my mind and I should have a few posts out soon. I’m also going to dig deeper into the social networks of WoW while playing. So far I’ve shunned all social interaction, but I think it may be time to start communicating with other players. I don’t know why I’ve been so shy, but I think it may be because I only play around an hour or two at a time. I don’t want to get caught up in any action that will last all night or feel obligated to do so. Ahh … it will need another blog post in its own right. It’s just so good to be sharing again – can’t stop myself from writing all thoughts in my head.

We organised a drive of collecting used games for young people with cancer last year – this year I’m hoping we can organise some game nights with those who are there. I know that the project manager of the entertainment room wants us to do something together so we’ve started talking about it. Time has just been such an annoying issue so we haven’t been able to organise anything yet – but I’m sure we’ll get there soon. I went to pick up a dysfunctional Wii a few weeks ago and was really really touched to hear about how the room is used. It seems to be working as a good break from a hard reality both for patients and their loved ones. So please – don’t hesitate to send more games via me. More about the room here.

This year I won’t be presenting a Machinima Night. I just don’t have the time, energy or knowledge to organise a full nights event this year. Also, my ally in arms, Morten Kvamme, isn’t the curator there anymore and it just seemed like a good time to stop. BUT – I want to try to get together a night with Spillpikene where we can each have a subject that we use about an hour on. Either telling about a favorite game, dreams teaching about computer games at high school, Machinima or roleplaying in games. I want the theme of the night to be rather loose. So I’m hoping to get a meeting with the new curator during next week to see if we can get a night this Fall. If not, I’m sure we can get some time after New Years, but I’m hoping to focus on another project, then. We’ll see.

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Other than that I want work on my own creative projects. OooooOOoo – another goal is to play a zombie in an amazing film I’ve read the script for! So I’ve decided I’m going to dip my nose into learning more about getting funding for such fun projects. Basically only because I want to play a zombie and I think that’s motivation enough to go begging for money. So if you have any ideas of how to do that, please let me know.

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Right – that’s it. A few hints of things to come – not a whole lot, but I really want to make sure my head is focused on work and that these extra activities just fulfill my passion for the subject. Goarr – it felt good to write – will do some more soon, I think!