A shout-out for #ims211. How to describe? A Twitter conversation between fanbois, students, developers, journalists, and others on the subject of games, instigated by the good folks at the Armstrong Institute for Interactive Media Studies. The #ims211 Twitter hashtag originates from the analytical Game Studies course (MS211) offered there.

Sean C. Duncan, Professor in Interactive Media, Armstrong Institute for Interactive Media Studies at Miami University. Image referenced from his http://se4n.org/ website

Read more about the genesis of the idea behind the hashtag and its subsequent fruition here. Essentially an experiment in social media conversation, the #ims211 hashtag has now taken on a self-sustaining life of its own. Check it out, and at least say “hi” to the class, mentioning where you read about the hashtag.

Games, gamification, interactive media, and so on, and the role in technology, society, politics, economics, entertainment and so on is something we’re seeing more and more as conference and magazine article subjects. Some of you may be familiar with the Game Developers Conference, a forum where localization and internationalization regularly features on the program. It’s an incredibly rich and diverse area of study of global significance that goes way beyond just figuring out how to localize something (and often, English is not the source language).

I previously reviewed Ian Bogost’s Persuasive Games: The Expressive Power of Videogames so I can appreciate just how ‘heavy’ this area can be.  In more practical terms, I was reminded of the importance of the digital gaming sector here in Ireland when in fact the economic development of that sector became part of a political party’s election manifesto (that party is now part of the government coalition). If you drill into the manifesto you will read some familiar names, all active in Ireland, or originating here.

Let’s see more Twitter conversations like #ims211 and more coverage of games generally in the localization, cultural, global user experience, and all that good stuff, space.