Saturday, January 03, 2009

January 2008 - Theory Developments of Note

Comment here with a link and sentence or two description of theory developments you see on blogs or forums. It doesn't have to be pure theory, but these developments ought to deal with how and why we play RPGs in some generality.

I'll be adding comments here too, but without your help, I'm sure I'll miss something.

Editorial: Returning

For a variety of reasons, some more personal than others, I've been unable to continue RPG Theory Review through last year. However, I've decided not to let that be the end of things.

The time off has let me re-examine some of my goals and methods in RPG Theory Review. I realized that the focus had become too much on the weekly blurbs, taking a sizable amount of effort with often very little show for it. They took time from looking at less transient incarnations of theory, and at the same time I never felt they delved deeply enough to do justice the those theory ideas which arose.

In view of that, I'm happy to announce that RPG Theory Review is returning this year, with some important changes. First, I'll be focusing on literature reviews (specific games, books, and the like and their import in RPG theory) and spotlight reviews where I delve more deeply into specific topics of current interest. Fleshing this out will be monthly reviews with reader contributed focus.

In addition, I'll be continuing the tradition of editorials on the practice of RPG theory and expanding into what I'm calling sandbox articles which will talk about some of my explorations in the frontiers of RPG theory.

As always this will be something of an experiment, but I'm hoping RPG Theory Review will continue to be enjoyable and informative. And most of all that I can help improve our understanding of the thought and play of RPGs.