About
Jeff Watson is an artist, designer, and Assistant Professor of Interactive Media and Games at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts.
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Category Archives: Quotes
Beyond the time and place of interaction
“Many crucial facts lie beyond the time and place of interaction or lie concealed within it.” – Erving Goffman, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life
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Tagged erving goffman, games, interaction, magic circle, psychology
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Ignorance and trouble
“A man may be ignorant . . . of who he is, what he is doing, what or whom he is acting on, and sometimes also what (e.g. what instrument) he is doing it with, and to what end (e.g. … Continue reading
A complex pursuit
“[Education] is not simply a technical business of well-managed information processing, nor even simply a matter of applying ‘learning theories’ to the classroom or using the results of subject-centered ‘achievement testing’. It is a complex pursuit of fitting a culture … Continue reading
Like a common cur in the street…
“If your project has real substance, ultimately the money will follow you like a common cur in the street with its tail between its legs. There is a German proverb: “Der Teufel scheisst immer auf den grössten Haufen” [“The Devil … Continue reading
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Tagged advice, filmmaking, money, werner herzog
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Silicon Valley Is Ruining Sharing for Everybody
“Brad Burnham, a partner at Union Square Ventures in New York, was one of the few panelists at the recent Share conference to dissent from the airy-fairy rhetoric there. ‘What we’re talking about is the natural tendency of capitalism to … Continue reading
A man is always a teller of stories…
“[A] man is always a teller of stories, he lives surrounded by his own stories and those of other people, he sees everything that happens to him in terms of these stories and he tries to live his life as … Continue reading
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Tagged autobiography, jean-paul sartre, narrative, story, storytelling
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Things that only games can do
“[There] are many games where what the player brings to the table is not “choice” of using a tiny set of verbs on a tiny set of largely irrelevant props, all aiming in the end towards the same predetermined authorial … Continue reading
“The one world may be taken as many, or the many worlds taken as one.”
“If there is but one world, it embraces a multiplicity of contrasting aspects; if there are many worlds, the collection of them all is one. The one world may be taken as many, or the many worlds taken as one; … Continue reading
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Tagged nelson goodman, reality, worldmaking
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Best & Kellner on the “pseudo interactive” vs “new spaces for connection, freedom, and creativity.”
“The distinction between creative and empowering cybersituations vs. (pseudo)interactive and disempowering spectacle is . . . often difficult to make, but we believe that some such distinction is necessary in order to provide critical perspectives on and alternatives to the … Continue reading
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I think it’s vital to de-professionalize the public debate…
“I think it’s vital to de-professionalize the public debate on matters that vitally affect the lives of ordinary people. It’s time to snatch our futures back from the ‘experts.’ Time to ask, in ordinary language, the public question and to … Continue reading
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