Game On!

More than 20 years ago, Ariel Dorfman wrote an essay for The Village Voice about video games. Upon publication of that essay, he paid little attention to the video-game culture that continued to evolve over the next two decades.

But with the Information Science & Information Studies (ISIS) program's impending "Game Night" held across from his office in the John Hope Franklin Center on a recent Wednesday night, Dorfman felt compelled to revisit the gaming world.

"What sort of an intellectual would I be if I had this happening in front of me and not come and take a look?" asked Dorfman, the Walter Hines research professor of literature and Latin American studies.

Dorfman attended part of the four-hour Game Night and discovered video game utopia: a room with four 50-inch, wall-mounted, high-definition televisions connected to PlayStation 3s, Xbox 360s and PCs. A 7-foot projection screen was hooked into a Nintendo Wii.

Game Night was launched to expose the Duke community to ISIS, which began in 2002 to study and create new information technologies and to analyze their impact on science, society, art, culture, commerce and the environment. The event showcases the Interactive Multimedia Project Space (IMPS) space, which was built to allow deep study of various media types and innovative education practices.

"We're interested both in the history of games and how they are used now and harnessing the appeal of games to be used for serious purposes like improving education," said Victoria Szabo, program director for ISIS.

On a Wednesday in March, from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m., gamers immersed themselves in alternate worlds in games such as God of War II -- where you depict Kratos' journey to all corners of the Earth to defeat untold horrors in order to alter his fate -- Command & Conquer 3 -- where the fate of humanity and Earth rest on your ability to fend off a global assault by the Brotherhood of Nod -- and Madden NFL 2007 -- where players choose their favorite pro football teams and play in head-to-head competition.

"From sports, to war simulations, to first-person shooters -- all these genres are reflected here, and that really interests people in many ways," said Zach Pogue, IT Director for the Jenkins Chair in New Technologies in Society and the popular How They Got Game ISIS course. "Video games provide us a lens to explore many complex social realities."

Though games are popular among students, ISIS wants to include more faculty and staff members in the experience. Dorfman said he would pass his experiences on to colleagues. "I'm certainly going to mention this, and at some point," he said, "I'm probably going to write about it."