June 7, 2000

Cybernations Looks at the Impact and Effect of Computer Games

(June 7, 2000--North Adams, MA) The widespread use of computers in the workplace, in schools, and at home has profoundly changed the way people work, think, and spend their leisure time. In particular multimedia computer games - which have become ever more pervasive as the games have evolved from the "primitive" early examples like Pong to the current multi-user domain (MUD) games like Doom or Quake - carry many significant moral, social and cultural implications.

On Saturday, June 24, MASS MoCA will examine this controversial topic at Cybernations: The Game Domain at 4 pm. A panel of artists, designers, scholars, and social critics will demonstrate and discuss the ways cybergames are shaping modern culture.

The Game Domain will examine the MUDs phenomenon from three diverse perspectives. Moderated by Shawn Rosenheim, Director of the Center of Experimental Studies at Williams College, the panel will include author and game critic, J.C. Herz, artist Matthew Ritchie, and game designer and scholar Eric Zimmerman

J.C. Herz, former game columnist for the New York Times and author of Joystick Nation: How Video Games Won Our Hearts, Ate Our Quarters, and Rewired our Minds will look at games from the practitioner's point of view, exploring the impact of gaming on popular culture, society's reaction to new technologies, the disparity between the sexes in the use of multimedia games, and the potential impact of new technologies on imagination. Artist Matthew Ritchie who uses multi-user domain games to create virtual worlds from his complex aesthetic vocabulary will show some of his work and discuss the artistic possibilities of virtual technologies.

Eric Zimmerman, game designer and scholar of interactive technology, will demonstrate SiSSYFiGHT, a game he developed. Zimmerman teaches at New York University's ITP program and has served as director of Re:Play, a conference on digital games.

Also on June 24, at 8 pm MASS MoCA will present Cybernations: Designers of Cyberscapes. Robert Gehorsam and Harvey Smith, creators and designers behind several popular games, explain the technology they use to create their virtual worlds using surround sound and giant projected images. Carl Goodman of the American Museum of the Moving Image will moderate the event.

The Game Domain and Designers of Cyberscapes are funded in part by the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities.

The Game Domain is free with museum admission. Tickets are available through the MASS MoCA Box Office at 87 Marshall St. in North Adams from 10 am until 6 pm daily. Tickets can also be charged by phone by calling 413.662.2111 during box office hours or purchased on line at www.massmoca.org.

For Immediate Release
Contact: Katherine Myers
(413) 664-4481 x8113
katherine@massmoca.org