This was a lovely little thread I had with my friend and colleague Moses Wolfenstein. Minor edits for clarification and format, but otherwise…Moses is ACTUALLY THIS SMART EVERY TIME YOU TALK TO HIM.

So I recently just attended an Entirely Fictional conference called that explores the contentious realm of books and learning.  This field is attempting to tease out how one might possibly learn something from a media as engrossing and entertaining as a book. Over the last few years it  has ignited a whole realm of research, interest, and controversy. However, there are still quite a few people that are slowly unpacking their own biases about how media works. It’s slow going. For example, here are some of the sessions I attended:

DLC. From the Oblivion horse armor to map packs to piles of hats, the existence of post-purchase addon content remains contentious in the realm of commercial gaming. But at the same time, the world of learning gaming is staring at the uncharted territory funding opportunities. The days of massive revenue from software sales in big box stores are long gone, and companies wanting to succeed with innovative learning games are peering at the commercial market and *its* innovations to see if they can be mirrored. How could DLC be engineered into a learning game environment?

Hey! I’m fixin’ to relaunch dannorton.com with some ruminations on design. Stay tuned while I futz with things!