Episode 55 – The Growing Gamblification of Video Games

Ethics and Video Games Podcast

Games have been getting more and more gamblified in recent years. This has occurred both within games and in terms of gambling on esports and game items out of the games themselves. What is gamblification in video games? How does it occur? Where can we expect it to lead? And should we be concerned about it in the way that we’re concerned as societies about traditional gambling?

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Our guest, Mark R. Johnson, is a Lecturer in Digital Cultures in the Department of Media and Communications at the University of Sydney. His research focuses on game live streaming and Twitch.tv, esports, gamification and gamblification. He has published in journals including ‘Information, Communication and Society’, ‘New Media and Society’, ‘Media, Culture and Society’, ‘Convergence’, and ‘Games and Culture’. Outside academia he is also an independent game designer best known for the roguelike "Ultima Ratio Regum", a regular games blogger, and - very usefully for this episode - a former professional online poker player.

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Hosted by Shlomo Sher, Ph.D. and Andy Ashcraft

Production by Carmen Elena Mitchell

Music and graphics by Daniel Sher