McDaniel edits special journal issue on video games for good

Assistant Professor Rudy McDaniel recently guest edited a special double issue of the international journal Cognitive Technology focused on video games and cognition. Specifically, the issue focuses on “games for good,” video games that impact cognition for a particular pro-social purpose. Also guest editing this special issue is former Digital Media faculty member Erik Vick, now an assistant professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York. The issue features contributing essays from Jonathan Belman (New York University), Mary Flanagan (Dartmouth College), Shlomo Berkovsky and colleagues from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) in Australia, Marjee Chmiel (National Geographic Society and George Mason University), Matthew Sharritt (Situated Research), Scot Osterweil (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), and Lan Le (University of California, Santa Barbara). The issue covers topics such as empathy in games, scientific literacy, exercise and virtual fitness, the design of cognitive affordances, and learning and change. Also included are introductory and concluding essays from Drs. McDaniel and Vick that examine games for good through the lens of cognitive technology and speculate on the future of research in this domain. For more information about this special issue, see the full issue, available online here in PDF form. For more information about the journal see the Cognitive Technology web site.