Games, gaming and gamification in Education

"Dear Esther, Korsakovia, Amnesia - A Machine for Pigs, Everybody's Gone to the Rapture - Dan Pinchbeck has an impressive track record as far as innovative indie games are concerned. Dan's way into games development has been unusual: He has a background in Drama, but has worked in media, digital and technological arts practice using emergent technologies. Based in academia - he joined Portsmouth University in 2003 to teach creative technology and research the significance of narrative within Computer Games - Pinchbeck founded The Chinese Room as a university research project, funded by a grant from the Arts and Humanities Research Council. 

"Among the projects pursued was a Source engine mod for Half-Life 2, experimenting with narrative and minimal player interaction - Dear Esther. Released for free in 2008, Esther was selected for the Animation exhibition of the 2008 Prix Ars Electronica and made the Top 100 of Mod DB's Mod of the Year 2008. In 2009, the game won the award for Best World/Story at the IndieCade Independent Game awards."