Hi everyone. My name is Alan, and I’m a senior history major. I don’t have a long history with gaming; I have never gamed on a computer (aside from Oregon trail) and didn’t own a console until the first Xbox, although I spent time playing on N64’s at friends’ houses. That said, I still play casually, but have never played a Final Fantasy and the only Zelda I know is Ocarina of time. Lately I’ve been playing a lot of Destiny with some Grand Theft Auto and Alien: Isolation thrown in. Other recent favorites have been the Battlefield, Far Cry, and Elder Scrolls franchises.<\/p>\n
I actually registered for this class with sports more in mind than video games, though I am still open to writing about either. I’m most interested in baseball, though I also follow football and basketball. While I do have my favorite teams from childhood,\u00a0I don’t really watch sports with the mindset of rooting for one team. I gravitate more to teams or players with particular styles of play that interest \u00a0me the most, which usually means the bizarre\u00a0ones.<\/p>\n
My favorite book about a game is\u00a0Playing for Keeps<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em>It’s an academic history of early baseball, particularly its rise from a children’s\u00a0game to a sport played by professionals. I’ll also attach a couple shorter pieces that are readable online, one by John Updike on Ted Williams<\/a> and one by Chuck Klosterman on Barry Bonds<\/a>.<\/p>\n I’ll finish by saying that I’m really looking forward to this class and working with all of you! The content and the format both look exciting. I hope that\u00a0the collaborative (and public!) nature of it will be really beneficial.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hi everyone. My name is Alan, and I’m a senior history major. I don’t have a long history with gaming; I have never gamed on a computer (aside from Oregon trail) and didn’t own a console until the first Xbox, although I spent time playing on N64’s at friends’ houses. That said, I still play…<\/p>\n