It’s for an interdisciplinary conference this winter that’s intended to bring together videogame designers, neurologists, and linguists. A producer I worked with several years ago and her business partner are involved in organizing it and she thought that I’d be a good addition to the discussion.
This is really great news because I’m almost done with my big book on the aesthetics of play. (Only about 12,000 words to go.) So now I get to try out my crackpot ideas on a brand new audience!
Cool!
One of the speakers we had last year (MSc in Translation) was a professor who’s studying body language; she told us that, when they went to the CompSci people at their university to timidly ask for their assistance they were surprised by the warm reception and level of enthusiasm. It was one of those pieces of research which many of my classmates (who didn’t seem to understand the concept of “you need to do the basics first”) thought completely unnecessary: “jeez, they should just ask a few actors” “wasn’t it you saying just last week that you don’t like pre-method acting? The way actors have been taught to express emotions isn’t necessarily the way normal people do it”. It was the kind of research which, on the CompSci side, ends up being used to draw computer characters who move like their skeleton has joints rather than with stiff extremities or like the bastard child of the Spaguetti Monster.
Congratulations. That sounds really interesting. I teach in a school that (among other things) has a strong Game Development program, and while I’m not a gamer myself, I’ve learned to appreciate all that goes into creating one. And I’m a writer and English instructor, so the idea of this conference intrigues me.
It does indeed sound interesting. I’m not only jealous that you’re going to be a speaker there, I’m jealous that you’re going at all.
Have fun! 
Wow 'em!
^ did ya see what I did there? haha
hm, you know that there is a posting on the internet about how the body language of con goers is different from nonfen … does it hold true for gamers as well?
Any way we can get a sense of some of your hypotheses / assertions? Sounds like fascinating stuff.
Oh, and congrats! Sounds like you dig public speaking, too, which is a good thing in this situation…