Hey everybody! I'm Jason Tester, a researcher-designer hybrid here at IFTF. Within Tech Horizons this year I'm heading up our work on pervasive gaming--gaming in the age of multiple communication modes, gaming off the screen, real world as game space, and other crazy exciting developments...

Right now in the project we're looking at the history of electronic gaming, with an aim of producing a history map/timeline circa the 1960s to today. Soon after that we'll build off the map and move into forecasting the future of pervasive gaming, roughly for the next 10 years.

I'll use my blog posts here to give you a peek into our raw, relatively unsynthesized research process. Look for news about gaming, pointers to games and projects around the world, and half-(or more or less) -baked thoughts. Also, updates on the work process behind this project.

My contact info: jtester@iftf.org, and please feel free to get in touch with any questions suggestions or links.

(The picture at right: a new project out of Singapore taking Pac-Man off the screen and into the world. Players wear a VR headset (granted not the most comfortable or fashionable way to game or walk), take on the role of a ghost of the Pac himself, and chase each other around. The traditional maze layout of the arcade game is transplanted into the 'real world'. This digital-physical fusion has been on our radar screens for some time, and the phenomenon and its effects will only be magnified in the coming years as gaming and life merge.)