SynaptoGaming

intersecting mind and machine
Skip to content
  • Home
  • About

Author Archives: jeffabeeler

  • I am reading Gödel, Escher and Bach. Mostly because I have been intrigued by Gödel’s proof of incompleteness for a few years but have been [...]

    Gödel and intelligent machines. . . tangent here. . .

    May 24, 2012
  • Can video games be addictive? It’s an interesting question.  Considering that I’ve just spent the last few posts arguing that understanding [...]

    Video Game Addiction: The dark side of reward?

    April 23, 2012
  • We are surrounded by stimuli.  Whenever we are awake and conscious, a constant stream of information is pouring into our brains.  From this, we [...]

    Basal Ganglia II: Reward is not Motivation

    April 7, 2012
  • The basal ganglia are is a group of structures nestled under the cerebral cortex.  What exactly the basal ganglia do remains controversial and [...]

    Meet the basal ganglia. . . a substrate for motivational scaffolding

    January 16, 2012
  • Motivation is a complex concept with a long history in psychology and neuroscience.  I am going to sketch a notion of ‘motivational [...]

    Motivation and action: a chicken and egg problem?

    January 8, 2012
  • With games like Farmvile, Mafia Wars and Cityville, Zynga has helped expand the traditional game market and captured an absurd number of monthly [...]

    Is Fun really a good design principle?

    December 19, 2011
  • It’s natural for video game designers to think of their competition as other video games.  But video games, especially among people who are [...]

    CityVille Genius: A narrative account of the first 15 minutes

    December 5, 2011
  • No one can question the success of Zynga, but the value of its contribution to the video game industry seems highly controversial.  On one hand, [...]

    Zynga: sinner or saint?

    December 4, 2011
  • A long-standing distinction in psychology, particularly within education, is that between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.  Extrinsic [...]

    Intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation: Is there really a difference?

    November 20, 2011
  • Who says advertising never contributed anything of worth to humanity? After playing this game, I went out and bought a pack of Trident vitality [...]

    Falling Stars. . . by Trident

    November 6, 2011

Post navigation

← Older posts Newer posts →
Blog at WordPress.com.
  • Follow Following
    • SynaptoGaming
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • SynaptoGaming
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar