Today's advanced comment - I don't tie you up and make you read it, and I could cause I'm a big guy and I'm good with knots...

Saved for future reference, however I expected this was something to do with Trent Reznor before I clicked.

I'm the last person to come to the defense of the Academy, as I often find myself disagreeing with 90% of the garbage produced by academics. Yet, I find your post waxing a bit piously - it's one thing to call for an open dialogue, but it's quite another to simultaneously insult the people you want to communicate with! Now, if we put aside the drama for a moment, there certainly exist possibilities for genuine 'understandings' of video game life I think. Academics aren't all wizards and crystal balls, peering into the suffering of mere mortals.

Some of them, like myself, like Michael over at The Brainy Gamer, like Gnome over at Gnome's Lair, and Chris over at [url="http://onlyagame.typepad.com]Only a Game[/url] make serious attempts to understand gaming as gamers without trying to dominate game life like some sycophantic dominator. To haphazardly declare that academia is persona-non-grata in the world of gaming is simply senseless, because we already know that a large number of academics are themselves gamers. If you want to encourage participatory dialogues, it doesn't happen through agitprop manifestos - it comes through an invitation, a welcoming.

Like I said - I'm usually the last person to defend the ridiculous nature of academia, but I'm also the first person to defend anyone's right to interpret cultural life as they see fit. Academia, like the press, like bloggers, like parents, like the government, like religious groups, is not some single homogenous group - it is filled with people of differing interests and personal goals... some people want to understand, some people never want to understand. As a student and an academic, I can honestly say that you've grossly over-generalized a minority group (of sorts). Mutilating the other into silence isn't a recipe for dialogue.

At least, that's how I see it. I'm welcome to someone persuading me of something different.

Archimed - Believe it or not I really appreciate this response. I'm not certain I can immediately give it the degree of attention it deserves. I will try to address this fully in a future post. For now I would say that my past and current involvement with the academy has drawn me to conclude that when we pass beyond the door of post-modernism that the institution itself enters into a state of irrelevancy. It is my hope that any invitations I make draw the talented individuals in these spheres toward the risky proposition of pursuing work without the institution. This stems from my sincerest belief and regret that the academy is more inclined to absorb and fit perspectives into itself than transform, and ultimately holds real progress back. I do not intend this to speak ill of anyone working within these institutions. I do intend to suggest that their work will always be constricted by them. And as with so many before me, I often hope to make an impact in any way possible that furthers the dialogue, even when it affects the perception of my intentions.