Free Play

Free Play is about the inner sources of spontaneous creation. It is about why we create and what we learn when we do. It is about the flow of unhindered creative energy: the joy of making art in all its varied forms. An international bestseller and beloved classic, Free Play is an inspiring and provocative book, directed toward people in any field who want to contact, honor, and strengthen their own creative powers. It reveals how inspiration arises within us, how that inspiration may be blocked, derailed or obscured, and how finally it can be liberated—how we can be liberated—to speak or sing, write or paint, dance or play, with our own authentic voice. Stephen Nachmanovitch, a pioneer in free improvisation, integrates material from a wide variety of sources among the arts, sciences, and spiritual traditions of humanity, drawing on unusual quotes, amusing and illuminating anecdotes, and original metaphors. The whole enterprise of improvisation in life and art, of recovering free play and awakening creativity, is about being true to ourselves and our visions. Free Play brings us into direct, active contact with boundless creative energies that we may not even know we had.

“ Will’s knowledge of F2P comes from years of building games, as well as writing about and consulting with developers on the model. All the topics covered in this book—economics, gameplay, monetization, analytics and marketing—are important to consider when you’re building an F2P game, and Will covers each with an easy-to-digest style.” —Ian Marsh, co-founder, NimbleBit Free-to-Play: Making Money From Games You Give Away is an accessible and complete guide to the business model that has revolutionized the videogames industry, creating huge hits, multi-billion-dollar startups and a new deal for players: Play for free, spend on what you like. Written by respected game designer and consultant Will Luton, Free-to-Play gives you the in-the-trenches insight you need to build, run and make money from games you give away. In it you’ll find: Psychology behind player decisions and the motivations to play Simple and accessible explanations of the math and economic theories behind F2P, including working examples Processes for capturing and using player data to improve your game Marketing tips on positioning your game and attracting players Plus: A downloadable F2P spreadsheet, articles from the author, a foreword by NimbleBit co-founder Ian Marsh and an interview with Zynga CEO, Mark Pincus.

An examination of free-to-play and mobile games that traces what is valued and what is marginalized in discussions of games. Free-to-play and mobile video games are an important and growing part of the video game industry, and yet they are often disparaged by journalists, designers, and players and pronounced inferior to to games with more traditional payment models. In this book, Christopher Paul shows that underlying the criticism is a bias against these games that stems more from who is making and playing them than how they are monetized. Free-to-play and mobile games appeal to a different kind of player, many of whom are women and many of whom prefer different genres of games than multi-level action-oriented killing fests. It's not a coincidence that some of the few free-to-play games that have been praised by games journalists are League of Legends and World of Tanks.

This book presents an interplay of imaginative memoir-telling, action research data and future projection that reminds and inspires experiences academics, researchers, professionals, as well as a wider public to recognize the fundamental importance and the impellent need for more and better work in favour of true political and societal recognition of the needs and rights of children to play freely, to participate, to live fully and enjoy their neighbourhoods and cities, and to imagine and construct alternative futures, together with adults. The book's abundant spoken dialogue is, in effect, storytelling between children (and youth) on their own and with adults (especially the elderly). It conveys an appreciation of children’s special capacities to think critically about their everyday places—and the greater world around them—and to develop solutions (or ‘projects’) for the problems they identify. This book serves an effective catalyst for stimulating rich discussion of the theoretical and practical bases of the many themes, or areas of study, which are treated in the story.

AWESOME boredom busting play ideas—from creative crafts to zany new travel games! From mind-boggling science experiments to tricky challenges that will give your kids a case of the giggles. Beat the boredom blues with over 1,000 play ideas suitable for three-year-olds to eleven-year olds. There's something for everyone in this tried and tested book from NY Times bestselling author (and mom!), Jean Oram. "A lifesaver for parents and educators." --Kenneth, reader. Make it easy to say “no” to more screen time and “yes” to more play time with activities that will delight your children. Want to be the new favorite in the family? Check out some of the fun to be had with this one-of-a-kind book, 1,001 Boredom Busting Play Ideas: + 101 tricky, goofy challenges for kids + 36 Travel games PLUS 24 more games that can be played in the car + Arts and crafts (and holiday crafts, too) + Outside play ideas + Mad scientist safe & easy experiments--including Flubber! + Birthday party games + Family day trip ideas + Homeschool and classroom games + And more play, play, play! Includes 26 BONUS activities for a grand total of 1,027 activities to keep your kids happy! Have your best sleepover, birthday party, road tip, babysitting experience, snowy day, or homeschool play time ever! Play time is MORE than just crafts. The brain learns by playing. Build smarter, happier, healthier children... start with 1,001 Boredom Busting Play Ideas, because your kids deserve it. Keywords: crafts, crafts for kids, free play ideas, free range kids, antidote for helicopter parents, games for kids, challenges for kids, play ideas, game rules, game ideas, classic games, classic outdoor games, teacher resources, camp counselor idea books, Easter crafts, birthday party games, Christmas crafts, Halloween crafts, outdoor play ideas, family fun ideas, playcation, staycation ideas, family game night, family time, daycare resources, playschool resources, kindergarten resources, child development, empathy development, confidence building in kids, books for babysitters, keep kids busy, keep kids busy book, screen free play ideas, screen-free, healthy children, healthy kids, raising kids, raising children, how to raise kids, over scheduled kids, over scheduled children, over-scheduled kids, childhood anxiety, outdoor games, outdoor play, active play ideas, quiet play ideas, reading games, math games, travel games, family travel games.

An examination of free-to-play and mobile games that traces what is valued and what is marginalized in discussions of games. Free-to-play and mobile video games are an important and growing part of the video game industry, and yet they are often disparaged by journalists, designers, and players and pronounced inferior to to games with more traditional payment models. In this book, Christopher Paul shows that underlying the criticism is a bias against these games that stems more from who is making and playing them than how they are monetized. Free-to-play and mobile games appeal to a different kind of player, many of whom are women and many of whom prefer different genres of games than multi-level action-oriented killing fests. It's not a coincidence that some of the few free-to-play games that have been praised by games journalists are League of Legends and World of Tanks.

The games industry is serious business and the role of a games designer has dramatically changed over just the last few years. Developers now have to rethink everything they know about the creative, technical and business challenges to adapt to the transition to games as a service. Games as a Service: How Free to Play Design Can Make Better Games has been written to help designers overcome many of the fears and misconceptions surrounding freemium and social games. It provides a framework to deliver better games rather than the ‘evil’ or ‘manipulative’ experiences some designers fear with the move away from wasteful Products to sustainable, trustworthy Services. Oscar Clark is a consultant and Evangelist for Everyplay from Applifier. He has been a pioneer in online, mobile and console social games services since 1998 including Wireplay (British Telecom), Hutchison Whampoa (3UK) and PlayStation®Home. He is a regular columnist on PocketGamer.Biz and is an outspoken speaker and moderator at countless games conferences on Games Design, Discovery, and Monetisation. He is also a notorious hat wearer.

A REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK "A hands-on, real talk guide for navigating the hot-button issues that so many families struggle with."--Reese Witherspoon Tired, stressed, and in need of more help from your partner? Imagine running your household (and life!) in a new way... It started with the Sh*t I Do List. Tired of being the "shefault" parent responsible for all aspects of her busy household, Eve Rodsky counted up all the unpaid, invisible work she was doing for her family -- and then sent that list to her husband, asking for things to change. His response was... underwhelming. Rodsky realized that simply identifying the issue of unequal labor on the home front wasn't enough: She needed a solution to this universal problem. Her sanity, identity, career, and marriage depended on it. The result is Fair Play: a time- and anxiety-saving system that offers couples a completely new way to divvy up chores and responsibilities. Rodsky interviewed more than five hundred men and women from all walks of life to figure out what the invisible work in a family actually entails and how to get it all done efficiently. With four easy-to-follow rules, 100 household tasks, and a series of conversation starters for you and your partner, Fair Play helps you prioritize what's important to your family and who should take the lead on every chore from laundry to homework to dinner. "Winning" this game means rebalancing your home life, reigniting your relationship with your significant other, and reclaiming your Unicorn Space -- as in, the time to develop the skills and passions that keep you interested and interesting. Stop drowning in to-dos and lose some of that invisible workload that's pulling you down. Are you ready to try Fair Play? Let's deal you in.