Geek Native occasionally has goodies to giveaway in a competition, and when that happens, we like to run a little poll. Some years back we had a copy of Ghost in the Shell: Arise to giveaway so we asked a question about cyborgs. We wanted to know whether readers thought in the future people would […]
Ready Player One: Geeks more likely to warn against the Oasis
This month Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One hits the cinemas. In it geeks battle to survive and safe the virtual reality known as the Oasis. The book features Acererak and the Tomb of Horrors and lots of 80s geek culture from Japan. Trailers from the film suggest a more American spin […]
What do you do as a DM when you realise you’ve made a terrible call?
We’re only human and sometimes we make mistakes. DMs might muddle up initiative order or something just as easy but more serious like forget to act as a helpful NPC or confuse the effects of aggressive magic. It happens. As a rule players are generally good at coping when the DM fesses up to a […]
A game designer’s perspective: Storytelling from computers to RPGs
Based on data from the US statista homepage the sales figures for computer and videogames in 2015 was staggering 16.5 billion US dollars, whereas a similar sales figure for tabletop RPGs in 2015, according to ICv2 correspondence letter #90, was a solid 35 million US dollars. From sales figures alone, the computer game industry is […]
Is knowing the future a gift or a curse?
When this blog has some freebies to giveaway we run a competition. You can find the latest here and check back through the archives. There’s usually a poll to answer in order to take part and then your input becomes part of a fun analytical exercise. This isn’t great science, the sample sets are small […]
Brunel University finds that superheroes keep us sane
Research from Dr James Carney of Brunel University London has shown that modern superheroes have become a mental defence against the scale of modern living. They keep us sane. Carney’s research is published in the Journal of Cognition and Culture. If you’re curious you can take a look at Comic-Book Superheroes and Prosocial Agency: A […]
Geeks trust their gut instinct more than facts
What follows is not rigorous science. The sample size is less than 150 people and participation in the survey was incentivised with a chance to win a prize. The headlines today is the claim that Games Workshop is being sued for $62.5m. There’s not much in the way of supporting evidence so has the site […]
Would you donate to charity via a videogame?
Research by the Charities Aid Foundation suggests 58% of computer gamers would be interested in donating to charity while they’re playing. This includes in-game purchases. As many gamers, 59%, said they’d be more likely to pay to remove ads if some of that cost went to charities. The research was done in conjunction with Gamestatix […]
Can a vampire ever be considered a “good person”?
There’s been all sorts of vampires on TV, film and comic books in the last few years. The chances are your idea of a traditional vampire isn’t the same as someone else’s any more. The thirst for blood, however, remains constant. Last year, Geek Native had a copy of Kim Newman’s Anno Dracula – Johnny […]
Faeries change how writers think about Sherlock Holmes
Arthur Conan Doyle, the Scottish writer who created Sherlock Holmes, was a spiritualist who believed in fairies. Did you know that? Last year Geek Native had a copy of Queen of the Dark Things to giveaway . Since C. Robert Cargill’s book features two boys spirited away into a dark world of myth and folklore […]
