Scott Nicholson (academic)
Dr. Scott Nicholson (born March 27, 1971) is an American Professor of Game Design & Development at Wilfrid Laurier University in Brantford, Ontario. He is an author, game designer, speaker and the Director of the Brantford Games Network Lab.[1][2]
Scott Nicholson | |
---|---|
Born | March 27, 1971 |
Awards | Best Non-Digital Game |
Academic work | |
Discipline | Game Design & Development |
Sub-discipline | Games for Change |
Institutions | Wilfrid Laurier University |
Website | http://scottnicholson.com/ |
Academic career
Dr. Nicholson was the director of the Masters of the Library and Information Science program at Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies from 2001 to 2015.[3] He was also the Director of the Because Play Matters game lab and the Game Designers’ Guild of Syracuse.[4] While at Syracuse, Dr. Nicholson won an award for his paper “Inviting the World into the Online Classroom: Teaching a Gaming in Libraries Course via YouTube” at the 2010 Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE) Conference.[5]
Dr. Nicholson was a visiting professor from 2011-2012 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Comparative Media Studies and the Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab.[6] While at MIT, Dr. Nicholson presented a keynote on escape rooms during the Escape Room Game Jam in partnership between MIT and Red Bull on March 28, 2015.[7]
In 2014 Dr. Nicholson moved to Canada to become program director of Wilfrid Laurier University's Game Design & Development program and director of the Brantford Games Network.[8]
Board Games with Scott
Dr. Nicholson created and ran a YouTube series called "Board Games with Scott" from 2005 to 2010 in which Dr. Nicholson explained and discussed various board and card games for his viewers.[9] The series garnered some popularity with over 2.8 million views on his channel as of 2018.[10]
Published Works
Book
Everyone Plays at the Library (2010)
Dr. Nicholson wrote Everyone Plays at the Library (2010) which "[o]ffers suggestions to librarians for creating gaming programs for all age groups in public, academic, and school libraries, focusing on five distinct archetypes and how they connect to library goals."[11]
Games
Cthulhu Live, 1st Edition (1997)
A live action role-playing game that Dr. Nicholson had helped develop a live action combat system that did not require any padded weapons so that the game could be accessible.[12]
Tulipmania 1637 (2009)
Inspired by the events of the first bubble market in Europe in the 1630s, Tulipmania 1637 is a strategy auction game where players take on the roles of investors trying to make money off of the tulip market before the market crashes.[13]
Going, Going, GONE! (2013)
Going, Going, GONE! is a real-time auction party-game where players bid for sets of items using bucks to earn points.[14]
Ballot Box Bumble (2016)
A Breakout EDU game where players take on the role of a volunteer at a local polling station and must get to the bottom of what's happening to the ballots.[15] Ballot Box Bumble won Best Non-Digital Game at the juried Game Expo at the Meaningful Play conference in 2016.[16]
References
- "Scott Nicholson - Professor, Games, Informal Learning, Gamification, Speaker, Consultant". scottnicholson.com. Retrieved July 26, 2017.
- "Scott Nicholson". Wilfrid Laurier University. Retrieved 26 July 2017.
- "Scott Nicholson | Wilfrid Laurier University". www.wlu.ca. Retrieved 2018-03-26.
- Eberhardt, Rik (2015-03-04). "Escape Room Game Jam Keynote Speaker: Scott Nicholson". MIT Game Lab. Retrieved 2018-03-26.
- "Syracuse iSchool associate professor Scott Nicholson wins ALISE 2010 best conference paper award". School of Information Studies | Syracuse University. Retrieved 2018-03-26.
- Eberhardt, Rik (2015-03-04). "Escape Room Game Jam Keynote Speaker: Scott Nicholson". MIT Game Lab. Retrieved 2018-03-26.
- Eberhardt, Rik (2015-03-04). "Escape Room Game Jam Keynote Speaker: Scott Nicholson". MIT Game Lab. Retrieved 2018-03-26.
- "Brantford Games Network Lab - About the BGNlab". bgnlab.ca. Retrieved 2018-03-26.
- "Board Games with Scott - YouTube". YouTube. Retrieved 2018-03-26.
- "Scott Nicholson". YouTube. Retrieved 2018-03-26.
- Nicholson, Scott (2010). Everyone Plays at the Library: Creating Great Gaming Experiences for All Ages. Information Today. ISBN 9781573873987.
- "Brantford Games Network Lab - Game Design Portfolio for Scott Nicholson - Cthulhu Live, 1st edition (1997)". bgnlab.ca. Retrieved 2019-09-27.
- "Tulipmania 1637". BoardGameGeek. Retrieved 2018-03-26.
- "Going, Going, GONE!". BoardGameGeek. Retrieved 2018-03-26.
- Nicholson, Scott. "BALLOT BOX BUMBLE". Retrieved March 23, 2018.
- "Laurier game design professor wins international gaming award | Wilfrid Laurier University". www.wlu.ca. Retrieved 2018-03-26.