About Rudolf Thomas Inderst

Rudolf Thomas Inderst (*1978) enjoys video games since 1985. He received a master’s degree in political science, American cultural studies as well as contemporary and recent history from Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich and holds two PhDs in game studies (LMU & University of Passau). Currently, he's teaching as a professor for game design at the IU International University for Applied Science and holds the position as lead editor at the Suisse online journal Nahaufnahmen.ch for the game section.

Rudolf Inderst is a professor of Game Design at the IU International University of Applied Science.

Rudolf Thomas's website

NBN Episodes hosted by Rudolf Thomas:

Peter D. McDonald, "Run and Jump: The Meaning of the 2D Platformer" (MIT Press, 2024)

March 15, 2024

Run and Jump

Peter D. McDonald

How abstract design decisions in 2D platform games create rich worlds of meaning for players.Since the 1980s, 2D platform games have captivated their …

Poppy Wilde, "Posthuman Gaming: Avatars, Gamers, and Entangled Subjectivities" (Routledge, 2023)

March 2, 2024

Posthuman Gaming

Poppy Wilde

Posthuman Gaming: Avatars, Gamers, and Entangled Subjectivities (Routledge, 2023) explores the relationship between avatar and gamer in the massively …

Stefano Gualeni, "The Clouds: An Experiment in Theory-Fiction" (Routledge, 2023)

January 24, 2024

The Clouds

Stefano Gualeni

On a slow autumn afternoon, an atmospheric physicist working at the Malta Weather Station receives a surprising email from a colleague working in the …

Hartmut Koenitz, "Understanding Interactive Digital Narrative: Immersive Expressions for a Complex Time" (Routledge, 2023)

January 19, 2024

Understanding Interactive Digital Narrative

Hartmut Koenitz

This remarkably clearly written and timely critical evaluation of core issues in the study and application of interactive digital narrative (IDN) unta…

David B. Nieborg and Maxwell Foxman, "Mainstreaming and Game Journalism" (MIT Press, 2023)

January 15, 2024

Mainstreaming and Game Journalism

David B. Nieborg and Maxwell Foxman

Why games are still niche and not mainstream, and how journalism can help them gain cultural credibility. Mainstreaming and Game Journalism (MIT Pres…

Emma Reay, "The Child in Videogames: From the Meek, to the Mighty, to the Monstrous" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2023)

December 20, 2023

The Child in Videogames

Emma Reay

Drawing across Games Studies, Childhood Studies, and Children’s Literature Studies, Emma Reay's book The Child in Videogames: From the Meek, to the Mi…

Robert Houghton, "Playing the Middle Ages: Pitfalls and Potential in Modern Games" (Bloomsbury, 2023)

December 7, 2023

Playing the Middle Ages

Robert Houghton

The Middle Ages have provided rich source material for physical and digital games from Dungeons and Dragons to Assassin's Creed. Playing the Middle Ag…

Chad Randl and D. Medina Lasansky, "Playing Place: Board Games, Popular Culture, Space" (MIT Press, 2023)

November 9, 2023

Playing Place

Chad Randl and D. Medina Lasansky
Listen:

An essay collection exploring the board game's relationship to the built environment, revealing the unexpected ways that play reflects perceptions of …

Peter Nelson, "Computer Games As Landscape Art" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2023)

November 6, 2023

Computer Games As Landscape Art

Peter Nelson
Listen:

Peter Nelson's book Computer Games As Landscape Art (Palgrave Macmillan, 2023) proposes that computer games are the paradigmatic form of contemporary …

Federico Alvarez Igarzábal, "Time and Space in Video Games: A Cognitive-Formalist Approach" (Transcript, 2020)

September 23, 2023

Time and Space in Video Games

Federico Alvarez Igarzábal

Video games are temporal artifacts: They change with time as players interact with them in accordance with rules. In Time and Space in Video Games: A …

Marc Bonner, "Open World Structures: Architecture, Urban and Natural Landscape in the Computer Game" (Büchner-Verlag, 2023)

September 7, 2023

Open World Structures

Marc Bonner
Listen:

What role do algorithms play in the construction of images and the representation of the world and weather in computer games? How does the design of r…

Stefan Heinrich Simond, "Pixelated Madness: The Construction of Mental Illnesses and Psychiatric Institutions in Video Games" (Hülsbusch, 2023)

August 23, 2023

Pixelated Madness

Stefan Heinrich Simond

The relationship between madness and video games has been notoriously tense. In an abundance of titles, stereotypes and stigmatisations can be found—n…

Betty Adamou, "Games and Gamification in Market Research: Increasing Consumer Engagement in Research for Business Success" (Kogan Page, 2018)

July 31, 2023

Games and Gamification in Market Research

Betty Adamou
Listen:

Games are the most engaging medium of all time: they harness storytelling and heuristics, drive emotion and push the evolution of technology in a way …

Aaron A. Reed, "50 Years of Text Games: From Oregon Trail to AI Dungeon" (2023)

July 19, 2023

50 Years of Text Games

Aaron A. Reed
Listen:

50 Years of Text Games: From Oregon Trail to A.I. Dungeon is an extensively researched book chronicling the first half-century of interactive fiction:…

Lars de Wildt, "The Pop Theology of Videogames: Producing and Playing with Religion" (Amsterdam UP, 2023)

June 22, 2023

The Pop Theology of Videogames

Lars de Wildt
Listen:

Young people in the West are more likely to encounter religion in videogames than in places of worship like churches, mosques or temples. Lars de Wild…

Brendan Keogh, "The Videogame Industry Does Not Exist: Why We Should Think Beyond Commercial Game Production" (MIT Press, 2023)

June 11, 2023

The Videogame Industry Does Not Exist

Brendan Keogh
Listen:

The videogame industry, we're invariably told, is a multibillion-dollar, high-tech business conducted by large corporations in certain North American,…

Karen Schrier, "We the Gamers: How Games Teach Ethics and Civics" (Oxford UP, 2021)

May 11, 2023

We the Gamers

Karen Schrier

Ethics and civics have always mattered, but perhaps they matter now more than ever before. Recently, with the rise of online teaching and movements li…

Jason C. Cash and Craig T. Olsen, "The World of Final Fantasy VII: Essays on the Game and Its Legacy" (McFarland, 2023)

May 7, 2023

The World of Final Fantasy VII

Jason C. Cash and Craig T. Olsen

Final Fantasy VII altered the course of video game history when it was released in 1997 on Sony's PlayStation system. It converted the Japanese role-p…

Felix Zimmermann, "Virtual Realities: Atmospheric Experience of the Past in Digital Games (Büchner-Verlag, 2023)

March 26, 2023

Virtual Realities

Felix Zimmermann

Today I talked to Felix Zimmermann about his book Virtual Realities: Atmospheric Experience of the Past in Digital Games (Virtuelle Wirklichkeiten: At…

Stefano Gualeni and Riccardo Fassone, "Fictional Games: A Philosophy of Worldbuilding and Imaginary Play" (Bloomsbury, 2023)

March 12, 2023

Fictional Games

Stefano Gualeni and Riccardo Fassone

What role do imaginary games have in story-telling? Why do fiction authors outline the rules of a game that the reader will never watch or play? Com…

Miguel Sicart, "Playing Software: Homo Ludens in Computational Culture" (MIT Press, 2023)

March 8, 2023

Playing Software

Miguel Sicart

The play element at the heart of our interactions with computers—and how it drives the best and the worst manifestations of the information age. Whet…

Jacob Birken, "Video Games: Digital Image Cultures" (Verlag Klaus Wagenbach, 2022)

February 19, 2023

Video Games

Jacob Birken

Let's plays are among the most popular genres on YouTube. The visual worlds of video games shape the worldviews of millions. Gaming is a hobby and a m…

Alan Meades, "Arcade Britannia: A Social History of the British Amusement Arcade" (MIT Press, 2022)

February 18, 2023

Arcade Britannia

Alan Meades

The story of the British amusement arcade from the 1800s to the present. Amusement arcades are an important part of British culture, yet discussions…

Jeremiah McCall, "Gaming the Past: Using Video Games to Teach Secondary History" (Routledge, 2022)

February 7, 2023

Gaming the Past

Jeremiah McCall

Gaming the Past: Using Video Games to Teach Secondary History (Routledge, 2022) is a complete handbook to help pre-service teachers, current teachers,…