Gonzalo Frasca

Gonzalo Frasca (born 1972) is a game designer and academic researcher focusing on serious and political videogames. His blog, Ludology.org, was cited by NBC News as a popular designation for academic researchers studying video games. For many years, Frasca also co-published Watercoolergames with Ian Bogost, a blog about serious games.

Frasca was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, where he established Powerful Robot Games, a video game studio. He is Chief Design Officer at DragonBox, a Norwegian pedagogy studio which produces math-learning videogames. Frasca is also a professor at Universidad ORT Uruguay.

In video game theory, Frasca belongs to the group of "ludologists" who consider video games to be simulations based on rules. They see video games as the first simulational media for the masses - which means a paradigm shift in media consumption and production.

Frasca's game studies are influenced by the work of Norwegian game academic Espen J. Aarseth. Beginning in December 2004, Frasca studied games at the Center for Computer Games Research at the IT University of Copenhagen. He received his PhD in Videogames studies in August 2007.

His most famous game is the art game, ''September 12'', a response to the September 11 attacks. It is based on the political argument that a direct military response will only increase the likelihood of further terrorist attacks on the West. In spite of being controversial at its launch, it is now recognized as a notable early example of both political videogame and newsgame (a term Frasca is credited with coining to refer to a videogame based on real, newsworthy events). In 2009 it received a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Knight Foundation. Provided by Wikipedia