PROJECTS

ConQuesting – Live Convention Questing Experience

ConQuesting is a cosplay photo-scavenger hunt my wife and I host annually at DragonCon. Select your quest, track down your favorite pop culture icon and return to the quest givers to claim a souvenir reward! Follow our Facebook page to join in the fun. We are tentatively planning on attending DragonCon 2021.

How does this work?
The core concept is pretty simple:

  1. You select a quest
  2. You complete it (usually by snapping a photo of a specific costume, prop, or nerdy reference)
  3. Show us your picture as proof
  4. Receive a loot pouch containing a humble reward
  5. Share your pic on our Facebook page for maximum bragging rights

There are two kinds of quests. Mystery Quests are written on souvenir scrolls. These quests are one-of-a-kind and fairly easy, requiring little-to-no familiarity with any specific franchise or fandom. Alternatively, you can challenge yourself with an Epic Quest! These do not have physical scrolls. Rather, you handpick a quest from your favorite fandom listed in our Epic Quest Tome. We carry physical copies of the tome with us in-person, and we will post links to our quests as the event draws near.

Where can I find you?
2021’s schedule is forthcoming! Check our Facebook page for announcements, follow @Sarcasmancer on twitter, and @goconquesting on Instagram for moment-to-moment updates. We sport massive, battle-standard signs that make us easy to spot, and we are generally in costume.

Will you come to my con?
If you are interested in having us attend your convention, please shoot an email with the details to Rhwhitson@gmail.com!

The Interpretive Spiral – Master’s Thesis

I went to Georgia Tech to study video games and video game criticism, with a particular emphasis on the ways games tell stories and create meaning for players. My faculty advisers were Ian Bogost, Celia Pearce, and Janet Murray. Elizabeth Losh was an external faculty reviewer. Two years of independent research and writing culminated in my masters thesis: The Interpretive Spiral: An Analytical Rubric for Videogame Interpretation, which presents a methodology for ‘close-reading’ single-player video games.