ludologist
The word of the day is “ludologist.” The OED and Wordspy claim ignorance, but Terra Nova cites the Associated Press and Jesper Juul, a self-proclaimed ludologist, who is apparently,
the first person anywhere to ever get his doctorate exclusively in video game studies.
Juul’s page has this gem:
Jesper’s law: You know you’re in the right line of work when the gift from your colleagues is a game console.
And since his dissertation defence was only last month, I suppose congratulations are in order. It’s good to see people putting a lot of thought into this topic (and being recognized for it), and not writing it off as just gaming.
I’d be interested in the etymology of ludologist, if anyone has references.
Update: A friend writes, ludus = latin for “game” or “sport” So now we know.