Ben DeVane is a graduate student of Kurt Squire at the University of Wisconsin—Madison. He’s interested in how cultural models and discourse communities situate students’ understanding in digital game-based learning environments. Together with Kurt and Shree, he’s working on a design-based research project where kids from low-income families play custom mods of the Civilization game series to learn about history, culture, economics, and geography while at an after-school program. Ben also co-designed the augmented reality game Hip Hop Tycoon with Chris Holden to help middle school students learn about mathematics, personal finance, and community development. He and Kurt are currently writing on how Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas affects the cultural models that “at-risk” youths have regarding race and violence. Ben got his undergraduate degree from Virginia Tech, majoring in Computer Science with minors in Literature and Mathematics. A native of southeast Tennessee, Ben is emotionally devastated by Blizzard’s recent nerfs to the druid and paladin talent trees in World of Warcraft.