Sean C. Duncan is a doctoral student in Curriculum & Instruction at the University of Wisconsin — Madison, working with Constance Steinkuehler in the area of massively-multiplayer online game (MMOG) research. His research interests include understanding the productive learning opportunities within fan communities around media, informal scientific reasoning, and the literacy implications of games. Currently, he is looking at the informal scientific reasoning found within World of Warcraft online forum discussions, is analyzing the informal reasoning and argumentation found in online discussions about the Legend of Zelda series, and is interested in the ways that problem-solving occurs in informal communities of game designers (such as the long-standing “interactive fiction” online communities). He earned a B.Phil. from Miami University in Interdisciplinary Studies focusing in Cognitive Science and an M.A. from Bowling Green State University in Cognitive Psychology.

Some of his favorite videogames (from childhood through adulthood) include: Rocky’s Boots, any Infocom “interactive fiction” game, Galaga, most of the Legend of Zelda games, any Animal Crossing game, Katamari Damacy & We Love Katamari, New Super Mario Brothers, and the Guitar Hero games. Recent gaming obsessions include various Wii minigame collections (Wii Sports, Rayman, and WarioWare), learning how to play Guitar Hero blindfolded, trying to wrangle a good fantasy baseball team, and teaching himself how to write interactive fiction. In his spare time, Sean enjoys film, live music, comix, cooking, and occasionally blogging.