About RuneWeb
Researching worlds
within worlds.
An independent platform for research, critical writing, and creative experiments at the meeting point of games, art, and culture.
What we explore.
RuneWeb explores the worlds people build and inhabit: their spaces, rules, economies, and communities. It asks how digital environments shape experience, how people find meaning within them, and how culture and commerce influence what becomes possible.
Founded by Eric-Ross McLaren, the platform connects an interest in art and visual culture with close attention to games and the people who play them.
What we publish and share.
Essays, case studies, and field notes offer different ways to investigate these questions. Linked sources and references make the research available for readers to follow further.
The Lab is a space for interactive diagrams, illustrative models, playful simulations, and other visual experiments. These formats invite people to explore an idea through observation, interaction, and discovery.
Explore the research indexHow we approach the work.
Make the evidence traceable.
Connect claims to their sources. Explain the research method and distinguish observation from interpretation.
Make room for different ways of learning.
Pair thoughtful writing with visual and interactive ways into a subject. Let readers explore relationships, change assumptions, and see what follows.
Be clear about the limits.
Identify uncertainty, describe the assumptions behind a model, and keep illustrative examples distinct from observed evidence.
Keep the questions open.
Treat each piece as part of an ongoing inquiry. Make room for new connections, different perspectives, and ideas that change with closer examination.