Selfish?

The article for this week depressed us with the knowledge that game preservation is going poorly.  Its nice that the game people love are being preserved via emulators though.  I think it would be good for companies to touch base with their past and make legacies out of their games.  Some preservation is being made through recreation on other devices but the quality is poor.  The whole idea just seems like a waste the think about though.  Its good that emulators exist.  As long as emulators exist, the games can continue.  There are a lot of things in the world that should have been preserved.  I guess people just don't take the time to think about how fun it would be for others to play these games.

Teamwork with Cabals

After reading the half life article regarding using "cabals" in the design process, I realized I know very little about how games are put together.  I thought designers worked with everyone in a team environment.  Another thought was that all the directors work together.  This article makes it seem like the people who created  Half Life were the first to work as a group.  Either way I'm glad that it worked out for them.  When the author spoke about how there were multiple interviews for a head designer, he said they couldn't find anyone and then started doing cabals.  It seems like they really messed up making the game the first time, then messed up the second time, then got lucky by randomly putting together teams.  It seems like the idea is more refined now.

Exploring the Ethics of The Castle Doctrine by Caroline Petit

Exploring the Ethics of The Castle Doctrine by Caroline Petit describes the mechanics of the game "The Castle Doctrine" and what the game may mean to the players.  It's a simple game where the player robs other houses and protects their own.  Since the characters are family members, people think the game is about fearing the world specifically in the 90s?  I'm sure most games can teach people to fear the world.  The author mentioned the influence that news channels have on viewers.  Like most people comment, the news mostly shows horrible things like murder.  If someone watched the news all the time they might fear everything.  That reminds me of when I was in middle and high school and some kid would mention that theres a list of everything that can give you cancer (this scenario has happened multiple times) and then every kid freaks out and doesn't wear deoderant for a week.  I say this with almost every blog I write for this class, journal writers are like fiction writers, they find any way to stretch out a story.  In Petit's case, she found any way to make an article relating to this game.  People shouldn't force topics.  Based on the comments, Petit didn't even seem to have valid points or research.  I don't watch the news so I don't know about Trayvon Martin.  Of course I've heard the name, but did I really care to memorize everything about him?  Hell no.  Anyways, people are looking way too into everything.  I wish people would live simpler lives and stop watching garbage tv shows, news, and other bullshit.

Pay to Win?

Mike Rose's article included a lot of common and new topics regarding the ethics behind pay to play and free to play games.  Throughout the article I kept being reminded of my own spending habits when it comes to the mmo I play, TERA.  I used to feel bad about spending real money on the game, but then I realized that it is worth the money because of the social rewards I gain.  TERA isn't pay to win, however some mounts now come with boosts, so it is definitely starting to lean in that direction.  The way I justify my spending is that if I weren't paying$11 on some fake item, I would be spending it elsewhere like a movie or food.  Since I spend a majority of my time in this game, it's definitely worth it.  However, I don't spend as much as a "whale" as Mike explains.  I spend maybe on average $10 a month on the game, which is actually less than if you pay for the subscription for better perks for $14.

A lot of the issue with the pay to win tactics seems to be that it is a form of gambling.  Companies are always out to get money and the gambling and random chance definitely encourage it.  I don't see it as a bad thing though.  Someone has to pay the company's employees.  Haha.  It takes a certain type of person to become a "whale", and as long as their spending is justified, I don't think it's a problem.  There is always someone who is addicted to something in a poor way, but since games are newer, people worry too much about it.  I can name multiple people who blow thousands on dvds each year.  Games are just being monitored a lot.

One problem though with pay to win types of games, is that it can ruin immersion and also take away from developing other aspects of the game.  My example with TERA is that the company knows we realllly like costumes.  They put out more costumes than other content, which is nice (because I'm a tera player and we love costumes)!  But people have been seeing it as milking the game.  It's starting to become a slightly older game, but it has amazing mechanics.  We just hope there will be more pvp related content soon.

Overall it's really up to the player what they feel is right to spend on a game.  If it becomes too much of a problem, they will realize it.  If they don't seek help then maybe there is another factor causing this.  But like I said, the only real problem is that companies aren't developing other aspects of the game to make it more fun.  Its nice that mmo's lately aren't doing pay to win though.

DICE 2010: "Design Outside the Box" Presentation

Wow this video was definitely an eye opener.  Lastly I've been having to brainstorm ideas for projects in class, such as an intro screen and button animation etc for my 2d Art classes.  Most people in my class already have games they want to base these projects around.  Unlike everyone else, I don't have a game I've been itching to make.  I didn't sign up for Columbia to make the game of my dreams.  i came her to learn how to work in the industry.  So my background is mostly about marketing.  I love the idea of locking into people's desires when it comes to creating a game.  That's why I'm studying game art.  it's a psychological factor.  Although I won't be designing the concepts of the game if I were to be a part of a large company, these ideas that Jesse brought up have inspired how I will work.

It always seemed like everyone wanted to be natural.  It's like why haven't we been doing that all along?  Even I've beeen feeling almost depressed because nothing is real.  I've been yearning to get outside, away from my screen.  but i need my screen.  There must be a way to integrate technology with nature or at least natural things.

Speaking of which, I've been following this new game that should come out god know's when called Skyforge.  One of the things this game will do is somehow link the game to real life.  In the forum posts, people have mentioned tablet apps and stuff related tot he game while you're outside of it.  i think this is an awesome way to make the games more real.

I've personally been trying to make games feel more real.  I spend a ton of hours playing this game called TERA.  Instead of sucking myself into the game and living only a fantasy life, I've found it more entertaining to bring the game to the real world.  I've been using concepts in the game for real life paintings, I started a facebook group for my guild,  I've participated even more in the servers facebook page, etc.  Even other members are doing it as well.  The prominent people on the Global chat in my server have come together and made a skype chat group where we hang out with our own real voices and talk about non TERA related things.  overall it's been really refreshing knowing that my in game friends are pretty much my real friends now.

Alongside all of this, the video has really gave me hope for a more game like future.  We all want fantasy but we all want realty.  how can we make reality as good at fantasy?  By integrating it.  By closing the gap and making it true.  There won't be cool ass buildings or the ability to fly, but there sure will be fun adventures and a sense of accomplishment through real life achievements.

Overall, this talk was really exciting.  And the act that Jesse presented in front off what I would assume are important members of the gaming industry, makes it even more exciting.  Who knows what is in store.  I'm just glad I'll be alive when this all happens.

Maybe we don't want accidental pregnancy???!!!!!

I'm going to write this blog as I read the article because it's hilarious.  Aren't we trying to keep people from overpopulating?  This author really seems to care about people fucking and/or bullshitting together an essay with as many descriptive words as possible.  Maybe that's just my own personal problem with reading?  People try way too hard to make something long out of a small idea just o make money or seem cool.  Like look at the introduction.

"If you have been around a little while, you come to realize that the
formation of new humans occurs generally through sexual congress between a
human male and a human female"

This person literally described sex as if we didn't know it and in a bizarre manner.  Is the author trying to be artistic or does he really think we don't know how sex happens?

He states that "Pornography is an old art form" and says that phone sex started to exist, then cyber sex, now virtual reality sex.  I can't even imagine pornography becoming extinct.  If anything it is a supplement to most masturbation session and/or leads to the desire of real sex or virtual reality sex.  All of these forms of pleasure aren't going to limit our desire to ave sex with real people.  if anything it is stimulating us to make relationships in order to get the real thing.  I'm sure some people would prefer robot sex but those people are probably not fit to be fathers anyways.

Oh this part was hilarious

"Things move rapidly. Consider the technology of remote erotic stimulation
known as teledildonics (tele (Greek τηλε- "afar") + dildo (English, obscure origin,
an artificial penis used for female gratification) + ics (Greek -όs "pertaining to")."

By reading the text that follows this highly descriptive definition of "teledildonics" I still didn't figure out what it was.  Let's look it up on google...Oh wait my boyfriend knows.

"lol
i read about teledildonics a few years ago
is it a real thing?the book isnt really telling me what it is
its like
a man puts a stroker thing on
the chick gets a dildo thing
what the man does triggers the woman to feel it and vice versa
i think it started with porn movies
like interactive ones that youd feel on the stroker"

He goes on to write:

"The technology seems to be emerging under a rule of anything and 
everything but that; it is providing all kinds of opportunities for orgasm, none 
of which will produce children."

My response is just "DUH".  Sex is pleasurable, that's why people do it.  Orgasm is a highly satisfying thing no matter what anyone says so there may as well be a market for it.  The people that want children will have children.  OBVIOUSLY.  If they don't want children, then thank the lord that we have contraceptives.  I'm pretty sure teledildonics or whatever will just reduce the amount of abortions, horrible parents, and accidental pregnancy.  If anything this author is promoting accidental pregnancy.

"A woman have sex in any way that does not deposit the man’s semen in the 

woman’s vaginal channel, children will not result from that sex."

Tell me something no one knows. PLEASE.

An a similar note here is an experiment made with the Oculus Rift where people see what it's like to be in each others bodies
http://www.wired.com/design/2014/02/crazy-oculus-rift-experiment-lets-men-women-swap-bodies

Middle ground Narratives

The start of the second half of the reading spoke about agency and transformation.  Transformation related to how many paths a person can take and giving the person a new experience each time.  But agency needs to take place, that is a sense of urgency (to me) that makes the player choose a path even though they could potentially choose a random path.  We talk a lot about Skyrim in class and even this topic relates to it.  Although it's up to the player to make their own story for the majority of the time, having an actual story line/story quest helps drive the player to move in a semi linear path.  I personally get too caught up in other activities though.  Players often times want to fee like they are progressing, so having agency is very important.

The rest of the reading discussed how the player experiences narrative throughout the game.  Sometimes there are cutscenes, with a lot of storytelling, and there are others where there is only text and clues around you that you can explore.  Somewhat like Gone Home.  It's up to you to figure out the story.  I personally like that idea, because some people might not be interested in so much storytelling.  For example, in MMORPGs, some players are there for the community and pvp aspects for the game, whereas there are a large group of players that are interested in the lore and immersion.  It's nice to have a good in between.

Narrative vs. Story

This week's reading discussed the approaches and problems involved in interactive media's storytelling and narrative.
The author started us off with computer gaming.  He mentioned that with advanced technology, cinematic camera angles and visual provide narrative but still don't provide a story.  The cinematography and visuals can aid in narrating an pre-made story though, like Star Wars.  But mainly story telling is a linear plot with progression, not about the player's exploration.
A middle ground to this is an emergent narrative.  Those provide a framework that players or groups can build off of and make their own narratives.  One example was The Sims because users could create and share their own photos in the form of photo albums.
Interactive literature is also something that was looked at in this essay.  This includes writing where there are multiple points of view, paths can be chosen by the reader, and/or hyper linking text.  I honestly don't even know what any of this is.  I'm assuming an example is some sort of online book that lets you pick your own path via links?  Sort of like an online "choose your adventure" book.
Later, the author discusses dramas and how they relate to game play.  He used this chart

Dramatic narratives            Literary narratives
Enactment                         Description
Intensification                    Extensification
Unity of Action                  Episodic Structure

This compares dramas to literature.  This reflects the story vs. narrative argument.  Dramas relate to non story driven games where the player can make their own path.  Literature is related to story driven games, aka linear plots.
Lastly the author talks about Murray's three aesthetic categories for the analysis of interactive
story experiences: immersion, agency, and transformation.  Immersion is how much the player involves themselves in the game.  Where things in the game deviate from real life but still feel real.  Agency is the feeling of empowerment that comes from being able to take actions in the world whose effects relate to the player's intention.  Transformation refers to how well the player becomes the character they are playing.

Binary Oppositions in Gone Home

A1. Explore some of the binary oppositions presented in the game. What symbols or other content in the game represent each? Examples: public / private (secret). Male / female. Light / dark. Exotic / domestic. Are these oppositions organized hierarchically (i.e. is one side presented as superior)? Do any of these relationships between oppositions evolve over the course of the game? How do these relationships adhere to or deconstruct prevalent cultural ideologies or stereotypes?

The story and the setting of the game didn't FEEL like a very typical boy or girl game, but after learning about boy and girl space more, Gone Home seems more like a girl game.  The idea of snooping and learning about a girl's life problem fits the criteria.  Having the setting in a scary, dark house in a thunderstorm with stories about ghost hunting made it feel slightly boyish.  There was a fair enough balance to attract either genders though.

As far as oppositions, there is the common light vs dark.  The house is mostly dark until you turn on the lights.  I would say dark is prominent, and that play a role in how cautious the player is about entering an observing objects in the rooms.  Another would be between male and female.  The house was fairly gender neutral besides Sam's room, which contrasted because it was filled with boy things like a pirate flag, videogames (and a note with combo attacks from street fighter? lol), old locker, etc.  But the game was more about Katie, so that overwhelmed any boy like oppositions.   And the last would be comforting vs scary.  There are many comforting home objects around the house: The typical key underneath a statue, family portraits, typical furniture, and handwritten notes which made the house feel realistic.  On the other hand were creepy dark passageways, lights turned off, and tvs left on.  I was constantly comforted by Katie's voice and the surroundings at one moment, then terrified the next.  Overall the game had a prominent creepy feeling to it.

Gone Home

I started the game by being highly confused on where to go.  Immediately I'm reminded of the time I played Slender and Dream Painters:Anna.  The scenery has the same creepy, semi old school horror game vibe.  I tried to play Amnesia recently with my boyfriend but he got pissed because I was too slow and looked at everything.  The whole time I was exploring the house, I was horrified.  No music played.  Only the sound of the horrible weather outside, familiar footsteps, and creepy televisions with either static or the weather channel playing (I don't know why these tvs are on anyways).  Anyways, I'm int he front room and finally find the key after clicking on the door a hundred times.  I use the key to open the door and decide to go left into the bathroom and play with the items.  I didn't see a mirror, which was weird.  Maybe they don't want me to see myself?  Then i walk out of the room and go to the left area some more, listen to some voicemails, look at itinerary for Katie's trip, etc.  I walk down the hallway through the rest of the house.  Go into the closet and listen to the story about "first day of school"  I visit the office and the library, where I find some books published by the dad?  In th eliving room on the tv is a warning about sever weather.  I go into a closet and read a story about a turtle which was handwirtten by a kid.  I decide to go through the foyer and visit upstairs.  There were bedrooms and the closet light was on in one of them.  In Sam's room the tv was on and it freaked me out.  Even scarier was passing the end of the hallways with the attick.  The christmas lights and note on the wall reminded me of finding a piece of paper in Slender.  I felt like once I turned around I was going to die.  This whole game is freaking me out.  It's hard to play at night,

Boy Space & Girl Space

Continuing the article by Henry Jenkins, is a look at the differences between boy and girl spaces and how game developers used them in game making.

The boy space was explained by giving examples of boy books.  In books aimed towards young male readers, adventure is the goal.  Adventure and exploration consumes the reader by immersing them in large spaces with fights for survival and treasures.  These childhood stories as well as the experiences of backyard play as a boy, lead to the games we make for our children today.

Part of the articles that was describing "girl space" looked at this specific game called "Secret Paths".  This game had a few other versions, but the one in the articles was about forests.  The game appeals to girls because it involves personal improvement and transformation.  I looked up a playthrough of this game and learned that it was like a story book about girl problems.  The game's home screen is a treehouse (can be changed) with a sign that says "girls only" along with books on the floor and a scenic background outside.  This room can be decorated by clicking.  By looking through the books you learn a specific girls problem and follow a path through the forest to learn more about the problem and how she overcomes it.

This girl space topic reminded me of the games i played as a child.  My parents usually bought my sister and I Barbie or movie PC games like "Ariel's Story Studio" (1997) and "Anastasia: Adventures with Pooka and Bartok" (1997).  They were mostly stories that you walked through that included some girl related things.  One game I played many many hours of was a Barbie makeover game where you just dressed up Barbie with different makeup and accessories.  I might make a Let's Play about that. Haha.

What Games Do FOR Children

The article “Freedom of Movement: Gendered Play Space", by Henry Jenkins is mainly a real life comparison of the author's childhood and his son.  Jenkins grew up in suburban Atlanta with land to roam.  His childhood consisted of playing outside, using his imagination, and at times exploring dirty and dangerous places.  Since the 1960's children have grown up differently.  A majority of the population lives in cities and apartment buildings where children have no outdoor space to play.  Some places prohibit children from being in the area.  Luckily the children have video games.  The author seems to be in favor of children playing these games because it offers the same sort of adventure as playing outside.  Although the physical actions aren't taking place, there is still emotional stimulation, which is vital for children growing up.

I personally can't imagine staying in an apartment with children.  Although a majority of people's lives are going to be in front of screens, it's best to throw the kids out in the while before they really know what they like (videogames).  I feel the same way with the diet of children.  When people are young, they don't have the privelege of eating mcdonalds or making bad decisions.  The parent may as well send them in the right direction.  Aka treat them like pets and feed them perfect salads until they go to school and discover real food (junk).  Overall it's a good start for any human to grow up with nature and eat healthy.  By the time they can make decisions for themselves without being scolded by their parents, they would have physically developed properly at least.

Aside form health reasons, video games are probably the best stimuli.  I believe everyone should invest their time in a few games throughout life.  Games teach a ton of lessons.  They typically include some sort of puzzle, interesting story, social aspects.  New vocab can be picked up, hand eye coordination, new friends, knowledge of places around the world.  People only bitch about kids playing games because they're middle aged hags who spent their mid life crisis reading 50 Shades of Gray and leaving their husband because of it.  Games aren't just for FUN, but they are fun., which is also an important part of life.  People are too stuck to appreciate what games do for the world.

Avatars and Personality

An article from the Huffington Post titled "Know Thy Avatar: Good and Evil in the Gaming World" described the experimental findings of psychological scientists Gunwoo Yoon and Patrick Vargasat on the subject of how games affect personality in real life. Volunteers were asked to play a game, each a different role (heroic or villian) for 5 minutes. Then they proceeded to eat and serve either spicy of sweet foods to the other volunteers. The test itself seems too shallow to actually give a semi accurate outcome whether or not immersion on games affects real life personalities.

However, the topic itself is an interesting one to study.  Does playing a certain type of character affect how a person is in real life?  I've personally seen the effect on children and immature adults.  I remember specifically an embarrassing moment in my childhood when I just finished watching Hercules in theaters.  After the movie ended, I told my mom "I feel like I'm dead", referring to how a majority of the story had to do with mortality.  Along the same line, I read a comment regarding someone's reaction to seeing the movie Frozen, where the viewer just walked outside of the theater.  The parent told her to put on a jacket.  The girl proceeded with one of the lines "The cold never bothered me anyway!" and turned her back to the family.  Although these are movie examples, it expresses how immersion can make people feel like one with the movie.

I can see this being a problem with children being exposed to violent games, but only very young children and gullible adults.  I say this because those are the very impression-able people.  I believe that in games that involve the player to pick their own character/personality generally choose a morally good persona.  This is more likely because this character represents themselves.  Although it is easy to make a fake character for yourself, it's still you behind it all.  If anything the new character brings out the best in people because the character is a display of what the player wishes they looked like, or rather personifies their actual personality, making them feel more confident.  This seems to be the case in the MMOs I've played anyways.

Zombies Games and Their Depressing Player Base

I'd like to take this time, dear reader, to discuss how zombie games are shit and reflect the depressing personalities of the player base.

 Overall the idea of fighting zombies plays for a good game. Having dead people as the enemy, players have an excuse to kill humanoids in a brutal way without feeling sympathetic. Alongside that, some amount of storyline can be made up around the idea that the enemies are undead people. But how much can you milk this idea? At some point shitty storylines of mutation and other sci-fi garbage must clash, resulting in copyrite infringement. Like, how many times can a mad scientist screw up an experiement leading to the world ending if you, a typical human male with a remarkable set of combat skills, don't fight them all to save the entire planet? The only reason any of these games are making some amount of profit is because other game developers keep promoting it. Luckily vampires haven't taken over videogames, because the people interested in that are lovesick preteens masturbating on the bathroom floor to a love scene in a Twilight fanfiction. Vampire obsession has taken over the writing industry (or whatever you want to call it), thank God.

Now let's talk about the people who play these games. Anyone I've met who is a part of this "zombie craze" is a complete unoriginal douchebag. They seem to spend their time on tumblr reblogging shitty memes all day long with photos of them being camwhores with their striped sweaters and emo hair. You'll most often find them reaching the leaderboards of CoD or whatever the shitty "trendy" game is currently. They follow the internet crowd, yet try to be as indie as possible, which is why they turn to zombies, a once semi-rare interest, turned mainstream. Overall the reintroduction of these shitty games is continuing the trend of shitty unoriginal people with no lives. But of course, that's how these game companies are making their money. Also if you don't like zombie games, you're considered an outcast, considering half of arcade games use the typical human vs. undead shit idea.

If the world could just get past this horrible idea, maybe some better games could start being made?? Like why the fuck does Call of Duty: Black Ops: Zombies exist?! The title itself is hilarious. The Call of Duty part LOL, the Black Ops part LOLOL then they have to add ZoMbIeS?!!!!LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL way to milk that cow dry. Fucking disgusting. And alas, what promted me to even bring up this shitty topic, (http://www.joystiq.com/2014/02/09/omg-hd-zombies-shuffling-aimlessly-toward-steam-on-february-13/?ncid=rss_truncated OMG HD ZOMBIES!) It's like a joke now, yet no one is taking it as one. I think that people are actually making fun of the zombie fandom with the title "OMG" and having an "HD" version of the game. But the sad part is that more than 90% (my estimate) of players actually doesn't realize this, and will legitimately play this game because they think that zombies are popular. These players are just going with the flow of what popular, clueless to the fact that the game they're playing is probably a shittier version of the last 50 or so zombie arcade games of the year.

But I guess if you're a cheap unoriginal dumbass with a slight interest and knolwedge of game development, now's the time to cash in on these weak useless customers with a zombie title. Have at it.

Games, Explained

Games can easily become a literal part of life. Our virtual adventures and accomplishments can become real adventures and accomplishments in our real lives. As described in the article "Games, Explained" by Frank Lantz, games "become more than just ways of experiencing these qualities, they start to represent these qualities to us – they become symbols that stand for pleasure and freedom." These symbols will then find themselves in other aspects of life such as dreams, life aspirations, and personality. An example of this is where a goal in a game can become very relevant to a goal in real life. Then to accomplish this goal in real life, a person will try to gain the same satisfaction by completing it in game. This can make a confusing cycle of whats player really wants. The end result is a player that can't distinguish life from the game or goals from fantasy goals. As poorly written in Lantz's article "For example we may realize that the process of signifying pleasure has made a game less immediately pleasurable, and we may wonder why we spend so much time and energy projecting images and performing pantomimes of the things we want instead of just pursuing them directly. " Overall the article is written in a sequentially confusing manner, but highlights some big topics, such as "what is a game?", "What is the purpose of games?", and "How Games Take over real Life".