We talked a lot about metaphors in class today. The main one is the time = money. For example, one can spend and waste time just like money is spent and wasted. This is an attempt at defamiliarizing the concept. Another metaphor is anger = a bomb. I was talking to him and I blew up. However, Bogost suggests that anger = watering a plant. In other words, you're the one cultivating the anger, you are the one in control of it. If anger is a bomb, you can't do anything about it; if it's a plant that you nourish, there are all kinds of things you can do that are implications for acting.
Laying out models for how the world works lays out possibilities of action. This is done through using metaphors to help us better understand the world around us.
The discussion now turns to focus on Bogost's text and how he talks about how games set up frames for different things. We talked about Tax Invaders. It's based off the game Space Invaders, and its frame is that instead of a laser gun, you play with George W. Bush's head, shooting John Kerry's tax plans. It's a political message disguised as a game, and its frame is that you are able, as the player, to take an active stand against the democratic position. We decided that it was a way of dumbing down the boring, bland political message by putting it into the form of a video game.
Thinking about things like terrorism, drugs, poverty, and other things that politicians declare wars on shape the way the general public views these concepts as being enemies that are real and tangible. This is the same thing that Tax Invaders does. It depicts the frame in tangible form, in the rules of the game. It gets people to think about society, and it's up to the video game designers of the future to realize that and act upon that.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Monday, April 18, 2011
Monday, April 18th
Bret Keough, Anna Romano, Cade Taylor: Pages 28-64 in Persuasive Games
Procedural rhetoric, according to Bogost, is the processes used to persuade someone of something. Then, on page 46, Bogost begins talking about persuasive games. The goal of persuasive games is to make the player keep on playing; to give the game an addictive quality. However, Bogost is interested in videogames that make arguments about the way systems work in the material world. The examples he discusses strive to move the player from the game world into the material world. They're not really intended to be played for amusement. Examples include Tactical Iraqi, Crazy World, and Tax Avoiders. They make arguments about the way systems work in the material world by using visual rhetoric to hypnotize the consumer into continually accessing the media text. That's why it's so important to keep the visuals up to date, because that's what draws in the game's clientele. A downfall for a game would be taking the procedural rhetoric from another game, adding its own visuals, instead of having its own representation; this in turn leads to ineffectiveness. More successful procedural rhetorics have unique ideas behind them in order to avoid audits, income taxes, or CPA charges (according to Bogost). Finally, there is a very distinct difference between Sutton-Smith's rhetorics of play and Bogost's procedural rhetoric: the former characterize broad cultural contexts, while the latter express specific patterns of cultural value. "If persuasive games are videogames that mount meaningful procedural rhetorics, and if procedural rhetorics facilitate dialectical interrogation of process-based claims about how real-world processes do, could, or should work, then persuasive games can also make claims that speak past or against the fixed worldviews of institutions like governments or corporations" (p. 57).
Procedural rhetoric, according to Bogost, is the processes used to persuade someone of something. Then, on page 46, Bogost begins talking about persuasive games. The goal of persuasive games is to make the player keep on playing; to give the game an addictive quality. However, Bogost is interested in videogames that make arguments about the way systems work in the material world. The examples he discusses strive to move the player from the game world into the material world. They're not really intended to be played for amusement. Examples include Tactical Iraqi, Crazy World, and Tax Avoiders. They make arguments about the way systems work in the material world by using visual rhetoric to hypnotize the consumer into continually accessing the media text. That's why it's so important to keep the visuals up to date, because that's what draws in the game's clientele. A downfall for a game would be taking the procedural rhetoric from another game, adding its own visuals, instead of having its own representation; this in turn leads to ineffectiveness. More successful procedural rhetorics have unique ideas behind them in order to avoid audits, income taxes, or CPA charges (according to Bogost). Finally, there is a very distinct difference between Sutton-Smith's rhetorics of play and Bogost's procedural rhetoric: the former characterize broad cultural contexts, while the latter express specific patterns of cultural value. "If persuasive games are videogames that mount meaningful procedural rhetorics, and if procedural rhetorics facilitate dialectical interrogation of process-based claims about how real-world processes do, could, or should work, then persuasive games can also make claims that speak past or against the fixed worldviews of institutions like governments or corporations" (p. 57).
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Wednesday, April 13th
Procedural rhetoric: procedures for interacting with the world around us.
N-grams: using rules of probability to predict which letters will come next. In other words, based on what you type, I can figure out which letters will come next to finish the initial thought. Involving or serving as an aid to learning.
Bogost Discussion:
Procedurality is a way of creating, explaining, or understanding processes, and processes define the way things work: the methods, techniques and logics that surround the way society functions in all contexts. Rhetoric, according to Bogost, is the relationship between the audience and the presenter. It can also be seen as something the presenter uses. Paula says that anything that can convey meaning is considered rhetoric. She uses picking out a shirt as an example. Laura counters this by saying it's more an example of a symbol. She says that rhetoric implies one persuading or making an argument about something. You're staking a claim.
Procedural rhetoric is going to combine procedure and rhetoric: methods, techniques, or logics for persuading someone of something. With computers, using computation systems as a way of analyzing them and what they're doing. What Bogost is basically doing in thinking about procedural rhetoric in this way is called "software studies" or "code studies." This is the analysis of computational methods, techniques or procedures.
Procedures are usually hierarchical in that they go from the top down. You have to follow a procedure because you're underneath me and I'm telling you what to do.
Procedures are also related to ideology. Ideology is the way you look at the world. It's a lot like a worldview, only ideologies carry negative connotations with false consciousness. It has to do with the difference between what is real and what we perceive, and as soon as you set up that dichotomy, ideology becomes a bad thing because it clouds the truth from our perception.
Are we bound in one ideology? I don't think so, because it is very possible to seek out other opinions and information to add to your perception of truth.
Is procedure closer to ritual, just following recipes blindly without thinking? Procedure can often be defined as executing rules. Rules are not the same as laws (this is Laura talking, not Bogost). Therefore, even things like speaking a language can be a game, because you follow a set of rules, not laws, in order to function within the contextual framework of that language. Just because there are rules doesn't mean you can't create something incredibly original. However, laws do, by definition, limit what one can do. Rules can be altered and substituted based upon personal desire; laws cannot. What effect to rules have on us and how can we alter them?
Visual rhetoric: using pictures, movies with little dialogue to convey a meaning or argue a point/stake a claim. Seems to lack the capacity to be analytic. Languages lack deep textual analysis. Can evoke an instantaneous reaction. Not specifically saying anything, but still provokes emotions. Images can be traumatizing , however words can be as well.
Using pictures to make an argument (Cade Taylor, Jackie Beresford, Anna Romano):
N-grams: using rules of probability to predict which letters will come next. In other words, based on what you type, I can figure out which letters will come next to finish the initial thought. Involving or serving as an aid to learning.
Bogost Discussion:
Procedurality is a way of creating, explaining, or understanding processes, and processes define the way things work: the methods, techniques and logics that surround the way society functions in all contexts. Rhetoric, according to Bogost, is the relationship between the audience and the presenter. It can also be seen as something the presenter uses. Paula says that anything that can convey meaning is considered rhetoric. She uses picking out a shirt as an example. Laura counters this by saying it's more an example of a symbol. She says that rhetoric implies one persuading or making an argument about something. You're staking a claim.
Procedural rhetoric is going to combine procedure and rhetoric: methods, techniques, or logics for persuading someone of something. With computers, using computation systems as a way of analyzing them and what they're doing. What Bogost is basically doing in thinking about procedural rhetoric in this way is called "software studies" or "code studies." This is the analysis of computational methods, techniques or procedures.
Procedures are usually hierarchical in that they go from the top down. You have to follow a procedure because you're underneath me and I'm telling you what to do.
Procedures are also related to ideology. Ideology is the way you look at the world. It's a lot like a worldview, only ideologies carry negative connotations with false consciousness. It has to do with the difference between what is real and what we perceive, and as soon as you set up that dichotomy, ideology becomes a bad thing because it clouds the truth from our perception.
Are we bound in one ideology? I don't think so, because it is very possible to seek out other opinions and information to add to your perception of truth.
Is procedure closer to ritual, just following recipes blindly without thinking? Procedure can often be defined as executing rules. Rules are not the same as laws (this is Laura talking, not Bogost). Therefore, even things like speaking a language can be a game, because you follow a set of rules, not laws, in order to function within the contextual framework of that language. Just because there are rules doesn't mean you can't create something incredibly original. However, laws do, by definition, limit what one can do. Rules can be altered and substituted based upon personal desire; laws cannot. What effect to rules have on us and how can we alter them?
Visual rhetoric: using pictures, movies with little dialogue to convey a meaning or argue a point/stake a claim. Seems to lack the capacity to be analytic. Languages lack deep textual analysis. Can evoke an instantaneous reaction. Not specifically saying anything, but still provokes emotions. Images can be traumatizing , however words can be as well.
Using pictures to make an argument (Cade Taylor, Jackie Beresford, Anna Romano):
Monday, April 11, 2011
Monday, April 11th
For Wednesday's class, we're supposed to have pages 1-28 of Bogost read. Now we're going to get a presentation on the Sims, then Laura's going to introduce us to Bogost.
I thought we were going to be playing The Sims today, but we aren't, but Laura says that we can send 5-6 people into the game lab to play then come back and send the next group over.
Laura's story of Bogost:
Very famous game theorist at Georgia Tech. He got his Ph.D. at UCLA in comparative literature. He worked for Persuasive Games at the same time. In order to get a Ph.D, you have to go to 6 years of schooling after college, and you apparently get pleasure as opposed to money. You have to get an MA before a Ph.D, know two languages other than English, take a ton of exams, get a job, then publish a book within 5 years of being hired. So when Bogost finally turned in his dissertation after 10 years, it apparently sucked so bad that they failed him. He went on to become very famous and do a lot of good things, which shows that you should always pick yourself up and keep on keepin on.
"Video games are an expressive medium." Bogost will talk about games as art, and will give us a way of analyzing them called "procedural rhetoric."
We started a discussion of whether The Sims is a game or not. I think it is just because I used to play it a lot, but there really isn't any ultimate goal or end to it, which is essential in the definition of a game. Also, the difference between WoW and the Sims is that WoW is online and you have to interact with a ton of people in order to succeed in the game, whereas with the Sims you're all by yourself and working with fictional characters within the game itself.
Are games forcing us to behave in ways that are more mechanical than the ways books make us behave? Well, they both make us perform a certain procedure in order to fully experience what the medium has to offer. Laura showed that reading a book is procedural.
Is there anything human that is not a biological or cultural procedure? I don't think that there is because what makes up a human's existence is his ability to utilize the contrast of nature (biological procedures) and nurture (cultural procedures). In other words, the combination of these two aspects in one's life is what makes him the person he becomes. With both, biological and cultural, come certain procedures that define how he reacts in certain situations and how he sees the world around him, and all these things accumulate to represent everything that is "human." Laura thought my answer was really good. Bam.
I thought we were going to be playing The Sims today, but we aren't, but Laura says that we can send 5-6 people into the game lab to play then come back and send the next group over.
Laura's story of Bogost:
Very famous game theorist at Georgia Tech. He got his Ph.D. at UCLA in comparative literature. He worked for Persuasive Games at the same time. In order to get a Ph.D, you have to go to 6 years of schooling after college, and you apparently get pleasure as opposed to money. You have to get an MA before a Ph.D, know two languages other than English, take a ton of exams, get a job, then publish a book within 5 years of being hired. So when Bogost finally turned in his dissertation after 10 years, it apparently sucked so bad that they failed him. He went on to become very famous and do a lot of good things, which shows that you should always pick yourself up and keep on keepin on.
"Video games are an expressive medium." Bogost will talk about games as art, and will give us a way of analyzing them called "procedural rhetoric."
- The Sims Presentation
- Brought the player into the individual home
- Plumbob
- Diamond shape that hangs over the player’s avatar person
- You can control his every move or give him free will and let him do what he wants
- Sandbox game
- No rules
- Do whatever you want
- Control their daily lives
- Cooking, eating, relationships, learning
- Creative outlet
- Design
- Narrative
- o History
- Created by Will Wright, creator of Sim City in 1989
- 6.3 copies sold worldwide by March 2002
- Expansion packs
- Livin’ Large
- House Party
- Hot Date
- Vacation
- Unleashed
- Superstar
- Makin’ Magic
- Player Modifications
- Give you a ton of different things you can do with your sims
- The Sims 2 and Expansions
- Released 2004
- Selling a record 1 million copies in first 10 days
- Features
- University
- Nightlife
- Open for Business
- Pets
- Seasons
- Bon voyage
- Free Time
- Apartment Life
- Almost on a 6 month cycle
- Characters were able to slump and slouch rather than being stiff and 2 dimensional
- Don’t have to buy all of them, but you have to have the base game then you can add the expansion packs to them in any order
- The Sims 3
- World Adventures
- Ambitions
- Late Night
- Generations
- May 2011
- Players have been collaborating with each other for years
- Medieval was a really big theme, and EA liked it, so they released Sims Medieval
- Set in Medieval times
- Can have quests and lords and stuff
- Create a World Tool
- Create a Pattern Tool
- Modifications
- Players dissect the code and make their own modifications
- Player communities would share them
- Items, skins, clothes
- The Sims 2 Content Manager Tool
- The Sims 2 Home Crafter Tool
- The Exchange & Your Sim Page
- Apparently you can download mods that allow you to work with Mario and Luigi stuff, be Lady Gaga, things like that
Are games forcing us to behave in ways that are more mechanical than the ways books make us behave? Well, they both make us perform a certain procedure in order to fully experience what the medium has to offer. Laura showed that reading a book is procedural.
Is there anything human that is not a biological or cultural procedure? I don't think that there is because what makes up a human's existence is his ability to utilize the contrast of nature (biological procedures) and nurture (cultural procedures). In other words, the combination of these two aspects in one's life is what makes him the person he becomes. With both, biological and cultural, come certain procedures that define how he reacts in certain situations and how he sees the world around him, and all these things accumulate to represent everything that is "human." Laura thought my answer was really good. Bam.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Wednesday, March 30th
We're playing WoW today. Laura's reading a bunch of provocative statements about the game for us to form our blogs about. Me, Jackie and Anna are the only ones in the whole classroom to have written down the following statements. (Brownie Points)
"The social structures of WoW are in fact very similar to the interlocking and shifting hierarchies of multinational corporations."
"WoW is a playground for feminism."
"Is WoW biologizing cultural difference, or even tacking race onto personality and intellectual traits?"
"WoW is a virtual theme park."
Now a girl in our class is showing us how to create our own WoW accounts. I'm trying to make mine, but the application won't open for some reason...
Ok, so apparently the application wasn't actually installed on my computer, so now, instead of joining everyone else and playing WoW, I have to sit and watch this stupid application install on my computer. This thing's going to be done by the time this class is over. Awesome. Of all the computers I could have chosen today...
Installation just finished, time to start playing. Heyah!
Scratch that, it never worked on the Miami Internet. Apparently the firewall doesn't like the Blizzard downloader. So I tried it on my laptop too, but that didn't work either. Looks like I'm just SOL...
Scratch that ^, I am now playing. My guys name is Eatbraains, and naturally, he is a zombie.
"The social structures of WoW are in fact very similar to the interlocking and shifting hierarchies of multinational corporations."
"WoW is a playground for feminism."
"Is WoW biologizing cultural difference, or even tacking race onto personality and intellectual traits?"
"WoW is a virtual theme park."
Now a girl in our class is showing us how to create our own WoW accounts. I'm trying to make mine, but the application won't open for some reason...
Ok, so apparently the application wasn't actually installed on my computer, so now, instead of joining everyone else and playing WoW, I have to sit and watch this stupid application install on my computer. This thing's going to be done by the time this class is over. Awesome. Of all the computers I could have chosen today...
Installation just finished, time to start playing. Heyah!
Scratch that, it never worked on the Miami Internet. Apparently the firewall doesn't like the Blizzard downloader. So I tried it on my laptop too, but that didn't work either. Looks like I'm just SOL...
Scratch that ^, I am now playing. My guys name is Eatbraains, and naturally, he is a zombie.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Monday, March 28th
Today we talked about Super Smash Bros, and now we're holding a mini tournament in class. I signed up to play, but I have way too much on my plate right now to even think about playing video games. Besides, I'm a much bigger fan of the N64 version of the game, and play it often with my brothers when I'm home. Melee is too complicated for me, and unfortunately the skills do not translate.
Jon did a presentation on it, and said that Mega Knight was actually seen by the players of the game as being unfair, and should thus be removed from the game entirely. However, the best player in the world, using Diddy Kong, played another really good player using Mega Knight, and actually won, so the rumors were put to rest.
Laura says that she can hear narrative going on in the banter between players, and it's a really unique game in the fact that there is no set narrative in the mulitplayer setting, but emerges brilliantly in the culture of players who use the game. "Remember when I beat you by doing this?" "Remember when this happened?"It's a pretty cool concept.
Jon did a presentation on it, and said that Mega Knight was actually seen by the players of the game as being unfair, and should thus be removed from the game entirely. However, the best player in the world, using Diddy Kong, played another really good player using Mega Knight, and actually won, so the rumors were put to rest.
Laura says that she can hear narrative going on in the banter between players, and it's a really unique game in the fact that there is no set narrative in the mulitplayer setting, but emerges brilliantly in the culture of players who use the game. "Remember when I beat you by doing this?" "Remember when this happened?"It's a pretty cool concept.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Monday, March 21st
This is what Laura thinks the argument of Reality is Broken is:
To be fair, we're going to call Christianity a myth that fits in with all the other mythological systems that have existed over the course of time. They have all depended upon a certain kind of narrative structure in order to spread and exist; this structure is called "The life of the hero." It predominates in epic stories, the Bible, and all kinds of contemporary media texts. So why do these things matter? This structure has allowed these myths and religions to persist throughout the history of mankind.
Jane McGonigle talks about this phenomenon in terms of gaming. She looks at the alleged gaming problem in which there is a mass exodus into the world of gaming. They're leaving reality in droves for the gaming world, and Jane asks why? She says this is because reality is broken (haha, title of the book). She says that games allow ordinary people who can't stand their lives to undergo the life of the hero within these games, and this is extremely attractive to these people.
So why is reality broken? In what ways? Social problems, no poetic justice (corruption). To me, I think that reality hasn't necessarily broken down, it's just transformed. What's broken is the notion of reality itself and the utopian desires of people who want reality to be a certain way, void of the elements that have broken reality. Reality has simply spread out across multiple mediums, becoming embedded in the virtual world. In addition, there is now global interaction, which has actually expanded reality in a universal sense.
Jane says that in reality, we need to be able to see problems, be able to confront them, and solve them in the best way possible. Obviously there are limitations to this ideal, so that's why people are leaving the world for games. Jane suggests that we make reality a game, which would make more people want to join in and feel empowered.
What happens if we make a social problem a game? One example is Ender's Game. It's a great book in which a boy is trained to fight an alien army, but finds out that... I don't want to give away the ending.
It's a hard time to be optimistic in our society with all the negative stuff that's going on, so Jane asks us if we can set goals on positive progress. This is a much lower bar than other huge goals that a lot of people focus on. Laura asked us how many people can set goals and focus on progress (I raised my hand). She offers 3 steps that help us do just that:
1. Develop the When and Where of creating an alternate reality.
2. Invite people into our alternate reality games (friends and family).
3. Create activities that can be adopted as the core mechanics of our alternate reality games.
We can't believe that we can create a better place in this world all on our own, but we can believe the narrative of games. Therefore, we should turn reality into a game.
Superbetter- turns hardships and trials into a game, completing 5 missions a day until the goal is achieved. Example- Jane the Concussion-Slayer. She had to make the concussion the villain, and recruited her little sister as her guide who had to call her every day to check in. Other people got roles too, making it much like a game. People believe in this kind of language a lot more than that which "worked" in the past (the disease is a demon). She wants to take the enchanted world and implant it into the disenchanted, realistic, scientific world. It's very idealistic to think that we can fix reality with games, but I think that it's something that is very intriguing.
However, I also think that it takes a certain kind of personality in certain circumstances to get into this mentality. If I had a concussion or some other disease, I don't think that I'd be able to immerse myself into that kind of a mentality without feeling extremely self conscious about losing my reputation or maturity. I can definitely see how it can work for other people, but for me, I have to be able to see the problem in the most simplistic sense in order to see what kinds of solutions will/won't work.
That's just me though. I can absolutely see how this can work for others.
To be fair, we're going to call Christianity a myth that fits in with all the other mythological systems that have existed over the course of time. They have all depended upon a certain kind of narrative structure in order to spread and exist; this structure is called "The life of the hero." It predominates in epic stories, the Bible, and all kinds of contemporary media texts. So why do these things matter? This structure has allowed these myths and religions to persist throughout the history of mankind.
Jane McGonigle talks about this phenomenon in terms of gaming. She looks at the alleged gaming problem in which there is a mass exodus into the world of gaming. They're leaving reality in droves for the gaming world, and Jane asks why? She says this is because reality is broken (haha, title of the book). She says that games allow ordinary people who can't stand their lives to undergo the life of the hero within these games, and this is extremely attractive to these people.
So why is reality broken? In what ways? Social problems, no poetic justice (corruption). To me, I think that reality hasn't necessarily broken down, it's just transformed. What's broken is the notion of reality itself and the utopian desires of people who want reality to be a certain way, void of the elements that have broken reality. Reality has simply spread out across multiple mediums, becoming embedded in the virtual world. In addition, there is now global interaction, which has actually expanded reality in a universal sense.
Jane says that in reality, we need to be able to see problems, be able to confront them, and solve them in the best way possible. Obviously there are limitations to this ideal, so that's why people are leaving the world for games. Jane suggests that we make reality a game, which would make more people want to join in and feel empowered.
What happens if we make a social problem a game? One example is Ender's Game. It's a great book in which a boy is trained to fight an alien army, but finds out that... I don't want to give away the ending.
It's a hard time to be optimistic in our society with all the negative stuff that's going on, so Jane asks us if we can set goals on positive progress. This is a much lower bar than other huge goals that a lot of people focus on. Laura asked us how many people can set goals and focus on progress (I raised my hand). She offers 3 steps that help us do just that:
1. Develop the When and Where of creating an alternate reality.
2. Invite people into our alternate reality games (friends and family).
3. Create activities that can be adopted as the core mechanics of our alternate reality games.
We can't believe that we can create a better place in this world all on our own, but we can believe the narrative of games. Therefore, we should turn reality into a game.
Superbetter- turns hardships and trials into a game, completing 5 missions a day until the goal is achieved. Example- Jane the Concussion-Slayer. She had to make the concussion the villain, and recruited her little sister as her guide who had to call her every day to check in. Other people got roles too, making it much like a game. People believe in this kind of language a lot more than that which "worked" in the past (the disease is a demon). She wants to take the enchanted world and implant it into the disenchanted, realistic, scientific world. It's very idealistic to think that we can fix reality with games, but I think that it's something that is very intriguing.
However, I also think that it takes a certain kind of personality in certain circumstances to get into this mentality. If I had a concussion or some other disease, I don't think that I'd be able to immerse myself into that kind of a mentality without feeling extremely self conscious about losing my reputation or maturity. I can definitely see how it can work for other people, but for me, I have to be able to see the problem in the most simplistic sense in order to see what kinds of solutions will/won't work.
That's just me though. I can absolutely see how this can work for others.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Monday, March 14th
Today we're talking about Micropolis, which is based on the open-source code of the original Sim City. This means that it can be downloaded and tinkered with at the will of one with a laptop and an Internet connection.
Watched a video of a guy working with the game and getting things started.
Code Studies- Reading and analyzing code as if it were a text. We're about to go through and read some code.
The following is what Cade Taylor, Anna Romano, and I found interesting in the code for Micropolis:
Watched a video of a guy working with the game and getting things started.
Code Studies- Reading and analyzing code as if it were a text. We're about to go through and read some code.
The following is what Cade Taylor, Anna Romano, and I found interesting in the code for Micropolis:
/** Smooth police station map and compute crime rate */ void Micropolis::crimeScan() { smoothStationMap(&policeStationMap); smoothStationMap(&policeStationMap); smoothStationMap(&policeStationMap); Quad totz = 0; int numz = 0; int cmax = 0; for (int x = 0; x < WORLD_W; x += crimeRateMap.MAP_BLOCKSIZE) { for (int y = 0; y < WORLD_H; y += crimeRateMap.MAP_BLOCKSIZE) { int z = landValueMap.worldGet(x, y); if (z > 0) { ++numz; z = 128 - z; z += populationDensityMap.worldGet(x, y); z = min(z, 300); z -= policeStationMap.worldGet(x, y); z = clamp(z, 0, 250); crimeRateMap.worldSet(x, y, (Byte)z); totz += z; // Update new crime hot-spot if (z > cmax || (z == cmax && (getRandom16() & 3) == 0)) { cmax = z; crimeMaxX = x; crimeMaxY = y; } } else { crimeRateMap.worldSet(x, y, 0); } } } if (numz > 0) { crimeAverage = (short)(totz / numz); } else { crimeAverage = 0; } policeStationEffectMap = policeStationMap; newMapFlags[MAP_TYPE_CRIME] = 1; newMapFlags[MAP_TYPE_POLICE_RADIUS] = 1; newMapFlags[MAP_TYPE_DYNAMIC] = 1; }
Basically, we read that the more influential your police station/force is in the world you're given by the game, the less crime there is. However, you can update new crime hot spots, truly tapping into the God-ness that the player experiences in this game. The crime, then, is proportional to the population of the world and the influence of the police force. In addition, the crime rate is affected by police stations, powered, police funding ratio, and road access. Here's a picture of Micropolis:
Laura looked at what we just wrote, said that it was basically awesome, and immediately promised us all A's. Also, we're listening to The Black Keys because I suggested it, and this is the best class we've ever had because of it. Love me dem Black Keys.
Laura then took some code and tried to make it into a poem. There's a lot of artistic capability involved in the reading and writing of code, and it's possible to make a working code with a beautiful idea, like the anguish of a man longing for a woman to love him as he loves her; to just kiss her face.
That's all for today...
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Wednesday, February 23rd
So instead of a final exam, we now have to write a 3-page paper comparing the Maltese Falcon to a dark, 50s based video game that's due on the Wednesday following Spring Break. We're writing for the New York Review of Books, so we should cater our argument and writing style to fit that audience. We could also take a literary critics voice when we write the paper, or even a historian's tone (she directs this at me = brownie points). It should be very blog-like, personal, 1st person, with vernacular language. Basically, the bottom line is we can write however we want as long as we compare and contrast the movie with the video game experience.
1. Games can't do what films do as well.
2. Games are [not] in the same state as was film in the 40s. What state was film in the 40s? Was it still great art?
3. Like film, games were not taken seriously as art when in fact they are meant to be art
4. The reason that The Maltese Falcon is so much better than Bioshock is because of its narrative or because of its narrative structure.
Laura just mistook the wall for a blackboard. Stay tuned for a picture.
What Bissell says about Grand Theft Auto
He justifies playing the game, even though it's completely awful morally. Even though he was doing all these terrible things, he knew that the character was a bad guy, so he went along. He didn't care because they're bad people. He also talks a lot about cocaine. The cities are actually designed after real cities, and it's designed by people who aren't Americans, so it's kind of cool to see an outsider's perspective. You never really have to do the missions, and in some ways they kind of limit what you can do. A lot of people like to just run around and shoot people, performing drive-by shootings, robbing strangers on the street, stealing cars, and killing cops. He also took a lot of coke while playing the game, which makes a lot of people disrespect him a lot more. Maybe he just has an addictive personality. By the 4th game, he was able to have sympathy towards the character, which made him feel bad if he got in trouble. He was playing the game vicariously.
Haha Laura just made me take a picture of her posing in front of the spot she accidentally drew on the wall. I cannot wait until I have cell reception so that I can post this...
We spent the rest of the class discussing the various chapters of Bissell's book, but unfortunately I did not have my computer with me when we were discussing, so I don't really have much that I can say about it.
One thing I do remember, though, is Laura's story about trying to parasail for 3 days, when on the third day something just snapped and she was suddenly able to do it. Apparently it had something to do with the fact that sometimes you're not necessarily "learning" to play a video game, per se, and that motor skills develop on their own without conscious effort by the user.
Catharsis- You feel emotions very intensely while you're engaged in art if the art itself is one of high culture. This has a purging effect, allowing you to go out and live your life in a better way.
Vicarious- Similar to Catharsis, in that the consumer actually feels the pain, happiness, sadness, etc. of the characters depicted in a story, movie, video game, or even other people.
1. Games can't do what films do as well.
2. Games are [not] in the same state as was film in the 40s. What state was film in the 40s? Was it still great art?
3. Like film, games were not taken seriously as art when in fact they are meant to be art
4. The reason that The Maltese Falcon is so much better than Bioshock is because of its narrative or because of its narrative structure.
Laura just mistook the wall for a blackboard. Stay tuned for a picture.
What Bissell says about Grand Theft Auto
He justifies playing the game, even though it's completely awful morally. Even though he was doing all these terrible things, he knew that the character was a bad guy, so he went along. He didn't care because they're bad people. He also talks a lot about cocaine. The cities are actually designed after real cities, and it's designed by people who aren't Americans, so it's kind of cool to see an outsider's perspective. You never really have to do the missions, and in some ways they kind of limit what you can do. A lot of people like to just run around and shoot people, performing drive-by shootings, robbing strangers on the street, stealing cars, and killing cops. He also took a lot of coke while playing the game, which makes a lot of people disrespect him a lot more. Maybe he just has an addictive personality. By the 4th game, he was able to have sympathy towards the character, which made him feel bad if he got in trouble. He was playing the game vicariously.
Haha Laura just made me take a picture of her posing in front of the spot she accidentally drew on the wall. I cannot wait until I have cell reception so that I can post this...
We spent the rest of the class discussing the various chapters of Bissell's book, but unfortunately I did not have my computer with me when we were discussing, so I don't really have much that I can say about it.
One thing I do remember, though, is Laura's story about trying to parasail for 3 days, when on the third day something just snapped and she was suddenly able to do it. Apparently it had something to do with the fact that sometimes you're not necessarily "learning" to play a video game, per se, and that motor skills develop on their own without conscious effort by the user.
Catharsis- You feel emotions very intensely while you're engaged in art if the art itself is one of high culture. This has a purging effect, allowing you to go out and live your life in a better way.
Vicarious- Similar to Catharsis, in that the consumer actually feels the pain, happiness, sadness, etc. of the characters depicted in a story, movie, video game, or even other people.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Monday, February 21st
Laura thinks that Bissell is a jerk, but he's concerned with narrative and how good it is in various mediums. He doesn't like gay marriages, but he doesn't offer suggestions as to how to make them "better."
Jonathan Blow, on page 92, says that any dumb ass can write a story for a game, and based on a lot of games that are out there, a lot of dumb asses do. However, narrative and story is just a small part of what is most important about the game: play. A lot of game designers are focuses so much on story that they substitute good game play for a good background story. Bissell argues that "game designers are focusing ont he wrong provider of meaning, and no one is challenging them to do otherwise.
Knights of the Old Republic and Mass Effect both have morality systems engrained into them, in that you have to pick between different moral dilemmas throughout the entirety of the game, and this is something that is a unique feature to these games that is not present in a lot of other games. These are games that you want to replay over and over again because the ending is different every time, just like poetry.
Sophistry- a way of arguing whatever you want to argue. A really complicated way of arguing that is self-focused and all-together wrong. I don't really understand the way Laura explained it, like what the hell does it actually mean? Now, sophisticated means fairly well-educated and high cultured. To me, sophistication means something that not a lot of people in popular American culture strive for, especially with the existence of Jersey Shore, Lady Gaga, and WWF wrestling (seriously, people still think that it's real?). I consider myself sophisticated though, because I take my education seriously and do everything that I can to convey a strong persona of respect and genuineness.
More explanation does not mean better narrative. Good stories know how much they can leave out and still get the story across. It takes a lot of artistry to hit that sweet spot where a lot is left out, but the consumer still feels smart for figuring it out. It's a matter of the contrast between gameplay and cut scenes.
Bioshock overview by Kevin:
This is the first time you meet Sander Coen.
Bioshock Notes:
Jonathan Blow, on page 92, says that any dumb ass can write a story for a game, and based on a lot of games that are out there, a lot of dumb asses do. However, narrative and story is just a small part of what is most important about the game: play. A lot of game designers are focuses so much on story that they substitute good game play for a good background story. Bissell argues that "game designers are focusing ont he wrong provider of meaning, and no one is challenging them to do otherwise.
Knights of the Old Republic and Mass Effect both have morality systems engrained into them, in that you have to pick between different moral dilemmas throughout the entirety of the game, and this is something that is a unique feature to these games that is not present in a lot of other games. These are games that you want to replay over and over again because the ending is different every time, just like poetry.
Sophistry- a way of arguing whatever you want to argue. A really complicated way of arguing that is self-focused and all-together wrong. I don't really understand the way Laura explained it, like what the hell does it actually mean? Now, sophisticated means fairly well-educated and high cultured. To me, sophistication means something that not a lot of people in popular American culture strive for, especially with the existence of Jersey Shore, Lady Gaga, and WWF wrestling (seriously, people still think that it's real?). I consider myself sophisticated though, because I take my education seriously and do everything that I can to convey a strong persona of respect and genuineness.
More explanation does not mean better narrative. Good stories know how much they can leave out and still get the story across. It takes a lot of artistry to hit that sweet spot where a lot is left out, but the consumer still feels smart for figuring it out. It's a matter of the contrast between gameplay and cut scenes.
Bioshock overview by Kevin:
This is the first time you meet Sander Coen.
Bioshock Notes:
Bioshock notes
· PC games at the point of dying before Bioshock came out
o Trailer came out and changed that
o Originally made for PC, then for Xbox, the PS3
· Story/gameplay
o Takes place in underwater city called rapture
o Builder of city doesn’t like rules or limitations
o Builds it underwater since that’s the only place he could do it
o Main character, Jack, crashes plane into ocean and is taken to what’s left of rapture
§ Riot broke out a year before and everything’s different
o Little sisters are protected by big daddies and have an adam that give you more power
§ Two options with little sisters
· Harvest
o Take out the slug in the little sister and use it for power or adam
o Also means to kill
o Slug means atom
· Rescue
o Breaks them out of their spell and they turn back into normal little girls
o Get a little bit of adam, but get perks later if you save enough of them
o Objective is to get out, and you use the little sisters to gain power to do so
o Meet Sander Coen, who sends spider splicers to test you, then invites you in when you kill them
§ Turns out to be really crazy
§ The artist of rapture who made all the plays and stuff
§ Madness grew slowly but surely after the fall of rapture
o Tenanbaum made the little sisters and gives Jack the power to rescue and save them after realizing her mistake
· Background
o Around 1953, scientists made adam which gave people extraordinary powers
o Made available to everyone in Rapture
o Became like a drug
§ Hallucinations
§ The more you have the more you can do
§ Blood craze focused around Andrew Ryan and Frank Fontane
· Ryan
o Made the city
o Started Ryan Industries which made all the adams
· Fontane
o Helped the poor people of Rapture rise up
§ Underground war between the two
§ Fontane dies, and Ryan takes control of Fontane’s company
o Protect the little sisters at all costs
o “A man chooses, a slave obeys”
§ Jack is really a slave of Ryan who is activated by the phrase “would you kindly”
§ Ryan says that he started a self destruction sequence, but by the time you get to him, he explains that you were built in Rapture, are actually 3 though you look like you’re 30, and that you’ve been commanded to do anything based on the phrase would you kindly
§ Ryan makes you kill him
§ Find pictures of everyone, including you, and others that have been brainwashed
§ Frank Fontane is really Atlas, who has been commanding Jack the whole time to get Rapture under his own control
§ Fontane says the word that kills you, but you find a cure for it
o Ending
§ Good
· Save all the little sisters and they all grow up, get married, with families
· Jack dies old with all of them around him
§ Bad
· Jack takes control of Rapture for himself
· Destroys the submarine the brings people in and out
o Uniqueness
§ Mix narrative and gaming
§ Don’t know anything until you experience it
§ Meet people and listen to/watch tapes to explain the back story
o Sequel
§ Try to explain why you’re back in Rapture
§ Sophia Lamb is the new narrator, takes over the city once Ryan is gone
§ Takes place 10 years after first one
§ Play as a Big Daddy
§ Made it so you can duel wield the gun and the plasma
§ New brute splicers to fight
§ Have to protect little sisters, but Sophia sends her big daddies to fight you, and the big sister
· We’re all family
· A cult that she starts and that you try to take care of
o April Lamb is the key to everything
o Try to save her the whole time
o Everything’s based on her
o Infinite
§ Took the game from being a series to being a franchise
§ Takes place in colonized city in the sky called Columbia
§ Takes place before original Bioshock
§ Try to save Elizabeth, the star of Infinite
§ Find out about corruption that occurs
§ Comes out in 2012:
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Wednesday, February 16th
We're starting off our class today with a discussion on Braid. It's a game in 4 dimensions: space, time, forward, backward. A game doesn't need to be difficult, it just has to be interesting. It has to convince the player that his actions matter. This was spoken by Jonathan Blow, the creator of Braid, in an interview that is referenced in Bissell's book. Laura says you want to rewind your actions to prevent the stalker, not be him. This is one of the most compelling arguments of Braid, that your actions have real moral consequences. Braid introduces doubt, ambiguity (multiple interpretations), uncertainty into the gameplay, making it a very unique gameplay experience. It puts the player into an animal reaction mode, which is beyond survival mode, in that it's what you feel after you survive. They're feelings that are beyond just basic instincts that include reflection and interpretation. These factors are all part of the contextual framework of Braid.
Laura asked us if we think that art is a necessary thing for humans to do, and I have to say that even though I didn't raise my hand, I think that art is absolutely imperative for humans to participate in. Yes, it is not something that is absolutely essential for one's physical welfare, but humans are unique because they are more than that. We have emotions, feelings, personalities, and mental behaviors that require attention and pampering in order to achieve happiness and overall satisfaction. Art is an means to an end in that regard (to me).
Why do cultural validity and respect persist in eluding the video game? In other words, why aren't video games taken seriously? This is a bigger question for gamers than game designers because they have to create these games as cultural texts that will be consumed by as many people as possible. They just want to make money, they aren't necessarily interested in making art. However, what if art and money start to come together? If the consumer wants it, then the only way to make money is to make a great work of art. This is why we are having this class, because Laura wants video games that are great art like the kinds that she grew up with.
Cade and I talked about the first chapter of Bissell's book, and I think that he brought up something that's really interesting. Fallout 3 is a game in which the narrative is everything, and Cade referenced page 13 on which Bissell says "video games favor a form of storytelling that is, in many ways, completely unprecedented." These games give us methods of talking to some of the greatest ancient writers and philosophers of all time, immersing the player into the story that has been famous and important for centuries.
I found this video of Tom Bissell talking about his book in a NYC coffee shop:
Anna just typed a run-on sentence. She didn't really appreciate it when I informed her about it, and I think she actually took it personally. O well...
"The game is not the experience. The game enables the experience, but it is not the experience." This is a really unique quote that really touches on the fact that two different people can experience the game completely differently from one another, though they're given the same exact game .
The story of Fallout 3 is concocted to carry the player through it. Is this the same in all games? I don't think so, I think that this is a sandbox game in which anything goes and there's really something for everyone in the game. However, other games absolutely require a strict storyline be followed in order for one to "beat" the game. Games like these include Halo and Mario Bros. On the other end of the extreme are games like The Sims and Second Life in which the creators literally create the world, and then give full control to both the structure and gameplay to the gamer himself. In the first category, the playground is built for the player, and the gameplay is defined by one's experiences with that playground; in the latter, the gamer builds the playground for himself, then acts as the creator in how that playground is experienced. Fallout 3 is a game that falls towards the middle of that spectrum.
Chick flicks suck. Laura says so herself. They make us focus on things we shouldn't be focusing on. The narrative makes her sick, and great art doesn't do that. How does one define which art is good and which is bad? What makes one piece of art better than the other? Seriously, I have no idea how the hell you would be able to make an absolute statement about something like this. I also feel like I'm talking about the same things in all my classes... Not complaining, just saying. Laura wants people to experience games like she experiences good art.
Shadow of the Colossus notes:
Laura asked us if we think that art is a necessary thing for humans to do, and I have to say that even though I didn't raise my hand, I think that art is absolutely imperative for humans to participate in. Yes, it is not something that is absolutely essential for one's physical welfare, but humans are unique because they are more than that. We have emotions, feelings, personalities, and mental behaviors that require attention and pampering in order to achieve happiness and overall satisfaction. Art is an means to an end in that regard (to me).
Why do cultural validity and respect persist in eluding the video game? In other words, why aren't video games taken seriously? This is a bigger question for gamers than game designers because they have to create these games as cultural texts that will be consumed by as many people as possible. They just want to make money, they aren't necessarily interested in making art. However, what if art and money start to come together? If the consumer wants it, then the only way to make money is to make a great work of art. This is why we are having this class, because Laura wants video games that are great art like the kinds that she grew up with.
Cade and I talked about the first chapter of Bissell's book, and I think that he brought up something that's really interesting. Fallout 3 is a game in which the narrative is everything, and Cade referenced page 13 on which Bissell says "video games favor a form of storytelling that is, in many ways, completely unprecedented." These games give us methods of talking to some of the greatest ancient writers and philosophers of all time, immersing the player into the story that has been famous and important for centuries.
I found this video of Tom Bissell talking about his book in a NYC coffee shop:
Anna just typed a run-on sentence. She didn't really appreciate it when I informed her about it, and I think she actually took it personally. O well...
"The game is not the experience. The game enables the experience, but it is not the experience." This is a really unique quote that really touches on the fact that two different people can experience the game completely differently from one another, though they're given the same exact game .
The story of Fallout 3 is concocted to carry the player through it. Is this the same in all games? I don't think so, I think that this is a sandbox game in which anything goes and there's really something for everyone in the game. However, other games absolutely require a strict storyline be followed in order for one to "beat" the game. Games like these include Halo and Mario Bros. On the other end of the extreme are games like The Sims and Second Life in which the creators literally create the world, and then give full control to both the structure and gameplay to the gamer himself. In the first category, the playground is built for the player, and the gameplay is defined by one's experiences with that playground; in the latter, the gamer builds the playground for himself, then acts as the creator in how that playground is experienced. Fallout 3 is a game that falls towards the middle of that spectrum.
Chick flicks suck. Laura says so herself. They make us focus on things we shouldn't be focusing on. The narrative makes her sick, and great art doesn't do that. How does one define which art is good and which is bad? What makes one piece of art better than the other? Seriously, I have no idea how the hell you would be able to make an absolute statement about something like this. I also feel like I'm talking about the same things in all my classes... Not complaining, just saying. Laura wants people to experience games like she experiences good art.
Shadow of the Colossus notes:
· o Whole game constructed around boss fights
o One of the major games used in the argument that games are art
o Not much story given, but you get really close to the character
o 5 main characters
§ Wander
· Main character
§ Dead girl
§ Evil Demon
§ Agro
· Horse
§ Lord Demon
· Back story
o Story
§ Going to a land to resurrect dead girl
§ Must defeat 16 Colossi
§ Uses a sword to do this
o Created as a spiritual successor to another game from PS1
o It’s a huge world in which the only living things are Wander and the 16 Colossi
Monday, February 14, 2011
Monday, February 14th
Gamers are important to society because they already have a head start in terms of using this technology that is one day going to see that everything is digitized: entire libraries, social lives, etc. There is a huge opportunity for us to get people really involved in this process; this is the cultural challenge and key characteristic of my generation. This is the chance for us to really rise up and participate to our fullest potential in a movement that is going to shape how this period in history will one day be looked back upon.
I might be getting ahead of myself, but it's still pretty fun to think about. Once the whole library is digitized, it makes it accessible to anyone with an Internet connection, but it would also be incredibly difficult to find anything searching with keywords if the original print is hard for the software to pick up on. We've developed correction tools that allows people to go through and manually correct mistakes that the software made in the original transcription.
The Google Book Ngram Viewer allows the user to search for key words and see how much they show up in literature from certain time periods. However, before type was modernized in 1820, "s's" were substituted for "f's," so you really have to take that into account when searching words like "presumption" and "curiosity."
Can literature and other forms of high culture be as addicting as video games? Absolutely. One example that I immediately thought of is the fact that my little brother, Robby, loves science fiction novels. He literally cannot get enough. He would even brink his books into church and restaurants with him. I used to be like that, too, but alas I am not anymore.
High art can be seen as a relief from shoe shopping and online catalogue browsing. We spend so much time with these other forms of media that require so much attention and perspective that it's nice to sometimes unwind and find relaxation in the classics and art.
Discussion of the Halo chapter:
What's the difference between absorption and emersion in video games and literature? To me, I feel like going through chapters is like going through levels in a video game. In other words, both mediums have the notion that there is an ending and that there is a feeling of moving through a storyline. The user of both mediums connects him/herself with the main character, and goes through the story from his/her perspective. However, is it possible to not let yourself get completely immersed in the activity of reading or of playing video games? I think so, I've done it my whole life. Life is about making choices like that and practicing self control.
In literature, a story is considered good if it exceeds expectations the user has of the ending before he actually finds out what happens. In other words, if you expect one thing to happen in a story, and something completely different and unexpected happens, then the story is good and worth while.
According to Jones, "The meaning of Halo lies in the complex picture of the range of possibilities represented across the whole spectrum of possible engagements by players."So you can just use it as a FPS, turn it off, walk away. You could also write an entire book about it, get involved in the trans-media stuff, and become a fanatic. It's all about how the individual player experiences or wants to experience the game.
Braid Presentation:
I might be getting ahead of myself, but it's still pretty fun to think about. Once the whole library is digitized, it makes it accessible to anyone with an Internet connection, but it would also be incredibly difficult to find anything searching with keywords if the original print is hard for the software to pick up on. We've developed correction tools that allows people to go through and manually correct mistakes that the software made in the original transcription.
The Google Book Ngram Viewer allows the user to search for key words and see how much they show up in literature from certain time periods. However, before type was modernized in 1820, "s's" were substituted for "f's," so you really have to take that into account when searching words like "presumption" and "curiosity."
Can literature and other forms of high culture be as addicting as video games? Absolutely. One example that I immediately thought of is the fact that my little brother, Robby, loves science fiction novels. He literally cannot get enough. He would even brink his books into church and restaurants with him. I used to be like that, too, but alas I am not anymore.
High art can be seen as a relief from shoe shopping and online catalogue browsing. We spend so much time with these other forms of media that require so much attention and perspective that it's nice to sometimes unwind and find relaxation in the classics and art.
Discussion of the Halo chapter:
What's the difference between absorption and emersion in video games and literature? To me, I feel like going through chapters is like going through levels in a video game. In other words, both mediums have the notion that there is an ending and that there is a feeling of moving through a storyline. The user of both mediums connects him/herself with the main character, and goes through the story from his/her perspective. However, is it possible to not let yourself get completely immersed in the activity of reading or of playing video games? I think so, I've done it my whole life. Life is about making choices like that and practicing self control.
In literature, a story is considered good if it exceeds expectations the user has of the ending before he actually finds out what happens. In other words, if you expect one thing to happen in a story, and something completely different and unexpected happens, then the story is good and worth while.
According to Jones, "The meaning of Halo lies in the complex picture of the range of possibilities represented across the whole spectrum of possible engagements by players."So you can just use it as a FPS, turn it off, walk away. You could also write an entire book about it, get involved in the trans-media stuff, and become a fanatic. It's all about how the individual player experiences or wants to experience the game.
Braid Presentation:
· Developed by Jonathan Blow
o Took him 3 years
o Financed it by himself
· What is it?
o Side scrolling platform
o Time elements
o Uses the time element well within the game play itself
· Story
o Play as Tim to save the princess
o Has the ability to manipulate time to get through the levels
o Trying to correct a big mistake in your life that you don’t find out about until the end
o Game is ambiguous in nature, which adds to the storyline
· Levels
o 1
§ Level during which player makes mistake, but don’t learn about mistake until the end.
§ The final stage of the game
§ Start playing on level 2
o 2
§ Time and Forgiveness
§ The first level that teaches the player to rewind time
o 3
§ Time and Mystery
§ Focuses on the player, objects, enemies being unaffected by time
o 4
§ Time and Place
§ 2D plane the plane of time as well
o 5
§ Time and Decision
§ Uses an alternate shadow figure based on actions
o 6
§ Hesitance
§ Uses a ring that creates a time warp that slows object that get close to the ring
· Meanings
o Most people think the princess represents an atom bomb
§ “Now we are all sons of bitches”
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