Does anyone have a really cool WoW dashboard picture they wouldn’t mind me using for an article (that I’m not sure is EVER going to be published) in the local Bergen press?
I’m really looking for a dashboard so advanced that you hardly see what’s happening in-world. One of those where there’s so much information the interface becomes 2 dimensional instead of 3. I’m kinda trying to prove the point that there’s a lot of information management that goes into playing WoW.
Category Archives: Gameplay
Kosmodrones
I always get such a thrill when I see new gaming innovation from Norway – and this time they’re even from beautifully gorgeous Bergen!
These three Bergenese lads have designed a homebrew game for PSP, which I sadly do not own – so someone else will have to judge it. It’s called Kosmodrones and is downloadable for free!!!!
There’s a trailer – and a podcast. Looks great!
(via IT-Avisen)
Back to the Future in Vice City
What better example can you get of converging media culture?! I was tickled, at least.
Bogost & Colbert
Ian Bogost was a guest on The Colbert Report promoting his new book, “Persuasive Games. The Expressive Power of Video Games” – oh the courage!! I have to say, I was partially disappointed and partially impressed. Disappointed by Stephen Colbert, because I didn’t find his jokes that amusing and impressed by Bogost because he articulates his thoughts so well – it must be pure joy to be in his class. I was expecting to have a good chuckle but instead I’m in a pondering mode. Ian Bogost says that video games are an expressive medium because “video games model the way things work”. To me, there’s not question – he brings up an interesting example from San Andreas where the only thing you can eat to get energy levels up is fast food a.s.o. He sums up really nicely by accepting Colbert’s pun on World of Warcraft preparing him for orc invasion “You will be ready to think of the way things work”, the system, the complexity. I think that’s very nicely put. Video games do make you think about the way all things are interconnected and related to each other! Whew – sounds very philosophical! Persuasive Games are designed to comment on society and politics – and they manage to do this through gameplay – not interactive storytelling – but gameplay – they’re really quite genius!
Will you look at that? I can embed a Comedy Central clip – lovely!
| The Colbert Report | Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Ian Bogost | ||||
| http://media.mtvnservices.com/mgid:cms:item:comedycentral.com:91012 | ||||
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Now I need to run! I’ve got so much fun stuff to do and my head is just spinning with excitement and delight – need to take a breath and focus on one thing at a time!
The Playing Columbine Trailer
The trailer to the documentary about Super Columbine Massacre RPG is out. Some may remember the controversial debate that followed after it was pulled from the Slamdance Guerrilla Gamemaker Competition. If anything at all this game has spurred great discussions about gameplay as documentary/storytelling/art. I’m not very opinionated about this documentary yet, except that I adore the debate and I’m looking forward to seeing the whole thing. But for some opinions check out Kotaku, Water Cooler Games and Game Politics.
Second Life
So I’ve been cruising through Second Life this evening – starting to get my grips – but my lag is just awful! I still haven’t actually invested in any Linden dollars, but I suppose it’s just around the corner.
I’ve just stopped by the Social Simulation Research Lab and found bunches of interesting reads! I’ll have to print out some stuff so I can enjoy the summer as well – I want a sun friendly laptop sooo bad! Life would just be near perfect then!
But for now I’m happy to have found SLED Picayune that has taken the trouble to gather several tutorial videos. Time for me to stop being a tourist and really start getting involved with this world that I have such high hopes for – so tutorials are a blessing!
I was really impressed with DnB Nor’s island (Slurl). A few weird things – but that’s half the fun! The Second Life Newspaper – Finance, has a good description of their tour.
Just a heads-up
- Chris Bateman’s got a list of the nine basic player types discussion going on at his blog, Only A Game, which is very interesting – I’m always very tickled by the names people use to describe player types. He’s got the conqueror, manager, wanderer, participant, hoarder, zoner, juggernaut, monster and hotshot. The difficult thing about creating player types is that it becomes hard to distinguish between a play method and a player ‘type’, at least that’s what I found in my work. For example a conqueror may easily use one of a hoarder’s play method – but is not a hoarder because of it, she is still a conqueror. This confused me, but it seems Wise Mr. Bateman’s got a good handle on things – I’m looking forward to seeing what he comes up with. The really interesting part was the beginning of the post:
Below you will find descriptions of nine hypothetical player patterns that
I would expect to find by examining the gaming audience in terms of the
following three areas: Caillois’ patterns of play, Agon, Alea, Mimicry
and Ilinx, plus Ludus and Paidia. No study has ever been conducted on player attitudes to these patterns, and I believe it could be useful.
Emotions. Not just the ones Nicole Lazzaro reports in her Four Keys Model (which of course I adore), but all the emotions that might apply: Sadness/Agony, Anger, Surprise/Fear, Disgust/Contempt, Amusement, Contentment, Excitement/Relief, Wonder, Bliss, Fiero, Naches, Elevation, Gratitude, Schadenfreude, Guilt/Shame, Embarrassment, and Envy. Plus emotion-like behaviours such as Curiosity, Belonging and Greed. (See here for more information). I expect to broadly validate the Four Keys model, strengthen the implied connection between Anger and Fiero, and demonstrate further connections previously unexplored such as Amusement outside of People Fun and Contentment as a key play emotion previously overlooked because of the method used for Four Keys. Skills (derived from Temperament Theory), namely Strategic, Tactical, Logistical and Diplomatic skill sets.
Computer Gaming & Virtual Worlds Public Policy Workshop
Ren Reynolds is organising a think tank on public policy formation for computer gaming & virtual worlds in London on the 24th of May. This seems to be ‘the issue’ of the year, doesn’t it? As Ludium is “Video Games and Public Policy” and I’m sure more are being organised.
I really enjoy the wording in this description:
“The danger that faces society is that policies are formed based on a lack
of understanding and popularized framing of computer games as simply
‘addictive’, ‘dangerous’ or the one secret to the future of education. Such
characterizations do not lead to sound policy formation.”
We should really start considering doing something like this in Norway as well – it’s time. Maybe the IGDA chapter could organise something? Or Medietilsynet? It’s definitely high time for a public discussion about this issue. We’re such a public policy nation – it’s weird that gaming politics is mainly about slot machines – but then again – maybe I’m just not getting it.
BBC on goldfarming
I’m a big fan of the BBC! Here’s a nice little segment on how and why virtual currency in WoW has become so popular. I really like it because it gets to the heart of the matter and doesn’t dwell on the dramatic realization that people are using real money to buy virtual things. It’s really to the point – and I’m so glad that they included a Blizzard representative that could voice their concerns with RMT. Thanks sis for sending it to me!
Top 25 Video Game Cinematic Moments
Ooooh! GameSpy’s got a list going of the Top 25 Video Game Cinematic Moments! And they’ve even included the clips – just in the wonderful way we’ve come to know GameSpy as excellent game journalists!
I’m not such a big fan of lists – don’t ask me why – I’m just not! But presented this way is just wonderful! Specially for me who hasn’t played all these games! Pure joy!
Remember What The Dormouse Said 
