Ok….I’m just curious. Has anyone or does anyone know of anyone in an MMORPG who’s ever been reprimanded for saying “….so gay!” or “fag”? I’ve never heard of anyone – and just thought I would throw the question out there to see if anyone had any tales of the unexpected!
Category Archives: Gameplay
Games as Art Discussion
The Ludologist has written a transcript of the discussion! Yay! Found here!
I don’t know what’s going on with my feeds – sorry about any inconvenience!
The State of Play book!
I’ve pretty much accepted that my thesis is just a summary of discussions about MMORPGs. When you start out such things, you always think you’re gonna write something new – but, naw! I’ve foolishly created my own typology though – I don’t know what I was thinking, it just felt like something that needed to be done! I’m waiting for a ‘go ahead’ from my darling advisor, now, while I’m trying to sum up…well…way too much actually! The ontology of the avatar (oh please inject me with an instant psychology degree!), intellectual property rights of avatar created content (oh please inject me with a law degree!) and MMORPGs – collaborative fiction, society or gameplay? (urgh – still working on the set-up there).
ANYWAYS!!! I say that it’s all about summing up the discussions – and they can all be found in this new book!!! Excellent that they’ve published it all in one book! What I’ve always loved about the subject of MMORPGs is the involvement from so many disciplines! There’s lively discussions between designers, lawyers, economist, psychologist, anthropologists, historians, sociologists and…urgh…you name the field and they’re probably heavily involved already! If you’re interested in studying MMORPGs, buy this book! It’s ESSENTIAL!!! No matter what field you’re coming from! I hate to be an advertisement but BUY THIS BOOK!!!!!!
I’ll probably be back later to link to the brilliant minds behind it – but I’ve spent way too long with my morning news and coffee and must dash to dive into work!!
Free Yourself
I had a conversation with a fellow student the other day and we both figured out that our executive decision to stop gaming so that we could finish our thesis’ was a really bad idea!!! We both concluded that we would be finished now if we had continued gaming!! It’s all about instant happiness and gratification!!! So yeah! Free Yourself!!!!! ;)
From Wooster Collective.
In the spirit of Halloween and all…
TechEBlog has a YouTube video which lists the top ten 10 Scariest Video Games – I’ve hardly played any of them – but then again, I spook really easily!!!
Huh…wouldn’t this be a really cool think to do on Tuesday? Gather a few people and play scary computer games in the dark?
Entertainment, Games, Technology – wOOt?!
There’s been some interesting blogposts lately about the frustrations of what articles to put where, what to discuss where and what words describe what?
Aleks, at The Guardian Games Blog ponders on the acceptability to blog about social software in a games oriented blog. Second Life (which my puter stubbornly is denying me access to), MySpace, Flickr and del.icio.us all encompass play, as well – but is it right to discuss them in a games blog?
“For me, social software often fits the bill more so than goal-directed environments in which I have to shoot things (badly), solve puzzles (incorrectly) or collect items I don’t care about (slowly). Yet in these environments there is play. Even if the play is not formal, there are playful experiences. And so I think they deserve as much time on here as the latest chart toppers.”
I think I disagree. I think we’ve moved beyond this now – these places deserve their own spaces for discussion. But ofcourse, sometimes these social software sites produce games as well and sometimes people make some fascinating gaming observations of them, like “Digg-ing the game”! Which definitely deserves discussion in a games blog!
Meanwhile, over at Wonderland, Alice ponders about BBC’s editorial decision to report that the World of Warcraft expansion is delayed in the Technology section, alongside news about YouTube and Google. I think a lot of news about World of Warcraft is very interesting to technology readers and definitely deserves space there as a lot of what’s going on there has to do with technology, culture and society. But that the expansion is delayed is pure entertainment news, to be sure! I understand that it can be confusing at times, though. Seb Potter has a comment which I agree with:
“I’d like to see “Virtual” as a section, but I guess you’d start to need to just duplicate all the categories of real-life news eventually.”
I’m partial to ‘Virtual Life’ as a section. Some World of Warcraft news is pure gaming news, technology news and virtual life news – we shouldn’t have to think that just because World of Warcraft is a game, that all news from within has to be documented in a games section. And I certainly feel that there is room for another section of news with the title ‘Virtual Life’ – I’m sure most gamers who don’t play Second Life are extremely tired of all the Second Life news in their medium, and well…Second Life isn’t a game! BUT! If someone were to design a really cool game in Second Life – I’m sure they’d love to read about it! And as for the technology section, I’m sure the social impact new technology has had in MMORPGs is only interesting to a certain point, I think it’s time to move on! Unless you’re actually interested in ‘virtual life’! Sigh…am I making any sense?
It certainly is obvious that we’re at a crossroads here, which is so exciting! I can imagine myself as a granny someday saying “Oh…I remember back when we thought these worlds were just games for pure entertainment! Ha ha ha! We were so naive!”
A fresh look at learning and games
“The researchers in HP’s Bristol, England, office came up with a location-aware game that allows visitors to the Tower of London to help virtual prisoners escape.”
What fun!!! I don’t know about the rest of you, but when I find myself in tourist situations, there’s just so much that I want to absorb and learn, yet walking around just observing and listening to guides and reading becomes tiresome after a few hours! But what if I truely could experience these places and their history? The Mercury News Interactive reports:
“The game, developed by the Mediascapes research team at HP Labs and staff at the Tower of London, uses HP iPAQ handheld devices and location sensors including GPS. Digital files containing voices, images, music and clues are placed in specific locations using the HP Labs Mediascape authoring toolkit.
As players move into a location in the Tower and its grounds, the appropriate digital file is triggered on their iPAQ devices. This allows players to meet historical prisoners in the Tower, such as Guy Fawkes and Anne Boleyn, one of Henry VIII’s wives. Even the Tower’s Yeomen Warders, nicknamed Beefeaters, become part of the game as players try to help historical figures escape.”
Bully
You can’t really surf through the web, like I do, and not have heard of Rockstar’s new Bully! I’m certain most households are aware of it’s existence and that it’s coming out October 17th. There have been protests and court cases. All of these, include Jack Thompson, ofcourse! I mean…how irresponsible to come with comments like “Columbine Simulator” – that’s just tearing up wounds and fears that should be left to heal.
I haven’t played it yet, but I really can’t wait! And after watching the trailer, bellow, I can’t help thinking that this game is really a social commentary! An investigation into school politics from the kids perspective, if you will! But ofcourse I may be wrong! I just seems to me that the game is trying to mediate something, actually using game as media! Oh how I love that!
Girl gamers
I had the priveledge of meeting a new enthusiastic Media Masters student a few weeks ago looking to write something about gaming. Yay!!!!! From what I understand, she had grown up being a bit of a gamer and didn’t quite understand why other girls weren’t as well. We ended up having a conversation about the phenomenon “female closet gamers”. You know the type…the girls who’ll gladly dismiss games as a waste of time and a nerdy thing – but secretly they have a nintendo at home! Anyways…it seems like this is the topic she wants to pursue – and I just thought I’d throw it out there and see if anyone knows of someone doing something of the same research?
I guess she’s gonna have to divide between casual and ‘serious’ (although I hate that word) gamers. And I know I’ve got some articles hidden away here somewhere in my del.icio.us. (it’s taken me SUCH a long time to find a tagging system that actually works for me – some stuff just gets lost). I’m wondering how best to tackle such a question.
I’ve already mentioned Hilde Corneliussen (also…didn’t a student from good ol’ HI department hand in a thesis about this recently?)and Torill Mortensen. Also Henry Jenkins ofcourse.
The student is a blogger – AND WE LOVE BLOGGERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So bless her!!!
She’s written a post where she ponders about tackling the Nintendo Wii and how they’re trying to bring in the casual gamers and women (in Norwegian) and I was thinking it might be interesting to analyse how the Xbox360, PS3 and Wii differ in their advertising.
But I thing she’s more of an audience kind of gal! I’m wondering if the answer lies in finding the hardcore female gamers who are out of the closet, interview them to see if they think it’s a big deal or not? And I think maybe she should stay away from MMORPGs – because they sometimes seem to be an exception. And I think it would be cool to look at 20 year olds and above.
Silence Variations
Yay! Finally!!! The Silence Variations is now available for download!!!
I suppose we were all stunned in August, 2004 – when some thieves manage to just casually steal Munch‘s famous ‘Scream‘ and ‘Madonna’ paintings. And when I say casually – I mean just taking the darn things off the wall and running out of there!
So Overdog Games designed this magnificent game for Bergen Kunsthall‘s Game On exhibition last year.
“Silence plays out endless variations on this theme, as a two-player computer game installation: Wave your guns, find the paintings, and get the hell out. If nobody gets hurt, all is well. It’s the classic heist story, but with a twist: There is no flaky partner, no smart-ass heroes, and no wise-cracking cops. Too simple? Well, this time that’s the tune.”
The paintings have finally been retrieved! And the game is finally available for download! Yay!
And they warm my little ol’ heart when they also release the code under a Creative Commons license!! Bless them!!!
I want more, more and MORE!!! Bogost has also picked up on it! Yay!!!
Remember What The Dormouse Said 
