This is new to me…and oh…how beautiful!!! I’m truely touched!
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It’s just…beautiful! Anti war graffiti in such a ‘reality-like’ war game? Amazing! And as they state:
and
“Reality is up for grabs. The real needs to be remade by us.”
I’m such a sucker for movements like this!!! Gives me so much hope! And I’m going to stop now before I get all sappy!!
So…yeah…lost my mind and can’t think straight apparently!!
Here’s a simple sentence I managed to struggle with! Let me know which one you prefer; “When the ‘self’ is projected onto cyberspace…” or “When the ‘self’ is projected into cyberspace…”? Actually may want to change cyberspace to virtual world. Oh the DETAILS!!!
And here’s a thought I had while walking to uni today…I wonder if players who change their avatars often in MMOs have the same attachment to the game as those who like to stick to a favorite?
Ooh! In the spirit of…you know…just airing out stuff…I just had a conversation with a WoW’er about why MMORPGs are great fun! He says that half the joy is the ability to show off all the cool things you’ve managed to win, accumulate and make! We were comparing the joys of Oblivion and WoW. He asked me if this wasn’t true also for The Sims Online and I have to say no – actually the exact opposite is true! The Sims was such more an online hit that The Sims Online because of the community forums! People make stuff and share and download and can really show off with what they do in The Sims – whereas with The Sims Online was too bogged down with rules to spark innovation so rarities became really boring after a while! Funny that!
Oooh…and look at that (yup…reading through written work)! I’ve defined gold farmers as exploiters – I’m not sure that’s right! Which makes me wonder if gold farmers can be included in any players taxonomy. I don’t think so….huh…we’ll see what happens when I try excluding them! Ahhhh!!! The ‘buyers’ are definitely exploiters!
Anyways, have a fabulous day!!! I know I’m not!!
So…there’s a lot of yoo ha in the states about violent video games and whether retailers should be forced by law to follow the ESRB’s recomendations. So pretty much what we have here in Europe – if the game’s rated 15 retailers should make sure not to sell to under 15 year olds. Now…if a grandma decides to buy an 18 rated game for her 14 year old grandson – that’s her problem. I’m so tempted to become a ludologist here – because sometimes I really do feel that the fiction of a game just provides the rules for gameplay, it’s meaning isn’t that essential when playing games. But – then I realize that I’m just saying that because I enjoy violent gameplay (although it’s been a while now!). Anyways!!!! I found this video hysterical! His new rating of “Child trapped in man’s body” is funny and the politicians are just soooo amusing as well!!!
Greg Howson at Guardian Games Blog reported on The Bible Game earlier this week – and my initial thought was “Well ofcourse! The Bible must have plenty of great gaming scenarios in it! Why the hell not?!” – but ofcourse this was a quiz game which seems blah and boring.
So I couldn’t help having a good chuckle this morning when I read Ian Hardy’s “Spiritual challenge for gamers”. There’s so many weird utterenses in this article I just couldn’t let it pass by without commenting! The most reasonable comment:
“Troy Lyndon of Left Behind Games said: “There is warfare, the Bible is full of warfare, so are all the other great games that are on the market.””
Too right! He’s commenting on a new game they’re releasing called Eternal Forces which is “an action packed story set in a New York landscape where soldiers take on demons”. But then I start to chuckle:
“There’s no blood and a no cursing rule – curse and your energy level drops.”
Umh…oh there’s just so much to say about this sentence. Firstly, I’ve never really understood the moral dilemma of having the visualisation of blood, surely the issue is ‘the killing’. But I’m no expert on what corrupts children and I honestly don’t care if there’s blood or not, I’ve just never understood what the big deal is. And then there’s the cursing. He he! Seriously? Is there some form of monitor keeping track of the words coming out of the kids’ mouth while play? And if it’s an online game with communication channels – I’m so sorry to break it to you – but kids are way too smart to let censorship stop them from using unfavourable words. But you know, thinking about it – it’s a great marketing line! I’m sure parents will feel so much more comfortable buying a computer game that has “NO CURSING ALLOWED” in big red letters on the cover!
The rest of the article is kinda bizarre if you ask me. There’s something about how the Christian game developers can learn from the Christian music and movie industry and the examples mentioned are Gospel Music, Passion of the Christ and The Da Vinci Code (really?). But I also had a little – huh? moment with the last sentences:
“A Christian video game typically costs about $1m (£530,000) to produce, about five times less than a video game aimed at the mass market”
Huh?!!! Why is it cheaper to produce a Christian computer game? I don’t understand. Someone please explain this to me!! Is it because the developers are volunteers hoping to spread the word of God? Or is there some special funding involved when you call yourself a Christian organisation?
Stumbled on to this great HipTech Blog which features this great video!! It’s a demonstration of how a table-top touch-panel and speech recognition could function for Warcraft III! It’s called ‘DiamondTouch’ and it’s by Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratiories – yet another example of how computer games are contributing to innovation, if you ask me!! Enjoy!!
Remember What The Dormouse Said 