Tag Archives: writing

Gamers or players?

25 October 2006

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Oh how I hate proof reading!!! I despise it!!! The minute I start doing surgical insicions in text I loose the flow and the impulse to start all over again is just …. ahhhhhh!!!! Will I ever start writing sanely again!!!

Anyways! I’ve realized a bunch of mistakes lately! Apart from the academic stupidities I’ve also noticed that I switch from writing American to British and back all the time! But I should be able to catch most of it with spellcheck, right? Speaking of which, it now lets me write game play as one word! Is that allowed, you think? I’ll have to check up on other texts – but I rather like gameplay!

And I’ve also noticed that I’m all over the place using the words ‘gamers’ and ‘players’ randomly. I should decide on a destinction,huh? Use players when referring to so and so, and gamers when refering to so and so? Sigh! I knew that this thesis would be all about definitions – but – argh! Maybe I can play miss smarty pants in the conclusion somewhere. “I’ve used the words player and gamer randomly here in order to illustrate a point”. Yeah! That’s sounding good to me right now! I’m sure I’ve got it all somewhere in my pile of notes somewhere!

Questions

22 August 2006

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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!!

Western vs. Eastern gamers!

28 July 2006

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This just desserved to be blogged about and not just del.icio.us’ed! Aleks at Guardian’s gameblog has posted a great piece about the ‘Cultural Differences in Gameland’. It focuses a lot about the differences between Eastern and Western gamers. She mentions a hell of a lot I didn’t know about. Like the fact that we don’t get so much ‘gore’ because of Germany’s strict rules. And there’s an excellent quote from Ren discussing Prof Rischard Nisbett’s findings:

“Another point that Nisbett makes is that Westerners tend to assume
linearity but Asians assume circularity. For example he gave in a recent
interview was a stable set of circumstances a Westerner will tend to think that
this signified a trend and that things will continue in the same fashion but an
Asian will tend to think that it is indicative of the potential for change and
ultimate return to some pre-existing state.”

Well that explains a whole bunch to me! The whole article is interesting! You truely should have a look!!!

Brain vacation

18 July 2006

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So, my blogging isn’t what it used to be, I think my brain’s gone on a little vacation without me (easily distracted by such events as Sting being in town and well…work). So I STILL haven’t gotten around to concluding my thoughts on narratology vs ludology!!!! It’s at the tip of my tongue (or fingertips) and I’m hoping that I’ll get most of it done at uni today after work! I am soooooooo looking forward to concluding my thoughts on the subject, which I’m sure will never ever ever be completely substantial and confident – but I need to draw the line somewhere at sometime, right?!!! But first lots of interesting tidbits to blog about – so excuse the rushed thoughts and cut’n’paste mentality! A lot I need to get off my chest and I feel like I’m about to explode!

Frasca

12 July 2006

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This whole narratology vs ludology discussion is quite…well…ARGH! Just frustrating, I guess – and ofcourse this comes from the fact that we’re still trying to figure out the language of games.
So I had a glance at my huge ‘to read’ pile the other day, upset because I keep maneuvering myself into tight suffocating corners that I can’t spread my wings and fly away from. But I guess that’s what writing a thesis is all about ey? Narrowing things down to the bare essentials and constantly contradicting oneself?
Anyways! I pulled out some Gonzalo Frasca, which I had put aside because I naively thought I could escape the whole narratology vs ludology debate! He uses a Markku Eskelinen quote which I LOVE!

“As Markku Eskelinen argues, “outside academic theory people are usually
excellent at making distinctions between narrative, drama, and games. If I
throw a ball at you I don’t expect you to drop it and wait until it starts
telling stories””

Don’t you just love that?! What a great way to mock the debate! Anyways…the article (or is it an introduction chapter?) can pretty much be summed up by:

  • representation vs. simulation
  • Aarseth’s cybernetic systems
  • simulation semiotics or “simitiocs” (what a lovely new word!)
  • “Simulations can express messages in ways that narrative simply cannot” (how bold!!!)
  • A discussion on Caillois’ definitions of ‘play’ and ‘game’; piadia and ludus
  • 3 act rule (which I’ll write more about in next post)
  • 3 different ideological levels in simulations
  • A typology of simulation rules

You’ll be reading a bit more about this later on today or tomorrow! I’m at work right now and I don’t have my Jesper Juul or Espen Aarseth notes available!

Hmmm….so why did I even bother writing this post? Well first off…you have to admit that quote is amusing, but probably because I’m in the middle of writing a job application to a really cool job, and didn’t want the first post they saw to be my emotional worship of the Sultan’s Elephant! He he! The dilemma’s of linking to your blog everywhere and at the same time trying to sell yourself as a sane desirable person!!