My Blog

Blog posts that were once purely school work, now my new love. Current game design student with a love for pop culture and the gaming community. Weekly reviews of games, movies, products and overall nerdiness. Enjoy!!

[kabbagecat]

8 Beloved Aussie childhood games

Technology today can be a bit overwhelming to a lot of people but as a child the only thing that mattered was how many free gaming sites you and your friends cold find, and I don’t know about others, but as a kid nothing was better than being in the school computer room when your teacher said “free time”.

8. Bubble Trouble This game is probably one of the first I remember playing with my friends in primary school and it was nothing less than addictive. Whether you were playing solo or with your friends, this game was amazing… and intense, for my kid self at least.

7. Monkey Go Happy Probably not the most hyped out of all the games but it was still super addicting making that little monkey happy was the least of your worries when you laid eyes on that timer at the top of the screen and you were panicking (don’t worry, we all were). But it was all worth it in the end you saw that little monkey’s cute/oddly creepy face slowly smile.

6. The Impossible quiz At some point or another we have all endured the pain that is The Impossible Quiz, and as kids nothing gave you more status than getting the most answers right. In hindsight we probably could of just googled the answers like everyone in high school did but we were kids, did anyone really know the power of Google back then?

5. Sushi-go-round This one was more of a personal favourite as a child but that didn’t stop me from showing everyone I knew, I really recommend this game for people who like a challenge, the intensity is insane!

4. Fish Tycoon

This oddly enough was a very popular game when I was a kid, we all used the free time we had to see who could make the most money, or we’d just keep pressing new game to see if we could get a rare fish (so sparkly)

3. Bloxorz Definitely one of the best puzzle games I played as kid and is still so addicting to this day, and without a doubt everyone who was shown was also soon addicted themselves

2. Bug on a Wire Very frustrating to say the least and you definitely need to work out the timing, but it was really fun to play, although in school it was more of a mini phase game because after a while the game just gets to the point where you kind of give up

1.Tron The game that made my childhood and I’m sure many others, it wasn’t an online game like the previous listed but if you could get your hands on a computer with this game on it nothing could tear you away from it… besides the hardship of four people playing on one keyboard. But needless to say this is still the most memorable game from my childhood and if I could figure out to get that game on my computer, you don’t even know how fast I’d be on that.

I know these most likely wont be everybody’s childhood games so I’d love to hear what yours were, thanks for reading – Kabbagecat (^_^)/

Ps sorry there is an exact day I post but I hope to do them on weekdays if that helps narrow it down.

[kabbagecat]

Sorry

sorry there will be no post for this week. school has ben pretty intense but there is good news, i am now a writer for Femhype (Yay!) 

thanks guys, will be posting again next week (^_^)/  - Kabbagecat

[kabbagecat]

Attack on... Highschool??

Like a lot of people I believe Attack on Titan (Shingeki no Kyojin) is one of the best anime to come to the screen for our time. It’s immersive with its storyline, the characters are well thought out and it has a theme song we’ll be singing to our grandkids. The popularity of the anime/manga is nothing to be questioned. And as most people know, where there is popularity, there is everything from OVAS to movie adaptations, and even spinoffs both anime and manga alike. Now, the OVA is nothing short of amazing particularly with AoT and if you haven’t seen it you definitely should… movie not so much*cough*. However there has been an added spinoff in the midst of the AoT hype, that spinoff would be in fact “Attack on Titan: Junior High”. I first stumbled across this spinoff in a bookstore close to my college and I don’t mean to sound negative but the first thought in my head was you’ve got to be kidding me. I flipped through it and read the blurb on the back and I couldn’t be happier to put it back down, and from the ratings I’ve seen lately, most others aren’t as thrilled either. Yes, it probably going to be a cutesy slapstick anime with jokes referencing to the original series… but that’s it. I have not seen this spinoff yet but I’m pretty sure I can predict what it will be through experience: an anime with no storyline whatsoever and the typical anime stereotypes we unfortunately know so well. Christa will probably be running late to school with a piece of toast in the mouth (right before she becomes a sailor scout) 

with Ymir the blatant character suggesting constant sexual innuendos, maybe Annie will be our tsundere and Sasha will be, well, hungry (duh) . Now I’m not saying it will be completely terrible, but just don’t expect it to be amazing just because it has the name. 

And yes, it’s a goofy little spinoff, nothing more and although I’m being kind of harsh about it I’d most likely still be entertained, but I feel like I could only really do that if I completely cut off its relation to the original series.

[kabbagecat]

EB Expo Australia!

I’d be lying if I said I haven’t been pumped for this event. Months waiting for October to come and it was an awesome day to say the least: played amazing games, got a ton of stuff and had a first look and gameplay for new releases. Now if you’ve been to EB Expo before you probably know of the downsides as its hot, tiring and the lines take FOREVER. However this year I was determined to play lots of games so I bought the “Gamer express pass”, expensive yes but very much worth it, I only had to wait a fraction of the time than with a regular admission. An example of this was the new Star Wars: Battlefront game, people were waiting for than 2.5 hours just to play the game for 15 minutes, but with the pass I only waited about 20 minutes! I have to admit though I did feel a little guilty getting into games when people have been waiting for so long, but, needless to say every game I played that day were amazing…. Except for Assassin’s creed: Syndicate, because I sucked at(still a great game though).

Some other games I got the experience were: - The Rise of the Tomb Raider - Fallout 4 (Gameplay view) - Mirrors edge: Catalyst (Gameplay view) - Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 - Skylanders Superchargers And so many more… and if you didn’t get the chance to play any or even only one, its still an amazing day and you get to meet so many amazing people. Although if you’re going for the experience to socialise with so many gamers I recommend going on the first two days as its quite empty on the last day.

Needless to say it was another amazing experience, the people were amazing as was the awesome games and if you’ve never been then you are missing out.

On a funnier note, a football grand final was on right next door and turns out they were getting a little frightened of all the fake swords and weapons being carried around, they obviously didn’t understand as everyone then on had to have their weapons covered I security tape.

If you’d like any info on the games or the expo feel free to message me and I’d be happy to respond. – Kabbagecat

[kabbagecat]

Review: Alice Madness Returns Vorpal Blade (prop)

I’m not gunna lie, I still have iffy feeling shopping on Ebay purely because I have noticed the re-using of the same photos when advertising a product but I took the chance and spent a little more money then usual and bought the Alice: Madness Returns Vorpal Blade. The product is 27*13cm made from high quality resin, which is perfect for me, as I wanted to take it into a convention and if you’re new to conventions: metals are out! When it was finally delivered I was extremely pleased with the result and completely made me forget about how much money I spent on it. The detail was amazing from the blade to the handle. Delivery was even quicker than expected this is great if you need in within a few weeks and you have constant updates and tracking on your purchase. I would definitely recommend looking at this store. If you are interested and quality cosplay outfits and/or props, you wont be disappointed.

If you want to check out the shop: http://stores.ebay.com/uniteddoremo/

*sorry if the review is a bit rough, it’s my first review but i hope you like it  (^_^)

Thanks guys - Kabbagecat

[kabbagecat]

Back from Hiatus

Hey guys took a little hiatus after my assessment for this blog was over 

Now I’m back and ready to dish out my weekly articles New and Improved!

My blog will now be becoming more diverse in topics such as pop culture as well as reviews of movies and products as well as my usual gaming blogs.

These have been amazing to write and I’m so excited to be back in action to continue writing more awesome articles.

So, if you like my content please show support by liking, re-blogging and even following... Even constructive criticism is welcome, I’d love the feedback :)

Thanks guys - Kabbagecat

[kabbagecat]

Women within gaming

In the video game industry, women only make up thirteen per cent of employees within said industry. Gaming among communities, however, is actually quite diverse with females making up half the audience of players, but there are still many issues facing women in the world of video games both within games and the players such as gender roles, women representation, diversity and women within the gaming industry.

The online world is a very big part of the gaming community, and with that comes the gender roles and behaviours within that world. Female characters are more often than not being sexualised and made to be saved rather than the hero, while women players are usually subjected to harassment, be it simple things such as people believing stereotypes that women aren’t good at videogames to the harsher tones of bullying and verbal abuse. In a previous blog post writer Nicolas Lovell talked of the new app Fallout shelter on the IPhone and how it supposedly made him discriminate women solely on the fact the women cannot be involved in combat while pregnant. His view that this game had made him misogynistic seems to be false as I stated that, realistically, people would not send a pregnant woman into battle through pure common sense. The game, in fact, did not suggest any form of misogyny leading to the theory that maybe it is becoming a common thing to believe you are defending the gender when you’re actually not. There has to be a level of fairness on both sides however, if women gamers start behaving negatively towards other because they think they have the right just because they’re women then, overall, there will be no progression in how players, both male AND female, perceive gender roles and their behaviour towards the opposite gender.

The representation of women within games is nothing less than exaggerated, that being super skinny, big breasts and so on. An example of this could be as simple as a fighting game, the men are given armour for protection and the women are given the smallest amount of coverage while still being considered as “armour” when they have more skin showing than clothes. The cold hard facts are simple: Sex sells! And there is no doubt about it, not just in video games either; if a pretty person has something then others will want it, or in this case, want to play it. If you were given a sexy female character to save you would definitely be more obliged to buy/play the game oppose to trying to protect a weak feminine male character. Eugenia Ayala wrote a blog post on female representation in video games with the simple example of Mario Kart on the N64, being a girl see immediately chose the character Princess Peach as it was more appealing for her until she realised that after multiple loses she realised the male more masculine characters were more faster and powerful.

“Choosing Princess Peach based on her appearance was not an uneducated decision on my part…the operator selects a character based solely on the images presented on the character selection screen, it makes sense for the appearance of each character to represent their personality and skillset and therefore video game designers costume their characters with an appearance or accessories that reflect their unique abilities.”

Eugenia goes on saying that male characters have been costumed to fit their role such as sonic having running shoes or Scorpion form Mortal Combat being in a ninja outfit which communicates his skill in armed combat.

“Princess Peach? She wears a gown, dainty gloves, and a clueless expression, which imply nothing as far as skill and ability, unless you consider her special attack: a dimpled, smiling heart that protects her cart.”

Although these things are true, there is no denying that there has been increasing improvement over the years introducing strong female characters. Even the latest of the series (Mario Kart 8) has changed in the way that it isn’t the characters withholding the skills but the vehicle you’re using making it far more desirable to choose women characters. There has definitely been a change in how women are represented within games and the evolution of their representation should be recognised more than just how things were in past games.

It is true that women roles are becoming more frequent and used now but they still hold a sense of male dominance, an example of this could be the game Bioshock: Infinite, Elizabeth is a main female role and an independent one at that, yet your goal as a player is protect her and be the hero in the sense that you have the power over her, you’re the one that helps her not the other way around. Although the portrayal of women are being altered in an interesting way. In a previous blog post I mentioned the game The Walking Dead by Telltale and how they made the young girl (Clementine) whom you had to protect help determine your choices by simply making the player think more about how it affects her. This was evidently turned around when you become Clementine in the second series of the game, no help from a little girl, just the choices you make and how it affects her now individually. Turning the perspective definitely made the gameplay experience something to talk about, the juxtaposition between protecting a girl then becoming her creates a whole different way of thinking and approach, the player would have to completely change their way of thinking to adapt to this new role. Now, having a strong female character that can completely wipe the floor with others isn’t necessarily fair on anyone’s part. The game Tomb Raider for example, the latest instalment shows female protagonist Lara Croft at her beginnings, not as strong as she is originally in other games, but this game gives you the opportunity to she how she got there. A very controversial scene is when the notion is suggested that she is about to be sexually abused by larger stronger men, this is the moment she realises she has to kill or be killed. A complete shift in her character’s development, this is not to hate on the male population, showing a rise of strength in a dire situation, which in all honesty could have had an equal effect if the men had been women and Lara as a man. Women may be seen as the weaker among the sexes but it can all change if game developers expand on how women are seen, a simple act like that within a videogame can have the power to completely change the diversity and frequency of women within video games.

A game such as this would no doubt change how players interpret female roles leading to who knows how many possibilities in the gaming world. Yes, there will always be those games where women are over-sexualised but with more and more games with strong female roles such as Clementine there can only be positive outcomes with the diversity and interpretation of women.

Females do make up a large percentage of gamers yet women in the game industry do not. As a personal view I believe the gaming industry is viewed as a profession only men would strive for because women aren’t really associated with having any interest in the matter. Dr Mary Flanagan whom is an award-winning game designer states that the industry still exudes “a culture of virtual guns, babes and ammo … and spoils what could otherwise be a revolutionary design space for new kinds of thinking, learning and collaboration, if only the industry would diversify.” Flanagan states her goal is diversify the industry by 2020.

There are many women however that have made very popular games such as Jenga, Monopoly and even the game Portal, games of which have had mass appeal worldwide to both genders which equals greater sales and profit for businesses. Flanagan is also pushing to revolutionize the gaming industry by making it gender equal by 2020 but to do that she states that women in the industry need to speak up and make their presence known, even encouraging men to strive for a more diverse workspace.

Overall, the progression that women have made in gaming continues to rise. It seems that women within the games have made many changes over the years, and mostly for the better. However women within the gaming industry is still very unrecognised by the world, but with further promoting and women in the industry becoming noticed, we will be able to diversify this industry that is imprinted in the public’s mind as a man’s profession.

 References:

http://nationswell.com/yes-women-can-design-great-video-games-inside-push-equality-gaming-industry/

http://techland.time.com/2013/12/02/a-heartbreaking-work-of-staggering-genius-on-sexism-in-the-video-games-industry/

http://www.polygon.com/2014/4/14/5613362/tackling-sexism-gender-inequality-pax-east-2014-panel

https://www.hastac.org/blogs/ezobel/2014/03/06/damsels-distress-female-representation-video-games

http://kabbagecat.tumblr.com/post/125660393957/fallouts-sexist-fallout

 http://kabbagecat.tumblr.com/post/127048485952/clementine-knows-whats-best

[kabbagecat]

Clementine Knows What’s Best

There has always been the help of supporting non-playable characters within videogames, whether their point is to help fight or add to the story and so on. But lately games have started making those NPC’s into a moral compass to aid in decisions or story. Jill Scharr points out that more often than not these characters are young females.

“The inclusion of female non-player characters appears to be an effort to increase diversity, but in many ways it continues to play into the established convention of the (often morally grey) male protector who must do right by an (often younger) female character.”

Example of this would be Clementine from the first season of The Walking Dead, Ellie from The Last of Us and Elizabeth from Bioshock: Infinite.

However, Clementine is quite different from other female leads as what you do as the main character (Lee) is usually affected by Clementine. Not to say that every choice you make for her will be the best one morally, but when you see how she is affected by your decision does make a player think twice on their choice.

Now some people are saying that these non-playable characters are purposely female for diversity’s sake, which may be taking it a little too far. Personally, Clementine is a cute, innocent and pure character, and sure, I feel like it is partly because she is a girl, she’s the little sister you want to protect no matter what. If it way a young boy, such as the character Duck from the same game, I don’t feel like I’d be as attached as a lot of young boys are reckless and usually act before thinking when little… plus Duck was super annoying as a character.

Another game, also by Telltale, called The Wolf Among Us has the male protagonist whom you play (Bigby Wolf) and Snow White, a female character that can affect your decisions simply by her shaking her head in disagreement with your choice.

Although a game The Last of Us is quite a huge juxtaposition when compared with Clementine’s role. Ellie does not really aid in decision making as much as she has a purpose and you want to do right by her so she can achieve that purpose.

Although with The Walking Dead in the second season, you play as Clementine, now the girl who helped make your decisions is on her own with no help from a character like she formally was. I found this clever, you are now on you own with no help, as a child she has no one to protect so her decisions have to be made on what the player thinks is best for her.

Younger female characters are being used quite a lot for a moral compass, which yes, may cause controversy because they are constantly female but from what I see, these characters are being utilised in the best way possible to add emotional attachment to the game and overall allow players to become more invested with in the story altogether.

 If you would like to read the original article:

http://www.unwinnable.com/2015/08/13/who-watches-the-watcher/

[kabbagecat]

Dragon Age 2 and Immigration

When people can relate to a game or can connect their surroundings to a game, it will always give that game that extra kick of realism that makes the it all the more immersive. For example The Last of Us was a game about zombie-like people, but other than the generic unknown virus or supposable cure for cancer, the cause was based on a fungi that actually exists, or at least an exaggerated version of it. This made people become so much more invested in the story of the game even to the point of researching that particular fungus.

All because that one tiny detail was reality based.

Nayyirah Waheed posted an article about where fantasy meets reality, using the example of Dragon Age 2 and how it is but a story of immigration. This game is based on a man trying to forge a new life in a new environment and all the difficulties and harsh realities that accompany that transition.

Your first moments you are being characterised as a migrant, moving away from everything they’ve ever known and facing unthinkable decisions that they have no control over. Your character has to make deals they might not even like just for the hope of having a new life.

For myself, this really reflects how hard immigration can be, the pure desperation of the matter is heart breaking.

Waheed goes on saying:

“In fantasy stories… it could have easily been corruption, violence, hopelessness, or one of the many true evils that we find in our world.”

And it’s true, fantasy games can have many different evil plots, some crazier than the next, but the pure realism of this particular issue speaks volumes of what it’s like in the real world.

When you reach you destination your character and their family is unwanted for the fact they are immigrants, yet the city you are in (Kirkwall) accepts the labor of a person. Through the players decisions you can make you own path, while you family finds their own way of becoming apart of the community in their own way thus forging an identity for themselves. Seeing this game as a story of immigration really gives some perspective and reflection to the real world and really makes you think about what people actually go through to have a chance at a better and/or new life

 If you want to read the original article:

http://femhype.com/2015/08/06/long-way-home-dragon-age-2-on-immigration-identity/

[kabbagecat]

Neko Atsume

I’m pretty sure everyone has those games on their phones in which they’re never played or at most, played rarely. And nothing is more annoying than the countless notifications pushing you to play.

Blogger Gregory Weir has brought to light a game that is quite different from your usual iPhone app.

The app is called Neko Atsume and the only way to sum it up… cats.

This is an incredibly simple game with the main objective being collecting which is a complete juxtaposition from the games that constantly keep bugging you to play.

Basically your objective is to leave things out like food and toys then leave the game, then you check back to see if any cats have arrived.

Weir points out how little the game actually pushes itself on you and how the game doesn’t make you feel bad for leaving it. There are basically no consequences besides not see different cats.

Now, I understand this game does not sound like much and doesn’t really draw you eye when first playing but it really is a cute simplistic game.

Weir has made an excellent point that, from a game developers point of view, it does strike interest in how a game that doesn’t make you jump through hoops to keep you playing and if a game is able to keep you coming back by your own choice then there is definitely something to learn from games like this.

if you don't mind trying to figure out the Japanese writing then i definitely recommend downloading this free app.

 If you want to read the original article:

http://ludusnovus.net/2015/07/30/the-feline-grace-of-neko-atsume/

[kabbagecat]

Fallout’s Sexist Fallout

Women within video games have always been an issue in the gaming world; why can’t I choose a girl character? Why is she sexualised? Why are there not a lot of strong female leads?

So many questions that are perhaps being way too complicated than they actually need to be.

Nicholas Lovell wrote an article about the new app Fallout shelter made by Bethesda (the guys who made the Fallout series) and, yes, it is nothing less than addictive, however he did have a bit to say about the characters which reached my attention.

Lovell states he loves the game, however he says it also had made him into a misogynistic manger that discriminates against women. He goes on saying that the pregnant woman factor has made him like this, as they can’t fight against enemies or stop disasters.

Now, to me, this seemed a little extreme. Let’s look at this realistically, if you’re pregnant your body is going through some pretty massive developments to say the least: you get morning sickness, feel horrible, become hormonal, all things that would not be conditions to fight with. Oh and the fact you’re carrying a child but anyway moving on.

I know if I was pregnant in these situations there’s no way I’d be fighting, I’d have the obvious disadvantage plus one hit to that belly and there’s going be some serious issues, I would want to keep safe as would the people around me would want.

So here’s my question:

If you had the choice to send a heavily pregnant woman or a healthy male or female who would you choose?

Lovell also says women don’t usually have weapons equipped… then why not give them a weapon? My time playing I have never come across a dweller that has automatically had a weapon, so this has me wondering out of all his characters, is he really just giving weapons to males and stating the game made him misogynistic? Because my women characters with weapons usually save the day while the men have their hands in the air.

Maybe I am looking too into this with a realistic mindset but I really think this could just be a case of twisting facts to make them seem discriminatory and you the saint who have been “altered” by this games design.

So no, I don’t think this game has made you a sexist, I think you just want it to.

 If you would like to read the original article:

http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/NicholasLovell/20150722/249123/How_Fallout_Shelter_made_me_sexist.php

[kabbagecat]

Podcast Interview With Ken Levine.

So this week I listens to a podcast made by a website called idlethumbs.com with their segment Tone Control, I started my sentence like this because I think this podcast is a great idea to further connect with people interested in the game industry.

The speaker (Steve Gaynor) has a good outlook on the people he interviews and who he wants to interview if he is able to further produce these podcasts and one that stood out to me was he wanted to interview more people from lesser known games which, personally, would be incredibly insightful.

I listened to his interview uploaded on May 1st 2014 where he interviews his former boss and the creator of irrational games and of course the well known bioshock series, Ken Levine.

Gayner was definitely inspired by Levine’s work, which is understandable because of the work he has produced over time. He talks about the hardships of making games when gaming was not a huge infrastructure and how they had to make ways to do things, such as using lights for colours in his earlier games.

Something that I definitely agree with is how Levine said it was very valuable working on a game not just being a director so you are able to make decisions more clearly and show people what you want.

And something that really stood out to me was the fact Levine said decisions come from purposeless actions, just goofing around can make a game truly yours, which is amazing for listeners. If you’ve ever felt disconnected from any work you have created then you must not have been completely enveloped by it. The main point I took away from this podcast was:

 Love what you make.

Levine talks about the difficultly of making a game in the early years like 1999 a there was always slow hype and not really media attention for games, again, gaming was only a small infrastructure.

Being a fan of the Bioshock series, listening to the hardships of making the game were truly inspiring to say the least, learning that a game can be influenced by so many things can really be so influential with how we view the world and take in references.

Levine gave this quote for how he wanted to portray bioshock:

“Nothing can go out, nothing can come in… you’re trapped”

Which, if you know anything about the setting of bioshock is that within these strange worlds you are confined and cannot escape.

Gayner also made a notable point that when you look at your influences you start to question “why?” e.g. with bioshock, why is the city like this? Why did these men create this? All questions that need to be answered by the makers of the game and the direction they want to travel.

Levine never writes back story, he says its something you create during the process, which I believe he means that you can’t just write a fully developed story without questioning it later on; you need to be flexible with what you want to make.

These podcasts are definitely something I recommend, there hasn’t been any updates this year but they are very much worth the listen, especially if you want to hear the origins of Irrational games which, if you didn’t know was originally going to be called underwater horse because of a hexed based war game Levine and his friend played one time and quote “irrational was the name we hated least”.

 If you’re interested to have a listen:

https://www.idlethumbs.net/tonecontrol

[kabbagecat]

Gay Conversion Controversy

To be completely honest, most of the way through the article I had a completely different opinion and view in my head. Fire Emblem, to me, is amazing: the art, the music, the controls and so on. I believe my love for the series is what aided me into thinking this way, and their newly released game made me think a little bit more in-depth to the story.

Damion Schubert from zenofdesign.com brings forward the topic of a gay conversion romance within the game, this, of course, has struck a lot of controversy among players.

Basically, the players are outraged by the storyline that the hero character potentially drugs a main female counterpart into becoming bisexual, thus fixing her self-proclaimed “problem” with girls. That’s the very hard cut version of what is happening though.

As I read into this article I discovered the female character is a warrior who thinks she is inadequate at her job because she feels weak around girls even to the point of fainting.

Your character then proceeds to slip something into her drink, which makes her confuse girls for boys.

Now, there are two sides for seeing this:

·      The first being that people are angry that a boy would trick her into changing to like boys because of her so-said problem (which is where all the outrage had started)

·      Secondly (and how I saw it) a warrior who had an issue with treating girls the same as boys, and I mean this in the way that if she were in battle she’d probably have less trouble killing a male than a female.

In the end she ends up marrying the hero (you) saying out of all the boys that looked like girls she liked him the most.

I would like to get my point out there this might not necessarily be the work of conversion, her saying this in a completely non-drugged state means she was practically still aware of the difference between girl and boy but chose the marry the hero anyway from pure affection.

Now, lately there has been a lot of news on gay marriage/laws and similar things, and maybe the developers did turn a blind eye on this storyline within the game and Schubert even says the developers who cared claimed that they would be more careful in the stories they tell, which for me, really tells that developers do care for their audience and how their storylines are being portrayed.

And just finish up, this game was first released in Japan, a country which is very in the closet about homosexuality, even though it is completely legal to marry there. This sparked my attention in the fact that many games and even animes made in Japan are really quite open with characters being gay, at least, from what I’ve seen personally.

This article definitely made me realise something of Japan’s views I never noticed.

To read this article by Damion Schubert:

http://www.zenofdesign.com/fire-emblems-terrible-horrible-gay-conversion-romance-options/

[kabbagecat]

Week 4 exercise

Weapon degradation, for me, is very new and does affect how I look at the overall game. I do agree with this post to an extent, it can waste time worrying about your weapon lifespan but personally with some games it can make the experience better.

The last of us, I think, is a good example of this because you dropped into a post-apocalyptic world where society has broken down and supplies are limited. When playing I thought it was quite a realistic feature in the sense that in real life things do wear and tear. Plus when I was playing this game it definitely made moments more intense when I had multiple creatures coming at me while I scramble trying to find a brick or a pipe.

I understand where the fallout stands however, the simple fact that not all people like that sort of thing, it may be more difficult to worry about both health and weapon as focussing on one may jeopardise the other. Maybe even being that some people like the fact that having their favourite gun or melee weapon without worrying that it’s going to leave them within two enemy  hits.

Overall I think it varies whether a game should have weapon degradation or not because with some games it fits and works great within gameplay but with others it be what ruins the experience for the player.

Original article:

Stephen Beirne’s video/article is quite vague in my opinion and would be more engaging if he looked more into the pros and cons of weapon degradation. Like he said: some games have terrible weapon degradation during gameplay and some it works well but I feels like he’s only focus id to talk about one game in particular. But as Beirne said, it’s up to the persons liking to whether they like it or find it terrible and ill fitting for gameplay.

http://normallyrascal.com/2015/06/22/tmgc-weapon-degradation/

[kabbagecat]

Games affecting people.

Gaming is an influential medium just like any other, film, song, book and so on. But the one thing that makes it purely like no other is the interactivity between game and gamer, and that interaction can have a very powerful and influential aspect on the audience.

Being able to create a thought-provoking game can be an amazing thing and emit moral teachings to the audience, which, honestly, sounds really cool, but is there a moment where personal interpretations can be taken too far?

Raph Koster from Gamasutra points out that there are both positive and negative outcomes to playing a game, it can be uplifting, exciting and beautiful… on the other hand the negative influence can be a scary thing, it can change you real-life relationships, interrupt your personal life and maybe even to the farthest extent of (this can be seen as a rather strong word) ruining your life.

Koster’s research found that players would take interactions in the virtual space as “real”, giving the audience emotions and affection to fictional characters.

This is obviously an issue that needs attention by friends and family of the player, believing you can get an escape from the real world by entering a fake one gives false reassurance that they’re ok rather than dealing the issue. So yes, I do agree with Koster in the fact that game creator should worry about the content they’re releasing, one has to think of what kind of people will be playing the game, these stories they are telling can always be interpreted differently sometimes for the worse.

Games have a major influence on how people can think but really it is no different from a book or movie, the fact that this medium allows interaction for telling the story doesn’t mean everyone will react in the same sense, people are individuals, but precaution should be accounted for within production.

 To Read Raph Koster’s full article:

http://gamasutra.com/blogs/RaphKoster/20150630/247449/Games_affecting_people.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+GamasutraFeatureArticles+%28Gamasutra+Feature+Articles%29

[kabbagecat]

Clash of Clans - Bullying in the virtual playground

Bullying has always been a major issue within communities and we, as people know this a lot by personal experience in the matter. The introduction of handheld games is becoming so common to younger and younger ages that it’s practically becoming a way of a child’s life.

I have a sister who is a primary school teacher and I constantly saw her trying to figure out how to play the popular game Minecraft because it has become a learning tool to teach her students math, building and teamwork skills.

 Moving on however, Nick Bilton brings to light the game Clash of Clans, which he noticed had become very popular between his nephew and his friends so much that this virtual playground turned quickly into a bullying scene. Friction arrived when students started denying other classmates requests and even demoting them (being a ranking feature within the game).

I know parents believe they have a good child, and in retrospect they probably do, but among the online community children can be whoever they want to be with less of the consequences in real life, which I believe Bilton is trying to get across.

This has become such an issue even parents had to step in, even to the extent of teachers taking time out of lessons to tell students that bullying is the same whether in person or online.

 I understand the importance of child independence and parents not thinking an issue as big as this can resonate through a tiny phone but at that age parents should be aware of what their child is doing in the online world for their own protection.

Bilton makes a very valid point as games or situations that give people hierarchal power can influence negative behaviour.

But really, it comes down to educating children at a young age about matters that will undoubtedly affect them.

 To check out this article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/28/fashion/clash-of-clans-makes-playground-battles-digital.html?_r=1&referrer%20http:/mobile.nytimes.com/2015/05/28/fashion/clash-of-clans-makes-playground-battles-digital.html?_r=0&r

[kabbagecat]

June 14th The Witcher 3.

The Witcher 3 has definitely been a highly talked-about game recently and has become very popular. But with popularity come controversy.

And this is no different from any other game, some people like it, some people don’t doesn’t necessarily have to be for a specific reason per say.

Austin walker is making point that The Witcher 3 doesn’t completely define Slavic mythology, but personally I feel like maybe he’s picking at the game too much. Games are unique for their originality and execution, that being said, I’ve been in plenty discussions were authenticity could make or break a game. You cant expect every little detail to be exactly as they were in real life in a fantasy game… where’s the fun in that?

I understand racism is a big issue in the news lately, but I don’t think it should be take to roughly with this game, Walker does make a point that Poland (which the country the dev was from) has an approximate 1.5 million minority and that the population is not completely Caucasian, but does it really matter? Just because there is no coloured people do that really change the output of the overall game?

Personally I feel like the colour of a characters skin doesn’t matter within gameplay, but their personality and portrayal have to match the feel of the game. However, we do have to keep in mind that character selection is important, is all about how the developers want their game to feel like in an overall view.

Walker’s last comment “It all feels like a desire for “the good old days””, is something to think about, “good old days” did seem simpler between race and countries but was it really?

I feel like some games give us the opportunity to forget about racism and just enjoy characters for how they are not for the colour of their skin. And maybe the gaming audience is jumping to conclusions a little too quickly.

 To read Austin Walker’s review:

http://www.giantbomb.com/profile/austin_walker/blog/on-the-witcher-3-race-and-historicity/110177/