USC School of Garden Arts

Christina Orcutt Class of 2017

[skydemoness]

GDC 2015

This year’s 2015 GDC was an interesting and learning experience.  This was my second time attending GDC.  The first time, I got an EXPO pass.  With the expo pass I only got to experience the expo floor and go to the numerous crazy parties every night of the week.  Being my first time there at the time, I was a bit overwhelmed at how big the conference was and what to do when I was there.  I felt I did not experience the full potential when I was there compared to my experience this year.  I think it also helped I relatively knew the layout and where to go to attend the things I was interested in unlike the first time.

This year at GDC I got an Audio pass because I was interested in learning more about sound in games.  I’ve always felt sound and music make a player have a better experience as well as enjoy the game a whole lot more.  Players get excited about certain sound effects as well as awesome music!  But who wouldn’t!  Humans in general are fascinated about audio.  Other than Audio talks, I went to a wide range of talks, some interesting and some not so much.  But then again it all depends on what fascinates you, plus if the speaker knows how to engage an audience.  While at the various talks, I took down notes on things I found interesting as well as things I did not know.  Maybe some of what I wanted to remember will be helpful to those reading.  

One of the audio talks I attended was the Audio Bungie talk where I was introduced to the term called ‘ducking.’  For those that don’t know, ducking is having other sounds shut up.  I learned that as a developer, you want to make sure you have occlusion and abstraction in your game.  To not have it, is super distracting to the player.  What I mean by occlusion and abstraction in your game is having certain audio sounds be at the appropriate decibel level depending on where the player’s character is in the game/what they are doing in the game to make it more believable/natural.  Sound developers do this by combining multiple parts to make a better realistic sound.  They layer the noise depending on where the player’s character is in relation to the thing giving off the noise.  One of the examples they used was a gun.  Far away the gun sounds like one distinct noise.  But as it moves closer while firing, more sounds the gun gives off, becomes noticeable.  Like the noise the release mechanism gives off.  Though when done correctly, the gun firing sounds natural if you have ever been exposed to a firing weapon.   Like models that have LOD(level of detail) depending on distance, sound has it as well.  Towards the end of their talk, they introduced different audio programs they use to achieve the desired effect such as WWise and FMOD as well as stressed how important it is for someone doing audio to know how to do programming for sound as there are usually about 2000+ lines of sound code for a decent size game.  And when doing programming for sound, to always keep your scripts separate so if it does break something, it can easily be debugged and you won’t get blamed for changing the code elsewhere.  

A talk that was not quite audio was the Google Lightning talk.  Lightning talks have multiple speakers who all had a limited time to share something.  I would highly suggest Lightning talks done by companies because they give you a lot of information in a short amount of time.  Plus, speakers are constantly switching which I believe keeps you more engaged/interested.  I know with today’s technology we are easily distracted or lose interest in something quickly.  Another thing, this talk encouraged me to go to other talks of theirs that went into more detail on different things that caught my interest.

One of the things I learned at this talk was about Google’s Project Tango.  A current project that lets our smart devices learn about the space we are inhabiting.  It uses the device’s camera to scan a room as well as it’s compass to figure out where you are in the space.  It can also build the world in a 3D version in your smart device, as well as recognize when you revisit the same area.  I already have many ideas on how I can use Project Tango for my own ideas and inspirations.  It is not quite available to the public yet, but Google is in the process of getting ready to release it.   

Another speaker at the Google talk had some good advice I believe everyone should remember even if they are already aware of it.  Just make sure you are applying whatever advice you deem important if you say ‘yeah yeah I know that, etc.’  I know many people who do not listen to good advice but claim otherwise.  This speaker(can’t remember his name) introduced me to a term called ‘Kitchen Sinking.’ Kitchen Sinking essentially means drowning your game in extra things to make your game seem more exciting, more fun.  For example, adding a variety of powerups thinking players will like your game more because of it.  This speaker said to step back from this and concentrate on the mechanics that change the way the player plays.  To keep it simple and see what attracts the player and wants them to play your game.  After this, slowly add in extra things like a power-up but don’t drown your game in it.  Make sure the add on things are not the main thing that attracts your players.  

Another thing he mentioned, was to not hold onto good ideas longer than you should because they do not mesh with what you are working on.  Sometimes you have to kill your darlings to move on to far better things.  If you keep holding onto things trying to get them to work because you think they are an awesome idea is only going to hold you back.  Plus, in addition to that, he said make sure to get your games out there, even if they are a work in progress.  The more feedback you have the better, but don’t spam people to play your games.  If you keep bothering someone to play your game, more than likely by the time they get around to trying it, they are going to feel some kind of annoyance about it which will hinder their feedback.  Always be professional about it and do not get upset or worried if they do not get around to it right away.  People are busy, be friendly and courteous and they will respect you that much more.  Also, he mentioned not to be too quick to reject bad comments.  He said to try to understand the reason behind their comment.  There is a reason why they felt the need to say whatever.  Who knows, it might be on some mechanic in the game that you as the developer just need to tweak to make it that much more enjoyable.

Other than the normal talks, I would suggest going to the hands on workshops GDC offers.  I went to one of the Google coding workshops where I learned how to make my Unity game be used for VR on the phones through the use of Google Cardboard.  They gave us a mini unity game project to download which they then walked us through the steps of setting the unity project to work for the Google Cardboard as well as getting it onto the device for testing.  I thought it was extremely helpful.  Plus, I apparently introduced what they called the Unity Pro Tip of the day where I had my unity screen turn red when I pushed play to test it.  Google employees where fascinated by my Unity UI turning red on testing.   

Hopefully this was helpful and interesting information I acquired while at GDC.  But definitely if you get the chance, you should visit GDC and experience it for yourself.  It has a lot to offer and everyone is looking for something different while they attend.  One last thing I will leave you with if you plan to visit GDC in the future, when on the EXPO floor be prepared to be handed multiple items of swag, especially T-shirtsI  I acquired about 15 T-shirts from the EXPO floor alone!  So make sure you have a way to carry them around.   And be friendly and open when talking to people on the EXPO floor, don’t instantly ask if they are hiring.  I saw many people doing this and certain companies instantly turned them down.  Seem interested in them first and let them ask you about yourself and what you are looking for.  You will make a lot more connections this way than instantly asking for a job/internship.  But yeah, be prepared for the swag, especially the T-shirts!  

[skydemoness]

Daring the Black Friday Sales in Los Angeles

Want to start off by hoping everyone had an awesome Thanksgiving weekend and ate lots of amazing food, inducing sleeping comas all around!  Not sure if you all are avid Black Friday shoppers or not but my family has been going Black Friday shopping for about 8 years now.  And it was my first time Black Friday shopping in Los Angeles, alone.  My number one goal, to get an Xbox one. 

Since I couldn't go back home to Connecticut for Thanksgiving, I decided to go shopping when the stores opened at 6pm on Thanksgiving.  Let me tell you,  I was a little worried about shopping in Los Angeles on Black Friday because of the shear amount of people that live in LA and all the horror stories you hear about Black Friday.  But it turned out fine.  Everyone was very polite and helpful and no fighting among consumers that I saw.

My first stop of course was a store that had a good deal on the Xbox one, Best Buy.  Instantly upon entering the store, people started splitting up and some even getting in line, forming the infamous hour long lines for Black Friday shopping.  But I could care less about the line because it was just part of the experience.  

Once I finally got to the isle with the games there was only two Xbox Ones left!  I instantly grabbed one, not looking to see if I grabbed the correct one, which I did not of course.  But I soon realized my mistake, and exchanged it for the correct one before it was grabbed thankfully.  After securing the correct one, I wanted to buy some additional games for the Xbox.  

Low and behold, about 5 different people came into the line looking for the Xbox One I had taken.  I had grabbed the last one for the special deal going on.  Three of those people asked nicely if they could have the one I was holding.  When they asked, I panicked for a moment thinking they were going to try to arm wrestle it from me.  But thankfully they did not and went on their merry way.  

Finally after acquiring all the additional items I wanted, it was time to stand in the never ending line, which surprisingly only took an hour and a half to stand in.  I think the longest line I stood in, was at the Best Buy in Wisconsin where the line took over three hours to get through.  Though after that experience, my mom and I usually had someone instantly go for the line but did not have that option this time around because I was by myself.  

In the end, I was a happy customer going home with my new Xbox One!  Hope the rest of you that dared the stores, got what they wanted! Sadly though, I have not opened my Xbox One yet because of final projects I have that are due during the first week of December for grad school.  But it is a nice incentive to work non-stop on my projects in hope to finish early so I can play that much sooner!  My Call of Duty Clan mates have been bugging me to buy the new xbox and play the new Call of Duty and they will be so excited when I can join them at the end of this week! 

[skydemoness]

Barbie Taking Credit For Other's Work

Recently I came across an interesting but disturbing article about the new Barbie book for kids, Barbie: I Can Be a Computer Engineer. Growing up as a little kid, I used to play Barbies with my sister and would usually enjoy myself.  Today, I know it is still a popular toy among little kids despite all the controversies about Barbie portraying an unhealthy body size.  One thing I did not realize was Barbie had it's own collection of books; but it doesn't surprise me because of how popular the icon is.  At first I thought from seeing the picture with the article, it was trying to encourage young girls that they too can pursue careers in programming but that was not the case.

The thing that disturbed me about the article was how the book was telling young girls that "Barbie can only contribute to the design of the game she's building," not the actual coding or anything.  "At the end of the book Barbie really does take all credit for the work that Steven and Brian do. She decides, without any actual coding experience, that "I guess I can be an engineer!"" (Barbie: I Can Be a Computer Engineer)  

I have to agree with the author of the article, Aja Romano that the entire book is a farce and a horrible way to tell girls how to pursue a career.    The author, Aja, has opened my eyes up to the other Barbie books in circulation and how more often than not, Barbie bribes or somehow gets by without actually doing any of the work.  It is appalling to think that young girls out there are reading these books and thinking it is okay to do these kind of things to get a career or anything in life.  

I hope that parents out there abstain from buying these Barbie books for their children and teaching the correct ways of how to go about getting a career and that it is through hard work and dedication to being a successful career woman or man.  Especially to not cut corners or take credit for other's people's work.

Reference:

http://www.dailydot.com/geek/barbie-engineer-book-girls-game-developers/

[skydemoness]

Sharing With Others

Over the course of many weeks, my Graduated 2017 Interactive Media and Games class was asked to do a skill sharing event where everyone teaches one other person something they do not necessarily know.  The assignment was given to us to learn more about the people in our class and to build bonds with each other.  You were able to participate in other skill sharing sessions if you wanted to learn what other people were teaching in addition to the one you were learning.

The skill I was being particularly taught was wood working and how to build a shelf.  Lishan was my teacher, and an awesome one at that! To start off I did not think it was going to be as time consuming as it turned out to be but it was a lot of fun!   I learned many things about the process of building and that you cannot just jump into it.  You need to plan out what you are going to do first.  

First, I sketched out a book shelf that I particularly wanted as well as the dimensions I was going to need.  Second, was figuring out everything I needed to build said shelf.  I never knew I needed these "L" shaped pieces known as 'Angle Irons' to support the various shelves.  I found that there are a lot of cheaply made ones as well as particularly ugly ones but they are vital to the support of the shelves.   

Next was buying the wood.  Trying to find nice looking wood, with a small amount of knots was not the easiest thing to do.  I felt like we looked at every piece of wood possible till we settled on what looked the best.  I also felt the selection here in Los Angeles is very limited compared to my home in Connecticut.  I believe it has to do with Los Angeles being a city; but whatever the case, it was quite frustrating when I go to a store that I know carries what I'm looking for and then show up to be disappointed because these stores are smaller with less selection.  Thus your item not always being available.   

In buying the wood, I thought I was going to need a thick strong piece of wood for the back of my book shelf.  But I was wrong.  Apparently the back is really only for decoration.  Yes, it can provide a little more support and stability but it is not necessarily.  The thing that actually supports the book shelf is the middle, top and bottom shelves with the two side pieces.  This is what keeps the shelf stable and strong.

This definitely opened my eyes to building future book shelves for my numerous books back home.  I was always looking for bookshelves with thick backs because I assumed they were better and thought the thin particle board ones were cheap and wouldn't last long. But now that my eyes have been opened, I can even build my own, rather than try to find one to suit my taste in furniture.

After gathering all the parts, the next step was painting and sanding when needed.  You actually need quite a few coats of paint because of the knots and variations in the wood.  Also keep in mind, when painting anything, make sure the place you are working can have air flowing through so the paint fumes don't make you sick.  I suffer from chemically induced asthma. Thus the more I am exposed to different fumes and chemicals the worst it gets so I usually have to wear a mask and make sure the place is well ventilated.  

Finally when everything was gathered and ready to go, it was time to build the actual shelf. Here I learned, you need a partner in crime when building large pieces of furniture to be able to hold things in place while drilling the nails/screws into their proper places.  It also helps to make sure things are properly lined up and stay that way when working with different tools.  Lishan's help was greatly appreciated during this part.

In the end; I learned a lot about how to build a proper bookshelf and can now build all the bookshelves I ever want and I want a lot!  I'm an avid reader and collect many books and plan to have a library like the one in the movie 'Beauty and Beast' in my future house.  This skill sharing assignment was a great way to learn about the other person in combination with learning how to do something fun!

I also participated in the prop building skill sharing where we worked as a team to build halloween costumes.  I went as Thor from the avengers and built my entire costume from scratch.  I had never built elaborate props before like the Thor Hammer that I built for this costume.  I had done sewing and small armor but never quite a fake weapon that looks relatively realistic.  All of our costumes turned out great and was a great learning process for next Halloween!  We have deiced to do this every year now; which is awesome!

[skydemoness]

Making An Environment Inviting With More Functionality

Every game has a backstory of sorts on where it started, but not every game has a compelling narrative environment.  But then again not every game needs one.  Sadly though, the majority of games that have narrative environments are not using them to their fullest potential.  

A key element to narrative environments are having interactive ones that serve a purpose of sorts.  The interactions do not always have to serve a purpose but as long as they are fun and entertaining your players will not complain.  The game Duke Nukem did an excellent job at making all the details of the setting interactive in some way.  Even the most random items were interactive, like the toilets which provided humorous interactions.  

Not everything of course has to be interactive like Duke Nukem, but as long the objects in your virtual world or even themed park worlds, like Disneyland, are adding to the narrative of the story or serving a purpose in leading you in some direction then it is fine.  You also do not want to get too caught up in adding an overload of non-interactive elements because your level/area of space can become cluttered/messy looking and more often than not; the objects will become overlooked.  

Plus it can also be a waste of time and resources but it is still important to put effort into the non-interactive items because the players will still pay some attention to it; especially if it is interesting enough.  Also adding these non-interactive elements can create a better image of where the player is in relation to the story of the game as well as make the environment feel more realistic and natural to the storyline.   

In creating these narrative environments, they need to be laid out in a way that progresses the story further and keeps the player moving toward a goal of sorts.  Thus, level design is interlaced with narrative environments because you do not want your player uncovering elements of the story in way that is does not make sense.  Through the use of color, light and placement of objects is what will lead your player through the space that makes sense.  But you need to make sure that the path does not feel forced.  

You want the player to feel they have the freedom to go where ever they want and be whoever they may be; resulting in many different plot lines being created so the story emerges as the player creates their own individual expereince based on where they decided to go.  This can make the process of building a game that much more complex, but by doing this it gives more freedom to the player and creates a much more interesting story.   It gives the player a feeling that they have control over their decisions similar to real life decisions. 

In addition to your interactive narrative environments, you want to make sure that your player will experience a place they could never go, as well as let the player be someone they could never be and lastly, let the players do things they could never do.   These three elements that Don Carson originally stated are what make the majority of games so enticing.  By combining these elements with an interactive narrative environment using good level design, will make the player experience that much more interesting and enthralling.  

[skydemoness]

Can't We All Just Get Along

Race has always been a touchy subject; more so for those who are victims of discrimination everyday.  No one has control over what color or ethnic background they are born into.  But many people are still caught up on the fact of the old ways where 'whites males' were considered above everyone else.

Discrimination comes from everywhere.  You see it in the media all the time as well as you see it in the upbringing of children from their parents.  Discrimination is all around us, no matter where you look; whether it be a female being declined a job because she is not male or a black man being arrested for no reason just for the fact he seems suspicious because he's "black."  But various amounts of people are being brought up on the notion that discrimination of race is acceptable which is the underlining cause in the first place.

I grew up in an open minded neighborhood.   The families in the neighborhood were and still are quite a diverse group.  And everyone seemed to get along from what I remembered.   Yeah we as kids would have our fights now and then but we would never exclude anyone or make fun of them for being a different race/color.  All of our families were excepting of the other families and brought us up on the notion of equality which I believe every family should instill in their children.  But the likely hood of that happening anytime soon is far in the future from my understanding of the world thus far.

Many families are extremely racist and discriminate against others all the time but that does not make it right.  Those families are not going to change just like that.  The best we can do now is to promote equality and being discriminate is wrong.  As long as we continue to do that and build followers, the world will change for the better.  

I don't believe we will be able to completely eradicate racism and discrimination from all types of media because it is a part of our history.  A fundamental belief is we learn from our mistakes which is why history is so important.  But as long as we do our best to display racism and discrimination being wrong at a young, people in general will grow up more open minded and less discriminate of others.

[skydemoness]

A TOPIC I DO NOT LIKE TO DISCUSS

Personally I do not like to talk about rape or really feminism in general.  It brings up bad memories and are extremely touchy topics in my family because my sister has had multiple incidents growing up of being a victim to these crimes.  And she just turned 21 this past September with incidents starting since Elementary school.  Thus this blog post is going to be more abstract on the topic at hand for class.

Though growing up as a girl I have always loved the items/activities classified as "male" and I never had an issue.  I never thought an asle in a store was for girls or boys specifically.  I just looked at it as the isle with the pink stuff has the dolls and the frilly things and the other isle was the fun adventurous isle.  I have also grown up having more guy friends than girl friends because of what I liked to do.  And I have never been in the situation where I was looked down upon for liking to go camping or playing fighting games or playing football etc.  I was always treated as an equal with the guys and was always picked first for teams because I was competitive and a valued player.  My guy friends look to me for real opinions and are open about their lives.  

Even when I started playing online video games I was not ridiculed because I was a girl or told to sit in a corner and let the 'guys' do everything.  I was a leading front of the team effort of what we were trying to accomplish.  I have always been respected in my experiences of playing video games.  I do not act stupid or try to attract attention like some girls do.  I act like I want to play and not joke around.  Yes, with friends we will joke around and have fun.  But we also have our serious sides to playing.  

I also notice my brother and his friends have the same type of environment I did growing up.  Both the boys and girls get along together and do all the same stuff together.  There is a good 10 of them evenly spread out.  Yes some branch out and do other personal things they enjoy but no one seems to ridicule the other for doing what they like.  They all seem very tolerant.  My brother with some of the other guys will play dolls with the girls and the the girls will play hot wheels and legos with the boys.  They do practically everything together.  My brother is about to turn 13 and will be entering high school next year.   

I do believe how you are raised will reflect on how you will react to your environment.  My parents let me have whatever interests I wanted to pursue and never told me I could not pursue anything.  I also believe being brought up on being open to change can also affect how someone perceives the world.  My parents would/will give their opinions on topics but will never try to make us choose a side.  They like to make sure we understand both sides of the story.  I believe my parents did a good job at raising my family and they are accepting of the fact of my sister being a lesbian.  

On a side note:  ARTICLES IN ALL CAPS IS IMMATURE.   IT IS RUDE AND CAN COME OFF AS OFFENSIVE!

[skydemoness]

Houthoff A Serious Game or Not?

Houthoff is a game played in real time.  Law firms looking to recruit new lawyers host a game interview essentially.  The various lawyers vying for the position are split into teams and each assigned the same task.  "They have 90 minutes to convince enough shareholders of the target company to sell their shares and to come up with solutions to hidden problems.  In this time they will be confronted with video & text chats, films, mails, news, websites, social media and more."  (youtube video)

I consider Houthoff to be a serious game because it teaches the 'potential lawyers' what the company is looking for in how it's employees work and the process they expect their employees to follow.  It also teach the 'potential lawyers' how to work as a team and figure out problems on the spot that happen within teams.  In the Designing Effective Serious Games: Opportunities and Challenges for Research it says "serious games represent an acknowledged potential for instruction, because they are able to strongly motivate learners.  They can also provide immersive environments where advanced users can practice knowledge and skills, also exploiting multimodal interaction."

Houthoff presents a competitive environment which motivates players on its own and since Houthoff is a learning game it motivates to learn fast and enough to solve the issues arising because the players only have 90minutes to solve tasks.  Houthoff is also immersive because the players are being fed different media to help them solve their task thus they have to delve in and discuss what is happening in order to convince the shareholders to sell their shares.  They have to use the knowledge as well as skills they already possess plus what they are learning through this game play experience in order to complete the task successfully and before the other lawyer teams.

Thus Houthoff is a serious game that is immersive by grouping lawyers into teams teaching these potenital lawyer's playing how to go about solving an issue that a law firm company could present.

Reference:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhNW4uV-hro

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwKRax83BB87NFItYXhZSmJGd00/view

[skydemoness]

Larping Paves the Way to a Better Imagination

Role-playing through larping is a powerful method of teaching.  It gets a person completely engrossed and wanting to learn more about the character and fantasy world they will be engaging in. By participating in a larp event, you become part of the creative and world building process enabling you to become a better storyteller and expand your imagination.  Jane McGonigal states that “Nordic Larp is a rare and vivid glimpse into a fascinating gaming tradition.  If anyone knows how to imagine better worlds and build a more engaging reality, it's larpers." 

To create a larp event, many hours go into the planning and building of a larp world.  None of it being paid for.  If it was a paid to play thing; I do not believe it would be as popular or as engaging as it could be.  In the Nordic Larp book it states, "the larping scene is driven by its love for the new and the experimental, its wish always to be pushing some boundaries.  This commitment to expert amateurism allows authors to realize their visions without compromises, freely tackling mature themes and adult content."  The larping community is created for players to relate to the fictional world from the first person perspective of a fictional character.  This being said it lets the imagination flow and not be constrained or weighed down by having to please others who are paying for the experience.  Larping is a complete volunteer activity that lets the imagination go to create fantastical experiences.

From planning a larp event, you find yourself part of the creation process of building a fictional world and creating boundaries and rules for said world.   It teaches you how different societies can potentially operate as well as what questions need to be asked when creating the world for a larp event.  "As these games can portray any world or society imaginable, they are a natural tool for studying questions such as what kind of a world is possible, what the world should or could be like – and what our world actually is like.  Larps are great at showing alternatives, both good and bad.  It is one thing to postulate an alternative society on paper; constructing and living in one is another thing entirely. The compelling experiences of both utopian and dystopian ideas that such simulations offer are why larp lends itself so easily to critical play." (Nordic Larp) 

In order to become a great storyteller you need to be able to explain a world that the reader/listener would want to engage in and become a part of the reality of the story.  If you can get one person to become completely engrossed in your story you are on the path to creating engaging and exciting worlds that lets any lister/reader become lost in the fictional world.  Thus, the larping community is a great outlet for formulating ideas and figuring out what exactly needs to be asked when creating a world different from our own.  

Each larping event is never quite the same.  Each one takes their own path to create new and exciting endings that everyone is a part of and can contribute to, to make it that much more believable.  Larpers will stay in character in the play area for the entire event; and sometimes even offset to make sure they don't lose the fictional character they are portraying.  It lets others partake in a role they may not necessarily take in real life just so they can better understand what the character would be feeling and going through which could then even be related to people you know in real life.  This then lets you have a better understanding of their though process.  

By taking on different character roles in larping, it gives authors a great point of reference for creating different personalities and profiles for their fictional characters.  It lets the author portray the character in a more believable manner to the audience, hence the audience becoming more immersed in the fictional world the author creates.  

I believe larping should become the norm for a child growing up because it will expand their imagination and I believe will let the child become more excepting of different societies and races.  It will also teach the child the importance of networking and the building of a community.  "Nordic countries have a long history of self-organized youth and young adult clubs and societies, which both influenced the content of the games and provided organizational structure to the larping events." (Nordic Larp)  If we can adopt the Nordic countries larping structure around the world; I believe the world would become a better place as well as to expand our imagination for the better.

  Reference:

Nordic Larp by: Jaakko Stenros and Markus Montola

[skydemoness]

Diversity in Games Helping to Change Social Standpoint

In Rise of the Zinesters I was a bit confused as to what the author was trying to get across in the beginning because I believed she was not quite understanding the video game market and why it has produced the games it has.  But as she went along, her ideas became more profound and understandable.  

At first I thought she was just wanting games that had female dykes for main characters and was an extreme feminist but then I came to understand she was wanting more diversity in the game industry.  Yes, the majority of major games are made with male antagonists and females playing the lesser submissive roles because that is what the main target marketing audience likes and is popular.  When you are in an industry, you need to make sure what ever you are marketing, is going to make you a profit.  Otherwise all your hard work goes down the drain and you are losing money.  And in today's economy you cannot really afford to lose money.

I believe the main author was not quite grasping this core marketing aspect that has been going on in the game industry since the beginning.  Yes, I agree games should have more diversity in them, especially the AAA games but the people who spend the most money on those like to have the male antagonist players.  Thus, of course you want to market your game to your major consumers likes if you want to make a profit.  I do not agree with her statement, "The problem with video games is that they're created by a small, insular group of people. Digital games come from within a single culture...The audiences in question are mostly young adults, and mostly male.  And it's these dudes, already entrenched in the existing culture of games, who are eventually driven to enter the game industry and to take part in the creation of games.  The population who creates games becomes more and more insular and homogeneous; it's the same small group of people who are creating the same games for themselves."  

I know there have been other creative ideas for games in the past that haven't come through because they cannot get the funding for the game.  This being the investors do not see it as profitable like the games that are typically made with said 'male antagonist' or just aren't interesting enough to draw enough of an audience for the investors to make a profit worth their time.  

As a marketer or investor you need to think of who are your consumers and what do they like because if you cannot get them to like what you are selling you cannot make a profit.  Also, the author did not seem to take into account that only in recent years have people become more outgoing in what they prefer sexual wise and it becoming sociably acceptable.  You need to look at market trends as well as what is going in the world to be able to create things people will invest their time and money in.  Also if you look at feminism, it is still a major problem around the world and it is still slowly emerging to have woman stand on equal ground as men in all aspects.  And by going by contrary belief, guys are more outgoing to the fact of announcing they enjoy playing video games, while girls have hidden, more often than not, the fact of enjoying video games because of how society views woman should act and such.  

Currently we are on an evolutionary path toward women becoming more outgoing in what they want and like; which is amazing.  It means people are not hiding their secret likes and dislikes from the public as much as they used to and it is becoming more accepting on a social standpoint.  People are able to state their opinions more freely than they were able to more than fifty years ago.

I do believe that today's game market has started to change from it's past through Indie developers.  It lets people around the world come up with unique and original ideas not necessarily seen in a AAA game.  In the article, the author mentions all the new tools like, 'Game Maker', becoming available to the public making it easier for people to let their voice out and create fun and unique games that would not necessarily be released on a large scale.  I strongly believe this is great in letting people express who they are and what they want to share with the world about themselves.  The advancing technology of today is making it much easier for people of all different backgrounds to create things that would appeal to people of their thought level.  It lets people bond easier and is helping the world slowly change for the better in terms of people of all different backgrounds starting to stand on equal grounds.

[skydemoness]

Applying Strategy in Presenting Oneself to Others

"When an individual enters the presence of others, they commonly seek to acquire information about him or to bring into play information about him already possessed." -Goffman  This is constantly present when competitive players enter the playing field of a game.  It is especially true, when a game requires strategic skill to out do the other player(s) such through the means of confusing, misleading the player, antagonizing, insulting, etc., essentially putting on an act.  The players who are truly competitive will calculate and observe their opponents because it is within his or her interests to control the conduct of other player(s), especially their responsive play toward him or her.

The competitive player will often put on an act of sorts, a bluff as to who he or she is and how they wish the other player(s) to think of them and how they perceive them.  In Goffman's The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life  he states, "He may wish them to think highly of him, or to think that he thinks highly of them or to perceive how in fact he feels toward them, or to obtain no clear-cut impression; he may wish to ensure sufficient harmony so that the interaction can be sustained, or to defraud, get rid of, confuse, mislead, antagonize or insult them.  Regardless of the particular objective which the individual has in mind and of his motive for having this objective, it will be in his interests to control the conduct of the others, especially their responsive treatment of him."  Goffman relates this to everyday life in how people put forth what they want others to see, but I believe this is true for any competitive player in games.  

In order to be successful in a game such as poker, the players need to be able to bluff when they don't necessarily have the best of hands.  This way they can string along other players possibly who have worst hands or even better but believe they can get those players to fold at the last possible second thus enabling the bluffing player to win all the money being gambled.  This relates back to putting on an act to control the conduct of the other player(s).  In order to make a successful bluff, Ashley Adams states "there are six general matters the player needs to consider whether or not to bluff: your opponents, your image, the betting history of the hand, your position, the strength of your hand, and the size of the bet."  By accounting for all of these and the player's ability to act and deceive, the bluffing player can potentially win the most rounds aka the most money.  

In any strategic game, the players want to deceive their competitors into thinking they are doing something else in order to mislead them and play into their hands.  This goes back to Goffman's quote at the beginning, where individuals commonly seek information about others when they enter another's presence.  In order to play strategic games, the players do not want to give away how they plan to play or deceive their competitors.  They only give the necessarily information along with what they want the competitor to think.  But in order to master a strategic game, the player needs to be able to calculate all the possibilities relatively quickly and read their opponent in figuring out what they are going to play or figure out how to get their opponent to play a certain way making it easier to predict the outcome and determining your best point of action.  The player also does not want the other player(s) to easily be able to predict their moves, so it is in their best interest to not always adopt the same strategy.  Nick Bentley writes an interesting article titled: How to Jedi Master Any Strategy Game which goes into more detail on how to go about winning a strategic game.  Which I highly suggest reading as a starter if you as a player are interested at becoming a great strategy game player.  But once you as a player understand the basic mechanics of strategy games, you can then apply them to almost any strategy game and succeed more often than not. 

To become a great strategy game player; you as a player need to be always somewhat on guard when entering a playing field in order to deceive your opponents into thinking you are not playing as you seem.  You need to be able to gather as much information on your opponent(s) as well as deceive them into thinking what you want them to think.  You as a player, need to be able to quickly and effectively come up with every possible outcome and be able to counter it. And if per say you make a blunder be able to quickly recover.  Thus apply what Goffman's talks about in The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life to your strategic game play and you as a player shall go far.  

Reference:

Goffman - The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life

http://www.pokerology.com/lessons/bluffing-in-poker/

http://www.boardgamestrategies.com/blog/how-to-win-strategy-game/

[skydemoness]

Making the World Better Through Narrative

Everything has a narrative of sorts or a back story to go along with it.  If the mind cannot guess right away from what it is viewing it will come up with it's own narrative to make sense of what it is seeing.  Everything has a story whether it is interesting or not.  You can always learn something from any type of tale, but it is up to you to identify what to learn.

In the Bruner Narrative Construction reading, it states: "For to be worth telling, a tale must be about how an implicit canonical script has been breached, violated, or deviated from in a manner to do violence to what Hayden White calls the "legitimacy" of the canonical script."  I disagree with  White's consensus on when a tale is worth telling.  Yes the tales that do not deviate from say plain daily life, will not be as interesting from those that have a character do something unexpected and different.  But not all tales have to be interesting, some can be boring and plain but they can teach a lesson or show children for example how things should be done.  For example:  you show a tale where someone looks both ways before crossing the street and then crosses safely.  This shows a child how to cross a street.  Yes it could be more interesting if you show that and then show someone who did not and gets hit by a car.  But that is not always needed to tell a tale or teach someone something through story telling or a narrative.   

When someone tells a story, they usually want to attract their audience in someway through a shock value, whether it be happy, devastating, strange, etc.  This makes the narrative more interesting and grabs an audience's attention because they will start to wonder and speculate as to what will happen next.  If the audience's attention is grabbed, they will usually continue to listen more to the story to find out if their predictions are correct or they just want to know what happens next.  

But when teaching how to do something, say in a classroom, the narrative that is being told will not necessary have the attention grabber usually used in the entertainment world of cinema.  Growing up, almost everyone has had a class they thought to be dull and uninteresting but had to pay attention if they wanted to pass the test.  This was for the fact, the teacher used plain narratives to explain how to do something.  But the teacher was still able to through to their students despite the tale not having been 'breached, violated, or deviated from in a manner to do violence.'

Narratives will always be more exciting if they are how White describes when they should be told.  But White is wrong in the fact a tale is not always worth telling because you can always learn something from an uninteresting narrative.  

Another point I wanted to bring up, is from the reading, Game Design as Narrative Architecture by Henry Jenkins.  The author goes into describing how story is not always needed to have a successful game.  I would have to agree with him, because I believe story is an added mechanic per say to make the game seem more interesting or to make the player possibly relate to the game better.  

Having a story of sorts represented through the environment the character is interacting in, will make it more interesting and can possible help the player better understand the character they are playing.  On the other hand, a simple game like 'Piano Tiles,' doesn't need a narrative to make the game interesting and fun.  It is all about getting the most black tiles in a row without pressing any white.  

Story can hurt or help a game.  If done right and in the correct context, the game can become amazingly fun and make the player feel like they've stepped into a fantasy world.  This is where White's notion on when to tell a tale would be pertinent.  People who play games with a story telling aspect want interesting stores, ones that are 'breached, violated, or deviated from in a manner to do violence.'  Those who play games, play games to usually escape reality.  And more often than not, want something they wouldn't necessarily hear or see.  If you insert a narrative that is boring and plain into a game, it is highly unlikely your game will attract a lot of players and become highly successful.  But by inserting a narrative that has a 'shock' factor in the correct context of a game, will make a game that much more exciting and fun to play.

[skydemoness]

Escaping the Reality Through Play

Playing is accepted everywhere, whether it be animals or human beings or other living creatures.  By participating in play, it enables others to form bonds, to relieve stress and to escape the demands from reality for a little while.  "In culture we find play as a given magnitude existing before culture itself existed, accompanying it and pervading it from the earliest beginnings right up to the phase of civilizations we are now living in.  We find play present everywhere as a well-defined quality of action which is different from "ordinary" life."  I thought this quote from Salen and Zimmerman's book, The Game Design Reader: A Rules of PLay Anthologyl interesting, as I never really thought about playing always being present; but it makes sense.  If you look back to the earliest part of our existence, there was some form of play involved as it helps to create bonds, which helps to find friends or mates.

In the article, “Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight,” the couple had gone to Bali but upon arrival no one really seemed to notice them or to even try to notice them.  It was not until they ran like all the other villagers when the police showed up and pretended to be doing something else with another person of the village; that they were truly accepted into the village.   The couple could of just stood there and showed their papers and said they were outsiders observing but for the fact that they fled like the rest, they participated in the play and did not out anyone in the village.  Thus, they formed a bond.

It is the same with animals; especially young ones.  They want to play and make friends; to be accepted by others.  They have their own rituals and rules that seem to be instinctual when it comes to play just like how humans develop rules for the games they play.   Everyone wants to have fun; especially to have fun with others as it is that much more enjoyable.  

Roger Caillois stated, "play must be defined as a free and voluntary activity, a source of joy and amusement.  A game which one would be forced to play would at once cease being play.  It would become constraint, drudgery from which one would strive to be freed.  As an obligation or simply an order, it would lose one of its basic characteristics: the fact that the player devoted himself spontaneously to the game, of his free will and for his pleasure, each time completely free to choose retreat, silence, meditation, idle solitude, or creative activity.  It happens only when the players have a desire to play, and play the most absorbing, exhausting game in order to find diversion, escape from responsibility and routine."  I believe Roger did an excellent job on defining the meaning of play.  You must willing participate in play as not all types of play will be enjoyable to everyone.   But by participating in play freely, this is when others come together and find enjoyment and will more than likely seek each other out to participate in play again, thus forming a bond.  This is exactly what happened to the couple in Bali.

I believe play to be essential in life, otherwise life would be lonely and tiresome.  Play is rooted in our DNA because play is used to form bonds with friends and mates.  Finding a mate is embedded in our DNA as our species strives to live on and in order to do that reproduction is required.  In order to find a mate you like and get along with, you need to participate in a type of play to find out if you want to be bonded with them.   It is the same with friends.  You find out who you want to be friends with by participating in a type of play.  No one wants to be alone or bored.  By participating in play of our own free will, we find enjoyment and make lifelong bonds so we can be happy and healthy.  Hence going back to what was said in Salen and Zimmerman's book, play has existed before culture existed.

[skydemoness]

Space, The Final Frontier

Recently I attended my first class of graduate school and one of my favorite topics was brought up, Space.  I love that space was brought up in the lecture, despite it being a bit overwhelming for people.  I am personally fascinated with space and the different theories on space in particular.  It does not scare me.  My belief is that we are not the only intelligent lifeform out there.  If there is intelligent life forms already traveling space, there is probably some system set up where we as humans will not necessarily find them until we can prove we can travel the universe. These higher intelligent lifeforms probably use some form of cloaking device that we cannot detect as the technology has yet to be developed.   

My favorite space theory would be the one on multiple universes.  It gives us that many more places to explore and experience.  Just trying to think about how you could possibly get there, fascinates me to no end.  I love reading about fictional worlds different from our own and I believe if we could travel to another planet it would be like living out one of our fictional worlds humans have created throughout the years through different mediums.  

Traveling and exploring new places is one of my favorite pastimes.  If the option to ever sign up for deep space occurs in my lifetime, I will sign up no matter what is happening in my life.  I am curious though to learn more about game environments and creating interesting places for characters to explore and play in.  With our current technology, it is our way of traveling new worlds until we can physically travel other new worlds outside of our solar system.  Thus, I really hope we will have a lecture that discusses something to do with either environments, travel, cities, discovery, etc.  This way I will hopefully be able to expand my knowledge further to be able to create better exciting and immersive worlds for players to experience. 

Here's a link to an article on the multiverse theory:

http://www.space.com/25100-multiverse-cosmic-inflation-gravitational-waves.html