#mark chen

[kevinxlopez]

Mark Chen June, 2015 Oakland, CA

[foxnewsbyjk]

Presidential Primary Debate of 2016 Recap

by Kaiji Obras and Jennifer Nguyen

The primary Presidential debate for the 2016 Elections took place Tuesday, December 1st and aired live on National Television at 1:35pm PT.

This past week, we witnessed five of the most qualified presidential candidates battle it out over their takes on many issues like immigration, unemployment, and education. This debate took place in south-eastern Washington, at Richland High School - Home of the Bombers and was hosted by a series of representatives from different interest groups.

The candidates were first asked why they are most qualified to be the next leader of our country.

Storm took the stage, first addressing the issues with liberal media and the recent attacks set on him by a liberal media group - leaking a minor scandal regarding his personal life and a “bunker” he owns in Wyoming. Tarksyn attempts to keep the focus on Storm’s personal life but Storm professionally replies “I’m paying my taxes” and moves the conversation back to real issues, showing supporters his commitment to the people and the dedication he has for solving these national issues.

Rep. Candidates John Storm (left) and James Tarksyn (right) at the debate.

John Storm made a very strong point in his argument when he pointed out that he came from the lower class and worked his way up to where he is now. Storm made it evident that the American Dream can be pursued by anyone under his presidency.

Republican candidate James Tarskyn made strong assertions that his business expertise will boost the U.S. economy by creating job opportunities for everyone. Both conservatives expressed how their plans can be beneficial to our country, but Storm seemed to have an edge over Tarskyn. Tarksyn used up his rebuttal time, showing the firm ground he stands on certain issues and that he will speak to what he thinks is right and best for the American people without hesitant.

With education being a small portion of the national budget, every dollar counts. The current state of the education system is obviously flawed and has much room for improvement. When Tarskyn was asked to speak on the most effective way to assess student learning, he expressed, “We need to stop those bureaucrats in D.C. from reaching into our education and teaching us how to teach our kids. Only people at the local level know how to provide the best education for them”.

Similar to Tarskyn’s approach was Storm’s, who said “we need specialized experts at the local level to assess our kids.” Green Party candidate Mark Chen, who has experience in public education posed the question, “Should we even be assessing our children?” We were all taken aback his comment, considering the fact that Chen was one of the only candidates who has ever worked in public education.

President Obama has dealt with unemployment fairly well over his past couple of terms by cutting the rate in half from 10% to 5%. Tarskyn states that reduction of taxes and business regulation will help with the national unemployment rate and is the only way to increase national productivity. Storm had a similar response to the prompt, while adding some particular insight as to why we should be lifting taxes from small businesses.

[foxnewsbyjk]

TAKING A STAND? Third-party candidate Mark Chen is found swimming with dolphins after freeing them from SeaWorld

Mark Chen takes a dip in the Atlantic.

Green Party Candidate, Mark Chen was spotted by a local surfer along the coast of Florida swimming with a group of dolphins.

Struck by this surprise, locals hanging out at the Daytona Beach immediately grabbed their children out of the water while teens and parents alike whipped out their camera phones to snap a picture of this phenomenon.

Luckily, one of our employees here at Fox were on vacation and happened to be in the area during the incident. After hearing about this, Kaiji Obras planned an interview with Mark Chen and his campaign managers later that day.

In the interview, we learned about Chen’s love for the ocean and his based around protecting it. “I learned how to swim the moment I was conceived” Chen says, when asked about his connection with aquatic wildlife.

We learned that aside from teaching students at his middle school, he enjoys his saturdays teaching the senior water aerobics class at the Medgar Evers pool, and aquarium safety class. Mark Chen spoke on the issue of SeaWorld and why he released one of their biggest money making instruments.

“SeaWorld is the product of falling into ‘the trap’” he said, “we humans are so used to a day to day existence that we don’t realize how out of touch we are with our environment and surroundings. We get too attached to our human habits and don’t realize how much we are hurting the world around us. People are too afraid to take a stand for the animals and workers who have been abused. The SeaWorld business has been kept alive for way too long and it’s time someone took a stand for the animals.”

Chen feels a deep love for these animals and says that he expects to “share this love with the American people if they just give me (Chen) the chance.”

[thingsidoeachday]

5/10/13 – Friday – NYC

Take a break from reading Hilarity Ensues (book).

Began reading The Great Gatsby (book).

Night out.

Arrive in the Meatpacking District at 10:10 PM.

Go to Le Bain.

Skip the line to get in.

Mercer comes.

Get a girl’s number.

Meet two Asian pick up dudes. One them (Mark Chen) is cool and we exchange contact information.

Girl from high school, who used to teased me, is there. I get a little nervous talking to her and she quickly runs away, after initially coming up and saying hi.

Make out with some girl.

It’s 2:10 AM. Mercer leaves and Henry arrives at the same time.

Make out with a girl after she makes out with her gay friend. Then I get dared to kiss the gay friend on the cheek and I do it.

Leave with Henry, who brings home a Russian girl.

Home at 4:30 AM. Sleep at 5:40 AM.

[nerdami]

I think Mark Chen wants to be in a band with me!

Big Fucking Deal trust.

[hermancocain-blog]

i really like pot

sum vacay

[marcuscarter-blog]

Communication, Coordination, Camaraderie and Corporations

Today I read "Communication, Coordination and Camaraderie in World of Warcraft" by Mark 'Danger' Chen, a paper published in Games and Culture adapted from Chapter 2 of his thesis. I had some immediate thoughts I wanted to write down and share, specifically comparisons between Mark's World of Warcraft Guild experiences and my experience with nullsec EVE Corporations. 

Summary

Mark's paper attempts to describe the social practices of his WoW raiding guild in 2006 (pre Burning Crusade). He does this by contrasting a successful night (where social practices were successful) and a unsuccessful night (where his raiding group got wiped). My understanding of what Mark was trying to get at with this article is that the strong sense of group membership was the dominant incentive for cooperation. This is as an alternative to the traditional notion that video games provide a mechanics based incentive (40 player raids ect) for cooperation. 

Immediate Thoughts

Any article which, in any capacity, contains the phrase 'I feel sexy' is clearly an outstanding piece of academia. I'm going to drop a few quotes. 

Mark discusses a pre-raid chat between rouges. FR is fire resistance. (p. 56) 

Rebecca: What's everyone's best unbuffed FR?  Rita: 137. Thoguht: I feel lame.  Roger: 92. Thoguht: I feel cool! Rita: I feel sexy!

Mark uses this to show the light atmosphere in his guilds chat. Also,

It is also easy to see that we felt beholden to our fellow adventurers in a way that falls outside of normal game theory incentives and consequences. (p. 56)

With this, I disagree. While I agree with Mark that WoW play falls beyond basic game theory, the 'light atmosphere' is a product of the game culture that Taylor discusses in Play Between Worlds. I've been in more serious guilds that haven't displayed such camaraderie as Mark's raiding group, but the types of language and attitudes used by a guild are reflective of the GM, the members and the guilds objectives. Importantly though, i've observed this kind of discussion in temporary parties without the type of group membership that would develop after months of playing together. 

the individuals in those groups valued raiding as a means to an end rather than the end itself (p. 70)

Bam! Hit it right on the head here Mark. Guilds/Corporations/Clans that exist for the purpose of using each other to increase their characters numbers never last as long as communities with whom the first and foremost desire to join is to have more fun while playing. 

Comparisons to EVE

In EVE, Guilds are known as Corporations and can be vastly larger than WoW guilds. In nullsec (I would draw equivalence between nullsec in EVE and raiding in WoW as endgame content) most Corporations are then part of larger Alliances with thousands of members. I've witnessed the same camaraderie and light heartedness that Mark discusses before, during and after terrible nights. Phrases like 'Test Alliance Best Alliance' and friendly rivalry between Corporation squads are the bread and butter of my EVE online enjoyment. 'Wipes' in EVE have much worse consequences than in WoW; if your ship is destroyed you have to buy another ship. Fortunately, the cost of this isn't too dire for nullsec players and the motto of 'don't fly what you can't afford to lose' diminishes the consequences. 

I think i'll keep an eye out for examples from the Corp forums after our next terrible fleet battle.  

I've probably written somewhere that many aspects of EVE are a game of trust, but the sense of the word as Mark uses it is interesting. My understanding is that trust in this context is a social norm that other players are doing their part in the group which eliminates the game theory problem of players who are free riding. 

This becomes difficult to compare to EVE. Fleet battles to protect Corp territory is for many players 95% of their game. The benefit they get out of participating in these 'high-end encounters' is in the experience. For these players, fleet battles are the end rather than a means to an end. The free loaders in these situations are those members who use the Corporation territory for trading/mining/npc fights. However these players are performing a vital function in that Corporations economy. You don't need trust in EVE because those with whom you play with and rely on get no benefit from giving a lackluster performance. The players trust is in the game mechanics. 

I hope to come back to this with reflections on how my Corporation discusses and approaches poor performance. 

I did this as an exercise to make sure I fully understand the article I read. Unfortunately, tumblr doesn't have a commenting facility (seriously?) so if you have any comments please email me at [email protected].