Jenkins, H. “Convergence? I Diverge.” Technology Review
Yee, N. The Psychology of MMORPGs: Emotional Investment, Motivations, Relationship Formation, and Problematic Usage. Social Life of Avatars II.
Hejdenberg, The Psychology Behind Games
Donath, J., Identity and Deception in the Virtual CommunitiesBruckman, A. Gender Swapping on the Internet
and in the online reserves: Salen and Zimmerman, Rules of Play
34 comments:
Yesterday, Wanda talked about the empathy and flow in games. I noticed these being played out in Gaia when i tried it out earlier this week.
I took the liberty to explore numerous towns with my avatar. Most all the people I met were tweens and younger teenagers. There was a character in particular who was chatting about his tough situation with his family and his girlfriend. Apparently his girlfriend got too busy for him and his Dad was abusing him.
This was a great opportunity to encourage him. Not too many people I know would go and fill out the paper work for professional counseling. But playing a game and getting encouraged at the same time is a good deal. This just shows another way MMOGs can be very helpful in terms of flow and empathy.
I ended up reading Nicholas Yee's paper on The Psychology of MMORPG's and suprised that only a quarter of the people on are really the teenager sterotype. In addition, i find how some people online prefer their online friends over their real world frined in the sense of trust. for the most part, people play in these fantasy worlds as an escape which everyday people could not normally do. Within these enviroments people connect better and do prefer the "epic" quest which in human nature leads to better bonding with fellow players such as clans or gulids. overall, i found this article a eye openner that not only teenagers play MMO's but a wide varaity of people as well.
since in this class we are supposed to participate in an online game I have been trying to play WOW. I created a trial account.
after setting up this account I find out that this version of the trial is unavailable until the next update they do. the other version of the trial keeps crashing my computer.
WOW looks like a good game but this is not how a trial should go to keep someone wanting to play the game.
I read the paper on gender swapping on the internet. I found the article to be interesting as I have yet to impersonate a female on the internet. I have also found while playing games that if you profess to being a "noob", although some people will type obscenities at you followed by something along the lines of "quit playing", some other people will go out of their way to help you get started.
I once found myself in the position of the "pro" helping the "noob", and although my act of kindness seemed out of goodwill, I found it curiously empowering to help the little "noob".
I came to realize that kindness on games in general is just another way to "flex your muscles".
I played "Sorry" , the board game, if you don't remember how to play this is a general idea of how it goes. There are 4 different colors and they are each competing to get to their " home area" ( so they are starting at the opposite ends of the board according to their color). So to move across the board you draw from a deck of cards with various numbers on them to indicate how far to go, and if you are unlucky and get a "sorry" card you go back to the start. And the objective is to get home first.
It was pretty weird, i thought that i was all grown up and like big man now but going back to those games really brought out the kid in me, and it was pretty intense, when i got a sorry i was pretty unhappy and an internal desire to get back and win took over. That is a great sign because this implies replayability which is good for a game. All in all it was a really positive and nostalgic game, it really took me back to elementary school and its pretty entertaining for a piece of painted cardboard, pawns and cards.
So this past week i have been playing the game "Warhammer Online". This game is a newer MMORPG which interested me because of the more PVP involved in it. For right now Warhammer is just concentrating on the PVP aspects of it, instead of the trade skills. But in Warhammer PVP doesnt exist, instead its called Realm vs Realm.
Realm vs Realm is the concept which intrigued me the most. Who needs factions? (Horde - Alliance) Warhammer focuses more on the Good Vs Evil Side. Dwarfs vs. Greenskins, Empire vs. Chaos, and High Elves vs. Dark Elves. There are only two races per pairings but players are able to travel to different worlds to play with friends or help allies.
It is this reason why I tried out Warhammer online, and also along with public quests, the Tome of Knowledge, and open groups. However....
Its no WOW.
I read the Bruckman article about gender-swapping and identity online. I decided to test some of the ideas in this article for my own. I made a female avatar in Cabal Online (an MMO), as well as Runescape. Not much interesting has occurred yet, with one exception...
I was playing Cabal as my female avatar. I was standing in the middle of a town square and this "guy" came up to me and took his armor off (all he had on). It could have been chance, but I kind of doubt it. I never found out his intentions since he spoke Vietnamese (I think).
I'm going to continue my experiment a bit longer. I don't think much is going to happen in Runescape, but I may be surprised.
One other note about the female Cabal avatars: there isn't a lot of customization that one can do (same with the male ones), and you are pretty much stuck with a very small range of options. The avatars are rather uniform, looking for the most part like an "idealized" female model, from a purely shallow perspective. Frankly, I felt a bit uncomfortable walking around in this thing - more so than my female Runescape avatar, which is comparatively modest.
Gender swapping eh? Am I the only one who's played a female character? I'm a visual kind of guy when it comes to games. And I find some female characters outfits/armors very well designed. Do I play a female character to impersonate a female? Get good starter items? Nope. I play that female character because the design of that character can make the gameplay that much more visually stimulating (Haha.. grow up).
The genderswapping article was a very interesting read for me because those issues never really caught my attention. It was heard of that female characters were being "showered with money" and obligated to 'return the favor' but I never believed it to be that prevalent. Whenever I played my female character on Guild Wars, there were never any issues like this.. ever. Which is why it surprises me so much.
After reading the article on gender swapping. Which was very interesting to me because I had always thought it was strange to play an opposite gender character. I thought I'd try it out on a couple of different online games to see how it would work out. I played Dizzywood, Second Life, and WOW as a female character. I had previously thought that being a female character in a game wouldn't really be a big change however I was able to notice differences in my interactions. In Second Life I experienced a lot more people attempting to start conversations as well as take me around the world. As a male character I was practically unable to get help in getting to know the game. I also found it odd being a character of the opposite gender, and cant really understand how people can do it with all their characters.
I read the article titled "Identity and Deception in the Virtual Communities" and the section titled "Models of honesty and deception" covered some interesting material.
Specifically, there are two types of signals that one gives: Assessment signals and Conventional signals. According to the definition, Assessment signals are basically like the traits of your avatar or in the real world, an example is of the big horns on a stag representing its strength. This gave me a laugh because there are many ways to intentionally or even accidentally use such a signal to cause deception in a virtual world or MMORPG.
A couple of days ago, I was playing Cabal and I had started a new character. Since this one is my third, I have a good understanding of the game and plenty of resources from which to develop my character quickly. So at around level 100, I was just in the biggest newbie grinding point so I could get my Magic skill rank up. I was wearing my 'adept' set which basically consists of some of the lowest grade armor and weapons that are visibly shown on your avatar. Anyways, so I'm just minding my business and then this guy walks by and sends me a PVP Duel request. I'm pretty sure he's thinking I'm some kind of newb because of my gear. And from what I can tell, he has a pretty decent set of gear and is definitely higher level than I am.
However, when it comes to the actual duel, I annihilate him. It wasn't even a close match. He comes back saying "WTF!?" and giving excuses like "Lag" for his loss. We duel a few more times and it's the same result every time. Eventually he had enough and I went back to what I was originally doing.
In another instance, I was partied up with 'Zygoat' before the said duel incident when I was a much lower level. We were just minding our business when a couple of other guys misinterpreted my power and game experience by seeing me in the same 'adept' set. They probably got annoyed that we were in the same leveling area as them so they both decided to engage PK on me. So 2v1.. I'm just sitting there taking hits from a couple of newbs, barely affected by their attempts. I respond with my own barrage of skills which causes one of them to get annihilated and the other to just run away. Although not intentional, I can really see the fun in intentionally misleading others with such 'Assessment' signals by keeping this adept set when I'm much higher level and walking around to encourage the inexperienced to think they can take me on.
I decided to read The Psychology Behind Games. Before I started reading this article I had know idea how much thought was put into what we are suppose to get out of a game. I just thought if you win you feel good and if you lose oh well. Once I started reading this I learned that games are built to give us pleasure without us even knowing it. Some ways we achieve pleasure in games are by developing skills to beat opponents, reducing the amount of chance in a game and creating alternative lives in virtual worlds. Games also make it easy to achieve pleasure because they have a set of rules you follow, its easy to gain control over things and we can get constant feedback on our progress. Next time I play a game wether it be a video game or not I'm going to start paying closer attention to the details that make you achieve pleasure so I can use those tips to help out with project we have started!
Last week I tried out second life. I did not like it at all. I found that there wasnt really that much to do besides fly and walk around. After reading the psychology of games, I can understand the need to create a game that people will be interested in.
They made a statement in the article about how if a games rules are too complicated then people will not want to play it. I tested out this theory by playing second life and I was very distracted by anything else in the room. I can understand wanting to play it i guess but its just not my thing.
I've seen hell, and it was blue. Megaman 9, Capcom's latest installment in the never ending franchise was recently released for the PSN, XBL, and Wii Market Place. In an attempt to reach out to it's fans Capcom has started from the beginning. With blips and bleeps Megaman 9 is true homage to its NES roots. With 8-bit graphics and bland menu screens this installment brings massive nostalgia to all who play. Along with its graphics and music Capcom has even gone as far as to include screen flicker to make it feel more like the original NES title we once loved.
Don't let this game's cute retro look fool you though this game is tough. Copying its first few installments you have two abilities to start out with, Jump and shoot. That's it, nothing else, no charge beam, no slides, nothing. Each level is all about pure memorization, luck will get you close to nowhere, this is truly a skill based game. I've taken the liberty to put hours into a single level in order to perfect it, after which I move onto the next level and proceed to get my ass handed to me for another hour.
This game is not for the weak of heart, it's strictly for the hardcore gamers who miss the days of games that punish you over and over again. If you miss throwing controller, sweat palms, and limited lives, this game is for you. For everyone else stay away, or you're in for a very long trip through hell.
The Blue Bomber is back and I never realized how much I missed him till now. I plan on wasting many more hours on this gem.
And I would appreciate some support on obtaining one of the most difficult achievements I have ever seen . . . Not dying.
And if anyone was interested in what I meant by never ending installment check out this list by a fellow Megaman enthusiast (Some games may still be missing).
Mega Man 1987 NES
Mega Man 1990 PC - DOS
Mega Man 1995 Sega Game Gear
Mega Man 2006 Mobile
Mega Man 2 1989 NES
Mega Man 3 1990 NES
Mega Man 3 1992 PC - DOS
Mega Man 4 1992 NES
Mega Man 5 1992 NES
Mega Man 6 1994 NES
Mega Man 64 2001 Nintendo 64
Mega Man 7 1995 SNES
Mega Man 7 European 1995 SNES
Mega Man 8: Anniversary Collector’s Edition 1997 Sega Saturn
Mega Man 8: Anniversary Collector’s Edition 1997 PlayStation
Mega Man II 1992 Game Boy
Mega Man II 2007 Mobile
Mega Man III 1992 Game Boy
Mega Man IV 1993 Game Boy
Mega Man V 1994 Game Boy
Mega Man V European 1994 Game Boy
Mega Man VII 199X PC - DOS
Mega Man X 1993 SNES
Mega Man X 1995 PC
Mega Man X2 1996 SNES
Mega Man X2 European 1995 SNES
Mega Man X3 1997 SNES
Mega Man X3 1998 PC - Win 95
Mega Man X3 European 1996 PlayStation
Mega Man X4 1997 PlayStation
Mega Man X4 1997 Sega Saturn
Mega Man X4 1998 PC
Mega Man X4 European 1998 PlayStation
Mega Man X5 2001 PlayStation
Mega Man X5 2002 PC
Mega Man X6 2001 PlayStation
Mega Man X6 European 2003 PC
Mega Man X7 2003 PlayStation 2
Mega Man X7 European 2004 PlayStation 2
Mega Man X8 2004 PlayStation 2
Mega Man X8 European 2005 PlayStation 2
Mega Man X European 1994 SNES
Mega Man ZX 2006 Nintendo DS
Mega Man ZX European 2007 Nintendo DS
Mega Man & Bass 2003 Game Boy Advance
Mega Man Zero 2002 Game Boy Advance
Mega Man Zero European 2002 Game Boy Advance
Mega Man Zero 3 2004 Game Boy Advance
Mega Man Zero 3 European 2004 Game Boy Advance
Mega Man Zero 4 2005 Game Boy Advance
Mega Man Zero 4 European 2005 Game Boy Advance
Mega Man Soccer 1994 SNES
Mega Man Xtreme 2001 Game Boy Color
Mega Man Zero 2 2003 Game Boy Advance
Mega Man Zero 2 European 2003 Game Boy Advance
Mega Man Legends 1998 PlayStation
Mega Man Legends 2001 PC
Mega Man Legends European 1998 PlayStation
Mega man Legends European 2001 PC
Mega Man Xtreme 2 2001 Game Boy Color
Mega Man Legends 2 2000 PlayStation
Mega Man: The Wily Wars European 1993 Sega Genesis
Mega Man ZX Advent 2007 Nintendo DS
Mega Man ZX Advent European 2008 Nintendo DS
Mega Man Powered Up 2006 PlayStation Portable
Mega Man Powered Up European 2006 PlayStation Portable
Mega Man: The Power Battle 1995 Arcade
Mega Man X Collection 2006 Nintendo GameCube
Mega Man X Collection 2006 PlayStation 2
Mega Man Battle Network 2001 Game Boy Advance
Mega Man Battle Network European 2001 Game Boy Advance
Mega Man III [PlayChoice] 1990 Arcade
Mega Man Star Force: Leo 2007 Nintendo DS
Mega Man Star Force: Leo European 2007 Nintendo DS
Mega Man Battle Network 3: Blue European 2003 ame Boy Advance
Mega Man Battle Network 3: Blue Version 2003 Game Boy Advance
Mega Man Battle Network 3: White European 2003 Game Boy Advance
Mega Man Battle Network 3: White Version 2003 Game Boy Advance
Mega Man Battle Network 4: Blue Moon 2004 Game Boy Advance
Mega Man Battle Network 4: Blue Moon European 2004 Game Boy Advance
Mega Man Battle Network 4: Blue Moon European 2004 Game Boy Advance
Mega Man Battle Network 4: Red Sun 2004 Game Boy Advance
Mega Man Battle Network 4: Red Sun European 2004 Game Boy Advance
Mega Man Battle Network 4: Red Sun European 2004 Game Boy Advance
Mega Man Battle Network 5: Double Team 2005 Nintendo DS
Mega Man Battle Network 5: Team Colonel 2005 Game Boy Advance
Mega Man Battle Network 5: Team:Colonel European 2005 Game Boy Advance
Mega Man Battle Network 5: Team Protoman 2005 Game Boy Advance
Mega Man Battle Network 5: Team:Protoman European 2005 Game Boy Advance
Mega Man Battle Network 6: Cybeast Falzar 2006 Game Boy Advance
Mega Man Battle Network 6: Cybeast Falzar European 2006 Game Boy Advance
Mega Man Battle Network 6: Cybeast Gregar 2006 Game Boy Advance
Mega Man Battle Network 6: Cybeast Gregar European 2006 Game Boy Advance
Mega Man Anniversary Collection 2004 Nintendo GameCube
Mega Man Anniversary Collection 2004 PlayStation 2
Mega Man Anniversary Collection 2005 Xbox
Mega Man: Dr. Wily’s Revenge 1991 Game Boy
Mega Man Battle Network 2 2002 Game Boy Advance
Mega Man Battle Network 2 European 2002 Game Boy Advance
Mega Man Network Transmission 2003 Nintendo GameCube
Mega Man Network Transmission European 2003 Nintendo GameCube
Mega Man Battle Chip Challenge 2004 Game Boy Advance
Mega Man Battle Chip Challenge European 2004 Game Boy Advance
Mega Man: Maverick Hunter X 2006 PlayStation Portable
Mega Man: Maverick Hunter X European 2006 PlayStation Portable
Mega Man Star Force 2: Zerker X Ninja 2008 Nintendo DS
Mega Man Star Force 2: Zerker X Saurian 2008 Nintendo DS
Mega Man Anniversary Collection [Canceled] Game Boy Advance
Rockman Japanese 1987 NES
Rockman 2 Japanese 1988 NES
Rockman 3 Japanese 1990 NES
Rockman 4 Japanese 1991 NES
Rockman 5 Japanese 1992 NES
Rockman 6 Japanese 1993 NES
Rockman EXE Japanese 2001 Game Boy Advance
Rockman X2 Japanese 1994 SNES
Rockman X3 Japanese 1995 SNES
Rockman X4 Japanese 1997 PlayStation
Rockman X4 Japanese 199X Sega Saturn
Rockman X Japanese 1993 SNES
Rockman ZX Japanese 2006 Nintendo DS
Rockman Dash Japanese 1997 PlayStation
Rockman & Forte Japanese 1998 SNES
Rockman World Japanese 1991 Game Boy
Rockman Dash 2 Japanese 2000 PlayStation
RockMan Dash 2 Japanese 2005 PlayStation Portable
Rockman World 3 Japanese 1992 Game Boy
Rockman World 4 Japanese 1993 Game Boy
Rockman World 5 Japanese 1994 Game Boy
Rockman World 2 Japanese 1991 Game Boy
Rockman’s Soccer Japanese 1994 SNES
Rockman: The Power Battle Japanese 1995 Arcade
Rockman 7: Syukumei no Taiketsu Japanese 1995 SNES
Rockman EXE Transmission Japanese 2003 Nintendo GameCube
Yup that's 134 installments, not including the few that have been released after May
[via Capcom Unity]
Ethan Cerenzia: I find myself asking people now what types of games they like to play when they ask me about my video game class. A few of the woman at my work play some casual single player games like tetris, and stuff like that, but no one i know really plays games. Im finding it hard to play games in my free time, because i dont really have much lol
I played a game where i had to stop little stick people from getting to my castle, by dropping and killing them....this was fun :)
I thought i would read "The Psychology Behind Games." It was a very interesting article about the things that humans needed inorder to learn and grow. It also talked about how games are created to teach and help us grow and the other things that we needed to have inorder to strenthen the mind.
Also, i was cleaning out my room and found my old Game Boy Advanced and started playing Super Mario World 2. It's been 7 years since i played it, and after playing for a few minutes and started playing and remembered how to play and all of the secrets. I got so into it that i was playing for 3 hours and got farther then i ever had before. It was just like riding a bike, something you never really forget how to do.
Over the weekend I got a chance to play Star Wars: The Force Unleashed for the PSP. After all of the hype that I heard about it, I was really disappointed. It was boring and easy. When you start out the game you start playing as Darth Vader, but that lasts only a couple of minutes. I do think that was a great way to start a Star Wars game. However after playing a couple of minutes you start to play as Darth Vader's apprentice which I thought was a little disappointing after playing as Darth Vader himself. As for the game play it is very easy. I was hoping on more light saber based fighting, but once you realize that you can use your force powers the light saber is kind of useless. The majority of enemies are weak and easy to defeat with the exception of Jedi's which are not much harder, they just take more time to defeat. Maybe I will give the game another chance and continue to play it but I was really hoping for more from this game.
This is person is a true WoW addict everyone should check this out.
http://www.joystiq.com/2008/10/12/one-wow-player-controls-36-characters-simultaneously/
Today we had a very interesting guest speaker who gave us insight to things that may have been unclear. Our speaker, who just happens to be a drag queen, gave a great lecture on gender swappingonline and off. This lecture i belive has been my favorite so far becuase it not only connected virtual world to the real world but gave enlightenment to the social environment shared by both worlds.
After discussing last week how adult women like to play puzzle games like Tetris and bejeweled I tried it out. These games were pretty fun to play while listening to music or watching T.V. However, by themselves they cannot hold my attention. I was disappointed to not be able to find any free full version of Bejeweled. It's not that great of a game or very complicated or anything. Also, I enjoyed being able to get better and better at these games, especially Tetris, and trying to beat my previous high score.
I used to play a lot of online games back when I was in middle school, one of them being Gunbound. I decided to try and play Gunbound again. Gunbound is a “tactical mobile shooter.” The game is simple, fun and addicting. I think the demographic are tweens because of the cute graphics but by the way people talk, there seem to be a lot of teenagers. Gunbound is similar to the games Tanks, Bowman and Worms. You are in a mobile that you choose and then you control the angle and power of your shot, trying to defeat the other team. After many years, Gunbound has added a lot of new features like new items that I don’t really like. Some things haven’t changed though. There are still hackers and users who use real money on avatars can have a big advantage over those who just use in game money. I still like the game. It’s fun adjusting your angle and power to get a direct hit.
I decided to play a female character because of the guest speaker today. I didn’t notice any big difference but that could be because of me or the game. There were some guys that just asked if I was really a girl and how old I was. I didn’t get any free stuff but there were some situations where boys tried not to pick on me.
Since our discussions this past week were about gender roles and gender swapping, I decided to hop on the bandwagon and try it out. Unfortunately I haven't had time to try it in a community-based game like a MMORPG because of time, but I have started a new game in Mass Effect as a female character.
So far, the game play doesn't feel any different than if I was playing as a male character. I've played through Mass Effect 3 times before and everything is still the same. I will say that the feel of the game is different. if you haven't played Mass Effect, it's a 3d person squad-based RPG and it is amazing. I recommend going out and buying it. It is well worth it. The game pretty much revolutionized the choose your words game play. Like their previous game Knights of the Old Republic, you were able to choose what your character said which affected the game play, but in Mass Effect your character will actually say what you have selected. This goes back to why the game feels different as a female character. It might just be the voice acting that makes the game feel different but I think it is the way its just played and the fact that its just different.
I don't want to sound ignorant, but playing a female in Mass Effect when your trying to get the Renegade Achievement is pretty funny when shes a total bitch.
For those that don't know, Blizzcon, Blizzard's big convention, happened over the weekend. There was a lot of great news that came from the event that I know many Blizzard fans are wanting to hear. One of which is the announcement of the "Wizard" class for Diablo 3. You can think of this new class as an improved and updated version of the "Sorceress" in Diablo 2. Another big announcement that happened at Blizzcon was that Starcraft 2 is going to be sold as a trilogy instead of all campaigns in one game. Each game in the trilogy will have one campaign dealing with the race that the supposed episode is on. The order of release for Starcraft 2 is: Wings of Liberty, Heart of the Swarm, and Legacy of the Void (Terran, Zerg, and Protoss respectively). There wasn't much "news" that was directed to World of Warcraft except a reminder that the expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, is releasing next month. These are only the broad overviews of what happened at Blizzcon. There are many websites out that can tell you everything that was said/happened.
I read the article on gender swapping. It was nice since it related to our guest speaker on Tuesday. It really helped me get a better understanding of why people gender swap in virtual worlds. It's not just to get gifts from guys or to do research to get hit on. It's because in a virtual world people can discover who they truly are. I'm not saying that guys who log in as girls are girls, it's just that they want to take advantage of being a girl. Which the article concludes that the internet and MUDS are changing how we work and ultimately who we are. What was most interesting was how this article was written in 1993. Being a girl, I was more interested in barbies and stuffed animals rather than playing video games. I guess I like the real interaction with people. It helped me to understand why some people are able to grip the concept of MUDs.
after listening to the guest speaker on tuesday. I thought about what was said. It is very interesting how gender in video games is almost parrallel to gender in real life.
There were many things said that were good but this concept is extremely interesting. this almost perfectly sums up everything we have learned about people treating characters as themselves.
I have really enjoyed the past two speakers that spoke for our class. It was interesting to hear from two different types of gamers who lived two completly different lifestyles. But dealing with video games, lately I have been playing games on my N64. My favorite game to play on it is usually mario kart. Sometimes I just like to play alone against the nintendo but I really also like to play the battle version with at least one other player or up to four. Another game that I have been playing alot is the Wii Play. My favorite games out of all the ones on there is definitely the target practice. I am just getting back in the hang of it because I had not played for a while.
I saw an add on TV today just before I left for school about video game addictions. I know a lot of you probably do not watch Dr. Phil, but this episode looks pretty interesting. The show title is called 'Virtual Chaos'. Here's the synopsis on his website.....
"Sixty-five percent of American households report playing computer and video games, and surprisingly, the average player is 35 years old. Computer games are supposed to be fun, but when a hobby turns into an obsession, virtual fantasy worlds can ruin lives and wreck marriages. Juli says her 34-year-old husband, Fred, plays computer games all day and ignores his entire family. Fred admits to spending up 10 hours a day in a cyber world, but will he call it an addiction? Fred’s stepson, Brandon, thinks Fred is lazy and that his mom can do better. Then, Brad, 40, was so addicted to games that he spent up to 80 hours a week locked in the basement with his computer. Not only did he accumulate close to $24,000 of debt, his addiction nearly cost him his marriage and his life! Next, Liz found her 21-year-old son, Shawn, dead at his computer from a self-inflicted gun shot. She says that a role-playing game in the virtual world transformed her son from a vibrant young adult into a depressed introvert, which ultimately led to his suicide. Liz founded Online Gamers Anonymous to educate others about the potential dangers of obsessive gaming. Then, when Wendy married a video game designer, she literally took matters into her own hands and started playing herself. Are you or is someone you love at risk for video game addiction? Log on to DrPhil.com for a checklist of signs!"
I might watch this tonight. THe original show aired at 3p.m. PST and I think it replays tonight at 8p.m.
The speakers were really good that came into talk to our class, they both really seemed to know what they were talking about in their area of gaming. After the first speaker talked about gender swapping i went onto habbo to try and kind of figure out who i thought was a guy and who was actually a girl. It was really hard to say actually just because some girls are actually as immature as they seem. After seeing what it was like playing the roll of a girl i swapped genders. I went back into the same room i was in and i definatly would have to say i got way more attention as a girl than as a boy.
Hearing what the speakers said has made me even more intersted in wanting to develop games. Does anyone know what the books were that they showed to us in class. It would be great if anyone got the names of those books.
Just a few replies:
1. Jamison, we're witnessing the diffusion of interactive digital entertainment across market segments. Is it joining the pantheon of books, radio, and television for home recreation?
2. Zyuri - on "deception" of your actual skill, do you think it has its analog in real life? I'd love to hear your thoughts. I am curious as to how art imitates life.
3. Scott, videogame addictions? I've seen relatively few discussions on television addiction. Do you know any sports widows? How does the nature of video games differ from channel surfing?
The article I read is called “Gender Swapping on the Internet” by Amy S. Bruckman. Basically in the article Bruckman talks about MUD’s(Multi-User Dungeon) which is a text-based multi-user virtual reality environment. In these virtual reality environments she discusses how men enjoy playing female characters and are often very surprised by the way they get treated. Female characters are often bombarded with attention from the other male players. In these virtual worlds unwanted attention and sexual content often make female characters very uncomfortable just as it would if this happened in real life. According to Bruckman the most sexually aggressive women are usually played by men. In these virtual worlds men characters seem to assume that women characters are always in need of help and many men playing women characters use this help to their advantage. But the men characters always seem to expect something back in return for their help and usually they expect sexual favors. Bruckman said “A male character once requested a kiss from me after answering a question.”
Oh shoot, this isn't cool! I actually wrote my response awhile back, but before I was finished, my laptop restarted while I was afk and I forgot about this amidst all the other stuff I lost. (Curse you, Windows Automatic Updates!)
Anyway, not long after reading the article on identity deception, I had an experience relating to it.
Halloween is approaching, and Gaia Online released a flood of spooky, tattered and cobwebby clothing and accessories in the shops. With everyone getting in the spirit, I decided to indulge and spent almost all my Gaia gold on a costume including a hat with kitty ears, sweatpants with a tail, and charcoal-colored paws.
I was pretty much broke at this point, so I opened a game to play to earn some gold back. Even though the games are solitary, there's ten spaces for players in each room for chatting. So I found an empty room and started up a game, actually doing better than I normally do when all of a sudden, a male avatar popped up beside me with a 'hi'.
I didn't want to be rude by ignoring him, but also didn't want to forfeit my game, but finally it was too much of a distraction and I died.
After acknowledging him with a 'hey', he responded with 'you look like a cat'. The sheer bluntness amused me, so I gave him the standard 'lol', but my amusement stopped right there as he said, 'as in ur hot'.
In almost undecipherable chatspeak, he informed me that he quite enjoyed the Zohan movie, and played offense in soccer before asking the inevitable, 'how old are u'.
The rest of the conversation went something like this:
Me: Beyond highschool
Him: o.o
Him: O.O
Me: XD
Him: UR 16
Me: 19
Him: 19
Him: U R JOCKIN
Me: Nope
Him: am out
A moment later, I was happily alone again.
It just makes me wonder how easy it is to assume anything about the person behind the computer based on an avatar, because really you know nothing about them except what they tell you and who knows if that's the truth? If I had lied about my age I have no doubt his next question would be if I wanted to be his girlfriend. This kind of thing almost makes me want to have ambiguous gender. I really don't like the idea of lying about my gender or anything online, but to avoid these annoyances, it might almost be worth it.
I have been playing this game called pinch hitter 2. You go through 10 levels and through backyard ball up to the pros. It was really addicting until i got to the pros becasue it was just impossible! I got so frustrated that i will never play it again i think that it would be a better game if i was able to actually hit a ball in the majors! Oh this game i found was on addictinggames.com
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