Jorge Mora Fernandez

- Some conclusions of the Deconstructive Journalism Experiment for the improvement of Collaborative Videos On-line.

Brazil returns with his trusted friend and the Journalists Killers

After the experimental collaborative video news built on-live in-class I got the following conclusions of how the participants created their own creative story with the given narrative constrictions of the news context:
+ A murder had been happened in class...

... so they would have to reconstruct the crime with the props available in the class; ( These were constrictions in the space and action narratives forms).

+ The character who represented the victim was determined by the participants and they were the journalists who presented the news on-live; (The character was chosen in a democratic and collaborative way, and they became a character, the majority where using their own personality as the base of their role. This was a open constriction in the narrative form of the character).

+ The time was restricted during 15 seconds of footage per person what kept some tension in the narration of the news. Everybody respected the time limit. (Although this constrain introduced certain grade of spontaneity also this narrative constriction were misunderstood as a lack of preparation in the shooting rather than the final footage they could use on camera after rehearsals).

+ The participant journalists were able of writing their own script; ( They acted as scriptwriters and directors creating their own dialogs and characters and building funny secondary actions that built their scene of the crime).

+ “Treat others as they are poets, geniuses and artists, and they will be” Del Close, “Truth in Comedy” (p. 43). During the experimental case the classmates acted as journalist-detectives taking it as a humoristic context. So if we facilitate tools and a game context where the participants can become authors, in the context of a game based in interactive narrative forms; I think they will be willing to participate and get involved in constructive interactions. The constructive interactions with the narrative aspects, using the right constrains to excite the imagination, is what I want to encourage in my project. The idea of become a director is always something attractive to do.
What I finally realize is that the collaborative videos based in constructive interactions worked great as a funny game when a certain narrative context is given and when each participant can act a director and scriptwriter of their own piece. Collaborative videos built as different interpretations, news, of the same event, narrative context work well.

In its serious application the deconstructive journalism could be a kind of genre in a video collaborative web site. It will include political, economic and social news through different cultural points of view. It will serve also as a study of the different perceptions of certain events in several parts of the globe.

Posted by Jorge Mora Fernandez at 10:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I went to my neighborhood cibercafe at Korea town looking for playing a Mmpog videogame and the most related game that I founded, from the suggested, was Warcraft III. I had played once before World of Warcraft so I had the opportunity of compare how the administrators of both games “…maintain a balanced relationship between the different types of player” (Brandies R. (1996), Players who suits Mud’s p. 5). I felt between the achiever-explorer type of player more than a killer or a socialiser. The control menu that Warcraft III offered was no clear for me neither for the purpose of learning easily how to achieve the goals and being part of the purpose of the game. I was killed very easily and fast. It took me a lot to learn how to move around and kill others, or at least to defend my avatar so I could be useful for my team.

After I was killed seven times and I had just killed once I felt the fast killers, and my ignorance of how to develop my skills, “were driving me away the game” (p.5). However, I kept trying once more and I realized I could get more info about how to manage my skills, in the world and through the battle, using the chat but I did not. I felt embarrass of being a new Warcraft gamer asking for help in a chat room full of “Double killed” comments (p 4-5), I did not want anybody killing me because my ignorance.

Although I chose my avatar in Warcraft III I did not identify with it as much as I did in World of Warcraft. This happens, in my opinion, not only because the over the heads POV of Warcraft III and the god hand managing my avatar, but because I could not set up the different aspects of my character, physical and psychological, as I was able of doing in other mmopgs. Then I realized how World of Warcraft helps to the explorer experience and keep more balance between the different types of players, because you can customize your interface based in your own player likes and skills. The player can interact or/and acting with the players and/or with the world in most effective ways (p.6) and I believe that is the clue why so many types of players and games are possible in World of Warcraft.

I think that there are some interest points and real arguments in Brandeis’ paper. Although I believe balance the different players and gamers improve the playability of a game at the same time I think sometimes they are games just for one type of players.

Anyway, I looking for a cybercafe with the game City of Heroes or World of Warcraft near USC or Koreatown so if someone knows about it please let me know.

Posted by Jorge Mora Fernandez at 11:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here is the interactive structure of my 518 assigment.

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Half life 2 is more an agnostic game, based in the categories of world’s games Roger Caillois developed and Czicksentmehiya cited (page 72) in his article “The conditions of flow”. This kind of games are based in the competition, in this case, the principle of seeking together to increase the personal potential and skills, is more based in the relationship human-computer. The player predetermines the level of competition with the computer by selecting one level of difficulty of another, in my case low was difficult enough for my first experience.

I felt Half Life has good sense of flow if I follow the general definition that the article describes (page 74), about how a flow activity is an experience that provides “a sense of discovery, a creative feeling transporting the person into a new reality”.

First of all, I had to familiarize with the commands, keyboards and mouse, and how to move through the space as well how to manage my weapons. That did not take too long because the commands are based in the standard for the Pc videogames.

After I killed some villains, I learned how to surrender and save my life running when my weapons were lower than the ones my adversary was carrying. I got stuck after several minutes of playing because I did not know how to manage my resources and the weapon technology to adapt to the environment. I was in front of a ramp with a circular stone in the middle, which worked as an axis to balance the ramp and jumping over the new platform. I had some bricks around but I did not know better than shot them or hitting them. When my violent behavior could not overcome the new situation the frustration came in proportion to my insistence to keep shooting and hitting, even the keywords, looking for a key solution. I realized at that moment I am not the “Hard Fun” kind of player, I am not into this category Lazzaro points out in his article Why we play games (pages 3 and 7).

However, until that point, I was very satisfied with the sense of discovery I had during the first moments. I could see immediate results of my interactions. I was advancing through killing, running and following the new path that appeared. After asking for help to the another player, who was playing Katamari Damaci, I discovered that keeping the keyword E I could take objects and putting them where I wanted. Then I put some of the bricks at one side of the ramp in order to being able of jumping to the new platform through the highest part of the ramp. My friend, I felt him as a better friend after he helped me to overcome my difficulty, went to keep playing Katamari.

After a while, he asked me how he could avoid one level. I tried to explain him, by intuition, how he could do it. It did not worked, I felt bad because he rescued me and I could not, since that moment I committed myself to play more Katamari in order to know better suggestions. I though, at that moment, I felt some empathy for his fun, at least feeling frustration because I was not very useful. I believe he felt some satisfaction when he helped me. I think we experimented in parallel moments, each one in his own game but in the same fun environment, the principle of Coliberation, which Dekoven explained in his article (page 2), “we now need to rediscover how we can heal a relationship by setting each other free, how mutually healing things like love and teamwork can become”. After my failed suggestion, I got an inspiration and I explained him the main purpose of the game of collecting objects to create starts, and how doing that he could achieve new levels. Coliberation and the empathic relationships had its fruits because we were focused for 30 minutes having fun, each one playing his own game, as DeKoven describes in “The Fun Community” (pages 2&3).

Although I felt moments of flow I did not feel any empathy for my avatar, just when he died or when he was attacked by unexpected monsters. Sometimes I felt that the surviving mode that motivates this game is not at all a “non self conscious individualism”, Czicksentmehiya (page 92): an aspect really necessary to feel the internal flow that an educated, innate or familiar “Autotelic Personality” could achieve.

Recapitulating, it has good flow in the sense of discovery and in the sense of having immediate results when shooting. There was a lack of flow in terms of feeling a meaningful goal/s useful, not only for surviving with violence, but for “being indifferent to myself” neither “to center my attention increasingly upon external objects: the state of the world, various branches of knowledge, individuals for whom I felt affection”, in terms of Russell, “The conditions of Flow” (page 93).

In conclusion, I think all those aspects are common denominators in the FPS: clear of purpose and fast feedback of the player interactions with a strong sense of surprise and discovery. On the other hand, there is a lack in the variety of goals from different nature and motivations. In fact, when something a little new appeared I felt stuck just because I was so familiar with the “non stop” rhythm in the FPS flow. There is a sensation of “Altered State”, Lazzaro (pages 4 & 7), and as consequence a strong sensorial immersion, because all the multimedia expressions are directed to that only one goal of surviving. However, there are no simultaneous levels of focus, based on the different senses, like the OnLive Traveler does with the voice and the 3D emotional representations, as Dipaola, S. describes in “A social metaphor-based 3D Virtual Environment” (page 2). The clear goal of surviving is repeated in almost each interaction, with basic secondary actions: running, shooting, hitting, breaking and that makes the experience a kind of lineal, enjoyable but no very complex. It is really good for burning toxins.

Posted by Jorge Mora Fernandez at 12:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I really like to customize my pet although I wanted one, which was in a limited edition, and I felt frustrated not being able to pick it up. I immediately associated the idea of Neopet with Tamagochi and I though it could be a kind of simple game but after going through the directory and visit the different alternatives the game offers I changed my mind.
My Neopet is called VirtualSoul and his species is Scorchio.

First of all I review how to get food because VirtualSoul was hunger. After I satiated my neopet he told me he was thirsty but I could not find a place to get drink for the amount of money NP I had so I tried in the Mac Donald’s place. After too much advertisement and investment some time looking for a free soda or something I was tired of the basic interactivity the Mc was offering so I got bored and I logged out.

Next time I logged in...

...I was wondering if my neopet was died because lack of drinking but he forgot about it. So I realize both my pet has some capricious desires and there is a lack of continuity in the small details but no in the main aspects. Then I research about my lack of abilities and how to get abilities of my level like Spark, Heal , Smoke Screen, The Magic Pebbles and the Magic Tourch.
Because I did not have any more food and after reading about how to get food I went to the Money Tree and after trying 15 times to get something feeling like a poor neopet I got tired and I looked for better luck in other place.
I went to Meridell and I play to Kiss the Mortog after losing 50NP I won 100NP and then I lost 50NP and then I won 100NP, good enough for this time my neopet looks like a ant which likes to build economy little by little.
I went to the castle and the potions where to expensive and the Meridell game was no available so I kept exploring the Tyrannian Plateau I played the wheel of mediocrity and after winning 50 Neopoitns I felt mediocre enough. At that point my real avatar was hungry so…

In general I got a nice experience but the lack of sounds, as DiPaola underscore in his article the voice and the face to face communication for the sounds in general are very important to build the sensation of telepresence (pages2 and 4) that I did not have in my first hours of experience, perhaps because I am a coward and I did want to fight. I missed also the lack of the movement of my neopet; although I clicked some times to animate him, make me feel no very emotionally attached to my neopet. I believe this play browser-based mmog is more based in the Easy fun Key (7) Lazzaro pointed out in his article “Why we play games” than in any other because the arc of learning and of interactions are very slow and easier and more base in exploring the different sections than anything else.

Posted by Jorge Mora Fernandez at 5:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)