Future Play Game Conference - Call For Papers
http://www.futureplay.org/news.php?nID=5
Deadline is June 30th.
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January 26, 2007
January 24, 2007
Another reminder for..... Wii-mbledon!
Ahhh... Tennis. Tomorrow evening. In the ZML.
I've heard people think it's fun.
To test this, I'm organizing a Wii tennis tournament for Thursday, January 25th in the ZML.
Starting at 8:30 PM, the ZML will be filled with the joyfull shouts of people narrowly dodging flying wii controllers.
If you're interested, please shoot me an email, so I can figure out how to organize the brackets. I can't stress that email bit enough - it'll make sure we've got enough systems and controllers to go around.
I'm also working on spreading this around to other departments, including GamePipe and engineers. Think of it as a great way to meet people who also love games, but aren't in CNTV.
January 19, 2007
Thesis Prep Week 2 Assignment
1. An area of interest you've identified.
Community and relationship building.
2. A couple of questions (stated in the form of a question) and opportunities suggested by your area of interest - what do you (or a potential viewer) want or need to know about this area?
Have we lost anything in moving our primary interactions to technology? What makes a community gel together, and grow? What do I consider to be a meaningful interaction? How do you create a community that can sustain itself after you stop working on it?
3. Identify a method or process that can be used to explore your question.
* Research on prior and concurrent study in to technology isolation, and community building.
* Prototype exploration and analysis
4. One to three actual topics or subjects that address your interests/questions. (Not ‘a game’ or ‘experience’ or ‘interactive film,’ find a subject/setting/character/narrative.
* Using technology to foster personal, real life interaction, instead of replacing it.
*Using global technologies to encourage local relationships.
5. Pair your topics with a genre and an audience: Not just "a game" but the type of game and the type of player you envision.
* Cell phone enabled game, with a heavy emphasis on interacting with other people. Cell phones are a ubiquitous technology, so the barrier to entry is already met. This is a game for everybody with a cell phone, but aimed at people in their 20’s and 30’s.
* Distributed narrative game, with a focus on teamwork and real world puzzles. Narrative has always been a great focal point for community and shared experiences, Distributed narrative games allow for a game focused around a narrative, but with real world interactions. This is a game for anybody who wants to foster their inner Goonie.
6. Commit to a term (participant, viewer, player, reader, user, audience) that you will use throughout the project.
* User (for genre / audience 1) – I think people are less hesitant to join something when they don’t think they’re playing a game.
* Player (for genre / audience 2)
Rest of the assignment after the jump
Topic 1 – Cell phone games aren’t fantastically suited for the device (small keyboard, small screen, low processing power), and they are used as an isolating device. A game can be designed that encourages people to talk to each other, or encourages people to play it together at the same time.
I think this is a problem I can solve, but I’m not sure if it’s something I’d like to become an expert in. I’d also have to do a lot of work on learning how to program cell phones.
I’ve already been talking to Richard Spitalny, from First Star software. He’s offered to introduce me to other people within the cell phone gaming industry. Julian would also be an excellent help, for working with mobile devices.
Topic 2 – Distributed Narrative Games rely on constant intervention by the designer to sustain the community.
I don’t know if it’s a problem I can solve, but it’s something I sure would like to become an expert in.
An obvious resource here is Jordan. I’ve also joined the IGDA ARG SIG list, where I can find most everybody else who’s working on ARGs, but who doesn’t work at 42.
Summary
It may be that what I want to do is a marriage of the two ideas. If I use cell phones as the primary means for delivery of a distributed narrative, I’m working on both areas at once. In actuality, I’m looking at a cell phone game or a distributed narrative as a delivery method for a game designed to build meaningful relationships. They don’t have to be distinct ideas, but before I decide to combine them, I need to make sure that I’m still only working on one idea, instead of trying to work on two areas at once.
The one area for resources I’m light on (or at least, can’t figure out where to start), are for people who know about community building, and personal interaction. I think I’d start by reading through articles about my area of interest, and contacting people mentioned within the article. I can also get in touch with people I know who’ve built successful communities, to see what they have to say about it.
January 18, 2007
Article about why video games make us feel good
A quote from the end of the article:
"Mastering challenges in video games can be a healthy way of coping when opportunities for feeling independent or competent are scarce in the real world, he argued."
I wonder if that means that the rise in the number of game players is a response to a lessening of opportunities for independancy and competency in the real world. I think there's also a messure of effectiveness that games offer and gammers want, in that I have a distinct and noticeable effect on the world.
January 15, 2007
Week 1 homework - 3 item analysis
The document turned out to be a couple pages, so instead of posting it here, I'm just upload the file: Download file
I had to work to find a common thread between my talit, Winston Churchill's speeches, and developing games at summer camp, but I managed it.