534 - Week 1 Questions
1. Create an online display space for yourself (this will be part of how you become famous as a result of your work in this class)
Here it is...
2. Articulate a collective participation strategy (i.e., how will you take advantage of being part of a participatory culture?)
I think that in order to harness a participatory culture the methods of content generation and submission must be simple to use and as accessible as possible, but that rewarding feedback is essential to maintaining participation. In an arena where continuous participation occurs or can occur, some methods of personal identity are valuable for ensuring frequent high-quality output from participants. Being able to establish a persona or reputation allows the participants to separate themselves from the collective and promotes competition, which improves the overall quality of the content being produced and increases personal satisfaction and investment. Keeping a project open to manipulation and keeping little to no restriction on submitted content gives the project the ability to adapt to the desires of the community and allows it greater ability to remain relevant.
2a. Decide on and articulate your own strategy for creating a productive tension between theory and practice in your work.
The method I like to use when balancing theory and practice is to start with a series of questions that I would like to answer, and begin reading, starting with Google searches and Wikipedia. While researching, I continue to write down any new questions that surface as well as any potential answers I read or come up with myself. After doing research, I select certain questions that I want to explore and then decide on ways to answer the questions or at least approach them. The next step is to spend time attempting to answer the questions through a series of potential designs, working through them to completion so that I have a series of potential prototypes that I could build. I then take the designs and write down any questions I have about them or questions that I believe they ask for themselves. I also think it is important here to consider any assumptions I may be making about the design and how it would be built in practice. Here I may decide to pursue further research if I feel the questions warrant this, or I may decide to work on actual production of the project. At any pause or direction-changing decision, re-evaluation of the questions on the list as well as my assumptions for the project is in order.
3. Define proficiency and an economy of value for the realm in which you intend to work (i.e., how do you want your work to be judged?)
I prefer that my work is judged in a personal light as well as in a broader academic or social context. Working in game design, I want to know what kind of personal effect the game has on the player and how they react to what the game presents to them, including their expectations, desires, etc. Overall, I want to know if what I produce is fun and memorable and whether it is something the player wants to play with again. Personally, I will feel I have succeeded if my games get people to want to play them when they're not playing them, if they encourage people to share my games with others, and if the player feels truly engaged with the experience.
4. Post a Personal Inventory in your display space that addresses the following:
3 things you already do well
- Generating rapid simple prototypes of designs
- Designing complete game systems (game loops, risk/reward structure, economies)
- Drawing off of game history and established game traditions and practices. Good background knowledge of the industry and the field
3 things you want to learn
- 3D modelling
- Advanced programming, both graphics and systems/networking
- music composition/generation
3 things you want to be great at
- creating games that appeal to wide varieties of audiences
- presenting game experiences that are memorable, powerful, and different/innovative
- understanding the player
5. Post a few links, names or readings that you are interested in exploring as part of the research for these projects.
- Carl Jung (wikipedia entry)
- Silent Hill (wikipedia entry)
- Psychonauts (wikipedia entry)
- Edgar Allen Poe (wikipedia entry)