October 8, 2009
Not Playing Train
At Indiecade this past weekend I asked friends if there was anything I should definitely check out - the universal answer was Train. I arrived where it was set up not knowing anything about it. As soon as I saw boxcars and broken glass, I knew two things: I knew where the story was going, and I knew that I would not be able to play the game.
I read the rules - with trepidation at first, and then with increasing admiration. I stepped back and contemplated the quiet scene.
Ever since some time in elementary school, the Holocaust has been embedded in my consciousness. I know facts and names, I recognize symbols and analogies. I have read books, visited museums, and talked with survivors. This isn't because I deliberately seek to immerse myself in the events of the Shoah - this is just part of what being Jewish has entailed for me.
Because the facts of the Holocaust are overwhelmingly horrific, I have found that the most meaningful and thought-provoking experiences with it are simple ones that don't demand a specific emotional reaction. One of the best memorials I've been to is the Children's Memorial at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem - it is a dark room filled with mirrors that reflect candles so that you feel like you're floating in a sea of flickering stars. An audio track quietly reads the names of children who died in the Holocaust. You are given the space to feel however you want - sad, peaceful, resolute, defiant, or anything else.
I don't know what it's like to play Train as someone who was unfamiliar with the imagery and history, and so wouldn't immediately see where the game was going. But after thinking about it for a long time, I like to believe that you wouldn't end up flipping over your Terminus cards to see the names of concentration camps - you would realize the bigger picture some time before. Ultimately I think that Train is a game about walking away - after all, Brenda Brathwaite's instructions conclude with the sentence "Train is over when it ends."
If the goal of the game is indeed realization rather than a surprise reveal, I think that Train succeeds in providing the player with emotional space rather than demanding a feeling of guilt. In asking the player "What are you really doing?" rather than saying "Look what you've done!", the game gives you a productive outlet. You don't play this game as a Nazi mastermind - they knew exactly what they were doing and where they were sending their victims - instead you play as a lesser actor, someone involved in a system but unaware of its larger consequences. That is a state that we all live in today - our jobs, our consumer choices, our political system, and our investments all involve us in actions of which we're only vaguely aware. Train lead me to ask myself what systems I might be a part of that enable actions I disapprove of or even vehemently oppose.
I stopped for a moment outside the gallery to say kaddish, and to resolve to become a more informed member of the systems I participate in - or chose to walk away from.
Posted by rosenblj at 3:53 PM | Comments (0)
March 27, 2008
Time Warp
So about a week before Super Tuesday I ordered some swag from the John Edwards campaign - a button and a magnetic bumper sticker. The very next day he dropped out of the Democratic race. Fantastic. A couple weeks later I got my button in the mail, no mention of the sticker.
Today I received a package on my doorstep - it was an odd shape, not fitting with anything I've ordered recently. I opened it up to find my magnetic bumpersticker, and a note telling me that my lawn poster was out of stock. Not having a lawn, I had never ordered a poster for it. But the note told me not to worry, instead they had sent me an item of greater value. The odd shape in the package was in fact a plastic mug. Not only does this object pound into me the irony of my choice of candidate, but it also has written on it the motto "Tomorrow begins today!"
I feel like I'm either playing an ARG or someone in the past is trying to contact me via the US Postal Service.
Posted by rosenblj at 11:06 AM | Comments (0)
September 4, 2007
"Fitting In" accepted to ISWC Doctoral Colloquium
An updated abstract of my thesis paper was accepted to the Doctoral Colloquium at the International Symposium on Wearable Computers:
"The purpose of the colloquium is to offer graduate students interested in the wearable/mixed and augmented reality fields an opportunity to present their ideas and research plans and get feedback from the community...
The student colloquium will take place on the 10th of October (a day before the main conference). Authors of accepted abstracts are to give a presentation of the research ideas and gather feedback from well established researchers in the field. Authors will also be expected to present a poster of their work during demonstration session at ISWC (October 12).
The abstracts will be published in the ISWC extended proceedings that will be distributed during the conference and will be made available to the public electronically."
Posted by rosenblj at 10:21 AM | Comments (6)
July 26, 2007
Response to "Learning the Hard Way"
If there's a way to post comments to Mihai's blog, I couldn't find it - so I'll just put this link here. It's an interesting reaction to the Hummer vandalism: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/07/environmentalis_8.php
Posted by rosenblj at 11:00 AM | Comments (0)
April 20, 2007
This is not my thesis.
I took this photo today in the "California Style" exhibit at the Autry National Center.
Posted by rosenblj at 5:07 PM | Comments (0)
April 11, 2007
Internet Outrage: Activism or Entertainment?
Tycho of Penny Arcade comments today:
"People seem to think that by posting in threads and agreeing with other people they are changing the world. They are not. They are posting in threads online. The universe will not be altered by forum threads, even those which are very wry. Being outraged online is a form of entertainment, and refreshing a thread to receive a hit of consensus packs the thrill of genuine activism without requiring any sweat. I'm afraid this test may require more from the community than a sardonic jpeg."
Tycho is referring specifically to outrage over Todd Goldman's plagiarism of an art piece by Dave Kelly, but obviously his observation has much wider implications. The Internet as a tool for anyone to blow off steam in front of an audience is an incredibly double edged sword as far as real world ramifications are concerned. While many stories and opinions are shared online that the mainstream media would never pick up, the catharsis of self-expression and the high of public agreement acknowledged by Tycho serve to kill energy and momentum for real world activism. Many of the villains decried by Internet communities care only about real world costs and benefits - from this perspective eloquent and compelling rhetoric that remains confined to cyberspace has no real meaning, and the authors, having vented their outrage, go on with their daily real world lives.
Posted by rosenblj at 10:28 AM | Comments (2)
February 16, 2007
Thesis Paper
My thesis paper is now up here.
Because the conversion to HTML caused my reference citations to disappear, here is a PDF version of the paper with the original formatting.
I will be presenting this material next Tuesday at 6:30pm. More information about the presentations can be found here. Please come by and give us moral support and constructive feedback!
Posted by rosenblj at 10:57 AM | Comments (0)