Postcard sent by man with Dementia to his younger self
November 18, 2008
October 26, 2008
Outline of Interactions - Inside/Out
I've been designing how my thesis project would work as an interactive, chaotic narrative. Here is my basic outline of events and possible interactions. For my draft presentation, I'd like to get your feedback in helping me to narrow down what I could do. I know this is a ton of text for now. I'll have images in class.
1) Which possible interactions do you find most interesting or compelling?
2) Which seem plausible to actually do (either in the next 6 weeks or semester)?
3) Which cross section seems most representative of the big picture of the story?
4) Which platform or techniques (i.e. game engine vs. Max) might work?
BASIC PLOT:
The player enters the mind of an older man with dementia, who, in the process of looking for a misplaced watch, gets lost in his own backyard. As he searches, he forgets what he was looking for in the first place. The familiar environment becomes distorted and falls apart as memories become confused with the present. Through engaging in his morphing perspective, the viewer is taken on a surreal journey that might inspire empathy for how difficult simple tasks can become under the influence of memory loss and dementia. When the outer forms of rational understanding are stripped away and turned inside-out, what is left?
OUTLINE OF EVENTS:
1. INTRODUCTION - OUTSIDE THE HOUSE. NIGHT.
Houses haphazardly stacked on a lonely hill. Camera zooms in to a single light illuminating an upper attic room.
2. 1st WORLD - INSIDE UPPER ATTIC ROOM. 3RD PERSON P.O.V.
Set-Up (pre-animated):
You are standing in the doorway of an upper attic room. An old-man limps slowly around the room with a cane, oblivious to your presence. He sets the needle down on a phonograph, hums to himself, and places labels on objects. He pins old photographs and lists to the walls in an elaborate mapping configuration.
(start of viewer control):
You enter the room to examine it & orient yourself. As you explore the room, the old man tells you what his main objective is. This triggers a change in POV as you take on his 1st Person perspective for the remainder.
What do you look at? Do you interact with the man? Which objects are active?Does the man notice you? Do you talk to him? What do you discover? How does it lead the plot further?
3. TRANSITION - P.O.V. CHANGE - FROM 3RD PERSON OBSERVER TO 1ST PERSON P.O.V. OF OLD MAN
TRIGGER: Man tells you that he lost his watch & thinks he left it by the bench outside. He explains “The Clock Test” and that he must go find it.
4. TRANSITION - FROM ATTIC TO BACKYARD
After entering the man's mind, any number of actions within the attic could portal you to the backyard.
5. 2nd WORLD - IN THE BACKYARD. DAY.
Midwest. 1 acre flat lawn with sparse deciduous trees overlooking a cliff. A black wrought-iron fence seals the boundary around the yard.
ACTIONS:
The basic direction is to travel to the bench to find the watch.
Most Basic (Quick) Route:
Walk forward along the path looking straight-ahead and the environment will remain relatively static. Get to the fence and sit down at the bench. Look at or pick up the watch.
Alternatives (detours):
If you leave the path, look in 6 directions, stop & examine, record or post notes/ pictures, then the environment morphs.
As the viewer moves along the path, the more he/she examines the environment, the more surreal it becomes. Turning in different directions affects the environment in different ways. Even if the most basic straight-ahead path is followed, some confusion will still be triggered.
6. ONSET OF CONFUSION
PHYSICAL OBFUSCATION:
7. TRANSITION TO DARKNESS - completely lost
8. EPHEMERAL - emerges out of dark environment
9. RETURN - Making peace
- Environment calms down
- Houses (memories) collapse into one or house rebuilds itself
10. REFLECTION
- Series of snapshots and reflections relating to viewer actions in the world reveals itself as an image and sound sequence
Examples of Directional Movement & additional description below:
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October 18, 2008
HW05 - Sandoval
1. I agree with the feedback I received on the GUI elements I created for Gundam. I was able to comprehend the GUI elements; however, I need to make them more universal GUI elements. I was trying to keep a consistency with a color scheme, limiting it to three colors. Another factor was the 3D shadow and shade control. It has to be one other the other which I do agree with.
2) The modification to the GUI elements would be as followed:
Size and Placement: I would change the consistency of each GUI elements to match the general size of the game. I would decrease the size of the weapon/ ammunition control and the health bar. I would keep the placement of each the same since the feedback was quite positive for the positioning of each GUI element.
Radar: I would keep the consistency of the color scheme. However, I would change the white to a gray color. Gray is a universal sign for a GUI that is inactive/not in use. I would keep the same shape of the radar.
Health: I like the use of Gundam as the health bar. The size will be reduced a bit. The only thing I would change would be the color scheme. Once again I would stay with the use of blue; however, I would change the white to gray.
Thruster & Temperature: I do like the placement of these two GUI elements. I keept them close to the radar since I believe these three elements are the most important ones. I would change the black color to a gray in the temperature gauge. The size could be reduced.
Weapon indicator: I do like the use of the gun as a symbol for the selected weapon. The ammunition was quite confusing to comprehend. I would delete the separator between the weapon selection icon. I would just place a number for the ammunition making the GUI much easier to read.
3. Vector tools were quite difficult for me. I have never used Photoshop to this extent. It was challenging to follow all the footsteps needed for this project. I was not familiar with most of Photoshop’s terminology, however, I did learn quite fast. It was hard to save the path effect for each GUI constructed. In my design I used the pen tool, custom shape tool and layering tools, fill effect, etc. The more I use each tool the more familiar I was able to get to a general concept of what each tool can do and how effective each of these tools were to the creation on my GUI elements. Overall it was a great experience.
October 15, 2008
Asg 02 Recap
--I agree with most criticism received. It wasn’t until I saw my UI on the large screen, that I recognized many of the flaws. While I was working on it they were not apparent, however returning to look at it the next day gave me a fresh objective look.
--Overall the biggest regret/difficulty I had was that my concept called for a style that Photoshop vector graphics couldn’t provide, and yet I still tried to achieve it. I was going for a grunge-realistic style which used real-world instruments as a strong influence.
1. Health Bar: This is my favorite part of the design and perhaps not coincidentally, the only predominantly raster part. I feel that the size, style, and placement of the rest of the GUI is based on this element. The only thing I might do differently is create different versions to better convey the way that the health bar works.
2. Boost Power: I think that the Iconography is very strong with this element; however it may be a bit too large. This is especially true because I almost feel that a boost gauge is redundant. However, to keep with the ‘realistic instrumentation’ feel of the GUI it needs to be fairly large. I ran into the same problem with the style and color as I did with many of my elements. I simply could not convey the style I had envisioned with Photoshop vector graphics and layer styles.
3. Weapon: This is my least favorite element. The problem I had with this element was a combination of limited time and the constraint of Photoshop vector graphics. I had originally envisioned a mechanical cog of sorts that would rotate the current weapon into view. This, however, proved nearly impossible without creating a fully textured 3d model or raster graphic. Rather than completely redesign the element, I made the mistake of making compromise upon compromise. I ended up with a bastardization of my original design that doesn’t work very well. It has much too large of a bevel and looks very ‘Photoshopped’. It is the worst suffer of the vector style problem I had.
4. Radar: I think this element serves its purpose well because it follows a conventional iconography. The size and placement are also conventional and appropriate. Again it suffers the same style problem.
--My understanding of the assignment was that it was to be entirely vector. Thus I did the entire design with shape layers and layer effects (except for a single overlay texture). Therefore the only tools I let myself use was the pen tool, the custom shape too, and the path tools. I feel that this alone was my biggest challenge and singlehandedly hurt my design the most. I believe if this realistically-mechanical style was to actually be implemented in a game it would have to be done as a raster UI.
HW05 RC Narma
1) The feeling of immersion that my GUI is exactly is what I had in mind. I really wanted to give the player the feeling that he/she was piloting a big robot fighting machine. One way to do this was to build a cockpit as part of the design, but I felt it did not make sense because of the third-person view the game has. So instead, I tried to give it a more abstract cockpit feel.
The use of black to indicate a disabled robo-body part was something that was critiqued. Tomo Isoyama said that gray would probably be a better color. I absolutely agree. Honestly, the use of a black head was completely an accident. I never had intended for it to be disabled, but I accidentally turned it black and didn't have enough time to turn it back. So, I decided to just say that it was disabled.
2) The screen I used while creating my GUI dulled the colors, so when I actually saw my GUI presented in class, I was surprised how bright everything was. Overall, I would turned down the opacity and/or the saturation of all the GUI elements. I find it's a bit brighter and more distracting than I'd like.
Overall, I like the general size and shape of all of the GUI elements. I might like the "target view" that's at the bottom-center to be a bit bigger. It might be a too small to see the target clearly. At the same time, I don't want it to crowd the screen too much.
The GUI isn't symmetric, but I feel it's fairly balanced the way it is currently arranged and sized.
I think I might change the icon for the gun. It doesn't quite match the color scheme of the GUI. I might like it colored and simplified to match. The purple, blue, and green color scheme is meant to have a high tech and futuristic look to it, with just enough contrast between the different elements.
I think I would like little details added across the whole GUI. Maybe small indicators and texts as part of the existing GUI elements can further enhance the nature of its immersion. I think that more details could be added to the minimap, and its icons could be shown a little clearer. The different shades of green indicate distances across the map.
The gundam damage status is meant to indicate damage across the gundam. It's large in the GUI because it's important, and I think it's narrow nature limits it's intrusiveness. The different colors indicate different levels of health. Green is healthy. Red is very damaged.
The ammo and thruster meters are nice and long to clearly indicate ammo and thrust. Their triangular shape is intended to both minimize their intrusiveness as well as to add to the GUI's angular design.
The target lock icon could be a bit bolder with more contrast and could look a bit a bit more interesting. Maybe a different shape might help enhance the immersion, as well.
3) I have good experience in Photoshop, but am not too used to using its vector tools. I'm more comfortable with Illustrator's vector tools, so I had a few minor problems when using them in Photoshop. I used the pen tool and shape tools primarily, and they worked well for me.
HW 05 by Lee
1. Aye, I understood the reasoning behind the feedback I received. Color made sense, but perhaps the placement of the items was somewhat off, as one mostly does want to keep the bottom right clear, though games such as Halo do defy that convention for some of their elements. Perhaps I should have better designed the thruster element though, or tried to keep a little closer to the Gundam look.
2. On general notes on size and placement, I would likely keep the health and radar indicators the same, as they were fairly effective and well designed, but I have possible tweaks for the others.
Radar: While I used the head of the Strike Gundam as the template for the radar indicator (since many sensors would be in the head, ne?), I suppose that it was an inefficient use of space, and perhaps I should have remained with a standard square or circle for conservation of sceen space.
Health: I'm satisfied with how that particular one turned out, though perhaps I should have broken the health into the health of the various portions of the gundam instead of overall health. Placement, color, and style I have no color with.
Thruster & Temperature: The placement and design of this particular element was probably off. While I do think it was necessary to have the thruster bar be somewhat large in order to grab attention, perhaps it should not have been immediately under the Health indicator. It had been my opinion that this was appropriate, as the thrusters in the gundam strike are located right under the armored "skirt", but perhaps I was wrong.
Weapon indicator: I liked the use of the gun as the weapon indicator, with percentages because it was indeed an energy weapon - however, on reflection, perhaps it would have been better designed had I actually put in icons for "bullets" remaining, as it would be easier to get a visual assessment of battle conditions based on that. In terms of placement, perhaps I should have moved it closer to the top, so as not to obstruct the viewable area, such as right under the radar.
3. Vector tools were actually fairly simple to use, and I can easily see their power if I was using a tablet. In addition, the scalability and smaller amount of information is a plus if I want to export to something like Flash, say. Primarily, I used the pen tool, as it was the most versatile, creating layers, but also using it to select and deselect areas from work paths, such as when I was working on the gun shape. Fill made it easy to give the strike head radar its appearance, and I'm not sure I used stroke. All in all, it makes for clean, crisp, designs.
HW 05 by Brian Abrams
1) I generally understood the reasoning behind the comments received on my assignment 02. It is relatively evident that the color scheme is not very consistent. The outer glow used on the Health icon and radar do not match. The placement for each of these items seems fine, since you usually want to keep the bottom right side of the screen clear. The size of each element was ok, but I could have made the Health icon noticeably larger than the weapons indicator.
2) As a whole, the definite size of each GUI element seems to work as a system. However, it may not be obvious to the player which GUI info is most important. The health should be a bit larger than the weapons indicator. I would compensate for the unused space in the weapons GUI. I would make the radar a little smaller, too.
The placement of each GUI element seems to work fine. I might end up moving the thruster gauge flush against the radar, as if the two were attached. I wouldn't necessarily move any of the other GUI elements.
The overall color that was intended to be used was an opaque dark grey, metallic kind-of look. I didn't do very well bringing this out. I tried using this scheme on the radar and weapons indicator, but I couldn't figure out how to consistently use it for things like the thruster and the health because I had used gradient fills. The outer glow on the health doesn't seem consistent, nor does the light blue outline of the thruster gauge. I would figure out how to stay consistent even when adding effects to specific GUI elements.
The iconography that I used was OK, referring to the health and the weapons indicator. However, on the radar, perhaps I could have used different shaped enemy indicators instead of dots. Also, perhaps I could have figured out an icon to use for the thruster gauge, since the gradient fill doesn't seem to fit the style/color scheme.
I thought that the style was generally pretty good on my layout. There were some issues with color and consistency, but I liked the hexagon radar and how the thruster gauge is a piece of the radar and can be attached. With some cleaning up of my Photoshop skills, hopefully I can figure out an easy way to keep consistency.
3) My experience with Photoshop was pretty frustrating as it usually is. I had trouble keeping the GUI elements consistent because I couldn't figure out how to adjust the effects of images to meet my needs. Also, it kept rasterizing my images whenever I wanted to fill in an image with a color. As a result, I couldn't get my paths to save. The tool which proved most helpful/simple for me was the Pen Tool, which I have used much before. I also worked with the custom shape tool, and added layer effects (or tried to). The selection tool came in pretty handy as well when trying to edit specific parts of each GUI element.
October 7, 2008
Week 7 - Circulation - "Inside Out"
FOCAL POINT
1st person POV of character – parallels his experience
Free – navigating through normal world
Fixed – viewer controls get frozen when
man gets trapped by confusion
examining a note – leads into a cinematic memory
zooming in from a telescope in the world
EXITS
Internally
- Confusion triggered
- Humming calms confusion
Externally
- Rocking chair – place from which man calms himself
(rocking chair POV)
PATHS
Respects topography for normal perspective
Lack of ability to freely navigate through world once confusion sets in
Detours
Barriers to movement – lack of viewer control or jumbled controls
Caused by confusion & overlapping memories
RULES OF THE WORLD
Dictated by the severity of influence that dementia wields on the man’s perspective
The external world morphs to reflect the changes in his mind
1. Legibility - Text becomes unreadable/ blurry as character can't comprehend it
2. Solidity - Ground morphs from solid to dissolving/breaking up
3. Z plane Depth - Normal, Hyper, & flat
Normal = "reality", normal healthy perception
Hyper = signals transition to confusion, immersion in hyper memory
Flat = claustrophobic confusion, blankness, recorded static image
4. Spatial Relationships - Normal, inverted, distorted
Normal = "reality"
Inverted = transition - signals overlay of memory with present
Distorted = confusion
5. Dialogue - Talking to himself, utterances
Signals that the man is trying to remember or make sense of something
Lucid vs. nonsensical
6. Dialogue - Replaying Memories of Conversations
Normal
Jumbled/Distorted
Far-away
7. Phonograph Music
Close perspective/Loud – present, normal perspective
Becoming farther away/softer – distance from memory
Jumbled – distant from normal perspective
Humming tune – trying to regain normal perspective
8. Clock Sound Speed
Slow - calm
Fast - agitated
Jumbled - confused
Reminders of what he is looking for
9. Clock Sound Perspective
Close – reminds him what he’s looking for
Far – distant from original objective
10. Appearance of the Cat
Sound or image - represents a threshold into confusion or clarity
11. Time lapse/Time Passing
Lighting/Time of Day - Length of a Day
Grass/Ice spreading - A month
Summer to Winter - Seasons
Houses morphing – Years
12. Notes/Photos
Further inspection triggers memories
13. External Perspective
Morphs/brakes rules as mind gets distorted
3D becomes 2D, planes break video plane
Pseudo Stereo (maybe)
14. Humming
Challenges the dissolution of the world
Helps the man pacify the confusion & return to reality
Calms his mood
BLANK SPACE
Literal
Black video – man’s mind is lost, dark
Foggy w/ Ghost Imagery – trying to return to reality
Sensory
Quiet/blank/nonsensical – confusion
Loss of Viewer Control
Parallels man’s inability to affect/comprehend his world
September 30, 2008
Week 6 - Schedule - Inside Out
For this class, I’m going to experiment with researching how to make a scene interactive (really basic) and to try and get some of the elements to work, using draft models and cards in Maya. I’m going to keep it as simple as possible (probably just a nodal camera with tilt/rotate/maybe zoom on one backyard view.) What I hope to accomplish in the next month is:
SCHEDULE
10/1 – 10/7
- Research: how to make 1 backyard environment interactive
- Try a package such as Unity?
- 5D Conference
10/8 – 10/14
- Create list of what needs to be in environment
- Create pano sphere
10/15 – 10/21
- Rough layout -1 environment in Maya
10/22 – 10/18
- Test to see if any of the interactive stuff works
Rough style frames are included below, however, I'm assuming I'll have to not use photos and make pretty rudimentary models in order for any of this to work in real time. Am experimenting with structure instead of style here.
September 29, 2008
Assignment 02 by Lee
Wireframe proposal for a new Gundam game:
1: Health Meter - In the shape of the Gundam one is piloting. At full health, registers as green, but will gradually shift towards red as damage is taken.
2: Thruster & overheat info: Two separate gauges going from blue to red within a larger indicator that itself will turn red if thruster shutdown by overheating imminent
3: Radar and enemy indication: Cutout is in the shape of the gundam head, where the sensors are located. Enemies will appear as dots in a traditional radar field within it.
4: Weapon info & remaining shots: Graphical display of current weapon and shots remaining
Sample:
September 25, 2008
Maps at LA Public Library
This looks interesting. They're breaking out the maps. Unfolded
September 23, 2008
Week 5 - More Info on "Inside Out"
What is the Interactive Component in the design?
An Animation Installation:
- A full-size re-creation of the corner of the attic from the film with cards pinned on the wall and scattered on a table &/or tucked away in shelves viewers can look through
- The digital animation is viewed through a life-size stereoscopic telescope or binoculars (examining close-up or internal things instead of far-away places). I might try to make a version that a viewer can explore in real-time
Intention For the Viewer:
Evoke empathy
Inspire curiosity
Process & Mark of Success:
A basic narrative structure is set up at the beginning to introduce the viewer to the character’s world. In this animation installation, the viewer can then browse physical documents - artifacts from the character’s life - as they examine his backyard environment digitally, through a telescope or binoculars. Success will be evaluated by the amount of time, ease, and attention that users devote to exploring the world. Additionally, it is important that viewers understand the basic overriding concept of the piece – a subjective portrayal of memory loss associated with aging.
Atlas:
PHYSICAL ARTIFACTS:
Cards pinned on a wall (possibly on a map) & stacked on a table or in drawers
EXPERIENCE:
Rummaging through someone’s mind as its parameters change
TABLE OF CONTENTS of CARDS:
Information & facts associated with dementia, memory loss, brain functions
Maps of External locations character has lived with dates on them – a key
Map of Internal Thoughts/ Knowledge Storage
- Drawings of the world – sketches character may have made with notations
- Lists that the character has made – memories, shopping lists, etc.
- Photos - strings attaching certain photos and documents to one-another
Physics – Traditional to surreal world
- Teleporting, ground rumbling & cracking, house breaking apart, characters appear flat &
- ghost-like, spatial relationships change
Time – Occurrence of a memory signaled by a surreal change in the environment
Stories – Simple dialogue interaction, talking to oneself, writing, drawing
ASSETS TO BE PRODUCED:
- Found Objects: Telescope or Binoculars, old photographic equipment
- Model of Installation: Digital or Physical
- Photos: Aged – Of landscape locations, stills or snapshots from the film
- Cards: Handwritten lists, Maps, Poems, Phrases, Sketches of places, Diary pages
- Digital 3D mock-up of environment with viewer navigation enabled
September 22, 2008
"HW03 - Halo 3 by Matthew Lee"
Halo 3 Gameplay Video - Multiplayer
* Why I like this game: As someone who has been a Halo fan since the first game came out (not Halo 2 as much, due to the cliffhanger "ending"), I enjoyed the combination of music, gameplay, and intense graphics. Halo 3, the final volume in this particular story arc of the universe, offers very smooth play, fast-paced action, and a very immersive audio environment. I particularly enjoyed the distance effects, where one could hear things like gunfire from very far away, building up the realism. And of course, the co-op and multiplayer modes were very well done, especially with the inclusion of the Forge.
Wireframe:
Wireframe analysis and the description:
1. Grenades - the number and types grenades you have available to you
2. Shield Strength - The most important indicator one needs to be aware of, equivalent to a health bar
3. Equipped Weapon & Ammo - The shape of the weapon one has, along with a count of how much ammo is in the weapon/how much reserve ammunition one is carrying
4. Radar - Shows enemies within 15m, with a bonus if they are moving
5. Team Score - During multiplayer, allows one to easily see how the each team is faring.
September 9, 2008
Week 3 Images
1. Working Title: INSIDE – OUT
To simulate the confusing cycle of memory loss & dementia associated with aging, the viewer is taken on a journey through one man’s mind as it deteriorates, turning inside-out on itself. Memories, represented by images & sounds from places he has lived, become jumbled, distorted, and disappear as he struggles to keep hold of reality.
Genre: Magical Realism
Media (Animation installation)
2. Place it:
Pictorial Landscape. The viewer travels through time, rather than physical space, as 4 separate locations are represented as overlapping stacked layers within one main world. The varied layers are revealed through animated changes in transparency, peeling away, ripping, objects falling through which break the picture plane, z-plane object depth distortions, disappearing & cracking layers, & change of viewer perspective using a lens enabler (i.e. telescope).
Locations:
1) Interior attic (look-out tower) of a house
2) Backyards - acre of land with surrounding wrought iron fenced off perimeter boundary
- Illusionary space of background matte paintings beyond the fence
- Beyond that, black space, revealed to be a floating world
a. Ohio (summer) – grass, a few trees, river rock path
b. Ohio (winter)
c. South Carolina – Spanish Moss trees, beach grass, dunes, marsh
d. Arizona – arid, desert, scattered chaparral
3. Audience.
Adults
An individual personal experience - could be viewed in group format
Part 1 – 3rd person POV – cinematic narrative
Part 2 – 1st person POV – looks like interactive narrative
Part 3 - 3rd person POV and/or lack of POV (dark space)
Agency: Viewer defines & colors their experience of the man’s perception through selection & association of provided supplementary materials – chance juxtaposition of complementary hard elements (physical cards, notes, drawings) with the film
4. Motivation – Intended viewer experience
- To enjoy a physical stereoscopic spectacle
- To imagine what it must be like for one’s familiar external and internal world to become jumbled and fall apart
- To take the viewer on an emotional journey from familiarity to confusion to peace
- To inspire empathy
April 23, 2007
Industry Blogs and Online Community Websites - Ryan Wilk
Comapring Terra Nova and Virtual Cultures to other online communities reveals some fairly obvious contrast. To really discuss the importance of the two entities, however, I would like to borrow from a Terra Nova blog by Florence Chee. Florence discusses his experiences as a gamer in WoW, vs. his real life tendency to view things as an anthropologist. He uses the term "passionate detachment" to explain his approach to analyzing games. He must be passionate about the experience (certainly, while playing WoW, he is fully enthralled), but to write objectively about online culture and communities, he excerts a level of personal detachment. I believe this "passionate detachment" can be used appropriately to descibe the concept of a site like Terra Nova. Certainly, these sites are populated by people much like Patricia; they are avid gamers that are passionate about interactive entertainment. However, at some level they can detach themselves. By conversing over why online experiences create the aforementioned "passion," they become more aware gamers, designers, etc.
If you log onto Terra Nova, there is very little explanation for new comers. This really is a forum of ideas, and its lay out is intended to grab the attention of those that truly find some form of detachment. Terra Nova and Virtual Cultures are essential to the evolution of the medium; there are some very interesting topics being discussed on a day to day basis.
Logging on to the WoW and UO websites is vastly difference. These sites are truly focused on extending the "passion" of the online experience to their meta-communities. Each site, in addition, heavily favors new players (the new player tab tops the side menus of both websites). Ultimately, these sites attempt to further the community of the game while serving the game's underlying fiction. Trusly, visiting the WoW and UO websites explains why a site like Terra Nova exists. How do these websites help build communities and control online experiences? How important are they to a player's actual play-time? Can websites such as WoW eventually become more integrated into the log-on and play experience?
Industry Blogs and Online Community Websites - Ryan Wilk
Comapring Terra Nova and Virtual Cultures to other online communities reveals some fairly obvious differences. To really discuss the importance of the two entities, however, I would like to borrow from a Terra Nova blog by Florence Chee. Florence discusses his experiences as a gamer in WoW, vs. his real life tendency to view things as an anthropologist. He uses the term "passionate detachment" to explain his approach to analyzing games. He must be passionate about the experience (certainly, while playing WoW, he is fully enthralled), but to write objectively about online culture and communities, he excerts a level of personal detachment. I believe this "passionate detachment" can be used appropriately to descibe the concept of a site like Terra Nova. Certainly, these sites are populated by people much like Patricia; they are avid gamers that are passionate about interactive entertainment. However, at some level they can detach themselves. By conversing over why online experiences create the aforementioned "passion," they become more aware gamers, designers, etc.
If you log onto Terra Nova, there is very little explanation for new comers. This really is a forum of ideas, and its lay out is intended to grab the attention of those that truly find some form of detachment. Terra Nova and Virtual Cultures are essential to the evolution of the medium; there are some very interesting topics being discussed on a day to day basis.
Logging on to the WoW and UO websites is vastly different. These sites are truly focused on extending the "passion" of the online experience to their meta-communities. Each site, in addition, heavily favors new players (the new player tab tops the side menus of both websites). Ultimately, these sites attempt to further the community of the game while serving the game's underlying fiction. Visiting the WoW and UO websites explains why a site like Terra Nova exists. How do these websites help build communities and control online experiences? How important are they to a player's actual play-time? Can websites such as WoW eventually become more integrated into the log-on and play experience?
April 22, 2007
Community In Games
Since I can remember, Yahoo Games has had an active and consistent tournament schedule for nearly all of their multiplayer casual games. Players are encouraged to practice and earn rating points until they are ready to enter the tournaments. Yahoo keeps a complete list of tournament results for bragging rights etc. Player interaction consists only of traditional chat, and it is especially hard to keep to track of if you're talking with large game rooms of up to 200 people. Introducing avatars would make it easier for Yahoo Games players to remember and identify specific people within the community.
Because of the daily playing limit for Kingdom of Loathing, I did not get far enough to experience most of the social interaction mechanics of the game. I was able to try the very limited PvP, but did not make it to the chat, clan, or trade systems. The innovative part of KoL is also what limits it. Designed using barebones web technology, KoL cannot display multiple players or avatars on the map. Other than its technological limitations, Kingdom of Loathing provides a compelling community experience including a very active message board.
I'm curious to see if the final version of Puzzle Quest shows multiple avatars on the map. Although it is not built into the game, a clan structure will likely evolved as it does for all multiplayer RPGs. Given its casual emphasis and rock-solid single-player gameplay, Puzzle Quest does not appear to need any special event or tournament structure.
Developers and Players
The player community in WoW and Second Life (for this blog I am saying it is a game) functions differently than developer/ industry pro communities. For the players the community functions as a form of leisure or escape, it gives them a form of entertainment and they play it because they want to, players in these communities are more functioned with play, group bonding and relationships. On the other hand, the developer/industry personal community serves as a matter for research and analyzation to give the pupil in the industry the different perspectives of gaming. They work together, for the most part, to create newer and hopefully better games. This community differs from the other in that it serves not to play, but the opposite, work. So for the player community it functions for fun and in the industry community it aids and helps with work. They are complete opposite and the strange thing is that the same game can function from two different sides of the field; work and play, leisure and "homework". It is ironic that the two communities cover much of the same content and yet their areas of influence are very different. As a developer I would weigh the player community more heavily in my estimation, the reason why I say this is because the games are made for the players in the first place, the games are not made for the developers. The developers work for the players by making the games, it is the player that decides whether or not the game is worth playing, not the developer. The developer has to keep an open mind as to what interests the player and what keeps the player in "play mode" so that they would want to play the game. If it wasn't for the player, the developer would have no job, so therefore I would heavily weigh my decision on the player community. I believe in order to be a more open-minded, down to earth,and well rounded individual, you have to approach the game from all sides of the field. It is defiantly worth participating in both as a developer and player, the two are just as important. With no developer, who would make the game? The two are worth subscribing to, but I would have to say the player community if by far more valuable, however, it still is a good idea to follow the developer community as well, just to get a sense of who the people are and to see how they tick. It is always good to know how people tick, a good lesson in life. Unfortunately, yes, the 30th is our last class session. :(
I absolutely love this class. I love you guys, Great work. ^_^
April 16, 2007
Community Blog - Ryan Wilk
The article assigned for this week discusses how regular events are a crucial element of community building. It is interesting to note, and the article does this thoroughly, that online events and meetings closely mirror their real life counterparts. The article specifically mentions an array of support-oriented communities, such as iVillage’s allHealth, which use events as a primary means to continue interest in a specific program. These chat room events most closely replicate real-life meetings, introducing a moderator and/or specialist to answer questions and help those in need. Only late in the article are games discussed at length. In our discipline, communities are organized around games as the “main event” (271). Having a community centralize around an interactive game allows for a great variety of community structures.
Yahoo! Games may be considered a very casual gaming community. Surely gaming is the primary event, but the website utilizes its casual, unorganized nature to regain players over time. In other words, a majority of the Yahoo community does not necessarily need, or want, a regular schedule of events to retain interest. This is not to say Yahoo ignores its community. It allows for chat in each of its games. This feature could be labeled as topical chat (it is intended to serve the game at hand), but because players are often on during casual hours, the chatting spreads into general conversation. In addition, Yahoo organizes tournaments to strengthen preexisting community and encourage new players to take part. Overall I think Yahoo does an adequate job considering their overarching casual goals.
Puzzle Pirates offers the most immersive community we have analyzed this semester. The game covers many of the community requirements outlined in the reading. There is always a casual place to chat, allowing players to discuss the game or unrelated topics. In addition, the game embraces greeters, assisting new and inexperienced players, and OceanMasters, who are admin type leaders able to assist in most online situations. In addition to this welcoming help, the game allows the player to develop a unique avatar and home (the player can physically see his position within the community), and an easy-to-use friends list. Lastly, Puzzle Pirates is an active, event based community. The main game screen, for example, has an events tab which is always full with community events, competitions, and tournaments. This variety of events gives players numerous options for involvement, creating a diverse and approachable community. Overall, Puzzle Pirates makes an effort to include a variety of players, from socializes to achievers, into its numerous community events.
April 15, 2007
Events, and the idea of Community
This week's reading pinpointed "events" a core element in community-building, a task of great interest to any game designer working within a subscription system where prolonged play generates greater returns. As the article states, a reliable and regular continuity across time is an observable characteristic which indicates a community does exist, as opposed to, say, a functional group which meets only under circumstances or to address certain issues, like a committee, or a group which meets under intense circumstances for a short period of time only disperse afterwards, like a conference or convention. Of course, regular and engaging events are only one element of the ambiguous concept of "community," and so seeking community involves both locating events as described by the article but also finding the other "features" that come to mind at the mention of the word "community:" shared interest, a common goal, a space to call one's own, sometimes a hierarchical structure.
My admittedly limited experience with puzzle pirates leads me to believe that genuine communities can form there, though I haven't been able to join one myself. It is an event driven game, though not "regular" events in that scheduled events direct the social flow. The sheer amount of players on puzzle pirates enables users simply to rely on events always happening; log on, and there is an event to be had. Moreover, if the events lack in regularity and reliability, they make up for it by successfully incorporating most of the elements in the article attributed to "competition" events, generating a desire to "come back for more," not because one necessarily sees the same faces at the same time, but rather, for the thrill of winning, or at least trying to. These features - sheer number of players, 24 hour availability, competitive atmosphere - could also be attributed to MSN games, yet Puzzle Pirates enables real communities whereas MSN games does not because it approaches the concept of the community holistically, including the ability to form "crews" (common goals, hierarchy, shared interest, and a personal "space" in the form of the boat) to add to the competitive aspect.
I recognize that the excerpt we read is a chapter in a book, and presumably all the other features of "community" I mention are covered separately in other chapters. As the relatively new field of multiplayer online games continues to develop, I imagine the inclusion of all these community based features will become industry axioms and creative focus will shift to innovating new ways to offer these features to players - for example, new ways to offer events. My experience within MMORPGs is limited, but nonetheless I think, for example, that celebrating Chinese New Year in Guild Wars was a clever achievement, creating an event that will certainly be anticipated in the future, but, unlike a weekly or monthly event, gains concentrated value in its rarity. The event itself was rare, but also special items that were handed out at the event proved valuable in the internal market both during the festival and in the following weeks. Later, I was able to notice St. Patrick's day celebrated in world. I've never played an other MMORPGs, but I wouldn't be surprised if this celebration of holidays is a regular thing, nonetheless it aptly represents what I'm talking when I imagine "innovations" in community feature, such as events, are in store for the future.