Filed under: Uncategorized
In case you’re tracking, a few GLS affiliated students have begun a few side projects that are worth mentioning as things are beginning to really take off. If you’re interested in helping or participating in any of these events, be sure to ask!
For starters, we’re hosting a global game jam site this year which Kevin has awesomely taken the lead on. This adds immensely to our continued bi-monthly game jams that we’ve been running with our friend and colleague John Martin. Hoping to improve our practical skills, we have added a flash workshop that GLS affiliate Tim Cartwright has graciously volunteered to help teach.
In order to tie our research to our gaming, we’ve also begun a small project investigating our Team Fortress 2. Though this project is in its infancy, expect more updates on it (very) soon.
-matt
Filed under: Uncategorized
As computers become increasingly embedded in our culture, Papert (1993) argues for the inevitability of fundamental changes in the way that we think due to the way in which learning is related to the structuration of the environment. That is, computers, by instantiating process, “shift the boundary separating concrete and formal.” LOGO, a simple computer language that allows its users to consider a first-person perspective within the programming environment, offers a powerful tool through which to address and build upon students’ intuitions through agentive, meaningful activity. For example, LOGO offers a new way to think about geometry because it allows students to execute a line-drawing activity that is procedurally driven. As a result, students can reconsider even the simplest of geometric shapes: a square takes new meaning, as it transforms from a polygon with four equivalent sides and only ninety degree angles, to four steps forward, four steps right, four steps back, and four steps left – either by the turtle or the child herself. Because of LOGO’s requirement that students adopt computer-like ways of thinking, abstract concepts like recursion and multiplication are reified through code. Education designed for computational literacy does not require the abandonment of “traditional” learning, and indeed can even achieve more meaningful instruction. It does, however, require rethinking which epistemologies we value and how best to frame what it is that we consider “learning.”
Papert, S. (1993). Mindstorms: Children, computers and powerful ideas. Basic Books: New York.
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Graduate school requires that students allocate significant amounts of time and thought to projects that are often complex and detail oriented. Keeping track of tasks for each of these projects from start to finish is challenging, especially considering their oft-disjointed nature. The solution that I’ve found to this issue is Todoist, a web-based to-do-list application that integrates into my browser as a sidebar and sits on my Mac as a widgit. Like its pen and paper brethren, Todoist is simple and easy to use. It remembers everything I add to it with impeccable accuracy. It allows for the color coding, hierarchical organization, and easy grouping and sorting of all of my tasks, creating an appealing and clean interface. I can easily add and remove tasks as they arise throughout the day – it even strikes through tasks as I check a box indicating that they are complete, one of the more satisfying components of traditional to-do lists. Todoist basically does everything as its meat-space correlates, only in a digital context. And while I sometimes miss the aesthetics of a nice ball point pen scratching my plans across a piece of paper, todoist lets me never have to worry about losing or washing my to-do lists ever again. As long as I have access to the internet, (which I conveniently have on my cell phone) I know exactly what I’m supposed to be doing.
To-do lists, whether paper or digital, serve two functions: they help me remember and they help me plan. It’s easy to understand how they help me remember – at a glance, they allow me to see exactly what needs to get done. How they help me plan however, is a little more ambiguous. Because each project that I’m involved in has its own agenda, its own set of tasks that need to get done, its own time frames extending weeks, if not months, into the future, it would be a pain in the ass to keep track of all of their intricacies. Specifically, and more importantly, it would be exceptionally difficult to figure out what exactly needed to get done, and in what order, and then to keep it all in my head. This is where the to-do list steps in. The to-do list magic comes from its creation – making a to-do list means systematically planning future events, and in doing so, imagining their accomplishment before it even happens. That is, by defining tasks in manageable chunks, by thinking through them, breaking them up, and typing them into todoist, I complete a walk-thru of future activity. By turning nebulous activities like “work” into more concrete tasks, to-do lists give me perspective; the difference is like looking at a forest without a path versus seeing a trail amongst the trees. The magic of the to-do list isn’t in each of the items that comprise it, as these are not just discrete, decontextualized activities that need to be accomplished. They are plot points for an overarching narrative of work. The structural organization of my list isn’t just a reflection of how I represent the tasks in my head. It’s a map explaining how I get from point A to point B. To-do lists, whether physical or virtual are not just a memory store for facts. Rather, they are the artifacts that are created through a self-programming process, that gives shape and form to previously unknown future actions.
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Craig Watkins
Hip-Hop’s digital underground – A broad spectrum of djs, writers, graphic artists, etc. acting in a participatory culture. The internet has become the place where we gather to have interesting provocative conversations. This includes a resilient rejection of corporate hip-hop. The face of media distribution is changing from tangible to the intangible – cd sales are on the decline.
“In Hip-Hop’s digital underground, participation is not mediated by two of the most dominant elements in hip-hop: race and geography. “
Transition from “audiences” to “publics”
Question: Is producer/consumer erasure argument too much of an emphasis on product? Instead should we consider ‘how music is listened to” more important?
Mixtapes…despite their roles in revitalizing performers and their role in revitalizing the industry, are being attacked by the industry, by the riaa.
Hip hop receives significant critique from itself, e.g. nas: hip hop is dead
Example 2: Interactive Media. The rise of urban/street games. Games informed by the style, aesthetics, and sensibilities established in hip hop culture. E.g. Saints Row, def jam, bulletproof, etc. claims that we’re seeing a tendency for an increasing in ‘sandboxyness’ as well as an increase in hiphop culture.
“What are the consequences of youth engaging gaming spaces that renders racially problematic representations beliefs and attitudes playable and pleasurable?”
simulating black bodies and black lives (by designers) was investigated.
“gamer designers are increasingly trying to capture not only graphical but cultural reality” the way that this is done is increasingly problematic
there is a semi-realism to them so we wanted to make sure that there was definitely a street feel to the artwork. Authenticity was very important sort of reflecting in music, reflecting the gritty realistic of real life in the game,
it was supposed to reflect his life into the game however”sometimes it isn’t just a matter of portraying them as they are. Its an enhancement of what they are.” It’s not we’re going to take their image and hack at it – they’re not going to like that at all.
“part of the design is to make it authentic” says craig.” Games create interesting places to see as well as perform blackness ”
-sorry about the incoherence- >_<
Eurogamer has a retrospective post about the game, The Dig, a game I remember playing up until about middle school. Though I haven’t picked up the game in at least 10 years, I do remember playing the game pretty intently up until middle school. The first puzzle, as they describe in the article, was frustratingly difficult, and I wasn’t able to complete it without a walk-thru from a friend (in my defense, I was 10). I also remember how enthralled I was with the game – I remember feeling awe, frustration, and accomplishment as I solved the puzzles, and progressed the narrative. The retrospective piece does a pretty good job summarizing what the game was ultimately: a disappointment of potential riddled with great narrative possibilities.
Its failures/successes speak to development of games as an artful medium, driving home the point that fancy graphics and physics engines aren’t necessary for substantive work (c.f. Jason Rohrer). But this is really old news, especialy for industry folk, as we have already begun to see the awesomely innovative things that indie devs can do. Already, similar to the way that poetry MFA students spend a two or three years working on a book of poems for their final project, games master students at places like CMU and USC are developing their own games (c.f. Kyle Gabler), learning the ins and outs of production, and pushing genre boundaries.
The question that I have then, is for those of us in education: Seeing this trend, what should we do about it? So far, a few places have started to work on answers. For example, Alex Games’ dissertation work with Gamestar Mechanic advances the idea of teaching students to be fluent in games literacy. At MIT’s Gambit Lab, undergraduate students learn to produce games, some of which win industry-wide recognition (e.g. Carneyvale). However, these places are few and far between and their contributions to industry and education haven’t quite been sussed out; there is definitely room for growth and research. For example, one area that I think is especially interesting, particularly in advancing games from an art/academic perspective, is the study of games as a medium for narrative in their own right. Understanding how and why games like The Dig fall short of fulfilling our narratological expectations seems helpful if we are interested in advancing the state of the art.
Ian Bogost recently published a paper in Gama Sutra on the importance of gestures in games – a topic I’ve been itching to write about for a while now. Generally, what he talks about is helpful in starting the ball rolling, and there a number of interesting places to dig in, particularly for those of us that are interested in topics like embodiment, meaning, and action. For example, he explains how “gestures … can also alter an actor’s own thoughts or feelings about the world or himself. These sensations can be complex, and they can evolve.” While all of this is true, I think that much more can be said in order to provide traction and utility for designers by being clearer, and elucidating more explicit implications as well as applications for gesture. More to come on this later.
Ryan here…
One of my interests in video games is the way in which they’re available platforms to use for cultural/societal critiques. Video games, especially if you consider the works of Ian Bogost and Gonzalo Frasca, can be used in a much more serious matter. Here is a good article, although I think they’re late by a few years, it’s a growing trend in game design and worth a look.
Video games that let you play with your news
I recently finished A fire upon the deep by Vernor Vinge. It was great, filled with fantastical worlds, alien species, and deep space battles, the book reads easily and at the same time (like many sci fi books) makes you think about current technology and the direction it’s headed. Specifically, I was struck by the parallel between the Tines and Humans w/respect to the technological advances their civilizations could (or couldn’t) achieve because of their biology. Even though the book is over 15 years old, and it is no longer particularly interesting to say “look what the internet can do because it can bring people together across time/space,” (from undergraduate programming projects to WoW, it’s happening everywhere) I think the metaphor still has some legs. From the prosthetic to the virtual, I’m sitll amazed at how technological advances are gradually allowing us to work smarter (c.f. Don Norman) in order to accomplish the same types of tasks we’ve always been interested performing.
Up next on the reading list is Neuromancer, Snow Crash, and upon Raph Koster’s suggestion, Rainbow’s End and Halting State. If you’re interested, go beg/borrow/steal a copy of neuromancer and read along with moses and myself. We’ll talk about it maybe next week.
-matt
Filed under: Professionalism
This past week was NYU’s State of Play, a conference about virtual worlds and their relationship to law, economics, society, etc. In one of the discussion panels, graduate students we were allowed to formulate and ask mostly tenured faculty and industry folks some questions about their professional lives. Here are the questions, and a transcript of the answers. Overall, the theme of their advice seemed to be a balance of passion and pragmatism. One of the things that I really connected with from this discussion was the idea of having an epic project in addition to smaller ones (what are non-epics, grays greens and blues?) as well as the idea of “hitting the goddamn marks.” Interesting.
-matt
1. If you were your own graduate student, what would your 1, 2, 5 and 10 year plans be?
2. What are your own personal 1, 2, 5 and 10 year plans?
3. IF you could write one more virtual worlds paper what would it be
the relationship between the technologies we engage with and the reality of our physical bodies
Thomas M
-be wary of “planning” too much; connecting with other disciplines (they rule the roost, they control the tenure lines. Be able to speak to the disciplines without sacrificing your core research convictions; notice what people find interesting and find a connection to that. Be a little more pragmatic; don’t reproduce the fad of the month, but don’t be afraid to speak to it
Doug T– find something I love, really deeply and passionately, and deeply engage in it. It’ll keep you going through all the bullshit you have to deal with. DON’T BE AFRAID TO REEVALUATE THIS every 2, 5, and 10 years.
Tim B– I was impractically passionate at the start of grad school. Be more conscious or even manipulative about the way that graduate student systems work. Know where my passions were best invested, both in producing good results in a career sense and knowing in a way what the career sense was. Be more conscious entereing, then conscious in developing a set of passions that come without being calculated. I’ve spent a lot of time getting back to what it is that I’m interested in.
Paper topic: The way that rules and designs function in real and virtual worlds and the way they speak to practice. The way that practice forms in relation to design and structure and rules.
Bart S: read everything my supervisor has written. And make it prority to talk to him about his work. Since I have an agenda of my own, I would make it a priority to articulate the relationships between my work and what it is that he has done. Then begin to construct a project. On one level it’s got to be epic. On another, you’ve got to have quickies. Get a blog. Write quick, write often, write fast. Write and write for publics (any public). Phds and tenure isn’t enough. Make a world I want to live in. there should be no more disciplines. The university should be organized around interdisciplinary research projects. Try to find the place of “no discipline”
Finish what I’ve strated working on (over the next 1-2 years). 5 years = build space for new comers.
Imagination. Take imagination away from the psychologists and bring it back to the sociologists. Operationalize it.
Tom B– Listen to everything that my advisor said. Locate myself in terms of disciplines because of the interdisciplinary work that I do. There’s noone really against interdisciplinary. Whenever it’s one hand clapping I get suspicious, I get nervous. Disciplinarity has it’s uses, and it’s not just about hiring lines etc. it’s about accountability towards one’s knowledge practices. “When is something interdisciplinary?” Beyond the two to five year, you can’t really… but remember.. “fire in the belly”
I’d want to explore “what is the virtual”
James G
In the next year, write what must be written. Write what you feel you’re qualified to write and that no one else is qualified to write. And in the second year, do the same.
This next year, looking at book search online. The second year out, I’m going to be writing a set of papers on topics I find interesting.
Grand unified theory of how virtual property in the legal and daily sense is completely bound up with unilateral code control by the developer and the legal problems that that raises.
Jesse H
Be passionate. Really really really be passionate about what you’re doing. If you don’t love it, stop. Find what keeps you moving in the morning, and then make that your short term. Your long term is going to change.
Finish this game, post mortem work is improve the process.
You should write: groups in virtual world spaces looking at each other. Not how individuals, but how groups of individuals interact and how the hierarchies interact.
Building the game the right way. Put them all in the one group. Get them in a room, get them not to work any more than 9-5. And make a game that everyone is going to enjoy playing.
Dan H (references david foster wallace’s “this is water” speech. With enough goggling, you too can find it 
Think of yourself as an assistant professor. There are two experiences that I want to share. It’s not an empty trope to talk about following your bliss, but it comes across as a commencement speech. There is a value in thinking about this – why the hell is it that you do what you do? This woman I know is in fashion – she was advised that the easiest way not to get tenure was to write about fashion. I said that the people that advised her must have been dropped on their heads. She would have been the only person writing about fashion law before everyone said ‘omg this is hella important.’ Passion isn’t JUST about the grind (it’s a really fucking long time). It also means that you’re going to start off earlier than anybody else. But also, passion is pointless if you don’t learn the process. Hit the goddamn marks.
The one paper that I have left is a really really long paper. It’s with TB. It’s called a book. It’s on virtual worlds and threads that have come out of them. Identity, real money trading, institutions in the guild, etc. describe this in ways that are broad. There are more broad questions that we can now look back on and answer.
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Ryan here.
Augmented Reality Gaming is not a new deal to education, but with mobile technologies already obtained by the users (students) we find ourselves no longer having to answer to Cuban. Below is a gameplay video from “Ghostwire”, which is about….wait for it…capturing ghosts! I know this doesn’t provide much to the realm of education, but so much of what we see in University circles involving ARGs are devoted to mobile phone devices. Here, we see a gaming apparatus showing potential for doing much of the same things we want mobiles devices to do. Now there’s just a question of making it fun. Look interesting?
