tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-44852855971188104682024-03-05T11:18:26.115-08:00CounterpowerThis is a weblog for English 138: "Internet Culture and the Information Society," Spring 2007, Santa Clara University.Marc Bousquethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00994490111371549591noreply@blogger.comBlogger534125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4485285597118810468.post-76983310118182346552008-06-20T13:23:00.000-07:002008-06-20T13:24:00.886-07:00this is my youtube channel that didn't upload properly on my site <a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=xsSaEXKqFR0">http://youtube.com/watch?v=xsSaEXKqFR0</a>Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18286583273029086184noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4485285597118810468.post-45715685982287388972008-06-16T13:31:00.000-07:002008-06-16T13:32:30.040-07:00WebsiteThis is the link to my final hypertext. It's about morality and it's origin.<br /><br /><a href="http://eng138.x10hosting.com/index.html">http://eng138.x10hosting.com/index.html</a>Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02653981271032919989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4485285597118810468.post-84863919725184839232008-06-10T13:40:00.000-07:002008-06-10T13:42:01.819-07:00Final ProjectHere is the link to my final hyper-text:<br /><a href="http://webpages.scu.edu/ftp/kotoole/splash%20page.html">http://webpages.scu.edu/ftp/kotoole/splash%20page.html</a><br /><br />and here is the link to my homepage:<br /><br /><a href="http://webpages.scu.edu/ftp/kotoole/index.htm">http://webpages.scu.edu/ftp/kotoole/index.htm</a><br /><br />Enojoy, and happy summer!kotoolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08564757621810930063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4485285597118810468.post-49141920996011431162008-06-02T02:14:00.000-07:002008-06-02T02:36:46.568-07:00gaming diGaming Diary<br /><br />When I read about the social impact games, I wondered how these simple games could inform in such a way to actually effect social change. It seemed like a good idea to get people learning interactively, but once I played the games I found that any sort of learning value extracted from the game play was nothing that couldn’t have been stated in one simple sentence. For example, “The McDonald’s industry uses unethical practices to maintain profits,” or “Kinko’s employees become bored and apathetic in their work environment.”<br /><br />I played the McDonald’s game first and decided to play it in French to see how a French person, who is especially likely to hate McDonald’s, would be affected by this game. I spent a while clicking on random things to see what they did. In one place, an image appeared showing an evil McDonald with a starving African baby, which I found to be a powerful image. <br><img src="http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d195/cfmeyer/mickeyd1.jpg" alt="Photobucket"><br /><br><br />Soon I was raising cows and harvesting crops. I thought this would bring me profit in no time, but I quickly lost money. I went to the cow pen and slaughtered cows by clicking on them. I thought this would bring me money because it meant I would be selling hamburgers, but instead a little person starting jumping up and down and screaming at me, and I continued to lose money. I went into the corporate board room and tried to adjust the budget, but nothing worked! When I went into the negative ten thousands, a mean scary McDonald face appeared shouting, “Shame on you! You’ve brought the company to bankruptcy! You’ve destroyed years and years of business culture.” I didn’t care that I had failed; I was proud to have single-handedly brought down a huge corporation that sells unhealthy food to the masses.<br><br /><img src="http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d195/cfmeyer/mickeyd2.jpg"><br><br /><br />Next, I downloaded “Disaffected!” to my desktop and began to play. This game emulates working at Kinko’s. You’re supposed to wait for customers to walk in and then retrieve their mail package from the storage counter. It took me several tries before I was able to satisfy a customer. The clients get impatient quickly, I noticed, as a sort of ticking clock floating above each client’s head indicates.<br /><br />The game allows you to switch between either of the two employees who are on shift, so that if one employee is closer to the counter you can switch to him and have him get the package for the client more quickly. The annoying part is that the two employees often get in each other’s way, and that slows down the whole process.<br /><br />I usually brought the clients the wrong package at first, and then I would have to endure their angry shouts before trying again. If I failed again, they were out the door.<br /><br />Social impact gaming seems to be a great idea, and I’m sure some games that choose the right topic and the right mode of game play can be effective. The games I played didn’t seem to make a bold statement or inform players of anything new or significant.Charliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00434122179592329024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4485285597118810468.post-60286986012871526782008-05-29T21:21:00.002-07:002008-05-29T21:22:01.467-07:00game<p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>For my social impact game, the player would begin by choosing a pet which they would like to raise. The participant can choose the type of animal they would like to raise, for example, a dog, cat, pig, horse, any animal out of a variety of choices, as well as the gender of the animal. The player can choose the appearance of the pet, its color and size. The player is also given the opportunity to “adopt” a pet from the local pound. The player is then provided the opportunity to walk around in “pet world” where the player will encounter several variables which will evaluate the player’s capability of successfully raising and taking care of a pet. Over time, the pet will begin to change and develop as a result of the decisions made by the owner concerning its well being. The pet’s size will change, it will grow or shrink depending on the amount of food it is fed and its temperament will change depending on how much attention it is given. Pets in “pet world” can get sick as well as recover, if the player chooses to help treat the animal. The social impact effect of the “pet world” game would be to teach responsibility. The player is responsible for the pet and the pet’s well being. Because the player can view how their own choices affect another being, the player should learn what choices are beneficial towards others and are good choices to be made. The pet world game provides players with an idea of if raising a pet is a good idea, depending on their own lifestyles. The game is meant to simulate how much responsibility comes with owning a pet and to help the player decide if they are prepared for that responsibility. The pet world game is meant to reflect the immense amount of animal neglect and mistreatment in the <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country-region> today. Hopefully, the game will help players realize they are incapable of the responsibility of a pet or motivate players who are prepared to adopt a pet. At the beginning of the game, players are given the choice to create their own pet or adopt. This choice is meant to reflect the choice which future pet owners have, to buy a pet from the pet store or adopt one from the local pound. At the conclusion of the game, the player can choose to quit at any point, the player is given information regarding the adoption of animals and the benefits they can provide to an animal’s life. </p>jmcnallyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03112226874538935297noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4485285597118810468.post-68491892274697566992008-05-28T19:35:00.000-07:002008-05-28T19:39:50.566-07:00Professor,<div> I emailed you my learning essay and webpage but here is the link to the webpage incase it didn't get sent for some reason.</div><div><br /></div><div>http://webpages.scu.edu/ftp/jvcesena/index.htm</div>jvcesenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17270462987502363737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4485285597118810468.post-28341891603830614332008-05-27T22:45:00.000-07:002008-05-27T22:46:06.549-07:00Game in Space<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Game Proposal</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">-----------------------------------</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Game Type: MMORPG</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Summary: Space Vehicles mines Helium 3, simulate low gravity environments while transporting materials / take off / landing.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Creating a game that would be both academically stimulating while capturing the imagination (and interest) of adolescents is not an easy task. Not only does it require a “fun” game, it also requires a lengthy amount of research as well as timing.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">At this particular point in time, I would choose to create a space game. Not only would it raise awareness of our nation's stagnating, inefficient, poorly funded space program, it would raise interest in the subject and potentially create future replacements for the aging ranks within NASA.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">This game would be an MMORPG (hopefully funded like the government-- like Army Operations), and would focus around the economic repercussions of fossil fuels and the search for alternative sources of energy. An integral part of the game will be harvest Helium-3, Deuterium, and other fusion-able resources commonly found in our galaxy. While the game begins somewhat a hundred years in the remote future, the player begins his journey 200 miles above the earth's surface in one of the many space stations orbiting the earth. Real-Life physics will be an important part of the game. While it is understood that if <b>accurate</b> real-life physics would make space travel time consuming and near unplayable, it would be my intention to the make the game as accurate as possible, while making it still playable. This would mean tweaking the physics so that perhaps scale is slightly adjusted for better interaction and travel, while interaction between players and objects, etc was still realistic. Here's an example: A player travels halfway around the earth while in orbit to a debris field to clean up debris. Realistically, it would take the player possibly half an hour to an hour to arrive at his location. In game, to maintain player interest, the travel would have to take at most 5-10 minutes. When the player arrives at the debris field, interaction with debris should be realistic. If the player is traveling too fast, the debris should destroy his ship. Additionally, if he/she bumps into the debris, it should bump / shatter in a realistic fashion, and possible cause a chain reaction (kessler syndrome?).</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> The main theme in this game will be exploration and teamwork. Online communities are what power MMORPGs and so naturally great emphasis would be put in building that community. “Missions” given (generically known as quests) would require players to team up with other players, perhaps performing docking maneuvers, pooling resources together to to get to a location, etc. Combat could be introduced as an additional incentive, although it would need to be as realistic as possible (civilian ships would at the most have mining lasers, etc).</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> Potentially this game could be used for realistically simulations. The game engine, if open source could be used for much more than simply for entertainment. A program such as this would have application purposes in the military, commercial enterprises, and even future space travel.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4485285597118810468.post-66811977457151111042008-05-24T12:17:00.000-07:002008-05-24T19:08:46.613-07:00Social Impact Game: Rickshaw DriverI was sick this week, so I played quite a few of the social impact games. Some of them were very monotonous (like Tuboflex and Tamatipico) but I guess that was sort of the point. It was depressing to complete the same boring task over and over again, but for some reason I still really wanted to do well, hoping that I could get ahead and get high points. I also played faithfighter, which I felt was not very successful in getting its point across. The game was meant to make people realize the arbitrary nature of religious conflict, but when I started to play, I quickly forgot this message. Basically, I just wanted to win the battle and wasn't contemplating about the terrible repercussions of religious violence. I felt that the McDonald's game was a little more developed. It was interesting to view the company from the point of view of the owners. I saw myself cutting down forests because it was cheaper than cleared land. Then I simply gave money to NGOs to appear ecoconscious. This was a good anthropological study because it shows the complexities of running a global corporation. <div> For my final project, I am examining the culture of poverty among rickshaw drivers in India. For a social impact game, I developed an idea that exposes the difficult decisions and lifestyle that rickshaw drivers face daily. The player will be a rickshaw driver, forced to decide where to wait for customers (the airport, the bazaar, the IT district, the university, etc) Then the driver will be forced to make a series of decisions (haggle with customer, take 8 persons and risk getting a ticket from the police, pursuade the customer to go to a shop where you will receive a commission, etc) The results of each decision will be variable, mimicking real life. The game will also feature meters expressing happiness, energy level, available money, hunger. The driver will have to make decisions like when to pull over and sleep, or when to stop for a chai or naan. Each of which will cost him time and money. The driver will also have opportunities for self-improvement. At the beginning of the game, the player is given a driver from a rural village who speaks either a tribal language or a language not spoken in the city to which he moves. If he learns the language, he will be better able to communicate with customers and will likely have more clients. But language classes will cost money and time that could be spent working. Also, the driver will be new to the area and may get lost. To improve his sense of direction, he can take time out to learn new routes, but this will cost time, raising hunger levels, lowering energy, no monetary gain etc. The driver will also have to account for unforeseen repairs and stresses. For instance, he will need to refuel, repair a tire, buy a new horn. There may be a strike, or monsoons may prevent him from working. To make the game even more complex, the driver could have a family that he supports and must make time to see and provide for. The intent of the game is to reveal the difficulties that rickshaw drivers face in daily life. Not only can the work be tiring and unpredictable, but it is difficult to maintain a living wage, especially when one has dependents to support. </div>Whitneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14075085329642952015noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4485285597118810468.post-60619585744184644152008-05-22T18:46:00.000-07:002008-05-22T18:47:10.450-07:00socially aware gaming, cat fights and such... [PLEASE COMMENT]<p class="MsoNormal">Social impact gaming just might be the way to reach upcoming generations who have been brought up on the X-box, PSP, or Nintendo DS. Nowadays, gaming begins when you’re a toddler, with the creation of games and gaming systems like “Leapfrog”, young children are learning to read, write, and spell on these digital systems. It makes sense that people who are aware of this growing trend, would try to capitalize on it for the advancement of social and economic justice. Games are something that no one really ever grows out of, and free gaming on the web allows groups to target a wide variety of audiences. Instead of games being mindless for of entertainment there is actually a purpose and message that is relevant to current events. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Out of curiosity I followed a link from social impact games (.com) to see exactly how people were using these games to educate and entertain. I visited <a href="http://www.darfurisdying.com/">http://www.darfurisdying.com/</a> and it was sort of weird to know that I am playing a game that is someone in <st1:place st="on">Africa</st1:place>’s reality everyday. Even though I knew that what was happening to my character wasn’t real (being caught by refugees and being placed in a camp) it was disturbing to think that young women and children are often caught by these military extremists and raped, kidnapped, and/or murdered. Another really profound gaming software program that I found was one that focused on finding a solution of peace for <st1:city st="on">Palestine</st1:City> and <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>. I mean, that is a HUGE issue! And now nearly everyone has the ability to play a game that allows them to have a hand in resolving this historical conflict. <span style=""></span><i style=""></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>If I were to create a game that would embody the vision I have for my final project, I would create some sort of game aimed at young women (ages 17-22) that directs them away from materialism and encourages sisterhood, ambition, solidarity and intellect over the body-obsessed, self-criticizing and increasing materialistic media. There is nothing out there that screams “GIRL POWER” (not so cheesy though!) and encourages a do-it-yourself attitude for females in my age group. I would also want my game to have some sort of international aspect….maybe the characters could be from different countries or you can select which country you want to play in and from that there are certain rules and regulations etc. Now I have no idea what the actual game might be. But I am open for suggestions [[ comment please ]]</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Possibly some sort of uber materialism and superficiality—like having a character which you have to “make-up” and then the whole objective is to find a boyfriend, have the most friends, money, and stylish clothes and become a “star”. The way that you would do all of this is by 1.) stealing other girls’ friends 2.) spreading rumors that make your character look better or make someone else look worse 3.) stealing boyfriends and the other usual cattiness and passivity associated with teenage girls. Doing all of these things would allot you “popularity points” .</p> <p class="MsoNormal">I hope you can see what I’m getting at. Any suggestions?</p>kthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10594634635210484627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4485285597118810468.post-49927251643221452922008-05-22T17:38:00.001-07:002008-05-22T17:39:49.532-07:00Game Proposal: Teaching kids about drug and alcohol usageFor my social impact game I thought that I would make a game based on the idea of trying to teach kids how to be responsible when it comes to starting and using drugs. Kids will enter their real age and it will create a character that is their age, but ages more quickly so that they can be thrown into complicated and mature situations more quickly in the game before they encounter them in real life. When the kids enters their real age, however, the game will determine whether or not they need to be informed on drugs and alcohol or it will encourage them to go and talk to their parents if they feel uncomfortable or have any questions. It will also ask if their family members have had any problems with addictions and the game will incorporate this aspect later. Kids will be approached by their friends who ask them if they want to drink or try a drug and the kid playing will have to choose what will happen if they choose whether or not to take the drug. If the kids decide to take the drug the game will show an alternate scenario of what would have happened if they had chosen not to take the drug or drink, but if the kid decides not to take the drug they’ll get some sort of reward. For example, if their friends want them to come and drink with them and they decide not to and just go home instead their mom will have a surprise for them that they would not have gotten if they had gone out to drink/do drugs with their friends.<br />As the game goes on the character matures and they are posed with more challenging situations as their friends start to do drugs and drink more frequently and in great numbers. This is where the main point of the game comes in. The point of the game is not to immediately show kids that drugs are evil and if you drink or do drugs you will die or they will make you a horrible person; it is to teach self control, self awareness, and their values. There will be choices where they can either choose to go and hang out with their friends or they can stay home to study for a midterm or just spend time with their family. If the child entered that their family has a history of drug or alcohol abuse they will sometimes be shown a choice of what to do, but the game will choose for them. If they go hang out with their parents or study instead they will be rewarded by doing well on tests or completing homework so that they can go out and do things while their friends have to study for a test because they did poorly on the last one due to their lack of studying to go “hang out” with their friend. If they spend time with their parents they will get random parental appreciation or rewards such as money, new clothes, gaming systems, or whatever the child playing the game is interested in. <br />After reading Kai’s (sp?) proposal on her game, I think that getting different perspectives in the game can be good; possibly a game within the game for the parents to teach them about talking to their kids appropriately about drugs or respecting their space. For example, parents can look through their kids stuff while their kid is at school school, but they won’t know whether or not their kid will notice. You could even have a little bar on the side that shows how much your kids trust you, which will be based on whether or not you violate your kids space or if you talk to them effectively and appropriately about drug use.<br />Let me know what you think!Breehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06916411110602962695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4485285597118810468.post-1143635507324652272008-05-22T17:15:00.000-07:002008-05-22T17:16:26.189-07:00The Gang Life - Game Proposal<p class="MsoNormal">My father is one of the most important people in my life.<span style=""> </span>He has not only provided me with a life full of vast opportunities, but he has taught me to be strong and independent.<span style=""> </span>My father is a dentist in <st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">Denver</st1:City>, <st1:state st="on">Colorado</st1:State></st1:place> and a majority of his patients are Latino.<span style=""> </span>His life, however, was not always so seemingly perfect.<span style=""> </span>At six years old, he migrated from <st1:city st="on">Chihuahua</st1:City>, <st1:country-region st="on">Mexico</st1:country-region> to <st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">East Los Angeles</st1:City>, <st1:state st="on">California</st1:State></st1:place>, with his mother, father and nine siblings.<span style=""> </span>During his teenage years, he joined an <st1:place st="on">East Los Angeles</st1:place> game, whom called themselves “Barrio Nueveo” (The New Neighborhood).<span style=""> </span>He became involved with the gang and dropped out of high school his junior year of high school.<span style=""> </span>It was not until many years later, he decided to return to a junior college and pursue a career in dentistry, dramatically turning his life around.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">We have all heard the stereotypes and discriminations surrounding gang members.<span style=""> </span>They are typically envisioned as violent thugs who roam the streets strapped with guns and stealing from corner stores.<span style=""> </span>After a life of petty crime, most end up in jail or in a coffin.<span style=""> </span>Rarely do we hear the stories of those who end their life of chaotic violence and crime and end up contributing effectively and successfully to society and the community.<span style=""> </span>My final project will focus on telling the story of those gang members, who turn their negative lives into positive, particularly with the inclusion of a detailed account of my own father’s experience.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Anyways, on to my social impact game.<span style=""> </span>My brief proposal for a social impact game of my own would be entitled “The Gang Life.”<span style=""> </span>In this game the player would start off as an experienced gang member, convicted of murder, but released into society.<span style=""> </span>The player then has to do good deeds, as he is confronted with situations that could cause him or her to resort back to the violent ways that his or her life once was when in the gang.<span style=""> </span>If the player successfully avoids using gang ways to handle various situations, then he or she is able to move on to the next level.<span style=""> </span>Each level confronts the player with more and more aggressive and complicated situations.<span style=""> </span>It is the player’s job to respond reasonably and productively.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Each time the player uses a gang way to resolve a problem he or she loses a “freedom life,” in which each player starts off with three.<span style=""> </span>At the end of these three “freedom lives,” the player loses the game and must start over in order to continue playing the game.<span style=""> </span>Now, this game sounds pretty simple and sounds pretty boring, but please understand, I am in no way a gamer and in no way have experience with these types of computer games, other than the games we experimented with this week.<span style=""> </span>But it is just a proposal and an idea.<span style=""> </span>Hopefully, my website, however, will be of great interest and uniqueness. </p>moniquesandovalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06752530456448993377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4485285597118810468.post-41007016256375848932008-05-22T17:10:00.000-07:002008-05-22T17:11:39.891-07:00Game Proposal: Sales can educate!<p class="MsoNormal">After playing several online videogames, both for this class and in the past, I have found that the most effective social-commentary games are the ones that are not blatantly propagandizing. The most effective and attractive games are obviously the ones that offer entertainment value. My idea for a social impact game would consist of a game that explains memetics to the general populace. That said, it would be an educational game without a particular agenda, that is, a game that only teaches. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Functionally speaking I think that the game would boil down to a salesmanship type of game. What I mean by this is that the gamer would control a traveling salesman, similar to a Mary Kay consultant or Willie Lowman. They would operate in a simplified world that reflects society in its current state; perhaps this would work well in Second Life. The salesman would have many things to sell. Some items would require a payment in time, some would require a payment in money, some would require both. There would be a myriad of items that represent everything from entire ideologies, to individual ideas, to things as simple as a YouTube video. These would be called “items” or “memes.”</p> <p class="MsoNormal">The gamer/salesperson would be able to both make appointments with people who have requested a viewing of the merchandise as well as approach random people on the streets, or perhaps do a bit of cold door-knocking. The customers would be simplified individuals, meaning they might become stereotypes to some extent. So when a transaction occurs it might look like a nerdy-type purchasing a piece of technology, a hipster-type buying music or other underground cultural item, or a soccer mom purchasing computer-security software to protect their children from the perceived high threat of predators. Herein would lie the challenge of the game: trying to judge what series of items to show to the customer to keep their interest and ultimately sell a meme. There would be an “easy” setting where it would be simple to judge a person by their appearance or position in society and sell them items (memes) that would typically fit into that person’s lifestyle. The “hard” setting would be a challenge and perhaps closer to real life; on this setting customers would be interested in a wide variety of items. If the gamer misjudges, then the customer becomes disinterested and tries to end the appointment or get away from the salesperson. One would have to keep up with certain quotas or sell certain items in order to succeed in the game. If quotas are not met in the time-frame allotted, then one loses the game and ends up being fired.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">The game might be a bit complex to create for an online venue—perhaps it could be kept simple enough to do so—but perhaps the game would be more successful as a console game.</p>Nick Sanchezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194750850288417101noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4485285597118810468.post-1863806129980941942008-05-22T17:06:00.000-07:002008-05-22T17:08:57.791-07:00Educational Game Proposal- snail bait... ahh!<p class="MsoNormal">(((Sorry this is so long... I dont really know if this is even a "game" but it's all I could think of that applied to my final project. Either way, here ya go...)))</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"> My final project is going to be on the use of snail bait.<span style=""> </span>Although both types of snail bait (toxic and non-toxic) are available for consumers, many people are not aware of the potential harm it has on their pets.<span style=""> </span>The idea for a game that I have is to see through the eyes of the consumer, manufacturer and the veterinary technicians that have to treat the pets who eat this product.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>The game will start out with the character you play going to the store like <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">OSH</st1:place></st1:City> or Lowe’s in order to pick a bag of snail bait for their horrible snail problem in their garden.<span style=""> </span>Once they buy it they can choose the places in the garden of where to place it.<span style=""> </span>Then the dogs come in (although cats can be affected by it too, dogs are just more common to consume it).<span style=""> </span>The dogs will not be able to be controlled by the player but once he/she eats the bait the fun begins…</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>As the player you then see your dog on the ground not moving because they ate the toxic snail bait.<span style=""> </span>Then you will have to rush to the veterinary hospital to treat your dog.<span style=""> </span>You walk in the hospital and they take the dog to the back automatically.<span style=""> </span>On the side of the screen once you enter the hospital you see a bill that keeps wracking up the longer you stay there.<span style=""> </span>The initial charge is $118 just for the doctor to see your pet.<span style=""> </span>At the end of your stay, if you pet survives, your bill will be near a thousand dollars.<span style=""> </span>You must pay ½ of this upfront or get Care Credit.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>Then as you sit in the waiting room and look at your bill wracking up, the game will shift to the back of the hospital- the treatment area.<span style=""> </span>You bring in the box of snail bait that you used in your garden.<span style=""> </span>You will then have to decipher if it is the toxic or non-toxic form of snail bait.<span style=""> </span>If it is non-toxic then you are fine and the player learns what types are acceptable to buy.<span style=""> </span>Your bill then will only be $118. If you bring in a toxic box of snail bait, which will happen most of the time you will see your pet on the treatment table seizing. <span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">As you go along, there will be little “Problem Pop-ups”.<span style=""> </span>These will go through all the issues dogs experience after they eat snail and it gets into their blood stream. One example would be: “Your dog has a fever of 107.1°. What do you do?”<span style=""> </span>It will be multiple choice- a) put them on a cold surface b) apply ice packs c) give more drugs.<span style=""> </span>“You have to give your dog an enema.<span style=""> </span>What are you looking for in their stool? a) green gooey stuff b) solid brown stool c) speckled grainy black stuff.” You have to answer the questions right otherwise your pet dies.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>I want this to be more of an educational game that helps people realize how serious the problem of toxic snail bait is.<span style=""> </span>Therefore, another question will require the player to do some math.<span style=""> </span>For example, you will have to calculate doses of drugs to treat your pet.<span style=""> </span>“The Doctor has prescribed __mg of Valium, if Valium comes in __mg/ml, how many mls should you give your pet?”<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>If you get to the end of the treatment and you pet gets better you win because you get your pet back but you are stuck with a huge bill.<span style=""> </span>That’s the reality of using toxic snail bait.<span style=""> </span>The ending question will be: “Is having a snail-free garden worth all of this trouble, stress, and money?” Of course, it’s not!</p>Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09273966318576216189noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4485285597118810468.post-20603689189888131402008-05-22T16:57:00.001-07:002008-05-22T16:58:50.883-07:00Sexual Assault...Game Proposal<p class="MsoNormal">My idea for my final project is to do a website catered to <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Santa Clara</st1:place></st1:City> students that have been sexually assaulted. I am a Peer Health Educator on campus and have worked closely with Every 2 Minutes and 1 in 4 and feel that people on campus don’t believe that sexual assault happens here, but the truth is IT DOES. The approach I want to take with the website is to offer an interview by someone who was sexually assaulted here on campus and how drastically it altered her life. Also I hope to have the website offer a blog that Santa Clara students can post their survivor stories anonymously or give their name, and also for friends of survivors to be able to voice their worries and feelings. I want students to feel like they can share their story and be heard.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">The game idea I have would deal with this disturbing experience of being sexually assaulted. I would have a student be sexually assaulted and then after the occurrence there would be a series of choices. Whether they reported it, told a friend, told a CF. Did they go to the hospital and get a rape kit? Did they call campus safety and file a police report? Did they go to trial and testify against their attacker? Did they go to counseling after? Or did they keep it inside? After each choice the character will have different occurrences in their life that follow those choices. I know it sounds kind of depressing but I think it is important for everyone to know what choices you have and hopefully making these choices in a game will give someone the empowerment to do it in real life.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">I also think it would be really cool to have an option in the game where you can be a close friend or family member of the survivor of sexual assault. These confidants play a huge role in the survivor’s recovery and it can be just as draining, painful, and stressful. They would have choices of whether they attempted to force the survivor to speak, broke their trust, or just provided support. What to do if they decide to press charges? Will you do all you can to get them to see a therapist? This can be a very difficult position as a friend or family member and hopefully this game would provide strength and answers to questions of those in this tough place. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">If anyone has any ideas for the website please let me know!!!</p>kaylamksilvahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02832194733914661684noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4485285597118810468.post-85718217780658969752008-05-22T16:57:00.000-07:002008-05-22T16:58:06.742-07:00Social Impact Game Ideas (sorry its long)<p class="MsoNormal">After playing the social impact games, I thought of the possibility of games that can be used to educate.<span style=""> </span>As far as my project goes, I would like to focus on education and support for sexual assault and rape, particularly focused upon young women.<span style=""> </span>How this translates into a game was difficult for me to imagine.<span style=""> </span>In one of the lectures I had been to illustrate how it is to do something without your choice. While I think that the actual act of sexual assault is too much and too sensitive to be a game itself, I imagine a game where you set up a character, and use similar instances of people taking power from you.<span style=""> </span>I played this game in a paper version once in a sexual assault workshop and thought that the medium of a social impact game might make it more powerful.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">To begin with, you set up a character, and list 16 things that are important to that character.<span style=""> </span>You can pick the age, race, gender, clothing, socio economic status etc.<span style=""> </span>By creating a person, you are not perpetuating the stereotype that sexual assault happens to the loose girl on the street. Then you are asked to name 16 important things. The importance must include 4 people, 4 special characteristics or skills, 4 favorite activities, and 4 other personal belongings.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">As the game goes on, you move your character through the town. Events occur that make you more and more uncomfortable and angry. Someone cuts you off in traffic, and then someone steals your wallet.<span style=""> </span>With each act you must choose to take away and lose something that is important to you. The acts against you escalate as you reach home. Someone mugs you. Someone steals your car.<span style=""> </span>With these acts you get to decide between the choices the computer gives you to take it away. <span style=""> </span>Finally at home with only 4 important things left. You see someone break into your apartment.<span style=""> </span>The computer chooses what to take away with you and you are left with only two personal things not of your choice.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><br /></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">This game works, and it has worked for me, because it shows that when sexual assault happens, you lose your ability to choose for yourself. In the end you have literally no say in what part of yourself is taken from you.<span style=""> </span>After the game, there would be a message that this is what you are left with after an assault, only parts of yourself. You can lose family, friends, personality traits, personal belongings and that this loss can happen to anyone, because you can design the personal character in the beginning.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">I am not certain how feasible this game would be, but as I said, dealing with sexual assault might not have a correlating social impact game that is feasible to educate. The point of this game is to make everyone feel the potential loss associated with sexual assault.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">The other game I thought might work is simpler, but it’s kind of pick out the victim and pick out the perpetrator. By having both men and women dressed beyond the stereotypes in both roles, showing that it can happen to anyone and can be anyone is important in breaking down these stereotypes. After guessing, real statistics could pop up saying that no, it is not always the drunk girl in a short skirt who is “asking for it” and it is not the huge scary man who is the perpetrator.<span style=""> </span>This game would work to break down stereotypes by presenting facts about sexual assault and by showing that you really cannot tell who it happens to and who does it.<span style=""> </span>This would be a good tool because it shows how important it is to be on guard and educated about the potential for assault in the everyday, because more often than not it happens with someone known not a stranger.</p>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4485285597118810468.post-53788118522078992412008-05-22T16:38:00.000-07:002008-05-22T16:56:03.777-07:00Elements of Addiction<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">The basis of any successful videogame is not just playability, but re-playability. Bringing back your players time and again, providing enduring enthrallment is a secondary layer that separates one-hit-wonders from classics. Games like Mario Kart on the Nintendo 64 are over a decade old, yet they continue even to this day to provide high quality entertainment due to the sole fact that the final product released way back then was so polished and well thought-out that the enduring playability of it would far exceed other games of that time. For this reason, my proposal for a game is one that integrates successful aspects of previous games in the nature of being able to keep the players motivated (through systems within the game) to continue to play. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>In a sense it’s difficult initially to pinpoint exactly what makes games addictive. On one hand, there is the notion of success through continual improvements to the game, as is the case for World of Warcraft (the leading online game, currently.) Content patches are released on a multi-annual basis to provide players with new rewards and goals to strive towards, preventing the game from becoming stagnant and engaging the playerbase to continue their time throughout the world, all the while paying monthly fees and such. Based off of this, the cornerstone of my game, which I dub The Tower, will be a focus on pivotal rewards that engage players to spend time in the game with fewer incentives but at the same time stronger incentives. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>How will I do this? By creating avatars. It’s not a new concept, but the sense of ownership players have over their virtual avatars remains at the forefront of addictive tendencies, to the point where players are literally driven to improve themselves virtually as an ego-booster in real life. It’s so effective that players simply log online to catch a glimpse of the avatar they have spent so much time on, thereby increasing their interaction with the game environment and improving their chances of returning to see it once again.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>The next major concept I wish to include is the concept of risk vs. reward. A very successful tactic is the nature of giving players in my virtual world tasks that they are meant to overcome. They continue to play many hours longer than necessary with the motive being that they are working ever closer towards an underlying goal, something that will keep them motivated to return, which is the main driving intention.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span>Lest we forget, a major driving force in society is the concept of sex, or sexual appeal. Giving people taunting messages of sex or even simply physical attraction gives them motive to keep engaging themselves in the world. They see these messages as inviting and engaging, giving them a sense of inclusion and belonging, something they perhaps lack in normal life. By doing this, I am honing in that message of continued enhancement and inclusion, keeping players coming back again and again.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>I will include more of my proposal in future updates, but again the sole purpose is to tap into the addictive tendencies that are making today’s games as popular as they are. By looking into what they are doing correctly, we can take that and refine it to a level that can provide players with a new, equally engaging experience that will have them returning.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4485285597118810468.post-53168956767304614672008-05-22T12:36:00.000-07:002008-05-22T12:52:16.525-07:00Holiday ChaosOne of the games I played for a while was the one entitled "Xtreme Xmas Shopping" on the Persuasive Games site. It is quite realistic if I say so myself. We, as Americans, are consumed by the idea of getting our children the hottest, most expensive toys for the holidays. In fact, we are so engulfed by this idea, that we have honestly lost the true spirit of the holiday season. How often do you attend a mall or department store after Thanksgiving and see consumers happily shopping and employees happily assisting? Very rarely. Everyone is so stressed, consumers stressed with how many gifts they still need to buy and employees stressed with the idea of having to deal with disgruntled costumers. Christmas is slowly becoming a competition, rather than a family holiday.<br /><br />In this game, you are a costumer, with a list of toys you need to attain. Now depending on which level you choose (call ahead, arrive early, camp outside), you must go around and gather the toys you need, one at a time, and pay for them at the register. Meanwhile, there are other shoppers busily gathering the toys they need. Now, if you miss just one toy and the store runs out before you have a chance to get it, than you automatically lose (hence, in the real world, if one misses the opportunity to obtain just one of the gifts, than the holiday is a bust). Now one of the most interesting aspects of the game consisted of the violence. Now if another costumer possessed a toy that you needed than you could fight them for it, literally, by punching them in the face. But it is necessary if you want to win the game, because if you miss just one toy you lose. Now this is pretty consistent with the real world, we have all at one time or another heard the horror stories of tired mothers fighting one another for the last tickle-me-elmo.<br /><br />This game interestingly created a sense of what our holiday season has become. We are so consumed with the materialistic aspect of the season that we have lost sight of spending time with our family and friends and giving the gift of love and compassion. My own mother has said that she hates going to the mall to get our presents, my sister and I are limited to two presents each, an expensive one and a thoughtful one (Last year I got a digital camera and the dvd of a movie I had grown up with as a child). We have never really been into getting the latest and crazed toys at that time. We need to leave behind the need or want for the hottest items on the market and return to the season of love and spending time with family and friends. Perhaps a little too idealistic...but still a nice thought.moniquesandovalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06752530456448993377noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4485285597118810468.post-37696272903944709602008-05-22T12:26:00.000-07:002008-05-22T12:58:53.659-07:00Social Impact GamingAfter looking around on the sites that were recommended, I chose a few games that I ended up playing for quite a while. The vast selection of game topics was really interesting because there was something for everyone it seemed like. There were definitely some that appeared to be more affective than others. I think having these games is fairly important because it definitely puts players inside the minds or lifestyles of various social problems. However, I am not totally convinced that these games are as great as some claim. Yes, it teaches us a little bit more than we may know about social issues, similar to sites like Indymedia, but I don't know how effective the games are at encouraging people to fight for the issues or make changes in their lives. This would make for a good experiment-to see if social impact gaming has an affect on player's perception of the social problems, and if the players plan on making any changes in their lives after playing certain games.<br /><br />The first game that I played was the McDonalds game. It was actually very hard to play. I found myself going bankrupt after only minutes of playing. I got better at it the more I played, but I never did succeed at accomplishing anything. What made it so difficult was trying to maintain the farm land, the animal feed, and the actual food service. It was a constant back and forth motion and I could never stay in one place for too long, otherwise I lost track of things in the other areas. It definitely made me think about the reality of this game. When people eat at McDonalds, I don't think anyone likes to think about the cows that are actually used to make their hamburger. What was interesting within the game, was that for the grains and soy, you could choose to genetically alter the crops to create more. In the feed storage area, you could choose to add hormones to the meat that was ground up. It was interesting to think about these aspects because I always hear about restaurants and fast food companies who use these type of alterations within their products to create massive amounts of the product for less money and labor. This game was so complex with all of the aspects that you have to worry about. It definitely made me appreciate the gaming industry because I cant imagine the amont of time and thought that went into creating a small internet game like this one that has not even been seen by the majority of the public.<br /><br />The second game that I played was Operation: Pedopriest. I am a Catholic, and when I saw the advertisement for this game, I was very curious to see what the game entailed. I ending up disliking this game, primarily because of the subject matter, but also because there didnt seem to be much of a point to playing the game. The game consisted of players watching over a house-like structure that had priests, children, and adults walking around. There were men in red robes, who I believe were bishops or church authorities, who the player is in charge of. These men distract or talk to the police who roam the house looking for priests who have abused the children. Basically, you watched the priests inappropriately touch the children, and your job was to make sure that none of the police came in contact with these priests because they would interrogate the priests and ultimately arrest them. If 2 or 3 arrests were made, you lost the game. What disturbed me about this game was that you had no control over the priests actions, you just had to sit there and watch them touch the children. You could only have control of the people whose job was to keep the inappropriate behaviors a secret from the media and the police. I realize this was a huge controversial issue, but it kind of sickened me that it would be made into a game. It almost promotes child abuse because nothing is being done about the abuse, instead it is being kept a secret. I could rant and rave about my opinion of the this issue, but I will stop myself since that isnt the point. But I guess it is the game's purpose to strike up an interest, or to at least create some sort of emotion within the player after experiencing the game. If this is in fact the purpose, then it succeeded with me because it disgusted me, that is for sure.<br /><br />If I were to create my own social impact game, I think I would make one about eating disorders. It would consist of the player going through a course where they must get to the end before developing an eating disorder. Of course, there would be setbacks involved in the game. There would be magazines, which would create self esteem issues and would encourage the player to be thing. There would also be groups of friends who were judgmental and who may have eating disorders themselves. Finally, there would be parents who would also encourage the player to lose weight and to maintain a thin body. The player must avoid these setbacks in order to get the end of the course. I would want to create this game because of the prevalence of eating disorders, especially among girls. I believe that there are numerous factors that go into a person developing an eating disorder, including genetics. If society focused on removing these horrible things, girls would not develop eating disorders as much as they are today. I think that the games that focus on health issues are very important and could potentially influence people to live healthier lifestyles.Brittanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13471071298957008742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4485285597118810468.post-49641456431252300862008-05-22T12:21:00.001-07:002008-05-22T12:21:51.162-07:00Anti-Indoctrination GameMy idea for a game goes as follows. The world must be rid of unrealistic beliefs. Christianity is a massive system that operates on indoctrinating young children. So I feel that as a rational being, that is capable of making rational decisions, children should be given the same opportunity.<br /><br />As a player you will seek to provide children with books that emphasize critical thinking and science, rather than reading fiction/quasi historical books in the bible that emphasize faith. In this game faith is what loses the player the game. So there is a varying bar running on the bottom of the screen which measures a children’s faith versus their rational knowledge. How is this done?<br /><br />You, the player approach a classroom which houses young students of impressionable age. In side the classroom is also a faith based individual that is preaching the “word of God” to students that ask for it. The students have the freedom of deciding which person they want to listen to, but all of them start with a blank slate. Upon first arriving in the classroom you will present a number of facts that coincide with scientific data that is applicable to children of their age group, such as animals change colors in order to survive from being attacked from predators, this is the concept of natural selection. You also present them with the concept of the strongest surviving in nature and the evolutionary process throughout the course of history. On the other hand, the Christian will present the child with stories which speak about how humans arrived on the planet and why there are different races that inhabit the earth. Their stories will have no credence and be based strictly on fairy tale stories from the bible.<br /><br />After each group is done giving their introduction the children will then ask questions. Based on the level of difficulty selected at the games start, the amount of children which ask questions will appear. As far as this is just a simple online game, there will not be a significant amount of detailed processing that can be done by the children, but the goal will be of the player to present the children with solutions to their questions. For instance if the child asks why Hurricane Katrina occurred, it will be the goal of the player to drag an article out of your briefcase on global warming and place it on the child’s desk. However if you do not get to the child in time, the Christian will vomit onto the child the words, Sin, homosexuality, fornication, and gambling.<br /><br />I feel this game adequately represents the real scenario that has been occurring throughout history. I am targeting Christianity here, but it doesn’t stop with them. Every major religion seeks to indoctrinate children at young impressionable ages. This is a sickness that has been spread throughout our history of human beings. I am not opposed to literature and old literature, but I am opposed to pseudo science, and presumptive individuals that think they know, what is not known. The fascinating part about our place in history is that there is so much that we do know currently, we are tapping the resource of knowledge that is tangible and empirical to research and observation, everything else is fairytales and a detriment to our civilization and community as we have seen it.Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02653981271032919989noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4485285597118810468.post-29607729132240590382008-05-22T12:20:00.000-07:002008-05-22T12:35:26.968-07:00I Lost The Point...As I said in a comment to someone's post, I found that most of the games' correlated very easily and clearly to their message of social impact. However, there were a few that I found lost that message amidst the play. Not to say that this happened to everyone, this is simply a personal opinion. Now, although embarrassing to admit, I did play the social impact game entitled "Orgasm Simulator" on the Molleindustria site. Now, at first I took a second look at the name and the picture featured on the site's page and chuckled a bit. Then I read the description: "a good sexual understanding with one's partner is essential to be successful in affectivity, in the family, in the job and all the everyday little challenges. Often, we build wall around us, because of our insecurity. These walls defend us but also keep us from communicating with our men."<br /><br />Targeted primarily at an audience interested in men, this game's entire strategy is to "fake" an orgasm, yet fake it so that your partner has no idea. Right here I lost sight of the game's point, which is to promote effective sexual understanding in order to promote effective communication in the real world. Yet, a good sexual understanding should not promote the act of "faking." It should rather promote a comfort level, in which an individual should be able to comfortably tell their partner what works and what doesn't, so that a "fake" orgasm will be non-existent.<br /><br />Now, after this initial realization, I reread the game's description. In this description, it is stated that faking an orgasm "takes great sensibility" and it is this simultaneous orgasm with your partner, whether you are truly done or not, is an effective and successful sexual understanding. However, I still do not understand how a good sexual relationship promotes healthy and successful communication in the real world. If the point was to promote the importance of effective communication, I feel like another game would have been appropriate. Is the game entitled "Orgasm Simulator" complete with sexual sounds, the only game that can promote their intended idea? I guess in America, sex sells. After all, I played, which is what the creator wanted. They just want to get you to play, whether you agree with the game or not.moniquesandovalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06752530456448993377noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4485285597118810468.post-213072979941316052008-05-22T02:17:00.000-07:002008-05-22T02:18:09.999-07:00Point TakenI’ve never been good at playing video games but these video games are simple enough and interesting enough that I liked figuring out how to manipulate their behaviors. The first game I played was called Oil God. Oil God is fun and indicative of all the angst we have towards oil companies and the assholes holding it as leverage over the rest of the world. But I digress. I found that it is more challenging to jack up the price of oil if you go about the routes of destabilizing the economy and changing the politics than if you go to war. How reminiscent is this situation to our current? The answer seems very and their point is easily noted. When I first began playing I had all my ducks in alignment on how to hike up those black gold prices, I spent a long time trying to do this. I found the game a little tricky and there’s definitely a learning curve, however once you get it down you can see who you have battling who and so forth. After a while of destabilizing economies and creating civil unrest I found that if I began civil wars the prices went up very quickly and I went to strictly war the prices went up even faster. Are they trying to say something? Huh, I think I get it. And hey, I agree.<br /><br />The next game I played was Airport Security. Very funny and hilarious concept, that’s one of the reasons I picked it. Somehow it seems like it would be fun to have that type of job and just be considered the “ambivalent screener.” I would like to first give my opinion on this intrusion upon our civil rights. We don’t need the government snooping through our belongings every time we decide to board a plane, it’s unethical and violates everything the constitutional values of low government intrusion into our personal lives is all about. They develop this mock entity that they call Homeland Security, which is an albatross of beurocratic b/s. If they were sensible they would allow the airlines and airport to monitor their passengers themselves. That way if there is an incident it reflects on the inadequacy of the airport and not the government. They flew the airplanes into private property from private property. What business is it of the government in any of these affairs? I’m pretty sure we’re all convinced and aware that there is adequate reason to believe that an airplane did not crash into the Pentagon also. I hate to tote the free market, but it is a reasonable solution to the issues concerning airport security. Again I digress from the game, yes, let’s talk about the game.<br /><br />Obviously the point of the game is to illicit frustration in how difficult it is to constantly check the bags and keep up with the ever changing new items which cannot be carried on board anymore. Is this supposed to make me feel more understanding of the people that are running the security? Am I supposed to feel sympathetic for them? I don’t. I think the government did a good job of hiring a bunch of slackers to do the work. And it’s not the slackers fault; they’re within the price range of what the state wants to pay. If this was open to private organizations you better believe it would be in the best interest of the airport and airlines to check their passengers adequately before they get on board. Otherwise who’s going to patronage their service?<br /><br />I thought the previous game was supposed to instigate frustration, but the last game I played caused even more. I played Activism, the public policy game. I think they’re trying to say that it all a matter which mouth you’re most inclined to feed. This is definitely directed towards Democrats and their desire to control most of everything regarding our nation; education, military, immigration, economy, security, and social security. Perhaps this is part of the issue with the altruistic philosophy; no specific group is capable of running everything. Furthermore if they do, can they do it accurately so that no specific group loses out to another. Also what becomes of the people that become dependent on these programs? But more about the game; it’s obviously frustrating keeping up with all the people to take care. Is this game supposed to evoke sympathy for the altruists that somehow feel it’s their responsibility to care for me and everyone else in society that they feel needs help? It’s not even people that need help; they want to help people that may be capable of helping their selves, if given the chance.<br /><br />I swear ever single one of these games is massively frustrating. So I get the point, living in a completely over governed and restrictive nation is a full time job. I get it. The last game I played was the farming game where you are supposed to harvest foods and monitor and clean up any troubles you have with terrorists, farm wastes, and Mother Nature. So what happens is you plant crops and along comes your little customers and they get a few good pieces of vegetables but then comes along some terrorists and evil mother nature, and what is equivalent to the potato famine and you give your little customers, which are children, ecoli and diaherrea among other things. So what are they getting at? This one I agree with somewhat, I feel like we are being poisoned by the food we have to choose from and the worst part, the organization that is supposed to protect us, the FDA is massively influenced by lobbyists and other industries that have a vested interest in profiting from our need for food. That is a game I would consider developing, a game that influences politicians. Laws get passed by the powerful, mainly the industries that are paying the lobbyists, and all the other laws that are getting passed are ones that keep the politicians in office. These would be the laws that support their constituents.Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02653981271032919989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4485285597118810468.post-65565422435346020612008-05-22T01:42:00.000-07:002008-05-22T01:43:27.091-07:004 games: Faith Fighter the BestThe first game I engaged was one made by the Arcade Wire (perhaps the name is a play on the Arcade Fire, an indie rock band) called Airport Security. The game featured very decent graphics as it focused on a long rope-maze, which was perpetually filling up with a line of people trying to get through airport security. The gamer (myself in this case) played the role of an airport security guard—perhaps one affiliated with or working for the Department of Homeland Security. There were two boxes that hosted the current airport-goer and the contents of their suitcase. At the top was a bar that showed the randomly revolving list of items that were forbidden by the Department. As a gamer I had to click on the items the traveler was wearing and particular items in their suitcase to seize them for further scrutiny. It essentially became a game of trying to beat the clock, that is, trying to keep the line from growing by performing my job as quickly as possible. Eventually the line would fill up, or I would seize improper items and this would result in my losing the game. The social commentary was hilarious, as I was seizing peoples’ hummus, ice cream sundaes, pants, and other ridiculous items that would not seem to ever present a threat to airline security.<br /><br />The second game I engaged in was not a very fun game; I could not figure out exactly how to play, even though I am a well seasoned gamer and read the instructions carefully. It was also an Arcade Wire game, which are hosted by Shockwave, which is great to see because Shockwave has been around since my middle-school days—its good to see the site is still strong. The game was called Bacteria Salad. The goal of the game was to harvest lettuce and tomatoes for consumption by consumers. One had to make sure the threats, cows, terrorists, and rainstorms, did not infect the crops. I could not ever figure out how to stop the threats from contaminating the crops, so I was never successful for long, but it was fun to watch people eat the bad food and become ill. Overall, I believe that the social commentary was laid on too thick, and that it hurt the fun factor of the game, which means it was not successful as either commentary or a game.<br /><br />The third game I encountered was called Faith Fighter, and was by far the best game I played for this assignment. It was a typical side-scrolling, versus fighter game—but it featured gods of today’s prominent world religions as the characters one could use to fight. It came complete with special moves, like Buddha’s dharma wheel projectile and Jesus’ Holy Ghost projectile that looked like dove in a blue fireball. The game was true to the versus-game aesthetic, which made it instant fun. The commentary of the game was also well received by this particular audience; I found the joke about the world religions constantly fighting a bit unoriginal, but still a pertinent subject nonetheless. My favorite part of the game was that at the top of the tournament tree was a surprise final fight, with none other than Xenu, the dictator of the Galactic Confederacy and god to the Scientologists. He turned out to be a chump though, not even putting up as good a fight as Buddha or Mohammed. Over it was a solid game with an interesting, somewhat open-to-interpretation commentary.<br /><br />The fourth and final game I played was not an entertaining or engrossing game at all. The commentary was not veiled nor conveyed in and interesting or creative manner, it was simply blunt. The “game” which was more like a crossword puzzle than a true videogame, was called Corporate Greed: Names, Faces, and Deeds, and can be found under the “Public Policy Games” section of Social Impact Games. Basically one was presented with a grid of boxes filled with corporate tyrants names and faces. It was the gamer’s duty to match the faces with the correct names. After a correct match, one was presented with a multiple-choice question asking what heinous deed they had committed. Lame.<br /><br />Overall I found the games with creative commentaries were the most effective, and will be the games I remember and ponder later on.Nick Sanchezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194750850288417101noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4485285597118810468.post-79077467747033409562008-05-21T16:49:00.000-07:002008-05-21T16:50:23.211-07:00crazy gamersI first began to play the crazy Christmas shoppers game where you had to run around the store and buy different things on your Christmas list before the certain items were gone. Not only could you run around trying to grab your own purchases but you could also take something you wanted from another person. The only catch was you couldn’t ‘harass’ another customer when a child was present. I had a hard time figuring out which ones were the kids and which ones were the shoppers so I think I ended up actually taking things from the little kids in effect hurting my score.<br />The second time I attempted to play was the fatworld one, but this ended up being a little more complicated than I thought. I tried to make a world and go through the orientation of the game but my character kept on overworking it self and panting. But since I couldn’t figure out how to buy it food, I wasn’t able to visit all the places I needed to in order to actually begin playing the game. In effect my character started walking really slow and I wasn’t sure what to do with it so I kind of gave up with that one. Not fast moving enough for me, like the shopping one.<br />I wanted to try the Elemental game but you had to contact the creators, etc before you could play.<br />One of the more entertaining games I played had to have been the faith fighter where you could choose a character like Muhammad, Jesus, God or Buddha. Each of them had their own special powers that they could perform. You basically played a three round boxing match between them all. The best part was that they had a disclaimer at the beginning of the game stating that the creators had no intention of specifically targeting any specific religion, but rather to have people understand that wars are fought over different religious beliefs.<br /><br />My own game:<br />If I were to have to create a game I might consider setting up something where the player would be a technician in a lab working on stem cell research. In order to proceed with research the lab techs would need to prove to the government that stem cell research is effective and the research is in need. Also you would have to deal with the protestors against this technology. Not only that but funding must be raised in a variety of ways and decisions must be made on which direction the research will go in. Sounds like a way complicated game so I’m not sure how I could work it all out, but after skimming through some of the other games they seemed to involve a lot of variables as well, so it may not be that bad.kmshaw15http://www.blogger.com/profile/11437373596438407889noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4485285597118810468.post-92065810108398107002008-05-21T14:47:00.000-07:002008-05-21T15:01:37.605-07:00Social Impact GamingI am not someone who usually engages in video games online. It has never really been my forte, but I tried to go about this assignment with an open mind. The first game that I played was Dying for Darfur. Darfur is a situation that I am very familiar with, so I thought it would be interesting to see how this situation translated into a video game. Although it was very informative with the facts about the refugee camps and the foraging for water game, I cannot honestly say that this website increased my knowledge of the situation in Darfur. <br /><br />The next game that I played was the McDonald's social impact game. This game was more difficult than anything else, trying to perform all of the activities to keep everyone happy and the company making money. I must say I never thought about all of the individual decisions that go into making a business run successfully. I thought it was interesting that the environmentalists would be angry over the cutting down of the rain forest, but not over the over slaughtering of the beef. All in all, this game was pretty entertaining and did try to bring to light the impacts that McDonald's has in the business, environmental and consumer world.<br /><br />I am still not convinced of the avenue of social impact games, but I think that it will be interesting to see where this medium will go in the years to come.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4485285597118810468.post-68097512298691899352008-05-21T09:13:00.001-07:002008-05-21T09:28:12.780-07:00Social Impact GamingI just played the 3rd World Farmer game. It's pretty dark. It is meant to simulate the experiences and hardships a 3rd world farmer endures. You have to buy crops, livestock, tools, a home and amenities every turn. You push the arrow button, and then a season passes, at which time a news-feed appears, telling you what happened that season to set you back (it always always sets you back). I experienced a drought, famine, disease, fire, revolts, military training, parasites, everything. It sucked! Apparently there's no way to win the game; you, your family and your farm inevitably die. I guess the game is good in that it informs the player about all the terrible hardships a 3rd world farmer in Africa endures, but I didn't get much else out of the "game." It wasn't fun or engaging, but rather depressing...<br /><br />My social impact game, relating to my final hypertext project idea, deals with inequalities in health care. The game is pretty dark (again). The object is to create a character with the "correct" circumstances to attain health care and health insurance, five different ways. You must choose different combinations of class/income, race, religion, and base-line health. If you don't choose the right combinations in a certain amount of time (the time before you develop a serious disease and need health care), you die.<br />A "correct" combination could be: middle-class, Irish, Catholic, pre-disposition to high cholesterol.<br />Another "correct" combination could be: no income (therefore can apply for Medicaid), Cambodian, Buddhist, no known health problems.<br />You must be careful about putting certain combinations together, such as "no income" together with "pre-disposition for diabetes, stroke, and heart disease," as you may just not get health care coverage.<br />The game would also include an appeals system, in which you could argue your case to an insurance company in order to try to gain health insurance for you and your family. But again, you need to be quick, as time is ticking!!<br />The point of this satirical game is to raise awareness about inequality in health care and health coverage due to social, racial and economic factors.Carolinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09967358553987921023noreply@blogger.com1