Games, shooting spree and strategy for an election win

GamePolitics alerts me of this article in Spiegel Online translated from German to English by Google. It reports Germany's Interior Ministers have asked their parliament to ban all violent games. The move is in respond to shooting spree by a youth who plays shooting games during his free time. If you read further, it also reveals that the move is orchestrated with the hope that the parliament will approved the ban before the coming election. So it is more likely that call for the ban is political motivated than a serious attempt to go to the root cause of the violence.

This is somewhat similar to incident in Thailand which I have made a commentary here. Serious attempt to understand why teens kill have to go beyond from looking how they spend their leisure time, into investigating their socio-background to find the root causes what motivate them to have the instinct to kill. Ken Hardy and Tracy Laszloffy, family therapy scholars, warn us from blaming simple environment factors like video games and guns, but trace the roots of teen violence to four things: devaluation, erosion of community, dehumanized loss, and rage. I have a commentary of that here. Fascination to link media with violence will there all the time and if we read in between the lines, we can see that much of the euphoria is because playing the blaming game is easy, taking advantage public paranoia, than to uncover social ills as a result of bad political governance and our own neglect.

Experience opposing perspectival views from both side of a conflict in MMOG

Briefly, Gonzalo Frasca's article in Serious Game Source talks about change in perspectival view players experience when they play the role of the enemy in videogames. I have heard of videogames that allow players to choose whether they want to take the role of the good guy or the bad guy at the start or at an advance stage of playing so that they can experience opposing perspectival views of both side of the conflict.

In WOW, Nick Yee found that players would usually go for characters that are visually pleasing and associated being on the good side when they first sign up for an account. For their second account (alt) they would go for the least popular, gore-looking characters. While these visually least pleasing characters are not the bad guys of the game (but perceived to be by players), players using them experience being treated to some degree as social outcasts. In Whyville, Kafai reported that white players facing social discrimination in the game world when taking up black-bodied avatars.

So experiencing different perspectival views mediates what players take away from playing, impacts their identity development and how they "read" the game. Granado Espada does not have characters that are perceived to be the bad guys or allow players to take the role of the enemy. All characters in GE are pleasing-looking, and have their own attractions and special abilities. So opportunity to experience different perspectival view is non-existent in GE. But interestingly, there is a particular faction in the server that I am playing that is well-known for being the NUMBER ONE enemy of botters and macro-users. They seems to be policing the game for IAH (:D I'm just joking).

I can say they are disliked by many players. I wonder what it will be like to be in their faction, listen to their faction chat, and get into their faction activities like reporting and pk botters and macro-users. That will surely provide a good window why they do what they did. I think I should explore this. Or interview someone who have experience playing in their faction and other faction that are open to botting and macroing. Wonder what interesting insights can I gain.

MMOG situated in multiple of networks that mediate players' identity development

Upon reflecting what I had learnt yesterday from the CRRP Conference 09 invited panel discussion, I realise that in trying to understand how players "read" and what they take away from playing an MMOG, we cannot solely look at culture and practices in the small "g" (g)ame and big "G" (G)ame, as Gee puts it. I figure that the MMOG under study is just one of many nodes in a network and that network too sits in a web of multiple networks. In Demerath words, negotiation and "orchestration" of competing discourses and social structures in these nodes and networks mediate players' identity construction. It will be quite difficult to see which node or network exerts the greatest influence on players' identity development. This is because very often it is not so much of the content that players are confronted with, but the social discourses that emerges from their interactions that mediates the meaning they take away.

I like to draw an example of a game that will definitely make many people in one particular country in the Middle East to frown in rejection (well, there could be many too who will rejoice :D). It is a game called Nijabigame. Below is a description of the game taken from its game website.

Ninjabi is an empowerment fantasy game set in the Muslim world, where a young woman dares to defy the rules and fight for her rights. The term Ninjabi is a combination of ‘Ninja’ and ‘Hijabi’ and is used by Muslim American women to subvert stereotypes. Ninjabi is a superhero who, like many Muslim women, sees her hijab as a symbol of strength.

In this platforming and fighting game, the player must collect support from the community by tagging the environment in order to make enemies vulnerable.

The main character, Layla, begins the game undertaking small acts of rebellion against the status quo. She sneaks begins her adventure by sneaking out at night, and tagging her neighborhood with her signature. This symbolizes mobility and claim to physical space as the a first step towards freedom. Layla’s adventures attract attention from the women in the neighborhood and she uses their support to confront their oppressors face to face.

Whatever lofty goals the developers of nijabigame hope to achieve, the process of shaping players' identity and worldview is not so simplistic. Players come into the game having armed with life experience, and exposed to real-world discourses as well as what they find in cyberspace pertaining to the central issue of the game. Negotiation of meanings from all these exposure can be reflective and kept with personal domain, but they can also be engaged in a social discourse. The two comic strips on the left are taken from nijabi.blospot.com and nijabi.com. They are just samples of many more available at their respective websites. Cartoon strip from nijabi.blogspot.com appears weekly on the Texan Daily. The descriptions read:

The ninjabi in this editorial cartoon is a fusion of this and a Texan identity. She reflects the voice of many Muslims who have experienced discrimination and struggle with defining their identites post-9/11.

It is an example of a node (if you wish to say so) or a network (if you look at the activities around the cartoon strips). And if nijabigame players are fans of the cartoon script, how they"read" and what they take away from the game will be mediated too by the node or network (cartoon script).
I am sure that there are many people out there who are confronting or exploring their subjectivity in various ways and means. Drawing cartoon scripts is one way. We can take the artists of these scripts as special individuals who are exploring and trying to come to terms with their identity as Muslims in a new found land. So drawing and sharing their arts and ideals can be so liberating and empowering, and can bring together like-minded people into constructive discourse. So if they too play the game, how they "read' and what they take away from playing will definitely be mediated with this new found space that liberates and empowers them to express what they truly fell.

So again, looking at what is within and around game is not enough. We need to see the multiple networks of nodes where the game sits in (and these networks and nodes are concerned too with central issue/themes of the game) in oder to understand what mediates how players "read" and what they take away from playing a game.

Popular Culture

I attended an invited panel session at CRPP today entitled: Popular Culture and Education is Asia. Panel included Peter Demerath (University of Minnesota), Zawawi Ibrahim (University Malaya) and Yoshitaka Mori (Tokyo University of the Arts).

What I take away for my research are these questions:

From Demerath

1. MMOG is a playground that attracts players from all nooks and corners of the world. Various culture and practices emerge when people of all background meet and interact. Players become "cultural innovators" whose identities emerge from the negotiation and "orchestration" of competing discourses and social structures.

Beyond MMOG, what are the multiple networks that have "educational effects" on players' identity development?

How is the mass culture associated with globalising era, consumerism and individual freedom mediate players' identity development?

What kind of cultural resources players draw on to make powerful moral judgment about appropriate selves?

How players' identities impact how they "read" and what they take away from playing?

How to establish players' critical media and digital literacy? How do they learn these? And how they impact how players "read" and what they take away from playing?

From Zawawi

2. Cosplay is one of the emerging popular culture associated with media and videogames that transcend beyond game environment into the real world. Granado Espada too is a big hit with players for its baroque period costumes. I wonder what motivate players to engage in cosplay and how immersing in this culture (whether they are participants or just observers) impact how they "read" and what they take away from playing.

From Mori

3. When popular icon in television or videogame crosses into the realm of players' everyday life (Mori used the example of Doremon who makes an appearance in textbooks and other print materials), how would players read this development?

Do they see it to mean that the television programme or videogame associated with the popular icon is accepted by society as safe and good?

How would this perception impact how they "read" and what they take away from playing?

Granado Espada is the first and so far the only MMOG recommended to be used in Singapore Schools. While it has yet to make an appearance in the curriculum hours, only find solace in after-school activities, still what does it mean to players when they can play GE in school.

Another day to go for the conference tomorrow. I hope to take away as many probing questions for my research as possible.

Memorable expeirences = Dynamic experiences of subjectivity, affect and emotion

I found out an interesting news in Gamasutra by Leigh Alexander today. He reported what Sam Gilbert from MacArthur funded GoodPlay Project said during a panel discussion at the Games for Change 2009 Conference in New York.

Interesting quotes are below:

Bad experiences in games are important, Gilbert argues, because they're essential to engendering empathy. Getting "screwed out of loot" in WoW can teach a player "what it means to be taken out of something you feel you've rightly earned," he says -- and that design principle can encourage players to better empathize with others in the real world.

"Often times, to encourage change in the way we think about ethical issues, you need to be at the brunt of some bad moral issues," he says.

When a game forces players to take actions or confront issues with which they're uncomfortable, said Gilbert, it makes them "most reflective on what it is that you're doing, why you're doing it -- and often that can lead to very positive things."

Research questions for my study also focus on memorable playing experience: What kind of game playing experiences players find memorable? Why are these experience memorable? My hypothesis is that experience that they allow players to confront their subjectivity and impact their affective domain and emotion will rank high. This is also in line with Loyer's view of how where game design ought to put focus on.

From my own experience playing Granado Espada, I can remember vividly how I was in tears when I had to leave my first faction. Then there were many occasions where I have to come to terms with my online behaviour and conduct with my belief and life principles. Experiences that make me confront my subjectivity and impact my affective domain and emotion are memorable to me. Whether these are what I take away from playing? I do not know. How can I translate how players "read" and what they take away from playing into simpler constructs that players can understand and respond at ease. : /

Media and societal violence: Identifying the two camps on the debate

The second discussion highlighted by Terra Nova in respond to a never-ending fascination by some quarters to link media with violence in society was also started by Edward Castronova. Castronova provides a scathing attack on the authors of a paper "The Effect of Videogame Violence on Physiological desensitization to Real-World Violence" (see left).

Now I have not read the paper yet but Castronova's review brought to my attention the individuals from the two polarized camps on this issue. I am familiar with works of people in Castronova's camp but not that of Carnagey, Anderson and Bushman. I need to be familiar with their works, how their works are cited and who cited them , and also critics of their works. I need to explore more of such works as they will be useful for my literature review and help extend the discussion of my research topic from psychological perspective.

GE lanyard design: Magical bond and transcending game playing experience beyond fun and social enjoyment

On the left is a lanyard designed by Keo-Hime following Granado Espada theme. I thought the design was incredibly fantastic. There seems to be interest from IAH for the design. Whatever happens, I hope Keo-Hime gets her share of monetary reward for her effort.

Anyway, what interest me the most about the lanyard is what I draw from insights I gain making commentaries on an article post by Aldo Tolino in Gamasutra and a blog post by Henry Jenkins. The lanyard is an example of ludic artifact and it transcends game playing experience beyond the game environment. What is interesting about the lanyard is that while it is product of a player, but it came through from collective effort of critical friends who are fans of GE. There seems to be a kind of magical bond created from the process of making the lanyard that brings the designer and her critical friends together if not closer, and this magical bond transcends beyond this circle to include all GE players as the creator dedicates her design to all. Amazing.

I am at odds trying to reconcile how lanyard is situated in the designer's exploration of her subjectivity and experimentations with many identities while searching for meaning to her existence and her relations to the social environment around her. I can see that the process of making the lanyard afford her some degree of recognition from her circle of close GE friends and overall, the GE community. This is very empowering and she has established herself in the community (even IAH notices her now).

So her playing experience transcend what we normally associated games with- fun and social enjoyment. For her, it is bigger and one that potentially affects and mediates her future. We cannot dismiss that she also sees playing as empowering and providing opportunities to explore her potential and interest. It will be interesting if I could interview her and find out more about how she read GE and what she takes away from playing.

Social bonds created in MMOGs: With who and how players choose as friends?

Face with never-ending fascination by some quarters to link media with violence in society, Terra Nova highlights a series of discussions held in the past on the issue. I start with my commentary of the discussion entitiled: Why Do Kids Kill? by Edward Castronova.

Castronova brings to attention the works of two family therapy scholars, Ken Hardy and Tracy Laszloffy, who according to him, "warn (us) from blaming simple environment factors like video games and guns...(but) trace the roots of teen violence to four things: devaluation, erosion of community, dehumanized loss, and rage".

Castronova then goes onto suggest that video games can potentially help teens with such background overcome the impacts of their experiences. One of the discussion paths centres on social bond players create in MMOGs. The contention is that the four roots of violence are "elements that damage an individual's bonds with a social group" or more specifically with the "mainstream" social structure. So the issue is, if affected teens are only exposed to teens who share similar experience, their bonds potentially will serve as "social reinforcements that make (their) group stronger, perhaps even increasing the isolation from... or the animosity toward... the "mainstream" (social structure)".

This discussion makes me thinks of a possible primary and many secondary research questions for my study. I wonder whether players my research subjects play with most often are those that share similar real-life profile as them or are they opened to play with just about anybody. I have read a paper that reports that players commonly establish clan (guild, faction, etc) consisting of individuals from their off-line networks in order to reduce the risk of cooperating with strangers. I guess it is always fun playing with real-life friends in MMOGs but subsequently, how open are players to embrace the community of strangers out there in the game world. Is there a rule of thumb that they use to decide who they can get closer with and who they should stay away? Or do these work on hunches? Or do they have like a self-imposed "probation period" to find out more about strangers from playing with them before finally loosen down their guard and become friends. I am sure the kinds of friends players have in the game world potentially mediate the kinds of conversations they have in game which in the end, impact how they "read" and what they take away from playing the game.

Wesolowski's Games Aren't Hollywood

Another word for "pacing" is "storytelling". We never tell stories to players; we just put them in games. Then players tell our stories to themselves.

- J. Wesolowski

There is a great article in Gamasutra by Jacek Wesolowski entitled Beyond Pacing: Games Aren't Hollywood. Reading the article makes me wonder how Steven Spielberg inaugural videogames will look like. Will it has the same cinematic effect like his many epic films. God knows.

In his article Wesolowski argues that "games aren't Hollywood". According to him, in many blockbuster films, you find a prescribed formula to achieve "cinematic effect of mounting tension" that glues the audience to their feet, roller-coastering their emotions over alternate climatic peaks and downslide reliefs, and at the end of the movie they are "left shaken and wanting for more". This effect can be achieved when the intensity is paced as "an increasing wave of peaks and relief".

Wesolowski argues that in games you cannot pace intensity as you see in film for the fundamental reasons that unlike film:

• games are not linear
• games are interactive
• the audience are not passive but participate in the shaping the outcome of game narratives
• games rely on repetitions
• games are "three to twenty times as long as film" (so intensity is much slower and hardly noticeable when compares to film)
• games has "more individual action sequences than in film" and so more difficult to connect gameplay and narrative
• games needs redundancy because "you never know which part the player is paying the most attention to"

Further, he argues that intensity in games works differently than in film when he says that in games:

... we can either escalate sensory stimuli or build up abstract meaning. The former happens when guns, explosions or enemies get bigger, putting the Hero in a greater danger than before. The latter happens when each part of a narrative means something -- but together they mean something else. "I am your father, Luke" is more than just a paternity acknowledgment.

These two kinds of intensity tickle different parts of our brains. Escalation is visceral and relies on our perception, while meaning buildup is cognitive and relies on our understanding. Escalation is temporary, because it's easy to replace a big gun with a small one.

Meaning lasts. Once we learn to like a character, it takes a lot to convince us to hate them.

To make things even more difficult, he adds, what players take away from escalation and meaning build-up are mediated by players' subjectivity. He says:

You can give them a bigger gun, but they may still like the previous one better, because it made a nicer sound, or because it fit their style. You can give them a useless but funny sidekick, and they may not appreciate it if they are challenge-oriented.

[...]

Audience tastes differ, too, but most filmgoers will agree they watch films for one or more aspects of the narrative.A player may or may not care about other players, the story, the challenge, the opportunity to express themselves, and so on. The game's message needs to be much more robust, because you never know which part the player is paying the most attention to.

But all is not lost. Moving away from pacing Hollywood style and looking at four exemplary games, Wesolowski suggests that pacing can be done by 1) players' skills, 2) balancing sections of play between giving players the liberty to do whatever they want and forcing them to play through short introductory sections, 3) setting, and 4) allowing events to emerge that guide players' decision.

Wesolowski concludes that pacing is "a complex function of player actions, parametrized by game's dynamics and aesthetics." He adds:

It's a dynamic, rather than preset feature, hence it's difficult, and sometimes impossible to specify it upfront and then design a game to it. We can't just take the increasing wave, and slap it onto the gameplay.

We often see ourselves as all-powerful creators of worlds. Our job is to present, and our players' job is to admire. But in reality, our job is to create an interesting, consistent, and interactive system.

All of its components, including decorations, and the narrative, are interdependent. If the underlying process is interesting, rewarding and entertaining, then it will create a compelling intensity pattern dynamically. We don't have to predefine the pace.

Another word for "pacing" is "storytelling". We never really tell stories to players; we just put them in games. Then players tell our stories to themselves.

Wesolowski's article provides game designers' perspective on players' gameplay and is congruent with game researchers' findings that players may not necessarily play according to how a game is designed but exercise some degree of agency in shaping the kind of game playing experience they wish to engage in.

Games and suicide: Exploitation of public paranoia

Article summary in Bangkok Post

What happened?
A 12-year old boy jump to his death from the sixth-floor balcony of his school building.
Why he did that?
It is perceived that he did that because his father banned him from playing computer games.
What happened next?
No investigation was done to establish why he committed suicide but the government had ordered the closure of 72 websites offering access to online gambling and games.

If you ask me, what happened here reminds me of what the government of a middle-eastern country did when H1NI virus first came under the spot many weeks ago. The government decided to cull all pigs in farms within the city. The farms were in squalid conditions but the government did not have the political will then to order their closure for re-operation on the condition that operators must place high regard on cleanliness of the farms. So, taking full advantage over the H1N1 virus scare (which was popular under the name swine virus even though it is not established that the virus comes from the poultry) and heighten public concern over hygiene resulting from the virus scare, the government ordered the culling.

While I do not support any form of gambling and welcome the closure of the gambling websites, I feel strongly it should not be done or be seen as a respond to the suicide. I see no link between the suicide with online gambling and games (unless a thorough investigation is done and is proved to be the case). The Thai government here too lacks the political will to order the closure and rides on increasing public concern over the suicide and its perceived link to gaming to order the closure. One repercussion (which is likely to be intended) will be continued public association of games with addiction and other ills fanned from this incident. What a pity.

GamePolitics are against gambling too but feels that "it would seem reasonable for the Thai government to at least conduct some sort of investigation before closing down online game websites".

The attractions of Granado Espada

I found a number of websites here, here, here and here featuring interviews with key players in Granado Espada - Hak Kyu Kim (imcGames CEO), Grantley Day (Vice President of Product Development at K2 Network) and Peter Cesario (Operations Producer also at K2 Network). K2 Network is the publisher and distributor of Granado Espada in North America and Europe under the name Sword of the New World. In MMOBase, Granado Espada setting is described as (brackets added):

" ...it takes place, as the title indicate (Sword of The New World), during the time when European explorers, adventurers and colonists braved the lengthy, perilous Atlantic crossing in small, sailing ships. Some did so in search of riches, whether by establishing new, profitable trade routes or by taking them through force of arms. For others, the vital motivation was to build a better life in a land where they could escape tyrannical oppression and openly practice their beliefs. However, the game’s primary focus is not historical accuracy. Rather than trying to simulate the harsh and frequently unappealing realities of the period, it transports players to a romanticized version that seems likely to provide a suitably sweeping yet somehow familiar backdrop. "

Interesting excerpts of the interview are below.

On what are the attractions of Granado Espada...I wordled excerpts of the interviews related to GE attractions and this came out.

" It has a really unique feel and position in the marketplace, both in terms of the game play and feature sets, and in terms of the consumer model

a huge quest system, trading houses, diversity of classes, and depth in game play

a huge PvP system that will offer something to every type of player. What we do not have from the Korean side is the dreaded grind, that Korean titles are often associated with

the level progression is similar to other MMO’s released over the past few years in the American market.

a few that really stand out such as the game’s unique setting, stunning graphics, and its one of a kind multi character control scheme

there is room for a highly unique and exciting MMO such as Sword of the New World Vis. The fact that no other title in the genre offer’s the player the ability to control up to three character’s at once is almost enough in itself! But add in the distinctive setting, highly detailed and striking visuals, and almost unlimited character skill combinations, and Sword of the New World Vis is a title that no MMO fan should miss out on!

you are given the option to create a party of three characters to explore and conquer the world

Granado Espada was the winner of the 2006 Grand Award for Best Game in Korea. Gamers highly valued the creative game system and appreciated the beautiful graphics, the dynamic action, the fast-paced gameplay, multiple character control system, the NPC creation, etc.

some of the most amazing visuals I have seen in an MMO - and not just another clone of a current MMO, but rather something that looks new and different.

The art-style of the game caught the eye of many MMOG veterans, who saw something familiarly fantastic yet altered just enough to make the game feel new. Gun-slinging was just as prevalent a combat style as swordplay, and the multi-character control system stands as a brilliant gameplay adjustment on a tired old formula.

At first, we were definitely attracted to the setting and the graphics...On top of that, we really enjoyed the unique player characters. There’s really nothing that Sword of the New World compares to in the Western market. The Baroque style is unique, the UPCs certainly are a draw, and the setting is fantastic.

Set in an original world with a story modeled after Europe’s exploration of America, the developer of the title, IMC Games, looked for a period where there was little exploration and development in the game world, and settled on the 17th century. Not to mention the access to such great content including architecture that is used in the game.

Sword of the New World’s Multi-Character Control (MCC) enables players to control up to three characters at once. No longer limited to playing just one character at a time, with MCC players can access their favorite classes immediately and combine them for fast-paced, dynamic action.

The multiple stances per character class that allow for diversity in play styles without the downside of having to create or go through some elaborate process to change you characters skills will also be of huge benefit to players. Not enough healers for your RAID, simple, move your scouts from Assassin style back into Healing style (when the combat has died down) and proceed. The level of flexibility will be a refreshing change to players.

On why change the title to Sword of the New World...

The title is being changed for the West to remove the steep entrance curve that exists in the game currently, and to change the flavor of the name to be more interesting to the western marketplace

On what changes to be made to the game for Western markets...

The primary changes to the title are in character creation. We are offering many more options to the North American players when they start the game. Each character class is going to have many costumes and outfits available for selection. We are also making subtle changes to the control scheme so that players who have been playing other MMOs will be able to slip into SNW vis’s control scheme and feel “at home”. Additionally, we are adding a significant storyline to the title and revamping the whole quest structure. I believe that the snw vis players of 2007 expect great stories and interesting quests when they play their games.

On whether MCC will encourage less socialization...

Sword of the New World still contains many dungeons, bosses, quests and PVP instances where parties are essential; the bonus that players can achieve by forming social groups and fighting for prizes will be of great boon to most. On the positive side, you want have to spend hours trying to find a healer for your party, since most groups have the ability to have their own!

On why less buzz now...

One of the things that hurt us concerning release was the fact that we launched the same day as E3. And E3 this year garnered even more interest because it was in a new venue and the focus of the expo had changed. When E3 hits, people shift their focus on to what’s new and what’s upcoming, not so much what’s just released.

What do you take from watching Eugene, the Librarian?

Fancy that you'll get into the semi? I have already had standing ovation from two thousands people. I can die happy now.

-Eugene the Librarian

Amazing. One of my favourites to win this season BGT. Simon and Piers ought to be ashamed of what they did here. I guess they must have forgotten lesson from Susan Boyle's episode which Amanda called "a wake-up call".

Anyway, if you keep coming back to this video or share it with anyone, you may want to ask yourself why you keep coming back and what kind of conversation you have about the video. As Henry Jenkins puts it (when reflecting on the Susan Boyle phenomenon), the "meaning doesn't reside in the video itself -- we won't exhaust it no matter how many times we watch it. The meaning rests in the conversations that [in this case, Eugene and not Susan Boyle] enables us to have with each other."

So it follows that the meaning that colours our conversation is what we take from watching Eugene.

Videogames surpassing movie-watching as America's favourite pastime

Steven Spielberg has crossed over from movie making to making videogames, reported the Guardian. A prominent figure in the entertainment industry, Spielberg also exerts great influence in shaping public opinion and fascination. For the gamer community, he is a major acquisition and a sign that videogames are gaining growing popularity in the midst of some long-standing nagging issues about its perceived negative impact.

Another welcoming news is the NPD group's commentary on Entertainment Trends In America Report that highlights more Americans play videogames than go out to the movie. These new developments makes my research even more critical. I foresee videogames will be popular, using James Gee's term, "cultivating agents" in mediating public opinion. The folk theory is that suggestive themes in videogame mediates how players "read" and what they take away from playing. In the context of MMOG, players don't play the game according to how designers design it and there are a bunch of other factors at play that impact game play. So, the notion of the folk theory is contentious and my research seeks to establish what the truth is.

Players' generated narratives = players reading of games?

Last month, City of Heroes (COH) introduced an authoring tool built-into its game called Mission Architect that allows players to create their own adventures, share them with other players in the game and have them rated. I would bet that the affordances would make the game more popular and extend its longevity. Tolino wouldn't classify these players' generated adventures as ludic artifacts because they remain within the confine of the game environment. But I would say that the opportunity to share one's own narratives in the form of game play and have it rated by others would stir up a lot of interest and encourage participation.

Well, I was right theoretically but in real practice, players abuse the opportunity to create short cut to level up the characters quickly. Micheal Abbot's posting, Rouge architect describes in greater detail of these abuses. I find this quote from him explains in a nutshell players' motivation to abuse the system (bold added):

While I'm sympathetic to the devs' desire to maintain a level playing field in their MMO, gaming the system and figuring out its loopholes is a game with a certain seductiveness all its own. Players are drawn to exploits like moths to flames.

I have been thinking about narrative and what players take from playing. I have a hypothesis that what players read from playing may have nothing to do with narrative their create. In the COH episode, I would to believe that players were likely to take away lesson on ingenuity in finding loopholes and capitalizing on the weakness of game design than reading into the lesson of good triumphing over evil (or vice versa) from the adventures they created. Well, I could be wrong? Hmm...I hope my research can shed light on this.

Grievers enhancing players's game playing experience?

My experience with grievers haved never been pleasant so far.

From the five stages of grief identified by Brett Staebell: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance, I can say that I am still at the Anger stage. In Granado Espada (GE) there are maps where you find a lot of grievers that I choose to stay away, but on many occasions I still find them elsewhere too. I have never viewed that grievers can enhance my playing experience as how Staebell shares in his article: A Griefer's Life for Me in The Escapist. I guess I play GE like a book, like how designer want player to play the game.

Staebell reminds of a player I have meet in GE who is well-known for grief-play. The limited time I have seen him in action, he works alone. When I bumped into him in Auch (one of the cities in GE), I decided to have a friendly chat with him. I remember him pked me once when I was afking in Deprimida Valley (my buddy who squad with me told me so). He was expecting me to abuse him but was surprised by my warmth and friendly approach. In the end, he added me to his friend list and promised not to pk me anymore. When I asked him why he chose to pk others, he replied that was how he enjoyed the game.

Again, Staebell's article reminds me what grievers take away from playing when choosing to play the game differently from what gave designers have in mind. And how grievers impact the gameplay of other players and what the latter draw from this experience.

Brenda Laurel's Utopian Entrepreneur

I came to know of Brenda Laurel's work, Utopian Entrepreneur, through a reader who replied to Micheal Abbot's posting: OMG, girls in trouble! in his blog (The Brainer Gamer). I did a commentary on that post here.

We are all too familiar with the fact that decisions in the real world are often tied to the bottom-line - dollars and cents, and in the business world, there is no exception to this rule. We find there is a lot of money to be made at the cost of sacrificing what is morally good and the risk of inviting social ill to the society. Discussion generated from Abbot's posting also provides a sense that investors are not willing to put their money to developers who do not subscribe to the idea that games will only make money if they're made for young teenage boys.

In her book, Laurel provides a step-by-step guide how to be that Utopian Entrepreneur from insights drawn from her experience leading a company and its pet project Purple Moon. The company was enormously successful right before the first .com bubble burst. The company, in her own words, consisted of:

" Earnest researchers, nerdy rich guys, lesbian separatist designers, businesswomen with barracuda smiles, strident feminist reporters, Barbie, Rockett, and several million little girls. "

Purple Moon is a game that attempted to create a nuanced virtual world structured around the life of girls during primary education and Rockett (a character in Purple Moon) was very popular with young girls. Laurel explains:

" Purple Moon might have chosen, as fashion and cosmetic companies often do, to take advantage of girls' insecurities in our product designs and marketing approach, and that approach might have turned out to be more lucrative. A product that preys on personal weakness or perpetuates negative values may succeed, just as a product that expresses socially positive values may fail. Purple Moon might just as well have failed following the Barbie model, but ignobly and without honor. "

A reader whom I learn about Laurel's work describes it well what happen to Purple Moon and adds his reflection about developing socially responsible games when he says:

In the end, the company was remarkably successful. Too successful for it's own good: investors pushed Laurel to move into merchandising, because they didn't understand that some brands should best be left to a virtual existence and wouldn't work in a synergistic model that more mainstream and less ethically ambitious products thrive in. She lost her funding, the site had to close down, and Laurel still receives letters from the now-young-women who remember it as one of their formative gaming experiences.

People have used example of Purple Rain's financial meltdown to support the notion that the market won't support games for girls that push the envelope and refuse to feed the hegemonical structuring of young females as people who "like to play dress-up games and shop." This is market manipulation and missed opportunity at it's worst.

Most of the people funding games will only support marketers who subscribe to the idea that games will only make money if they're made for "14-year old boys" (from an interview by my professor Celia Pearce). Games don't have to serve every audience, but they should be transparent about this fact. We can't sit around and wait for other people to decide that it's a good financial move to embrace the pre-teen female market. It's the Utopian entrepreneur's duty to step forward and make socially responsible games for under explored markets.

What videogames can teach us about assessment?

I label this post as "non-research" because it is not related to my dissertation. However, it is important to my work in IDM research in Education because from where I come from, educators here have been grappling with how best to design and implement alternative assessment and how IDM can facilitate the process. So this post is like a bookmark in my "online diary", pointing and reminding me of James Gee's excellent work on studying what videogames can teach us about alternative assessment.

Why I say alternative assessment? Personally, I feel traditional assessment or assessment that we all familiar with will be around for many years to come. Efforts to explore alternative assessment are most welcome not only that they show us how learning should be assessed but also to help move public opinion. Alternative assessment will continue to work in the fringe of schools' assessment of learning until the public are ready to embrace it.

There is a series of four articles altogether. The first one is the pic above: Rise of Nations: A Model of Assessment, where Gee identifies seven points what videogames can teach us about assessment. In his second article: Games as Their Test, Gee brings it to our face why can't assessment and learning be one and not two separate entities. Like in games, games itself is assessment, and playing and learning is assessment, all part of a complete whole. In his third article, the title already suggest what it is all about: Assessing Development, Not "Static Stuff". In the last article: Appreciating What the World Say Back to Us, Gee pokes us to relfect back on our fascination with assessing fact (he calls this fascination "fact fetish"). He calls for the need to assess learners' respond in advancing their learning further from feedback they receive.

Framework to understand players' generated content

Call it grey literature if you like. All I can say is that it has really helped me in shaping my ideas for my dissertation. I guess for my study I need both: literature review of academic endeavours and everything I can dig from the blogsphere. I learn a lot from the latter from the few weeks of commentaries I have been giving to postings and articles from members of the gaming community in cybersapce.

And again, today I find an excellent article by Aldo Tolino in Gamasutra: Beyond Play: Analyzing Player-Generated Creations. Tolino analyzes player-generated creations inspired by videogames and calls them ludic artifacts. He makes a distinction that ludic artifacts only refers to artifacts that are made available in the internet beyond the confine of the game environment. He proposes a framework or what he calls "a taxanomy of ludic artifacts" to "better understanding player-created content and the motivation for players to creatively expand on their gaming experience" and for designers to design games in a way "which encourages players to not only play the game, but to transcend the video game itself and invent their own game-based creations".

We have learnt from Klastrup that a player's “continuous presence…helps keep the fiction of the world alive”. A player's presence and gameplay not only mediates the fiction of the gameworld, but also the fictions other players create. He becomes "part of the many "texts" which enable the collective and ongoing (re)creation of the world". I wonder whether players will get hook to a game longer if he is able to create his own content. Furthermore, the practices of generating ludic artifacts also transcend game playing experience beyond the game environment. How will these practices mediate the game playing expeirence, what player read from the games and the conversation he carries within and beyond the game?

Before reading the article, my understanding of players' generated contents is too narrow. There are many practices in Granada Espada that I see now as such. Tolino explains how players' motivation to create can be understood from any of the six categories he proposes. And within each categories, the practices can be situated to represent whether they afford players denser immersion into the games (which means the practices are closely linked to the rules of playing the games) or transcend players beyond the confine of the game environment. Again, excellent piece of writing!

Stereotypes and multiculturism in MMOG

This video features Celestine Arnold's talk “Ghosts in the Machine: Digital Multiculture”.

In a nutshell, she brings to light that games are increasingly popular with non-whites and other minority groups who are underrepresented in games excepts for stereotypes. She calls for games to be designed that reflect the multiculturism of their consumers' profile beyond perpetuating the usual stereotypes.

Who the Stuff, a multi-cultural gamer, describes the presentation well in his post All Culture Enjoy Killing Nazi Zombies. Granado Espada (GE) has a number of strong Asian characters, but by Asian, it means Chinese and the usual stereotypes - Chinese martial artist like Baihu and Feng Ling. Then there is Irawan too, Thai kick-boxer. I personally feel there is no issue here but it is good to ask players whether they feel underrepresented in GE, whether stereotypes exist in GE, how they feel about them and how the stereotypes impact their reading of the game. Most of the players in GE are from Singapore, Philipines and Malaysia.

How society and media stereotypes impact players reading games?

There is an interesting post in the Brainer Gamer about "little pink and unicorn" games targeted at young teenage girls which carry suggestive themes that would likely to encourage self-absorbed consumerism and promote existing stereotypes about young teenage girls. Equally interesting to the post are the readers' comments. I describe below themes that emerge from their comments.

While majority of them felt the games are a concern (many even cited other problematic games for girls), there are opinions that run contrary - Girls like to dress-up anyway so what's the big deal. Furthermore, there are enough games out there that are inspiring and empowering girls. Have faith in parents' ability to teach their children to think critically and surround them with positive role-models, imagery, media, GAME!, books, etc. Girls are not easily duped. we must trust kids to make the right judgment.

Some readers are concerned that the games look harmless from the outside (aesthetics & packaging) and parents may not be aware of their content. Others feel that parents' ignorance could also be due that such games receive little coverage from media.

Finger pointing on who is to blame for the games? Blame the company. Blame the society and media for the gender stereotypes. Games is also another platform to extend male hegemony. There is a call for game developers to demonstrate high moral and exercise social responsibility by creating social responsible games for unexplored markets. Others are awed by the fact that technology has become so advance that we can summon any narrative and make games so incredibly focused on conveying an idea. Technology also allow us marketeers to attack on specific demographic.

Solution? Have female game designers. But having girls games only perpetuate the gender stereotypes, right? Then, have gender friendly games. Have strong female characters along side dominant male characters so that boys and girls can play along side each other.

What can I draw for my study from the comments? I think the comments on society and media stereotypes are most interesting. I wonder what kind of stereotypes exist in Granado Espada. How does society and media stereotypes impact what players read from games and the conversations they carry in and beyond games.