Month: February 2015

Twine: The Dating Game

The Dating Game

The concept behind my Twine game is dating in college. The players play as a college girl named Sophie, who is trying to live an uncomplicated life this semester and focus on school, and boys seem to be the thing that complicates her life the most. The point of the game is not let the male characters that enter your life add drama and unnecessary complications. The idea of the game came from brainstorming with two of my girl friends. I was trying to develop a game that had a story line that would be appealing and not to confusing to implement. I attempted to create a lighthearted experience that all could relate to an enjoy because although from the female perspective, male players get one side of what girls experience in the dating.

I had many people play my game, both male and female. Almost all the female players loved the game. They became really invested and wanted to see where the storyline and their choices would lead them. Some claimed it to be just like their lives and others saw it as something they wanted to happen to them. It really appealed to their desires and interests. This fact relates to one of the first readings we did for this class, Rise of the Zinesters by Anna Anthropy. Anthropy discusses the need for more diverse games that appeal to the increasingly diverse gaming community. One of the solutions she suggested was for these diverse yet underrepresented parties to begin to create their own games that they would be interested in playing and other with similar interest would also enjoy the game too. I thoroughly enjoyed creating my game, and much like Anthropy said, many other people who had the same interests as me also enjoyed my game because it was something that related to them, which lacks in the video gaming world for minorities such as women and those part of the LGBT community.

On the other hand, the male players who played my game, although they said they did enjoy it, they also claimed it made them feel as though all guys were predators. It was a interesting perspective presented to me because on one hand, girls seemed to love both male characters, yet guys saw them in a negative view. It was reverse of what has been happening in the gaming community now. With #GamerGate, women do not enjoy the female representation in games – how they are either overly sexual or serve as only a person who needs to be saved. However, many male players see no wrong with the female characters and in some cases, enjoy it.

I feel as though I was successful in executing my game and properly conveying my ideas and goals. The process was definitely a lot more time consuming than I realized, but I actually enjoyed it when I did not have other assignments to stress about. However, I did cut out many other possible plot lines because of time.

Road to l0vE?

You can play my game Road to l0vE? here at http://philome.la/paulaw_dcc/road-to-l0ve.

I thought that this project was very interesting to make. Initially, I had a very hard time thinking of what I was going to make my game about. I heard some ideas from others in the class. I really like the idea of a reversal of genders in classic movie like the “The Lion King” that someone had mentioned before. I started brainstorming with some people, and they asked me what kind of game I would like to play. This started me thinking. I enjoy adventures which got me excited about spring break. My first spring break is coming up, so I thought that I could make this story interesting and fun. My game is about a college freshman named Alicia, who goes on a road trip from DC to California with her friend and her crush, Liam. Originally, I wanted to make the game about perceptions and how the guys and girls in the game viewed things differently. However, I was never able to make the guy’s perception because first, I don’t really know how guys think, and second because of time. After figuring this out, I wanted the main character to be girl.  Since girls often struggle with discovering their independence or their desire for love in their life, I wanted to make a game that displayed this view of women. Typically, women are viewed as fragile objects who are obsessed with boys. I emphasized this view of women in my game by making Alicia either end up in tears without Liam or with a possible relationship with him. However, Alicia is trying to find her own independence evident in the rebellious trip against her parent’s wishes. Alicia needs to make her own decisions whether to choose Liam or continue the road trip without his love.

I wouldn’t say I succeeded because I never finished everything I wanted to. However, I am satisfied with the end product. I like the story because of the fun element and the reality that Alicia faces. Most of the girls that played my game were very interested and had a lot of fun with the story. They could relate to some part of the story which I liked. I wanted to have the guys who played the game to have an insight into the struggles of a life a girl goes through. The guys who played also got very into the game, becoming happy that they got the happy ending with Liam or mortified at the ending without Liam.

Let’s go for a swim!, Game and Reflection

You can play my game at http://philome.la/Eyeagz/lets-go-for-a-swim !

My game is about a mermaid who is on her way somewhere in the ocean. As she swims through the sea, she is forced to interact with cat-calling mermen. The goal of the game is to get to the mermaid’s destination, which could be a coral reef, Poseidon’s castle, a sandbar, or the ocean floor, depending on the player’s choice. As far as possibilities and constraints, the player has the option to appease, ignore, or confront the cat-callers, but is not able to win the game if they choose to appease the cat-callers. I wanted the game to be understanding of how talking back is not always an option because sometimes you don’t feel safe doing it or you just don’t have the energy to confront street harassers; however, I wanted to discourage the player from appeasing the cat-callers. The concept for the game was for it to work as an exercise in empathy for people who do not experience cat-calling and as a rehearsal for possible things to do when cat-called.

In our class discussions we talked about forms of harassment other than street harassment. Our discussion about Gamergate, for example, looked at women like Anita Sarkeesian’s experience with harassment over the Internet. While the street harassment in my game never reaches a very threatening point, in the real world it can be much worse.

I think my game was successful in communicating some of the frustrations cat-calling can pose to women and how those situations can affect how they feel about themselves. For example, the main character feels good about herself when she confronts her cat-callers. If I were to continue working on the game, I would like to add more interactions with the cat-callers that explore how those situations affect the character’s feelings about herself. Other interactions with the cat-calling mermen I might add include having the main character give the mermen a fake number, which always kind of makes me feel guilty and embarrassed, or having the mermen follow the main character or act aggressively and looking at the feelings of fear and panic that come with that. I would also like to add more creative ways to stand up to a cat-caller; the player sometimes has the option to make weird faces at the cat-caller when they are asked to smile, but I’m sure I could think of many other ways to subvert a cat-calling situation and make the harassers feel uncomfortable. I think adding more interactions could make the game more useful both as an exercise in empathy and as a rehearsal for what to do when cat-called.

Thoughts of School, link and reflection

My game is Thoughts of School.

Don’t read my reflection unless you’ve played the game or don’t care for spoilers.

 

On the day where the class was making our first Twine game, I presented the idea of someone being in a dream without realizing it. I had just thought of it on the spot, but then I thought it would make a decently interesting game. As for the theme of the dream, I could have made it a fantasy world, but instead I decided to make it about a college student reflecting back on high school. It would be easier to construct a narrative on a somewhat similar personal experience.

For me, high school was overall an enjoyable time, but it was also filled with a lot of regrets. There were some things I wish I had done, and both good and bad memories revisit me whenever I’m sitting alone. I use the in-game dream as a way for the character to sort of “set things right” within his or her mind, even though it’s all in the past. There are some choices within the game that don’t affect the ending, but are meant to be significant within the player’s mind instead. I based the setting very loosely around my own experience, although I tried to give the player a good variety of choices while sticking to the main messages.

The main theme of my game was self-reflection and improvement. I wanted the player to possibly think about his or her own past, remember any possible good times, and reflect on what more could have been said or done. Dreams can’t change anything about the past, but the thought alone could change what’s to come. From the feedback in class, it seems like I was successful in immersing the player within the experience, although I know that not every student had as good of a time in high school. As for the self-improvement aspect, either that was just missed, or people focused more on the immersion and didn’t think too much about it. It was a pretty short segment compared to the rest of the game, so maybe it’s to be expected. Though not everything can reach the audience, I’m happy if people enjoy playing the game.

In terms of connecting to in-class readings, I put in the second part of the Duel Monsters scenario to encourage the player to be more inviting of new people. One of the recurring ideas within our readings is that much of the video game community is reportedly hostile to female gamers, to LGBT gamers, and to the games that appeal to those people. Within my game, it’s happier for everyone if the player invites the unknown girl to play Duel Monsters with them. The scenario is not blatant about the choice’s significance; it just mentally rewards the player for making the better choice.

Twine game

http://philome.la/ChrisFromDCC106/a-day-of-songs/play

The premise of my twine game is that you are a high school student and every choice you make is a song lyric. When I made this game, I had hoped that the player would find some humor in seeing some of these lyrics taken completely out of context. In this aspect, I do not think I succeeded. In class, I realized that I had forgotten to mention that the game was based on song lyrics. Additionally, it may be harder to identify the origins of the lyrics in this setting. I added information about the premise of the game to the first passage, in the hopes of clarifying the game. The “plot” of the game is that you wake up on a Friday morning and you have to decide what to do with your day. The only thing you have to do to “win” is keep clicking; all of the end results portray the main character as content.

In making this game, I tried very hard to avoid assigning genders to any of the characters. The player is only ever referred to as “you” and the people you interact with are “friends”. I did this to avoid any assumptions the player might make about how people of different or same gender are expected to interact. I do not think I was very successful in this aspect either. Perhaps because my classmates knew the game was created by me, or perhaps because I am a male and I wrote the game, my classmates assumed the the lead character was also a male.

However, I think I succeeded in removing assumptions about the relationships the character has with others based on gender. While dating and sex are a source of many of the problems in the life of a high school student, I did not want that to be a part of the game. I tried to avoid to the topics of dating and sex because I wanted all of the possible endings to be positive, and it would be very unrealistic to have every choice on relationships turn out well. The game is not about interacting with other people as much as it is about determining the personality of the character.

List of songs:
“Sleeping In” – The Postal Service
“Road to Joy” – Bright Eyes
“I Like You So Much Better When You’re Naked” – Ida Maria
“All Black” – Good Charlotte
“Blue Jeans” – Lana Del Rey
“Daylight” – Matt & Kim
“Chardonnay Summer” – Leggy
“Plans” – The One AM Radio
“The Perfect Kiss” – New Order
“Stay Useless” – Cloud Nothings
“A Different City” – Modest Mouse
“Skeletons” – The Front Bottoms
“Temptation” – New Order
“A Sentence of Sorts in Kongsvinger” – Of Montreal
“A Pair of Matching Taxi Rides” – Into It. Over It.
“At Last” – Etta James
“Shoulder Pads” – Gleemer
“Nine” – La Dispute
“Sunlight” – The One AM Radio
“I Wish” – Stevie Wonder
“Therapy” – Relient K
“The Great Escape” – Boys Like Girls
“shmuck in the room” – frankie cosmos
“Anna Sun” – Walk the Moon
“Next in Line” – Walk the Moon
“All Star” – Smash Mouth
“Take a Walk” – Passion Pit
“Streetcorner Symphony” – Rob Thomas
“Enjoy the Silence” – Depeche Mode
“Tonight I’m gonna party like it’s 1999” – Prince
“This Charming Man” – The Smiths
“A Thousand Miles” – Vanessa Carlton
“Fast Car” – Tracy Chapman

Introductory Blog

Hi! My name is Paula. I am currently a general biology major. However, I am strongly considering switching to Early Childhood Development. My passion is dance specifically modern and contemporary. I enjoy looking at sunrises, pictures of cute animals, and fashion. I am obsessed with the minions from Despicable Me, especially Steve. You can find me on twitter @paulaw_dcc

Violent scenes on the streets of Ferguson as a grand jury has decided not to indict Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson in the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed black 18-year-old

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/11251989/Ferguson-riots-Violence-erupts-after-Michael-Brown-police-shooting-verdict.html?frame=3116889

This picture depicts the riots happening in Ferguson. There are rows of heavily armed police prepared to take down the rioters. However, in this picture the protests are peaceful and meaningful. The people in Ferguson are protesting the racism and racial profiling that white police officers have done that lead to black teenagers being killed.

I am looking forward to learning more about social movements that have sparked the country into nation-wide debate.

Introduction

Hi, my name is Chandler.  I am majoring in Mechanical Engineering and play club lacrosse for Maryland.  In my free time I like both playing and watching sports.  My twitter account that I will be using for this class is @chanman_80.

One major issue in solving modern gender inequality is the internet definition of the word “feminism”.  At its core feminism is solely the desire for females to be equal to males in every way.  However, the internet has warped this simple, positive term into one with a very negative connotation.  Instead of promoting equal rights the internet generally misconstrues feminism as the belief that all males are evil and that females are either superior to males or deserve to be superior to males.  Because of this, internet users have become hyper-sensitive to issues involving gender equality and have become quick to dismiss actual issues as rants of poorly labeled “feminists” that hate men.  This makes progress in regards to gender inequality very difficult.    This image is a response to this misconception of feminist ideals and promotes equality as opposed to superiority.  The reason that I chose to include this image is that it shows how the internet has shaped our culture to the point where we are forced to basically apologize for supporting equality.

 

In this course I am most looking forward to seeing how the digital world has caused changes in, and shaped the social world that we live in today.

Response to Anita Sarkeesian’s TEDxWomen Talk

Anita Sarkeesian’s TEDxWomen talk about online harassment and cyber mobs describes her experience with harassment after starting a Kickstarter to fund a video series about the representation of women in video games. She tells her audience about the misogynistic hate campaign she endured and tries to imagine the social contexts and thought processes that could have driven her attackers to lash out at her as they did, comparing their hate campaign to a Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMO).

Given that she’s speaking at a TEDxWomen conference, Sarkeesian’s talk is likely intended for an audience outside gaming culture. She introduces an audience unfamiliar with video games to the culture surrounding them. Despite her focus on how misogyny and harassment are prevalent in gaming culture, Sarkeesian is optimistic and believes that over time the culture surrounding games will become more open to women. By giving her talk, Sarkeesian may have hoped to raise awareness of the problems with gaming culture. She may have even given a wake-up call to people who empathize with her harassers.

I appreciated Sarkeesian’s dissection of the “game” her harassers thought they were playing. It was interesting, although somewhat sickening, to look into how they were able to rationalize their behavior and encourage further harassment from some people in the gaming community.

It’s hard for me to connect Sarkeesian’s talk to my own experience because my experience with video games in very limited, aside from playing Mario Kart and the Sims with my siblings as a kid. On the other hand, my limited experience with video games is likely due at least in part to the problems in representation and acceptance of women in video games that Sarkeesian points out in her talk and her video series. The fact is that, for the most part, video games are not made for women and girls like me.

As we continue to discuss Gamergate and the representation of women in video games, I’d like to know more about games that do a good job of developing female characters and appealing to women. Are they becoming more prevalent? What do they look like? I think it would be interesting to look more into the change for the better that Sarkeesian believes we’re beginning to experience.

Twine, the Video-Game Technology for All

This article, written by Laura Hudson, focuses on the different opinions people have of Twine, a game developing system. It provides reasons for the development of the types of games on Twine and names various developers of those games. The context of the article is geared towards older and more educated people, since it was published in the New York Times. Not many young individuals read the New York Times, and if they do, they are most likely educated.

Twine just recently became more known and began reaching more players. That’s why this article was recently written. As Twine is gaining popularity, it is also gaining more controversy. The article is trying to reach people of educated opinions and explain what exactly Twine was created for and how it benefits different groups of people. It does this through the views and stories of various developers on Twine, such as Porpentine.

Laura Hudson wants people to understand the benefits of Twine compared to the negative thoughts some people have against it. This article will reach people who don’t have much opinions on Twine to understand what it is before they compile negative opinions from others once Twine gains even more popularity.

I agree with everything that Hudson explains and portrays in the article. Previous to reading the article, I had thoughts that Twine wasn’t really a game. When I think of games I usually think of something that is fun and exciting. However, she portrayed Twine as the type of gaming world that allows the masses to participate in. Most game developers are men, which is why video games are usually the same thing. However, most Twine game developers are women, and most Twine games give different perspectives to what games are about.

I’ve played a couple of Twine games, and I experienced what Hudson portrays as the feelings one gets when playing some of these games. Depression Quest is the game that really got to me. Hudson explains that it makes the player feel empathy and really understand what a person that has depression goes through. I felt pretty bad after the game ended and did feel empathy for anyone that goes through that on a daily basis. One question that I do have is whether mostly women play games on Twine, or if it’s an equal distribution between men and women.

 

I’m not that creepy guy from the internet

Arthur Chu writes to gamers who are supporters of #GamerGate. He wants to inform those gamers that he knows where they’re coming from, but that their violent reactions are unnecessary and cruel. Chu hopes that gamers will be able to create a more open and accepting community.

Chu describes Gamergate as a movement meant to make gamers feel entitled, as if they own gaming and someone on the outside is trying to take it away from them. However, he says he understands what has led them to feel that way.

Growing up, Chu was antisocial and intelligent, made few friends, and retreated into video games. They were his escape from many of the tough moments of his life.

Chu became a fan of Felicia Day, who created an web series of World of Warcraft parodies. The web series showed how “creepy” gamers felt vulnerable, and that there was someone who could manage to forgive them for their intrusive behavior.

When Chu got the change to see Day do a small improv show in L.A., he took it. There, he felt incredibly awkward in the audience of Day’s friends and family. Then, Day approached him and asked him to go to dinner with her and her friends. Chu was impressed that she took the chance with him, that she invited a random fan/potential stalker out to eat.

Someone trusted Chu to not cross boundaries, and that trust led him to never cross into stalker and obsessive territory. This was five years ago, when the gaming community was strong and trusting. Now, Day has said that when she sees gamers out on the street, she avoids them. Now, people who try interact with fans face death threats and stalking, causing them to not interact with their fans, leading to angry fans.

I was saddened to hear that a once strong community was now falling apart. Chu mentioned how he was able to get a group of people together to help him propose to his wife because they were all gamers. Now, death threats are sent and received for inconsequential happenings, such as bad reviews for a game.