Never you fear - my site isn’t defunct. Wordpress might not be catching all of the male enhancement comments but I’m talking with my favorite web designer about re-working the site into something that isn’t as likely to lose a few months worth of posts.
Designing a nice site takes awhile, but I just wanted to post again that the gears are turning.
Neils Clark :: Feb.24.2008 :: Games :: No Comments »
OK, I finally have the time and the access I need to repair my site. Expect some changes in the next couple of days, while I restore the posts, comments and design that I’d done before I lost all of my neilsclark.com data back to October. I’m also considering a total redesign, so watch out.
Neils Clark :: Feb.05.2008 :: Games :: No Comments »
My quick apologies if the site wasn’t working for you around 10:00am today, or if you experience problems on the 1st. My hosting provider is moving their servers.
As well, I was noticing some wierd display errors while using Firefox. I think that I’ve fixed the problem, let me know if you’re getting a crazy-looking page.
Neils Clark :: Oct.30.2007 :: Games :: No Comments »
Shavaun and I are polishing a chapter on the ways in which children develop, and how videogames can influence that process in ways that are positive and negative.
The final section explores the “right to play.” A few years ago, the then-secretary general of the UN Kofi Annan, said that children have the right to play.
…the right to play belongs to everyone. And that, by the same token, development, health and peace are not “spectator sports”. They require commitment and engagement by individuals, communities, as well as governments.
Obviously, he didn’t seem to have videogames on his mind. Instead, he was discussing organizations like Right to Play. I’d recommend you all check out their video [here]. It’s an organization supported by a number of world-class athletes, and it’s focus is bringing play and sport to young kids around the world.
To develop right, kids need to learn physical movement, they need social interaction, and they’ve got to be able to creatively and spontaneously imagine things (”I am not Pete the 5 year old, but rather MONSTRO THE WISH-GRANTING GENIE! FEAR MY WISHES, MORTAL!!!”). As they go through different stages, what’s appropriate, and what they can understand in their play-time changes.
We tend to see videogames as something apart from ‘play,’ or ’sport,’ and some of that separation hasn’t been warranted. We like to attach words like “virtual” to online worlds, so as to understand this distance, or dissonance. In the end, the general population is still trying to understand how these spaces are different or similar to the ones we have. Nevermind that, I’m still trying to figure it out. One of my favorite papers in this area is Malaby’s [Beyond Play].
But there are also tangible differences right now, and most videogames simply don’t fit the bill for kids of certain younger ages. But this won’t always be the case. Take, for instance, Richard Bartle’s view that game companies are working on providing more agency for the imaginative elements, and Spore, the game that promises such agency. Certainly not all virtual worlds will be appropriate, as taking a game online tends to mean that lighthearted topics of discussion will meander from prim troubles to violent rape. And not all kids are developmentally at the point where they understand the facetiousness, double entendre, and plain old crudeness of that humor. Most adults don’t get it.
And with interfaces like the Wii or the Dance Dance Revolution pad, the physical activity needed for a child’s sensory integration could happen in well-designed environments via videogames.
Still, there’s just so much to talk about when we contrast that video, linked above, to kids who have been growing up with today’s games.
It comes down to the texture of the experience in the game, and understanding that there’s really a large range of experiences possible. Games could be made where young children in developing countries could create their own castles, right alongside other children in Britain, Peru and Japan. Maybe the game would make them move their body.
Right now, there are free online games which sport more gore, and are more invisible to parents than ever before. I watched a 12 year old boy play this game [Endless War] and other intensely graphic games while sitting three feet from his mother. He was on a site called addictinggames.com, of all things. I sat down next to his mother, and asked about his gaming. She said that he was a perfect angel, and used the computer for highly educational ends.
So I walked over to the boy, and encouraged him to show his mother how cool his games were. Suckeerrrrrr.
Videogames are unique experiences, and I would argue that the UN’s “right to play,” for the time being, is a wholly different game.
Neils Clark :: Oct.17.2007 :: Games, Media Experience :: 2 Comments »
Don’t let the epic flying mount fool you, I have a life.
But since I wanted to see about defending MMO games using some Richard Bartle quotes, I decided to go back to what he said at the [State of Play V]. I transcribed most of his talk at the Building Virtual Worlds panel, and I wanted to make that available for people who might want the near-exact text. The full .doc file is available [here]. The video is available [here] via a time capsule.
He discusses the knowledge needed to build the first virtual world, what he’s excited about for the future, and his worries about that future.
And if you know what the hell he was talking about with and gates and or gates, then tell me. I put those in parentheses, given that for all I know he could have said play’n gates and roar gates (thanks robustyoungsoul of Soul Kerfuffle for clarifying these as AND OR and NOT gates - terms from electrical engineering). The rest of it is pretty solid. Really, it is.
Thanks also to Bartle, who clarified [here]. The text below has been updated. Focus group testing showed it to be 2x as convoluted, so good times there.
Click the continue reading thing if you want to read it on html, and not the .doc linked above.
Neils Clark :: Oct.10.2007 :: Games, Research :: 3 Comments »
There’s a lot of talk in the video game research arena about education. Among many other projects, we’ve got people looking at how games intersect with public diplomacy, how MMO games foster learning, and a major program to prove that poker can be an educational tool. Some of it’s spontaneous, and some benefits from 50 million in grant money set aside by large granting agencies, the MacArthur foundation in particular.
The following idea is something that I want to record, mostly just so that I don’t forget it. I’ve been writing a lot, lately, and sometimes that can cause a person to loose these ideas. It starts out with a simple anecdote:
My sister is an amazing ceramic artist and glass-blower. In order to learn these skills, she’s had to study with countless expert ceramic artists and glass makers. She’s also had to perfect her own styles, and like many master craftsman may never be able to preserve (assuming that she would want to) the knowledge of her process. A book can record words, and it can hold ideas, but there’s a strict limitation to how much it can show us about the process of a thing.
One branch of videogame technology could be the preservation of knowledge which might have otherwise died out. Through a dynamic interface and next-gen input devices (think the Wii), we could present audio and visual from great masters, and they could teach skills of enormous historical, cultural, and practical significance.
Imagine being able to watch and perform the art of ancient Japanese swordmaking, as the great masters once practiced. There’s little doubt that they’d be reticent to digitize their craft, many would likely see it as a pursuit only for those willing to give to it a part of themselves. For many other activities and process-based knowledge, and learning, we could use this technology to preserve and teach in ways which have heretofore been impossible.
Thoughts?
Neils Clark :: Sep.30.2007 :: Games, Research :: 1 Comment »
This is the news that I don’t like covering. Yesterday, the AP reported that a 30-year-old Guangzhou man “fainted†after three straight days of gaming [Article Here]. It may have been more, however, as his parents reported that he spent nearly all of the 7-day Chinese Lunar festival gaming.
What keeps astonishing me is that these gamers die in rooms full of people. You mean to say that nobody got a little bit concerned? They all got out of dodge pretty fast, once the guy dropped. This seems to beg the question: at what point do you walk up, tap the guy on the shoulder, and ask, “yo, Qui, when was the last time you slept?â€
Not many people look out for gamers, and to me that means we’ve got to start looking out for ourselves. I drew up some fun guidelines for gamers, or especially café operators. Being a hero inside of a videogame is only so impressive. It’s about time we had the courage to stand up to our friends (or the kid who smells like rotten fish). It seems well enough established that three days straight can kill you, so tell me if the following seems too far off:
Guidelines for gamers:
The most important thing that we can do, besides pray that there’s not over-reaching legislation in China and internationally, is:
Find the COD (Cause of Death)
Preliminary COD from [Yahoo News]:
“According to preliminary findings, the length of time this man spent online might have triggered heart problems,” the paper quoted a local hospital emergency medic in the city of Zhongshan as saying.
Another thing that we can do, especially people who work at reporting these incidents to news organizations, federal offices and other agencies, is:
Gather as much information as possible.
I’m just throwing this stuff out there. Tell me if you think it’s on track.
Neils Clark :: Sep.18.2007 :: Game Addiction, Games :: 5 Comments »
[Slashdot.org] actually had a go at my article on how gamers go between worlds, which finally saw the light of day this Wednesday. This is great, in my view, because it gives us all a wealth of feedback on how people are moving game to game. Or game to gym.
As an aside, the editors named it, [The Academics Speak: Is There Life After World Of Warcraft?] as opposed to All or Nothing Game? Both are good word-plays, but I think that bringing WoW directly into it was a good call. You can trust the fanbois to take it to that whole other level. I’ll talk more on this once I’m off my post-travel blargh.
Neils Clark :: Sep.14.2007 :: Games, Research :: 1 Comment »
From Slashdot, on the South Park episode which talked candidly about playing a lot of Warcraft:
WoW Insider has the word that the South Park Episode “Make Love, Not Warcraft” has won the Creative Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program. The episode, which heavily features machinima shot inside a Blizzard-run World of Warcraft server, has proven extremely popular with fans of both the game and the show. So much so that the DVD set including that episode includes a 14-day trial for WoW, and extensive commentary on the episode from the show’s creators. From the WoW Insider post:
“This isn’t the first Emmy that South Park has won, but perhaps this kind of attention will get WoW more positive (or at least humorous) attention in other television shows. Though, when it comes to TV ratings, 9 million people worldwide does not a target audience make. For example, American Idol was considered slipping when it only had 30 million US viewers for an episode. Would you like to see WoW references appear more often on TV? Or are you too busy playing to care?”
Neils Clark :: Sep.10.2007 :: Games :: 2 Comments »
So, yeah. I visited some more gaming cafés. It was really only going to be the Cineleisure complex, noted by locals as one of the best – but a string of seemingly unfortunate mishaps had me wandering the streets of Singapore until the sun came up.
One caveat: I don’t think that Part 2 here is as entertaining as Part 1. If I edit stuff up, I may change this caveat - but ye be warned.
Neils Clark :: Sep.08.2007 :: Games, Research :: 5 Comments »
