neils clark

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?”

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 »

And we only started sending queries about a week or two ago. From what I’ve heard, it’s pretty rare (and therefore completely awesome) to have heard from agents so soon.

Publishing is interesting, because every agent or publisher wants a different set of materials. Some want a book proposal and one sample chapter, and some want the book’s first four chapters. Do you polish your proposal and your two best chapters, or do you polish the beginning of your book?

While I’m still dealing with serious Jet Lag (just got back from Singapore), and Shavaun has court dates for most of the week, we’re going to putting together these different packages for agents. And sure, I know that we don’t have an agent yet… But…

…

Yesssssssss!

Neils Clark :: Sep.17.2007 :: General :: 6 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 »

This Monday I met with game effects researchers from two key Singaporean universities, Angie Khoo of Nanyang Technological University, and Timothy Sim of the National University of Singapore. From my take on our conversations, it sounds like their team is on the absolute right track. Rather than jump to conclusions, or use some of the faulty reasoning that’s been the backdrop of game studies in the hard sciences, this team is coming to some of the conclusions essential to building a real foundation for good research. It’s a very, very good thing.

But I might have been biased. It was pretty nifty to see a copy of my addiction thesis that I didn’t print out myself. Some kind of weird cross between gratification and surprise, though we did cover a bit of its content.

Overall, it’s kind of exciting to be having, like, power lunches and stuff.

Neils Clark :: Sep.12.2007 :: Game Addiction, Research :: 4 Comments »

It’s good to be traveling on Sept. 11th. The day has come and gone in this time zone. Though it’s 4am after a pretty full day, it’s still Sept. 11th in the States.

Exactly one year after the twin towers were bombed, I flew between Seattle and Texas. I didn’t intentionally choose that day during my booking, but that doesn’t change the palpable feeling of flying in the face of blind hatred and violence.

The significance of the day kept making itself known, even here in Singapore.

Continue Reading »

Neils Clark :: Sep.11.2007 :: General :: 4 Comments »

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 »

I got this message while trying to log onto Pandora.com, my favorite streaming radio:

Dear Pandora Visitor,

We are deeply, deeply sorry to say that due to licensing constraints, we can no longer allow access to Pandora for most listeners located outside of the U.S. We will continue to work diligently to realize the vision of a truly global Pandora, but for the time being we are required to restrict its use. We are very sad to have to do this, but there is no other alternative.

We believe that you are in Singapore (your IP address appears to be [ip removed]). If you believe we have made a mistake, we apologize and ask that you please contact us at pandora-support@pandora.com

Etc. Etc.

We share your disappointment and greatly appreciate your understanding.

Sincerely,

Tim Westergren
Founder

No wonder people are using torrents.

But seriously, Pandora is one of those things which actually expands markets for music licensing companies. I’m sure that there’s a good reason for blocking Pandora from Singapore, one that’s buried under a few tonnes of profit-motivated and lobbied legislation. What seems more hurtful to music companies, and in ways which should seem self-evident - 1) they’re keeping artists’ music from hitting a larger audience (limiting culture, an artist’s popularity and income) 2) But more importantly, they’re pissing people off.

And it’s been such a long-term thing, I just automatically blame groups like the RIAA. I used to buy a lot of music, and when unexplained and seemingly cryptic legislation blocks me from accessing a cool site like pandora, I just feel less beholden to the recording industry, and any artist that supports its inquisitions.

Neils Clark :: Sep.08.2007 :: General :: 7 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.

Continue Reading »

Neils Clark :: Sep.08.2007 :: Games, Research :: 5 Comments »

This morning, Slashdot was linking a wired magazine columnist with an interesting point: these relationships affect people, whether or not we think that they’re “real.”

[Click here for it]

This actually has a number of implications for what we’re calling “addiction.”

The article highlights our need, rooted in (among other things) a fear of the technology, to justify dismissing games. You can call them fake, or an addiction, or anything else, but in the end these games affect us.

And while the effects could be profoundly good or bad, dismissing games altogether keeps us from being able to take action. It keeps us from being able to see what exactly is bad. The best example of this is research into whether games make us obese. Essentially, some of it looks at two things. 1) are you obese? (yes/no). 2) do you play games? (yes/no). This is going to be a lot less helpful than looking at the underlying factors which actually have an influence on gamer nutrition. And the things influencing this stuff can cause a gamer to fatten up, but also to become dangerously underweight. In our rush to dismiss, in this case, we’re moving backwards on two fronts: ignoring the factors which could help us to understand and improve how people play, but also popularizing lazy, oversimplified, negligent research.

And yeah, this problem is happening in addiction research - with potentially devestating impacts.

These games, coming soon, will affect everyone. We’ll want them to, because they’re going to give us something we’ve never had before.

But I’m on vacation, so I’ll finish this thought later. After I write up last night’s adventures in gaming cafes.

Neils Clark :: Sep.08.2007 :: Games, Research :: No Comments »