I just wanted to come in and comment that creating the content for the wesite is going to take awhile. We’re waiting on some outside forces, so I may be back here blogging. A lot of really interesting things are happening - like another article out on Gamasutra.
You can find that here
Neils Clark :: Apr.03.2008 :: Games :: No Comments »
This is another few words about a recent death; these words are about somebody whom I had wanted to meet since I was young. Gary Gygax, a hero to all real gamers, has died at age 69.
You can read wired’s comments here.
Neils Clark :: Mar.04.2008 :: Games :: 2 Comments »
Non-substance addiction researcher Sabine Gruesser-Sinopoli passed unexpectedly at age 43. She was passionate, creative and effective at bringing attention to different elements of gaming addiction.
You can see her obituary here.
I only knew her through her work and her gracious giving of time to people looking to better understand addiction. To anybody involved in a gaming addiction, on any level, this is a serious loss.
Neils Clark :: Mar.03.2008 :: Games :: No Comments »
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 »
Haven’t had solid internet access for the last two months, and my Wordpress has been hacked. Just to link the one excellent resource for parents:
And to say that I’m doing an article that looks at the game industry’s more subtle (and hopefully more fascinating) thoughts on game addiction. I’d love to hear anyone’s thoughts, but keep it to email until I have the access I need to repair my wordpress (I’m actually strongly considering ditching WP after this and some other retarded time-sinks).
Besides this hack - everything else is going famously. This coming week I’ll re-link the resources that aren’t showing up, but right now my time has to be directed at making my professional deadlines.
Neils Clark :: Jan.20.2008 :: General :: 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 »
Damn. I’ve got a short list of things I’d like to do before I die, and ‘work for bioware’ was one of those things. And it actually didn’t start out as Bioware, I wanted to work for Interplay - until they were shut down by the state of California after not paying their employees. Both of these companies wove together truly creative, artful, and fun games. What they created was, at least for me, something that spoke in a way that no other media was capable of.
So I’m more than a little put off that they’ve been roped in by the largest, most notoriously questionable publisher in the games industry. The escapist’s piece by Sean Sands grabs on a lot of the speculation. Whether or not conspiracy theory is warranted, ‘work for bioware’ is off my list for the time being.
And I’ll admit it proudly, despite being told off by the makers of the game, I’m a Fallout fanboi. I know, I know. At this last February’s Game Developer’s Conference, the people who made the game told me how bad it was, and at the time I was too flabbergasted, or exhausted, to really put up much of a fight. To me it still stands out as a game that pushed the medium, and was in gamasutra’s top 5 RPGs of all time.
So, in a salutory style, I’d like to give you one of my favorite quotes from Bioware. This comes from one of their expansions to Neverwinter Nights, Shadows of Undrentide, where an artificer of ancient artifacts (hehe) discusses his being pulled into an elaborate device, and how that connects him to your honorable adventuring instructor.
—
I was doing some research on the Netherese, when I found a small puzzle box.
–
It Seemed to be just an interesting toy, but when I played with it, I was sucked inside an elaborate maze, where I wandered for several months, until I was found and released by Drogan.
–
The Netheril were so powerful that even their toys could capture the mind and hold it captive.
–
Imagine a society so rich and powerful that they can waste time and money on elaborate entertainments that last days, even months before the fascination wears off.
–
It must have been an exciting place to live. But anyway, Drogan is an old hand at solving puzzles and dealing with magic. Once he rescued me, we became friends. And that is all there is to tell.
(and that’s it)
Something that’s been wearing on my mind, lately, is that I haven’t had any luck helping to pull one of my sisters out of World of Warcraft. She’s lost her ridiculously lucrative job, insurance, and is about to loose her car. It started when, because she was playing, she just didn’t go into work. In the last two months, she’s just leveled up to 70 - not applying to any new jobs, while living in one of the most expensive cities in the world.
It’s especially hard for me not only in that I opened up to her, and talked really frankly and honestly about what I went through, but I also know exactly where she’s at. I can see exactly why she’s playing - exactly what’s going on in terms of her difficulty with giving primacy to the online game world. I also know that she’s only just started to play like a fiend, so that on a lot of the neurological and psychological levels, traditional addiction isn’t exactly cemented in, but that it’s going to be a lot harder for her if something doesn’t intervene.
In the end, I think that she’s going to have to hit bottom on her own - since I honestly don’t see her boyfriend kicking her out (although in how I’m seeing things, that’s all he really wants to do at the moment).
So - these are the things that have got me a little down at the moment.
Neils Clark :: Oct.30.2007 :: General :: 2 Comments »
Man worked centuries to harness fire
To look on flame is to know comfort and caution
So deeply ingrained a flicker in our psyche
And still it eludes our control
And the fire upon which you gaze?
When our natural response is a springy fear?
I light a candle next to my chair
And stare into light
Neils Clark :: Oct.18.2007 :: Real Men Write Poetry. True Story. :: 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 »
