Model in a game to a person in real life. (Game Culture Watch)

We all know the idea behind avatars, at least most of us anyways. I do agree with gee notion's model theory. For one thing players or users like the idea that they are using a character or in this case a model. It is a way to do things in game that you would not normally do in real life. Lets take Grand Theft Auto for example. The player is able to get away with murder, run over cops, and even in some cases go on killing sprees at hours on end. There is no “model” in real life that can actually do that. There is one model or well game I would like to mention though. This model is Mario. Mario is one characters in which everyone knows is separate. The character Mario will always stay the same and there really is no customization to this model. In that sense what you do with this character is still reflected upon you. However lets take a character in which you can actually choose what the or she looks like. This kind of character or model is still considered separate from you. When you turn off that game what you did with that character won't matter in real life. Much like i mentioned before with grand theft auto. A model in the game is separate that a person in real life. Just because you killed someone in a game does not mean it will reflect your actions in real life.

A new kind of gaming (game for game culture watch)

So I decided to go a little off topic on this one and actually talk about a game that will be coming out soon as well as what it has become over the last year. This game also known as Guild Wars took a risk by making a free MMO. What this means is that there are no monthly payments. Although it isn't exactly the same as an MMO the similarties make it fall under that catagory. That wasn't the only risk that took place. They also were competeing with World of Warcraft.

However Guild Wars pulled it off. A million players and up have bought the game. Now this isn't anything compared to the ammount of players World of Warcraft has, none the less it is more then what was expected.

So what is Guild Wars actually about?
Guild Wars was able to successfuly take the view of a hero and work it into an already progressive story line. What makes the story line unique and interesting is that there is an entire passed history to the world the player is in. They were able to build up scenario's that included "gods" and "goddesses". An entire relgion was created, in the game of course. With factions coming out there is no real clue to how much larger guild wars will become.

There is a few reasons I wrote about guild wars.. One being is because now that our final projects are coming up. I thought it would be interesting to take a different look at the gaming aspects. Although there is your typical hero scenario, they were able to add some twists. In my opinion they successfully made it clear to the character that they have full control over their avatar. With that in mind the player was able to make a avatar that was in their mind. Factions comes out the 28th and it will be interesting to see what success comes with it.

Reading Response

Communication has grown more advanced over the years. It has gotten advanced at an extremely fast paced that some still haven't seen the technology and new ways to get in contact with people. After reading the chapters assigned it is clear that during the time when chat rooms and “muds” first began that it brought a whole new meaning behind communication. The entire theory behind a chat room in my opinion is that it is live. It takes place in real time with real people anywhere in the world. If a person is to really think about it, it actually is mind boggling. Simply because you can be whom ever you want on the Internet. I guess this is why so many people say chat rooms are dangerous. There is one company in mind which took full advantage of the rising popularity of communication over the Internet. This company is AOL. One of the primary foundations around chat rooms, instant messenger, and email. As time progressed more instant messengering programs and various communications popped up. Such as ICQ, (which is now owned by AOL), MSN, or the latest is Google Talk. All of these programs have something different about them, but overall the most similar part about them is the messenger system /chat room effect. Muds gave a way of playing a roll in which you cannot do in real life. The same goes with any chat source of the Internet. I don't think Muds, chat rooms, or any other form of communication over the Internet will ever actually parish. They may of course not become as popular. The fact that you can be anyone you want or be able to communicate with someone, and then not have that shy quality you would over telephone or in person will always be there. The biggest or well newest trend that seems to be taking place is web cam. This does of course go way out there from what the reading describe. Web cam takes the idea of live chat and mixes it with talking in person. Whether the person is thousands of miles away you can actually see their face through your monitor and they can do the same and see you. You can in fact have a live chat right through the interest as if they were standing right next to you. Of course this isn't as advanced yet, but I am sure much like how chat rooms and muds first began that improvement isn't far away.

Seventh game review: Fable Overall Review

This will probably be my final review on this game. The storyline behind the game was truly well written. However it was extremely short. I started out as a young boy, and grew up through a real time basis. As the game progressed different challenges came up. For one thing each quest presented a piece of the puzzle that would determine the out come of the game. There were three very important parts of the game to me, basically that has some sort of impact. In the beginning where the training began was a good part because that is where the story got interesting. I think there was a possible climax to this game, not so much the ending, but during the middle of the game. At this part I was entered into an arena, and at the end of the arena I had to choose on killing my friend for money or not. This part pretty much decides if you will be good or evil throughout the rest of the game. The final part I would have to say is the choice you make when you kill the final boss. Much like I mentioned before you have choice again between good and evil. You can choose to wear this mask which provides power and all that is evil, or you can destroy the mask and rid evil.

The storyline was good, but what did bother me was the detail, animation, and worst of all the sound. Somtimes different people would speak, but then the sound would just stop but their mouth continued to move. Much like you see in a chinese translation movie to an english one. It wasn't because it was laggy or because the game was slow, this happened almost everytime I talked to a character. I also looked it up and this was a similar problem to others. However subtracting that I did enjoy myself. It was addicting and did find myself playing it hours on end.

Everything Bad is Good For You by Steven Johnson

When it comes down to it, you need to decide for yourself if gaming is right for you. The book Everything Bad Is Good For You gave one hell of a reason why it can be good for you. It also goes to explain why the addiction to video games is so large. Steven Johnson gives a whole new outlook on how gaming produces the right mindset and the gives a great analysis on the learning process behind the gaming. In some ways after reading this, I almost wonder why do people complain so much on how gaming is bad for you.

There are certain points of this book that need to be mentioned for one thing, he states “You hit a point in the game where you need to do something, but there's some obstruction in your way.” (pg 54) This is where the addiction part comes in. He explains how when we are faced with a challenge we will go to all means to understand it. He also goes on about how the narratives comes in levels in other words layers. With this in mind he goes on to explain how we need to focus on the tasks ahead of us to complete and actual game. So in other words in a book, but you need to have more of an attention span to actually go with it.

There is also a key point which must be mentioned and he pretty much pin points it right on. He talks about something that I truly never though of until reading this and that is that games are not always fun. There is a lot of frustration and goes along with a game. It is how we solve different problems that gives us the satisfaction.

There are certain element's in a game that will influence us, but what a lot of people do miss is how games actually teach us and even improve certain senses we may have. It is like figuring out a puzzle, and completing different objectives that are given to us. When we complete those objectives it is stored in our minds for later use. Whether that “objective” comes to us in the real world or not. The way we complete tasks will be similar to that of the real world and the game world.

I truly think he hit is right on cue almost about everything. The way media will over exaggerate or overlook certain parts of gaming. He best puts it “No other form of entertainment offer that cocktail of reward and exploration: We don't “explore” movies or television or music in anything.” This is what makes video games what they are. The interactivity and the brain power used behind it.

Fable The Lost Chapters: Final Boss (Game Culture)

All I can say is wow, way to easy. Anyone who plays an entire game through should not have to be able to beat a game with such ease. So I went through every quest and every mission. I got to the end and hoping to expect a challenge, but I was way off. I am hoping I don't give out any spoilers, but the last map here is this character who turns into a dragon. About 10 times larger then me. Anyways all it took was a couple of magical powers and a few swings of the sword. It was kind of obvious that this new fable was kind of just thrown together a bit espeally when it came to the new characters. However getting to the final boss what kind of hard. I had to go through a series of challenges to get certain objects just to get to him. I think there are certain elements developers have to look at for one thing game play, and the other graphics. To me game play is much more important while of course to some others graphics are. But without a good storyline it really doesn't have much to go on. Fable did have a decent story line which I did enjoy. However was way to short. They probably could of focused on many other aspects of the game. Like mentioned before the bosses. I am pretty sure they could of took more time in the development of this game.

Fable: The Lost Chapters... Looks and Age

So throughout the game as you may already have know that this is a time based game. Now what this means is that the character ages, days to go by. As my character grows up he goes from a teenager to well an old man. As he grows his looks do change. I actually like this feature of the game. You can actually choose how your character looks. Now of course there are certain limits to how he can look, but it is interesting none the less. What you choose your character look like will ether increase his attractiveness status and lower it. The same works with his scariness level. You can choose the style of haircuts he gets. You can choose if he has a beard or not. You also have the lucksury of choosing what kind of tattoos you want him to have. There actually is a way to design your own, but I can't remember how. In any case it works the same way has the haircuts when it comes to attractiveness and scariness. There is only one flaw this game does have though and that would have to be the way he ages. Every time you get more experience and then use that experience to upgrade he will age. If this really was truly “time based” then he should age by the days which he does, but a lot more slowly. Still a great game and it just ending soon. Oh and to make things interesting for the blog I was able to make my character look like Michal Jackson. I got really bored. Well his scariness level is basically maxed, attractiveness -70% right now. And coincidently he is almost max evil. I can't say that this doesn't hold far from the truth in the real life ether.

Fable and the Evil Villain, Twin Blades

Ah yes the evil villains of Fable. So I have got through one quest which I found particularly interesting especially with the twist involved at the end. Oh yeah spoilers may be in this post, so stop reading if your currently playing the game. Well any ways this quest is all about finding out information about where my sister is located. Now of course there not going to make this mission to easy. Well I was bit wrong on that part. It actually is probably because I almost have my (will) power in other words magic power maxed out. The only hard part was sneaking into the bandits camp. From that point I was just a giant ant eater running through a bunch of ants. When I reach the point where the boss is, his name is Twin Blades, and ironically enough he actually holds two swords. This guy is no push over especially considering he is the king of thieves or well in this case bandits. About three to four times my size I was able to take him down with quite a thud. Ironically before I give the final blow my sister turns up. Even this caught my surprise. She had her eyes taken out by Jack of Blades, the true evil villain of the game. She also has been living among the bandits training and actually was next to Twin Blades during his rein. So she starts explaining all this and then I “rescue” her although it didn't matter much. I had the choice to defeat Twin Blades or let him go out of sympathy. Well since I chose the evil side no doubt I just killed him.

So there you have it that was the true first villan to me in the game. Also the first real quest that actually had something to truly do with what I was trying to accomplish.

Game Culture Reading Response

We live in a world in which everyone and everybody is trying to make a name for them self in some way. Their "reputation" is based on the way they act or how they go about things in their everyday life. One problem, there is no reset button. However what if we could press the reset button? What would you change? This is when Avatars in games became huge. When our technology hit the level to the point we can create a character that represented us or something we visualized being. Taking out different flaws such as being weak, small, or to tall, fat or to skinny. Every character in a game has a little bit of us in it as we play that character. It is the character we want to be, the character we idealized. I guess this is truly where egos hit. People comparing each other's characters with another's. Who is stronger, who looks better, who has more knowledge of the game, and so on. As technology continues to grow certain games are making it interactive enough to change even the most detailed parts of the character. For example in The Sims 2, you can change the facial structure, the height, weight and so on. There will be a point in which we can in fact add our personal selves through the game, may through a picture of some sort who knows. At least it is safe to say that our Avatars have a reset button.

Fable The Lost Chapters Game Review III Economy

Economy in a role playing game can play a large task in the game play it self. In fable it does just that. Though it is not that noticible as the game progresses you realise that trade, selling and buying all play a significance. There are weapons, clothing and potions you can buy. You can even buy your own house. Once bought you can also rent it out. Which brings the idea of economy back. Unforunitly like most games there are exploits in which you can cheat the economy, but none the less if you are evil you can steal people's things and then sell it back to them. But if your on the good side it is possible to follow the law. It may take a little bit of work to get rich in this game, but still good.