I'll edit this entry once more tests have been conducted...
]]>For my project using Scratch, I decided to create a Pong-style game in which the user plays against the "computer". I first looked at a number of Pong games that had been uploaded to the Scratch website and found that most of the programs were buggy. Sometimes the ball would slip through a paddle or the controls were just not responsive enough so I decided that I was going to create the quintessential Pong experience... at least, as quintessential a Pong experience that one could create using Scratch. I wanted a user-friendly interface, simple controls that work well and, most importantly, very little or no bugs in the program.
I have spent roughly 2 weeks working on the project off and on and I now feel ready to run some usability tests to see how well people respond to the game. What did I spend 2 weeks doing, you ask? Well, perfection is a lofty goal for which to strive. I was able to get a basic skeleton of a program going based on my limited knowledge of programming from the C++ (now a VERY outdated programming language) class I took in high school. The ball "bounced" off of both paddles. However, it was extremely glitchy. After tweaking the program for days and days (often only to have to go back to something I had originally done because what I had been "fixing" wasn't really a problem) I finally got the bright idea to decrease the size of the ball and what a WORLD of difference that made! The game now functions great and these usability tests should let me know what I still need to improve and/or change in the program.
Want to know what others are creating using Scratch? Check it out here.
]]>Upon reading Williams Chapter 10, I was reminded of this discussion. We as writers, affect peoples' lives with our works; even the work we produce simply for class! The professor has to eventually read through all of our papers and more often than not, so do our peers as part of the draft process.
According to Williams, we as writers have a duty to ensure that our writing does not become "carelessly complex" (124). While it may seem like charity-work towards our professors and classmates, keeping our work as simple as possible (without dumbing it down) is actually doing society a justice. (*cue the national anthem in the background...)
Think of what a better place the world would be (or at least high school would have been) if Nathaniel Hawthorne had been kind enough to pare down his monumental paragraphs in The Scarlet Letter. We are the future folks! One day, our work could make its way into the literary canon! We need to face that responsibility head on and make sure that everything we write is written consicely, eloquently and most of all, with Style.
Read what my classmates have to say about Chapter 10.
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My favorite part of Chapter 9 though, is the emphasis and power that Williams places on the word "of":
"2. Of + Weighty Word
This seems unlikely, but it's true. Look at how Churchill ends his sentence: The light of (followed by a lighter a or the) quickens the rhythm of a sentence just before the stress of the climactic monosyllable, old:
. . . the rescue and the liberation of the old" (121).
I have been trying this little quickening of phrases using the word "of" and I gotta say: it works!
See what my coursemates had to say about this chapter!
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To me, this sentence is about HOW writers can make what they write more accessible to the readers. In that sample sentence from Williams' book, Style, it begins with different kinds of passages writer could pen (which goes against what the sentence is saying about getting to the point early). In the sentence below, you know from the BEGINNING of the sentence, what the sentence will be about!
Ex: When you begin a sentence, paragraph, section, or whole quickly, concisely, and helpfully your writing is easier for readers to understand.
See what my coursemates had to say about Williams Chapter 8.
]]>I cannot express how much of a revelation this single passage was for me... Rarely do I think about the ends of my sentences. I try to make my point right out-- unless I throw in a wordy clause at the beginning (which I am prone to do after all)-- and then just try to wrap up my thought as quickly as possible (once again, unless I throw in a clause at the end!).
This got me thinking that I really don't think about the end of my essays in general either. I feel that I write good introductions, fill the body of my essay with plenty of meaty information and then by the time I reach the conclusion, I just don't care and end up writing a hasty cop-out of a conclusion. In reality, what Williams said about sentences in Style can apply to essays as well; if what you discuss in the intro and body is of any importance, then the conclusion should reflect that as well.
I think that applying the advice that Megan gave in class one day about writing for a while, taking a break and then coming back to it could really help me apply this idea to my writing. I generally sit down in front of my computer with all my sources and don't stop writing until I am finished with the essay-- which could explain why I become fatigued by the end... we'll see how this goes for me... I'll update later!
See what my classmates thought about this chapter!
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"The class takes time to write a sentence on the screen."
The resulting sentences I recieved from my peers were:
"They begin learning how to write cohesivley.
I don't know which sentence started this conversation.
But I know that this sentence will finish this conversation!
Professor Jerz teaches the class how to write clear and solid sentences using Williams."
I'm not sure what happened, but maybe someone wrote their sentence above my sentence or something? I'm not sure why there was confusion. My edited, slightly coherent paragraph looks like this:
The Media Lab class takes time to write a sentence on the screen in order to learn to write cohesively. Professor Jerz uses Williams to teach the class how to write clear and solid sentences. After Professor Jerz's lesson, the students can clearly tell that the first sentence of this paragraph begins this conversation and this sentence finishes the conversation.
Yes, mine is awkward, but so were my sentences... don't judge me.
Though mine didn't work out due to some confusion about where to write the next sentence, I could tell by reading the first sentence before I added my own on some of the others' screens that they will be able to make very clear paragraphs from their sentences.
]]>In the example on pg. 56-7, Williams tries to demonstrate how to make one's passages flow or read easier and more naturally. He gives two sentences:
"2a. The collapse of a dead star into a point perhaps no larger than a marble createsactive a black hole.
2b. A black hole is createdpassive by the collapse of a dead star into a point perhaps no larger than a marble (56)."
As writers, we are expected to pick the first sentence as the correct one because it is in the active voice and-- I'll admit it-- that's exactly what I did. Williams is quick to point out though that if it helps the flow of your passage, use of the passive voice is perfectly permissable. Here is the sample passage he provided in which sentenct 2b fits:
"Some astonishing questions about the nature of the universe have been raised by scientists studying black holes in space. A black hole is created by the collapse of a dead star into a point perhaps no larger than a marble. So much matter compressed into so little volume changes the fabric of space around it in puzzling ways (57)."
I'm sorry, but that passage does not flow very well at all for me. I understand the lesson he is giving, but I feel that if that paragraph were ever in something that I wrote, I would not be attending this university. My version would probably go something like this:
Scientists have raised some astonishing questions about the nature of the universe by studying black holes, which are created by the collapse of a dead star into a point perhaps no larger than a marble. Etc. ...
I realizing that I'm being nit-picky, but bear with me because I am a bitter, wordy writer still trying to change. I do not think that ending a sentence with mentioning black holes and then starting the very next sentence with the term "A black hole" (57) [a tip that Williams actually gives in the "Diagnosis and Revision" section on pg. 59] flows very well at all, in fact I don't even think it sounds intelligent.
While I may differ some in opinion on his Cohesion lesson, I think that Williams hits the nail on the head with the lesson in Coherence. I can't count the number of papers that I have failed to see as a big "picture on the [puzzle] box" (60). I think that this tip is truly invaluable. All the parts of an essay or any piece of writing should work together. I know that that is basically the idea of the thesis, but thinking of it that way really helps me... I think.
But of course, this is just my opinion. If you don't like it, or want to know what others think, check out what they had to say about this chapter.
]]>I don't think I can express how hard I laughed out loud when I read this passage. I do sometimes feel that there are those certain grammatical rules that are only in exisistence just to piss people off... such as "Don't use which for that, as in a car which I sold" (10). I still do not know the proper rules for when to use which and that, even after we went over it in class and you know what, I'm not sure that I care enough to know! I am a good writer, despite my agreeing to try to edit my wordy style of writing, and I know that. And you know what else, I HATE THE WORD 'WHICH' ANYWAY!! It just sounds awkward and stupid. 'That' flows much better in any sentence no matter what rule you break to insert it.
]]>For as long as I have been writing academic papers, I have always had a wordy style. I don't try to write lengthy, complex sentences in order to impress anyone, that is how I form my words in my head and that is how I feel that I can express what I want to say best. It is also the way that I am prone to talking most of the time. However, upon reading William's words in the above passage, I must say that I was affronted. I never want to be seen as bull-headed, haughty or stubborn in the way that I write because I really do love writing. For this reason, I will now make a conscious effort to write more clearly and concisely.
Below is a passage that I wrote in a paper for my Video Games Culture and Theory course:
"While some may argue that there is a fine line between what can be construed as beautiful and brazenly sexy, there is no denying that portraying women as strong, fearless warriors helps to shatter the stereotype of women being seen as the weaker sex."
Below is an example of how this sentence (which is wordy, but not necessarily unclear) can be made stronger and more blunt by simplifying it:
While beauty and brazen sex-appeal are two different things, portraying women as strong and independent helps shatter the stereotype of women being seen as inferior to men.\
I noticed many sentences throughout this paper that could be pared down and made more clear which really proved to me that perhaps re-evaluating the way I write might not be such a bad thing...
]]>This is something that I struggle with constantly. I tend to write lenghty, complex sentences that are longer and really more descriptive than they need to be... which would be fine if I were writing the next, great American novel (I really do hope to become a published author one day...), but a tendancy that will not serve me well as a journalist or magazine writer.
As mentioned in my goals paper, I hope that this course will help me improve my skills as a writer of news as well as help me determine what good news is and helping me gain insight into the inner workings of the Setonian. Zinsser gave some sound advice, now it's up to me to implement it...
]]>While some may argue that the skimpy clothing video game heroines often sport is chauvenistic, there is no denying that portraying women as strong, fearless warriors helps to shatter the stereotype of women being seen as the weaker sex.
Older games that were more popular in the seventies and eighties typically bought into the dated notion of women being inferior to men. Even newer entries in Nintendo's Mario Brothers and Legend of Zelda franchises follow this unfortunate tradition with Mario always having to rescue Princess Peach and Link always fighting to save the Princess Zelda. Disturbingly, these are not the only instance of the tendancy of games to portay women as weak and incapable: "The covers of the 47 most popular video games available on Nintendo portray a total of 115 male and nine female characters-a ratio of nearly 13 to one. Twenty of the males strike a dominant pose; none of the females do. Three females (a third of the total) are submissive-being kidnapped, carried off, or cowering behind a man; none of the males are. Thirteen of the games have scenarios with women kidnapped or having to be rescued as part of the game. Another 11 are based on sports like car racing, where gender discrimination generally is not an issue. Some games include the rescue of men, but not one man is rescued by a woman" (Provenzo 31).
However, games like Bayonetta, Metroid, and Resident Evil all feature strong female leads that do not follow the "damel in distress mentality and even more games are allowing the player to completely customize their characters, even choosing to play as a male or female character throughout the whole game.
Torrie Dorrel, senior vice president of global sales and marketing for Sony Online Entertainment, asserts that "women are out there in significant numbers playing MMOs, action games, first-person shooters. . .What is lacking in the equation are women behing these games" (qtd. in West). Dorrell has a valid point: if female gamers want to have more of an influence over the games they play, then more women should enter into the field of game design.
In spite of the lack of women in the game design field, there are still a rare few that are starting to cause a stir in the industry with "the emergence of female-oriented game design" (Dickey 786). One of the first games made and marketed specifically for girls was Barbie Fashion Designer which, despite selling fairly well and making gamers and industry professionals more aware that females do play video games, the game was also labeled as sexist for portraying "stereotypical female interests" (Dickey 788).
Not only have the gender roles associated with women been altered, but also the gender roles traditionally associated with men as made evident by shows like Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, which emphasized embrassing the new metrosexuality of the "modern man" in order to please one's girlfriend/wife. While I am not suggesting that video games are the sole factor in this shift, they are one of many factors that stemmed from the Women's Rights Movement and, more recently, the "girl power" movement of the nineties. The media's "new conceptions about women as strong and independent forced men to renegotiate their own identities" (Tragos 542), resulting in a more sensitive, gentle and-- to some-- more effeminate modern man.
The "cultural messages" that media portray "impact children" (Dickey 789)-- who are still learning what it means to be a male/female-- and video games are no exception. As a result, the gender roles that were previously associated with both men and women have shifted. Our society's focus on stereotypes and gender roles is quite complicated, however. For example, while society does not want the next generation of women running around in tube tops and mini-skirts and it condemns the gruesome violence that is often present in video games, society also frowns upon games that promote stereotypical female activities and values such as make-up and fashion design. Society must relinquish its obsession with stereotypes and the general fear that is associated with being in violation of ones gender, for example, will disappear. After all, there are still female designers in the fashion industry, but there are also now female soldiers, doctors and gamers. The women portrayed in video games and other media are only attempting to please both the traditionalists and more modern men and women of society with their characters' "strong and beautiful" (Tragos 541) duality.
Works Cited
Caplan, Scott, Mia Consalvo, Dmitri Williams and Nick Yee. "Looking for Gender: Gender Roles and Behaviors Among Online Gamers." Journal of Communication December 2009: 700- 25. EBSCOhost. Web. 13 Januray, 2010.
Cheryan, Sapna, Paul G. Davies, Victoria C. Plaut and Claude M. Steele. "Ambient Belonging: How Stereotypical Cues Impact Gender." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2009: 1045-60. EBSCOhost. Web. 22 January, 2010.
Dickey, Michele D. "Girl gamers: the controversy of girl games and the relevance of female-oriented game design for instructional design." British Journal of Educational Technology September 2006: 785-93. EBSOhost. Web. 22 January, 2010.
Eglesz, Dénes, István Fekete, Lajos Izsó and Orhidea Edith Kiss. "Computer games are fun? On professional games and players' motivations." Educational Media International June 2005: 117-24. EBSCOhost. Web. 13 January, 2010.
Nariko; fr. Opening Cinematic/Level, Heavenly Sword. Ninja Theory Ltd. Namco Bandai. 12 September, 2007.
Provenzo Jr., Eugene F. "What do Video Games Teach?" Education Digest December 1992: 56-9. EBSCOhost. Web. 22 January, 2010.
Tragos, Peter. "Monster Masculinity: Honey, I'll Be In The Garage Reasserting My Manhood." Journal of Popular Culture June 2009: 541-53. EBSCOhost.Web. 12 January, 2010.
West, Matt. "Wooing women gamers--and game creators." CNN. 28 February, 2008. <http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/ptech/02/28/women.gamers/index.html?iref=a llsearch.> Web. 18 January, 2010.
Videos Links
All videos are courtesy of www.YouTube.com.
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http://blogs.setonhill.edu/CodyNaylor/2010/01/01-20-10_discussion_wilson.html
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/CodyNaylor/2010/01/fight_or_flight.html
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/CodyNaylor/2010/01/straying_from_the_norm.html
Griffingate Thread- Final thoughts on the course:
"I didn't know what to expect coming into this class. I took a few on-line courses in high school and I hated them. I think that the blogging aspect really helped create a community with the students in the course which is tough to do in an environment in which the students do not interact face-to-face. I am most proud of the broad general knowledge about the history of video games that this course has taught me. I thought that I was in-the-know before I took this course, but I now feel more knowledgeable about my favorite pastime. I think that the last section of the readings in which the students were the facilitators for the discussions worked very well and should be implemented throughout the entire course the next time around. It made everyone participate more because we all were in the same boat of wanting our discussions to go well so we were more likely and willing to participate in other discussions so that our fellow students would participate in our own. Overall, I enjoyed this course and I liked reading the students' blog entries so that I could get to know them a little better..."
Depth:
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/CodyNaylor/2010/01/straying_from_the_norm.html
Interaction:
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/CodyNaylor/2010/01/fight_or_flight.html
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/CodyNaylor/2010/01/straying_from_the_norm.html
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/CodyNaylor/2010/01/dr_jerz_playing_bloggers_advoc.html
Discussion:
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/MattTakacs/2010/01/the_great_debate.html
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/JessicaKrehlik/2010/01/taylor_discussion_intro.html
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/ElizabethSwartzwelder/2010/01/technology_and_game_design.html
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/SusanCarmichael/2010/01/indie_game_design_wilson.html
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/JessicaKrehlik/2010/01/a_future_for_indie_games.html
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/KeithCampbell/2010/01/wilson.html
Timeliness:
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/CodyNaylor/2010/01/01-20-10_discussion_wilson.html
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/CodyNaylor/2010/01/fight_or_flight.html
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/CodyNaylor/2010/01/straying_from_the_norm.html
Xenoblogging:
I think that a lot of the discussions during the assigned readings led to the students helping one another gain an understanding of the topics covered in their blog entries.
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/CodyNaylor/2010/01/straying_from_the_norm.html
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/ElizabethSwartzwelder/2010/01/technology_and_game_design.html
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/SusanCarmichael/2010/01/indie_game_design_wilson.html
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/MattTakacs/2010/01/the_great_debate.html
Wildcard:
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/CodyNaylor/2010/01/straying_from_the_norm.html
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Having said that, big gaming companies can also create smaller, less mainstream titles that stray from the established first-person shooters and action game franchises that sell so well. I think that when bigger companies release titles that may not appeal to everyone or do not have an established fan-base, they are taking a big risk because they pour a lot of money into the games that they create and the companies have no way of knowing if these smaller or newer games they create will sell well and make them a profit on top of what they spent developing the title.
One of my favorite games that falls into this category is Okami. While the game's publisher Capcom is by no means a small fish in the video games industry, developers Clover Studios was a smaller studio with a great idea that Capcom took a chance on by publishing. In Okami, gamers control a canine deity with the ability to restore color to the world it inhabits by defeating enemies and progressing throughout the game. Most of the combat is fought using the dog's tail as a calligraphy brush... players use the analog sticks on the controller to motion the dog's tail and create symbols to unleash attacks. This is far from anything that was selling at the time of its release and, much to everyone's surprise, Okami was both critically praised and fairly well-recieved by the gaming public.
Games like Okami and Alien Hominid (which started out as a Flash game until O-3 entertainment published the game and released it on the Gamecube and Playstation 2) show that the big games industry and independent developers can actually work together. There has been a lot of talk on the blogs in this course about how it is unfair that the techonology to develop cutting-edge games isn't widely available to everyone (I'm guilty too), but there really are games out there (and big games publishers) that prove otherwise.
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