My peers' were assigned other articles that I answered questions to. Taylor with Jessie and Matt prompted me to answer accordingly. For Matt's question, I chose the Xbox 360 as a platform for all of my gaming, and Jessie, I found that through community brings interaction.

Susan was assigned Grimes. In my entry, I shared my personal experiences with Terms of Service contracts. That was a good subject to discuss since service contracts accompany games and gaming equipment, also the fact that a large percentage of gaming is done by children.

Keith was assigned Eladhari. Keith associated online gaming with personalities. In my entry, I discussed why it is important to play yourself in simulated situations.
Cody had Wilson. His question regarded indie games. In my entry, I discussed why indie games are good, but the technology whould be made available to everyone, not just high tech companies that can utilize the technology.

Overall, I thought that giving students the opportunity to lecture the course was a good idea. It incorporated reading from the text, but was thought based as well from personal experiences.

Depth:

Grimes with (Susan)

Eladhari with (Keith)

Wilson with (Cody)

Interaction:

Elizabeth Swartzwelder

Jessie Krehlik

Susan Carmichael

Discussions:

Grimes with (Susan)

Eladhari with (Keith)

Motion Capturing

Timeliness:

Student Presentations

Grimes with (Susan)

Eladhari with (Keith)

Wilson with (Cody)

Xenoblogging:

Elizabeth Swartzwelder I went into why they print TOS documents.

Jessie Krehlik on my personal experience with a TOS document.

Susan Carmichael on why it's nice to be somebody else online.

Modding and why it's so great that this technology exists.

Wildcard:

S-t-r-e-s-s. Stress is a killer. Stress is not fun. Stress can make you heavy or thin. Okay, I think I got my point across. My readers may or may not realize that I am stressed out. I have valid reasons for being so. It is my last semester at SHU. So far, I am enrolled in two active courses. Not much of a vacation when you think about it. Anyways, the point of this entry is that I do not know where to go after this. Will I still be a poor college student upon graduation? Everyone has these grandeoise ideas that if you go to college, then you are guaranteed a job. I don't think so. With all my experience so far, I just had an interview with WDVE, the radio station in Pittsburgh. The interview went reall well, but I lost hope as they never called me back. Oh well, maybe next time slugger. Now I go back to the real world and focus on my studies so I can graduate. Just thought by writing this, it would serve as a grim reminder of how realistic the world really is, and the fears a future grad has.

Work’s Cited:

Brown, James. “It’s a man’s world”. King. 1966.

Donkey Kong. Nintendo. 1981.

Happy Gamer: Pac-Man Fever. YouTube. 10 September 2007.

Video Games and the Female Audience. YouTube. 28 June 2009.

Miscellaneous pictures used in presentation. Compliments of the web and Sony Cyber

shot.

I tested out my coursemate’s presentation. I particularly liked Susan Carmichael’s. Susan focused on the game Resident Evil 4. I have never played that game, yet, but I like that a female chose, not being sexist here, a game where violence and infected, zombie-like creatures are incorporated into it. She also inspected every aspect of the game. It was as if I were reading the booklet that accompanies such games. I really enjoyed it.

On the other hand, something a little more formal was Elizabeth Swartzwelder's presentation. It looked more at the educational value that war type games serve. I thought that this was important matter because war games; although fun and entertaining, can also be history lessons for all generations.

I would have to pick a player who plays themselves. I never get caught up in the video game world. I like it a lot, but understand that I have other obligations in life besides games. I am not a role player. Never was, never will. By playing myself, I get a sense of who I am. That betters me as a person. I also get to use my brain as opposed to a computer's brain to think for me. I like to be self-taught in situations. I also ge a better sense of my qualities. When I am playing against someone else, I see how I would react in real life situations.

2. Now, how in ghe hell is a child supposed to read all that technical jargon. An adult should step in and assist. If a conract is aimed at a child, then there is a point where the parent should step up to the plate and say "I'll go over this first". That's a parent's job. They should be there for their child. It may also depend on ghe child's intelligence. Not solely rely on it, but sort of read it with an adult.

3. Of course I'm going to say that it should remain with you because I'm not about "Big Brother" stepping in and taking out of our pockets. Afterall it's only virtuaL porperty. It really only exists on screen. Not like its a physical entity where someone can step in and take it. My view stays the same with children. They are more valurnable than adults so a child in essence is really the victim here.

4. I'm not trying to be contadictory here, but yes, any contract that is signes should be legal. That in terms should hold up in court. If you sign something, then you are binded to it. Let the buyer beware.

5. I feel that marketers know what they are doing when a project is aimed at children. That sort of is immoral to do that to a child, but I do not think a child should be making adult decisions without a parent's consent first. It becomes a question of morals and ethics.

A fairly new concept, what are your expectations for blogging? What was your first exposure to blogging? How different is blogging in college from high school, if mandatory?

What ae your fears about getting comments left on your blogs? Have you ever been accomodated in a blog? What were some of your negative experiences with blogging?

Jessie-I think it is because academics see more of a community when involved with multiplaying and online gaming. Single playing is like playing solatire. It's what you do when you are bored, but when there is interaction, the game brings on a whole new context.
I think a game's content is everything. It is either hated or liked. Either way, it is still judged. Some content is not put on the computer because it will not call for a huge gathering of people.

Depth:

Mortensen- Fantasy Online:Playing with People, I was one of the leaders as I blogged on my
personal expreiences with blogs.

I really went off in this blog on Super Columbine Massacre RPG.

From Williams and Smith, the Delwiche article really hits home as I told a personal story of a family member involved with a game.

The James Gee youtube video really made me think of how children are being treated in our educational programs these days.

Interaction:

Shelly Polly's blog on "Learn the way you want to learn, play video games!"

Keith Campbell on Williams and Smith.

Susan Carmichael on IF gaming.

Keith Campbell on the Columbine Massacre RPG.

Jessie Krehlik on Koster.

Discussions:

Mortensen

Delwiche

Rodriguez

Classic Choice-Donkey Kong.

Timeliness:

Super Columbine Massacre RPG

James Gee.

Montfort

Fatworld Review.

Xenoblogging:

Susan Carmichael on the finish of Koster.

Jessie Krehlik on the finish of Koster.

Susan Carmichael on Somewhere Nearby is a Colossal Cave.

Elizabeth Swartzwelder on Pac-Man Dossier.

My pick of the week representing my best blog is: Super Columbine Massacre RPG

Wildcard:

For this, I want to discuss the existence of the legendary Greengate Mall. It was a mid-size mall located in Greensburg, P.A. The mall was torn down years ago to make way for a super center that of course involved a WalMart. I was sad to see Greengate go. I spent a portion of my youth there, especially in the arcades. Yes, in its heyday there were three arcades, maybe four. Not all at the same time. The first one was called The Boardwalk. How fitting. Not really, seeing that boardwalks are located at the beaches. But it was fun. I remember playing "classic" arcade games like Frogger, Donkey Kong Jr., Baby Pac-Man, and Mappy, a cat and mouse game.
Greengate was almost like a boardwalk. It had all the elements of one, arcades, a food court, and speciality shops. You would walk in that mall and hear the bells ansd buzzers of the video games. I don't know why they tore it down. Well, I do kow. It was a lack of money. But of all places, a WalMart went into that space. There will never be another mall like Greengate. I do not visit malls anymore since they went hi-tech. I leave that to the teenagers.

Teaching skills that go beyond a game are essential survival skills for reality. I can buy that. I wish that there was a school like that when I was growing up, but times were a lot different then. Games were more of a preoccupation than a learning tool. They now serve the purpose of educating. Being left to figure out on your own what to do in a game is important because if someone lingered around you constantly telling you what to do and how to do it, you would never learn anything. With the economy the way it is, most famalies work more than one job. Children who learn skills through video games may learn to do the simplest of duties like how to make a sandwich or waht to do in case of a fire. These are basics for survival in our world. If a game can teach that, then society is doing something right with its youth.

In the late 80s and the coming of video game age, the 90s. Super Mario appeared on the circuit. I really didn't realize that I was oone of that generation. I am now on my way to graduating from college. Wow! Tiem has really gone by. Super Mario has even kept his social status in the gaming world. He is still a huge part of it. Mario has kept the Nintendo generation a popular entity for years. It's just strange how fast time goes by. Currently video games, even though Mario is still a huge icon, have advanced from Mario. Making the gaming world a bit more competitive.

As for the 50 free educational games. I think that's wonderful. They are even put into categories. Anything educational obviously teches while informing. I think that many shools should tech by the ways of video games. It is less expevsive than books, and I think more children would show interest.