Technology was the special section topic of our school newspaper, the Falconer. One of the articles was "Web logs: diaries of the future - Blogger.com popularizing rapidly among internet users". I had no idea this was so popular among high school students. Apparently, they like the simplicity of this "quick" diary. Teens blog to each other to communicate ideas that people will only read if they are interested. They don't have to please anyone or worry about peer acceptance. First, it was IMing...now it's Blogging...what will they think of next?

Lori - you are not alone. I am constantly having to tell my kids to put their calculators away in my history classes. I think there are several draws. First, it is something they can have at school - I know at my school game boys, etc. can be confiscated. Plus, they might think that because it is on their calculators that they do school work on, it is OK. Last, students can play each other with certain games by using a cord that attaches two calculators or by just passing them back and forth. Just wait until the wireless technology found in Palm Pilots is combined with these calculators, the students are going to be able to a lot more while we try and teach. I also think that if you asked these kids, they probably play video games on their computers or Sony Playstation at home. This is just an extension of that need to play video games, even if the quality is diminished.

Suzanne's email last week was about a tv show with a teenage boy driven to murder by a video game. Bernie was talking in class last week about what games interest his son. All this got me thinking about kids and their motivations for playing games, computer, video or otherwise. Immediately, I thought of my high school students who are obsessed with the games on their TI graphing calculators during class. What is it about those games that grab their attention? Why are they so much more rapt by them than my lessons? :-)

With This Ring: the International Diamond Trade Part 1: the Debeers Corporation, and With This Ring: the International Diamond Trade Part 2: Conflict - I heard these on NPR the other day, and thought they would make a really cool monopoly/cartel simulation. The series explains who the De Beers "corporation" is and how they managed to turn diamond mining into a monopoly/cartel. This might also be an interesting piece to use in a history class when discussing issues in Africa.

When surfing for information on violence and game violence, I came across this "up-to-the-minute" United States statistic webpage regarding young people and violence Reality Clock. These statistics are tragic, yet important not just for our violence webquest, but understanding society today.

Progress Planner- Is a software program that can be used by everyone, but I thought it may be useful as a resource for the Project Management eGame team. Progress Planner helps define milestones in addition to implementing and managing projects to achieve personal and professional goals in work as well as other areas.

Gamedex– The Web's Biggest Search Engine and Community of Gamers! This is a really broad site with references to other sites, and many different reviews of games, a place to talk, where to find games, and "cheatland."

Violence in games people, have you seen Deer Hunter Avenger? The deer are armed with M-16s, Bazookas, and slingshots with deer pellets. They hunt hunters, and mount their heads. It is hysterical, but violent. The deer even have bait for the hunters – a six pack, pornography, and hunter calls – don’t ask. My dad has had it for a while – I have to admit I wouldn’t play it for hours, but it is amusing to see what they have done to the hunting genre of games. I hear they even have a some kind of Fisherman Avenger too. If you are interested here is a a review of the game I thought was very thorough.

Apparently, "the Macmillan Computer Publishing has developed the Game Programming Starters Kit 3.0 for the PC that promises to teach you how to make your own games. The kit includes Microsoft's Visual C++ 6.0 which many professional programmers use themselves, and a 3D gaming engine called the Genesis 3D SDK engine which supports 3Dfx Glide and Direct3D. Finally, the Game Design: Secrets of the Sages developers guide written by Marc Saltzman helps developers take a look behind the scenes of a 3D game to see exactly what's going on in there. If you're interested, you can find this kit at most softwares stores for $49.95 US." Found this info at a game site. Has anyone heard of this or does anyone own it?

Found a web site for people hoping to make it as game designers This site has resources, links, interviews, and tutorials. Seems like it is hosted by a software company, maybe a one-person company.

Unrelated to web searches, but just wanted to talk about a personal experience I had this weekend. I went on a backpacking trip through the Grand Canyon with a group of 12 perfect strangers. We played a variety of games each night in the absence of a Television or a Bar to entertain us. The group bonded faster and closer than I have ever seen in any situation. We often focus on games in the context of teaching content, but I think the power of games in group development is astounding. By the way, many of the games we played actually had useful content and could be used to encourage creativity (similar to the glass bead game.)

Bob,
The I spy series is really cool. There is also another series that is similar called Look-A-Likes. My kids love both. They are visually rich, and enigmatic at the same time. Very good for getting kids to look at details carefully.

For the gender group and others interested, this site
Women and Computer Science is a jackpot of articles and links about women and technology. The jpeg at the top of the site is worth the view alone. Scroll down for some interesting articles on educational games and gender issues.

For the gender group here is a good site with six or seven design principles for educational computer games for girls. It relates information from the Tech-Savy article but offers some sound suggestions for game and curriculum design.

This is an interesting article on designing educational games for children based on research in motivation and learning. Some interesting tips for the Gender group to reference.

Mike told me about a cool site womengamers. This site is devoted to games and has lots of commentary about games by women.

I just found a site called WomenGamers.com that will be of great use to Gender group. Articles, reviews and interviews abound on the site.

Here's an interesting article about computer games and child brain development. This author reports that computer games are damaging to a child's brain development and causes a stunt in development for the area of the brain that controls emotional outbursts and violence. The violence group might be interested in that bit of info. The author references a study, but doesn't give any links to the actual study, so I don't know how valid the information is....interesting view point however.

For you violence people, the episode of Law & Order: SVU that Suzanne mentioned before Thanksgiving will be on again on the USA basic cable network on Sunday, Dec. 2, at 11 pm PT/ET. It's called "Care." I know this is only a day before our presentations are due, but if you were looking for last minute examples of mass media references to your topic, this might be interesting.

As a follow-up to what Dan wrote about military simulations, they've been a staple in the flight training community for years, but are now being used for new applications. In fact, I'd bet that a lot of today's cheap, powerful graphics cards for home computers are due in large part from the R&D investments made by the military a long time ago. A major player is Evans & Sutherland, who created the graphics system for the simulators I used while learning to fly helos in the Navy. BTW, the instructors that had been around a while said that the students coming through the training pipeline at that time performed better than in years past. Their theory was that pilots who were then getting into the cockpit (late '80s) were the first to have been raised on video games, and thus had improved hand/eye coordination as well as better multi-tasking capabilities.

There is a silly game I used to really like but I don't remember the name of it. It was extremely rudimentray and consisted of a little tractor that pushed boulders into diagrams, taking care never to get backed into a corner. It's hard to explain the game, but it was sort of a spatial logic game, in 2-D, and I really liked figuring out how to get from each level to the next as they increased in complexity. Does anyone know what this game is? There are different versions of it; another version I saw had a little man who pushed round dots into configurations. If anyone knows what I'm talking about and what this game is, please let me know. It got wiped off our home computer and I really liked it. No idea how it got ONTO our computer, though.

I believe this has been mentioned before... but I just ran across an article at CNN.com (War games: Military training goes high tech)about a military simulator. The article goes on to say that it is part of the military's new training that takes advantage of the technology and takes into account the fact that many (if not most) have played these sorts of games before. Very forward thinking - since when is the military ahead of public education. There are some things I thought we could always count on.....

This post doesn't have a link, but an interesting observation. This Thanksgiving break I had dinner with family and friends and was fascinated to watch how one of the social hubs of the day was around the computer playing games. Throughout the day, everyone played some sort of game. The most amazing, however, was watching a friends daughter, who is 11, type over 45 words a minute on a typing game. I remember having learn to do that by taking a high school class on keyboarding. She learned it by playing a game.

This site is a reference site to link you to other game sites.
It touches on all the various game platforms such as gameboy, playstation, superNintendo, PC, Mac and more.
Click here

For those working on the Patterns Project -- Gamasutra.com has a Patterns page on its site. It deals with patterns involved with programming issues, but it does provide a look at another use of patterns in the area of games in general. You need to register with Gamasutra to enter, but it's not difficult (they let me in!).

Another site that offers games at a good discount price
is ebgames.com.
Have any of you gone out and bought a game since September?
I willingly admit I have.

Today's Parade magazine had reviews of their top picks for learning software. Their web site offers links to all of the products they reviewed. I Spy Treasure Hunt looks like something my six-year-old son might enjoy. Anyone familiar?

I know some of us are looking to buy computer games for friends and family.
Here is a site that focuses on games girls like by age groupings.
Just for girls

While searching for inspiration on game patterns I found this article on game design. The author, Andrew Glassner, has some interesting ideas about what's bad about the design of today's digital games.

In looking over some of the game designer job descriptions and interviews that are online, it seems to me that a game designer has to do/know a little bit of everything. They write books/novels/comics, design, consult, collaborate with others (on a limited basis), are familiar with a variety of technologies (3D, C, C+), and play games. They are also politically and legally savvy.
For example,
Michael A. Stackpole [BattleTech, and Star Wars X-Wing comics] posts some of the questions that he is asked:

Question: Do you play BattleTech?
Answer: "I have played three times, I've won each time, so, I've retired undefeated."
He explains that when the books came out-he was considered to be an expert and players would seek him out to kill him or run away. No fun!! He goes on to say that he rolls the dice to see if shots hit and to determine where they hit, so he knows his way around the combat resolution tables for the game.

He says, "Before I started writing the BattleTech novels I read the rules, moved the 'mechs about on a board game and conducted combats by myself. That gave me the basics of how the game worked and folks at FASA gave me some insights on finer points of strategy."

On the legal side, he does not read other works because he does not want to be accused of plagerizing someone else's work--in case he has a similiar idea.

Well, with all this web seaching--this may be a good time for a cookie reminder.

Quotes from Viktor Mayer-Schonberger:

"Cookies are stored in the user's computer without their consent or knowledge (First stage)."

"Cookies are (during the second stage) clandestinely and automatically transferred from the user's machine to a Web server."

"Then, whenever a user directs a browser to a certain web page from the server, the browser will, without the user's knowledge, transmit the cookie containing personal information to the Web server."

What do we do??? Check out the FAQ's at Cookie Central for some suggestions.

Want to find out when your ancestors came to the United States? The Family Search site might be able to assist you in your quest. A friend of mine was even able to get a copy of a ship record indicating the year her great-grandfather had sailed to the United States from Germany (1848).

Happy Turkey Day! I just saw an ad on tv for Friday's (tomorrow) episode of "Law and Order." During the 10 second preview, they said the story would be about a teenage boy "driven to murder by a video game?" They showed the video game and I think it was called something that had the word "quest" in it. I'm pretty sure it was a made up game. In any case, I thought the violence group might be interested.

I just received a card game at school called Flags of the World. On one side of the card is the flag of the country with an arrow indicating the direction of the flag. On the other is side is the continent of the country, a small map showing the country's location on the continent, a number to reference the country's location on a bigger map, and 2 facts about the country.

The general idea is that cards are passed out to players and they put them face up in front of them and players try to select cards they know. If not, clues are given such as the capital city. My first thought was that this was remarkably similar to the concept we are developing for our e-game on place knowledge. The second thing I remarked was that the directions provided 5 variations of the game to appeal to different styles, ages...and perhaps gender (I'm in the gender webquest group). Anyway, I thought it was a cool game.

While working on the Game Violence WebQuest, I decided that I would ask my 200 sophomores and juniors how many of them played or have played regularly games like Quake and Doom. I expected a couple, in fact, I expected a good handful, but the response was pretty amazing. Among my three sophomore classes, about 2/3s of each class has played these type of first person shooters regularly (enough to pass levels was how I qualified it) - including girls. In one class there were about ten girls who said they had gotten together with other girls to play Quake. Girls! You expect the boys...

The juniors were a little more reluctant to admit to playing these games (they mature and get cooler when they turn 16), but after a short discussion on whether or not they should be banned, more hands went up when I asked again who played these games.

When I asked how many people played educational type games. You can guess the response, about 2-5 hands a class.

IGDA update:

SDSU has offered to host the IGDA people. We can give them a pretty large room- over 250 person lecture hall.
The IGDA people tell me they'll get back to us in a week or two about whether they're interested in meeting here.

Here is an interesting twist on Tycoon it is Zoo Tycoon. It offers similiar issues as the other tycoons but the unpredictability of animals. It interested me based on it's Genre. The PC game site had the following review:
Zoo Tycoon's premise is straightforward enough: A zoo-themed strategy game in which you balance the delicate weights of profit with the well being of living creatures to meet your end goal of building and maintaining a successful zoo. But you'll realize how easy you had it building trains, airlines, roller coasters, and theme parks once you face the task of tending to a giraffe who doesn't like his mate or making saltwater crocodile number two--who doesn't like his water lily--happy, and all the while, patrons are screaming for more trash cans and complaining about the admission price.
If you would like more information go to the following PC Game site.

In doing some web research for the gender webquest, I came across American girl products by Mattel. They represent every stage in a girl's life and are educational and entertaining. The website lets girls meet a "real" American girl and play a game in which they get to know particular girl characters. Research has shown that girls are more likely to play games that are like their own lives and which contain characters with whom they can identify. Wow...this is theory in practice. Cool!

Charles Cameron (Hipbone), the fellow who provided much of the information we read about the Glass Bead Game, is a member of Brainstorms (affectionately called "BS" by its participants), a virtual community founded by Howard Rheingold. I am also privileged to be counted among this august assemblage, an honor I earned just by writing Howard (he's on a first name basis with pretty much everyone after one exchange of correspondence) and telling him how I thought I'd contribute to the group.

Anyway, Paul's "challenge" from way back when, how do we get from the Sistine Chapel to Sept. 11, reminded me of one of the conferences in Brainstorms, "Culture word association," where November 17-19 saw this progression (having nothing to do with Paul's thing, it just reminded me...):

Chauncy Gardner
Erle Stanley Gardner
The Canadian Gardener
The Victory Garden
The Secret Garden
Loose lips sink ships
Rosie the Riveter
Josephine the Plumber
plumb line
plum wine
Boone's Farm
Apple or Strawberry?
Fudge Ripple
coffee Heathbar crunch
Wuthering Heights

Each of these items was posted individually, with all previous items visible to the poster, and with only two or three people posting more than once in that span.

While people don't HAVE to explain or justify their associations/connections, everyone is accessible by email, and if one's curiosity is piqued (as mine has been on several occasions by seemingly random links), one can always query a poster about their rationale. Given that BS is a very diverse, international community, I've learned quite a lot and been turned on to many interesting (and time wasting) items of cultural interest to SOMEONE.

I will be happy to add links to information about one or more of those items in the list if anyone's interested. Alternatively, you could just do a Google search for the term and go hunting yourself.

Today at a faculty meeting after work, the upper grades (3-6) teachers at my school, along with the director, the science/art teacher, and I talked about how we encourage and develop critical thinking skills in our students. I got a chance to talk about Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego, after showing an Internet based lesson plan, part of the CyberTrips catalog, that I'd picked up at SDCUE's Tech Fair this past weekend. Another cool thing I got a peek at at the Fair was Super Hero Creator, from the good-hearted but weak-spelling folks at Kreative Komix. Bernie and his son, Alex, did a short presentation of this cool program that incorporates creative storytelling, graphic design, and a bit of dramatic flair. As demonstrated and suggested by some of the attendees at the presentation, it could fairly easily be adapted to fit nearly any curriculum area, from mathematics to language arts, science to social studies.

The material I talked about, CyberTrip to Paris, is a binder without any software whatsoever, but with ideas about how to build a host of robust units using resources found online. The guide is good for anywhere from a short, 3-4 week unit on the City of Lights, to an entire semester or even year's worth of stuff. The folks at Classroom Connect, who publish this stuff, also put out units for Ancient Egypt, Washington, D.C., and a few other places. Unfortunately, the only direct references to this product on the Classroom Connect Web site are behind a fee-based gateway, and they are so concerned with exchanging cookies with me, that I didn't stick around all that long. For those willing to become members (free 2 week trial, I think, then you get charged), check it out. I did find lots of mentions of CyberTrips online, primarily references to the product at other K-12 schools' sites.

Just found this quote:

No human being is innocent, but there is a class of innocent human actions called games.
-W.H. Auden, The Dyer's Hand, 1962

Interesting, especially considering the subject of some of our WebQuests (violence, gender issues, etc.).

The International Game Developers Association, or IGDA, has some great articles, on of which is called "So You Want To Be A Games Designer?. You might like reading the article if you want to take all that we have learned and turn it into a career. I've been finding lots of interesting info on this site. Check it out.

Those of you interested in taking this class to the next level (you know like getting a job and stuff), may want to look Makegames.com. It includes interviews with game makers and an online book about the process of making games including the design and programming procedures. It claims to be a real look into the game developing world.

Did you know that studies show playing violent video games may cause children to become more likely to engage in real-life violence? For more fast facts and statistics on the affects of violence in media and video games check out: VIDEO GAMES AND CYBERVIOLENCE

I found a very useful site on game design, at the Game Dev site. It contains many articles about different facets of game design. A good source of info for the Egame and WebQuest.

For a great study on overall affects of violence and video games, check out: Video Games and Violence This is comprehensive study of how factors such as gender, social status, economics and education may affect a child's likelihood of reacting violently after engaging in violent video games.

For those of you working on your WebQuest, here is a site with kid and parent reviews of videos, games, and some websites Kids First. I have reviewed for them, and it was a pretty interesting experience.

Out of the mouths of babes...

Sage advice from a 16 year old game-playing friend of mine: "The trick is to make them want to play the game without knowing they are learning something."

People with Disabilities

In looking over some of our game analyses it occured to me that some of these games may be valuable for people with disabilities. Disabilities cover a wide spectrum, not just blind or deaf people but also people who are colorblind or have some injury where they could not use a mouse, etc.

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has some guidelines to follow to make sure that a wider audience could use materials presented on the web. It doesn't have to be ugly and, in fact, there could be a separate area they could go to to achieve greater accessibility. It could be as simple as having colors controlled by style sheets or making sure all your graphics have descriptors. It just all depends on that audience.

I don't remember if I posted this article before regarding game violence, but it's pretty interesting and poses the question "What is a game?," something we should now be experts at! The article also brings up how game violence is the easiest way to create the struggle/challenge element of the game, and that's why it's so widely used. In class, we found out first-hand that it is far more difficult to create a challenge without relying on violence by exercising our creativity. Go to Salon.com Technology article to read the article.

Hey everybody. For a different aspect on the gaming world, check out Nokia Games . Most people have games in their cell phones these days, but you never really give it much thought. Considering the new technologies coming out, there may be a gaming world in every aspect of our lives. I mean, I get bored at the toaster waiting for the toast to brown - maybe the future is games associated with every electrical appliance? You never know, it's a weird world. But there may be career opportunities you never even considered...

In researching the game industry, I came across Pogo.com Games for Everyone. This company has been sold to Electronic Arts, the world's leading interactive entertainment software company - with revenues of over 1.2 billion in 1999. They develop, publish, and distribute products for PC's, Playstation, PS 2, and Ninetendo 64. The corporate background information page discusses EA.com's plans for an online game bonanza this fall season-targeted to 18-54 year olds - interested in sports and popular entertainment.

According to market research firms:

Game industry revenue is expected to grow to over $7 billion in 2000
Revenue from sales of online games isexpected to grow from 2% presently to 24% by 2002
Pay-for-play revenues up from $41 million to 360 million in 2003
Advertising at online sites up from 65 million to 409 million by 2003

There was a short interview of J. Allard, CEO of Microsoft, on Fox 6 the other day. They have 20 games online now and 20 more are planned by the year end.

At the company site, there is also detailed information on available jobs. For example, Software Design Engineer-SLC Games [developing games for the XBox] qualifications include strong math/physics background, strong C/ C++coding skills, good understanding of object-oriented architecture, 2+ years C++ coding experience, Direct X/3d Graphics programming a plus, etc.

I am really interested in the new x-box by Microsoft. It seems to be a leap ahead of PS2 or Nintendo for what it can do. Has anyone actually gotten their hands on the system yet?

If you are interested in web-delivered games or simulations, check out the Survivor games (yes, Survivor again!). They have some FLASH-based games. I tried out the Photo Shoot game. The game itself isn't very interesting, but the artwork is a good example of the realism that can be delivered via the web for games and simulations.

My e-game history group has been viewing other games...the competition you could say. One game we've actually played thanks to AG is Where in Time is Carmen SanDiego. The premise is you are a time pilot sent back in time to catch one of Carmen's cohorts and fix a problem they created. I was a little bored playing the game to be honest and I was also a little frustrated because there weren't any directions on what to do many times. I did a lot of clicking and messing up. In fact in ancient Egypt I competely destroyed the pharoh's body that I was trying to mummify because I resorted to the "let's see what this does" strategy of trying to figure out what I was supposed to do. The head priest yelled at me twice...complete turn-off to the game. This definitely helps to direct us on what we could make better should we go in this direction with our game development.

In with the Gender equity group, I found a interesting committee that was formed hoping to bring more women to the gaming industry.
The Women In Game Development Committee investigates ways of making this happen. It was started by two women already in the gaming industry Sheri Graner Ray and Heather Kelley. For more information seeIGDA (International Game Developers Association) site.

My roommate just bought a new game called Empire Earth and is completely addicted to this game. The game revolves around building an empire (civilization) from the stone ages through time and into the future. When I said it sounded like SimCity, he replied "kinda, but more in depth and you can go to war against another civilization that another person is constructing…that’s what makes it fun." (I knew there had to be a shot-em-up aspect to the game for him to like it so much.) He and his two friends have been holding competitions for days playing against each other for hours upon hours. I have yet to play the game but after talking to him about it and viewing the web site, (They even have their own blog right on the site) I just might have to play. However getting him to share could be reminiscent of fighting with my little brother to play Super Mario Brothers when we first bought our Nintendo.

OK, I happened upon this Dukes of Hazzard website which is a Sony Playstation site for the game Dukes of Hazzard II: Daisy Dukes It Out. You can discuss the product, submit a cheat/FAQ, and look at (or write) reviews of the game. Then they have a drop down menu where you can skip to other forums and guess what was an option? The Xbox! It's everywhere. Little did I know...

My family has enjoyed watching Survivor through all three versions. They seem to have found a good formula in picking a blend of personalities that will insure some interesting interactions. One observation that I have made might have some impact on the broader world of games. I'm convinced that the producers decide to change the rules from time to time when they feel the game may be headed in an uninteresting direction. A week or so ago they actually tricked the players into rearranging the teams. It looked like an alliance of young slothful players was going to vote off their older tribe members and in the process probably assure their own defeat. It seems like an interesting concept -- changing the rules to keep the game interesting. There is nothing new about changing the rules, but with computer AI models perhaps e-games could predict a players course of action and alter the rules of the game to make it more difficult. As long as the game didn't permanently move a person out of the channel, it could prove interesting.

Oh, as for Grand Theft Auto, a friend of mine has played it. She said it's funny, but it's also kind of scary. I guess you go around stealing cars and doing "jobs" for some sort of mafia boss or something. You just carjack anyone you want, unless you run into a mafia guy. Then you get beaten up. If your health declines, you can hire a prostitute and go somewhere secluded with her in your car. Wholesome fun, huh!

For the Project Management Group: Did you see the article in the UT today called "Simulator brings biz world to CSUSM"? It's a computer simulation where you are a CEO. Sounds pretty cool!

Has anyone out there played Grand Theft Auto 3? I haven't played 1,2,or 3. Does anyone know how popular it is? It sounds unsavory, but it has a great review.

Kristine,
My friend's 10 year old son loves Roller Coaster Tycoon, and her husband loves it too (40ish). I played it for a while and thought it was great. I would recommend it to anyone who likes building things. Roller Coaster Tycoon is explained in the Rouse book as well.

I don't know anyone who doesn't like the SIMS, but I haven't played it. I know three families who have it, and two of the families didn't want their children under 14 or so playing it.

So there you go!

This is in response to Reed and anyone else interested.
MSN did a review of the new arrival of Microsoft's Xbox on Nov. 15 and Nintendo's GameCube on Nov. 18
The article stated that, "they bring a powerful new options to gamers, and creates perhaps the toughest battle yet for control of the console market. Take a look at our series on the consoles, the hottest games and the struggle for dominance in this multibillion-dollar industry."
This link takes you to a review site of the games.

I read an article by David Walsh, Ph.D., the president of the National Institute on Media and the Family. In the article he talks about the point I was trying to make with my "You Don't Know Jack" blog. Even when games are just disrespectful and not violent they may also be harmful.

"What qualifies as extreme is related to the definition of normal. If normal behavior is kids treating each other with some respect, then the extreme might be a verbal outburst, a kick or a punch. But if putdowns and "in your face" behavior is already the norm, then the extreme behavior is going to go farther over the edge."

Did you know that there is actually a new type of addiction caused by video games? It's called stimulus addiction and it mostly affects boys, according to the Media Awareness Network. Stimulus addiction means "you increasingly need more powerful images in order to respond emotionally to the game."

I checked out the article Kristy referenced in her last blog on Games and Violence. In the article the author states that 49% of kids prefer electronic games including violence and 2% prefer educational games. The author doesn't elaborate on the specific games he is calling violent and the ones he is calling educational, but I have to wonder if this is really about all of those things we are learning that make games fun (interactivity, challenge, etc.) Nowhere in the literature does it say that games have to be violent to be fun, but unfortunately game manufacturers that put violent content in their games are better at making their games fun than educational game makers. I think some people have the misconception that a game can't be fun and educational. It is our job to prove them wrong!

The adventure game The Road to India (first mentioned by Suzanne Bacon on 10/24) is reviewed in this article on the womengamers.com site. It turns out that this game is played entirely from the perspective of Fred Reynolds whose fiancee has been kidnapped in India.

In the article, the reviewer states that "while the main character in this first-person game is male, the appeal of the game is gender neutral...." Can this really be the case? While the game looked interesting and I would be willing to play it, I would prefer to play it from the perspective of a female. And, what about the preferences of younger females? Would they react more strongly to this single perspective? It seems that the best approach for creating a successful adventure game whose intended audience is both male and female is to develop a gender neutral story (i.e., where the main character can be either a male or female).

I've been doing research for my egame group, but along the way I kept getting distracted by on line comics. In this month's "Wired," (That’s a link to an older article-I don't think you can get the current issue on line for free) there's an interview with Scott McCloud, who wrote "Understanding Comics." I'll have to read it once school is out! In any case, in the interview he talks about the future of comics on line. I find it especially interesting when he talks about the freedom of space that you have online with a comic (they can be 100ft long if you like!). But it's tricky to design the right way so that there's not a lot of scrolling and not a lot of time to download. I read "When I am King," which people have probably heard of (warning: Scott McCloud describes it as a "wordless, oscillating, scatological sex farce...that could exist only in a digital environment"). I also checked out McCloud's homepage to see some of his work.

In any case, I see this relating to games in many ways, including: designing appropriate, efficient, and elegant user interface/controls, breaking free from the conventions of paper based things --how to explore the potential of the web, making effective and gripping stories that don't take a lot of bandwidth or words necessarily. I'm thinking about the connections between comics and games. I think people often dismiss both categories as frivolous, but obviously this is not always the case. Scott McCloud's interview is a good example. The interview itself is done in comic form, but he makes some very valid and intriguing points. The same is true for "Maus" by Art Spiegelman. It's a comic book/graphic novel about the Holocaust. When I tell people about the book, they look very uncomfortable about the idea of a Holocaust comic. But it’s a really touching story about the artist's father, who was a Holocaust survivor. I can bring it to class if people are interested.

I had a brief conversation with A.L.I.C.E. (mentioned in Milly's blog on 11/15). She seemed to be able to respond to common conversational sentences with ease (e.g., How old are you? Where do you live?) . She could even respond to some idiomatic sentences (e.g., What's going down?). As the questions became more specific, however, her ability to provide meaningful responses decreased. My guess is that A.L.I.C.E. "learned" English in much the same way that many of us learned a second language (mastery of easier, more common questions and answers).

I like the idea of using something like A.L.I.C.E. as an on-line mentor in the program management simulation. I'm wondering if our design could take a first chop at gathering the data (e.g., types of questions that students might ask) needed to create the underlying "intelligence."

Computer game recommendations anyone? My nieces (16, 14) and nephews (15, 13) are getting a computer for Christmas. So, I am thinking about buying computer games as Christmas presents. Costco has quite a number of games...The SIMS, Roller Coaster Tycoon, Flight Simulator, Civilization, Harry Potter... but, I haven't played any of these. I'd appreciate getting some recommendations.

Bad news for educational games and middle aged kids
According to Violence and Games , an article by Colin Gabriel Hatcher, 49% of 7th and 8th graders polled preferred to play electronic games involving violence and only 2% of those interviewed preferred Educational Games. If our golf game went electronic, we might have to incorporate blood thirsty caddies and golf cart chases.

Your e-games may be spy games. Check out this article about the sneaky stuff e-game manufacturers are slipping into their games to track your movements on the web: computer game alert

Two things about this NY Times article,The Family That Slays Demons Together, struck me:
1) More proof that parents are involved in "kids" games. Sure, the Milton Bradley family from 1950's predates this but it seems kind of like a Renaissance of sorts. I've been playing Carmen Sandiego's Great Chase Through Time. Definitely for kids. But hey, I'm actually enjoying it.
2) The author reports that people sell items their characters have won in games like Diablo to other people for their characters.As the author says, "The battles may be fantasy, but the shopping is real."

Ask Alice

A.L.I.C.E. is an artificial linguistics entity (at least that what she likes to say about herself) created by Dr. Richard Wallace in 1991 and activated in 1995. In fact, her birthday is coming up (November 23rd). Alice uses AIML (Artificial Intelligence Markup Language), an XML-compliant language. Alice has 25,000 categories from which responses are called, which means you can have a pretty interesting conversation with her. There's an AIML primer that gives a very nice overview of what can be done.

I've known about A.L.I.C.E. for a few years now but she came to mind when looking over some of the games we're creating. I realize that this may be too advanced or just another headache, but maybe not. For example the project management group (my group) and the history group may be able to use her, or someone like her. Someone to give some kind of advice or some help for when someone is really lost. Perhaps players could access their helpbot X number of times, or they loose points, etc.

Try out a conversation with her, she has very interesting taste in music.

Well, who's going to see Harry Potter this weekend? I heard that tickets are selling like hotcakes (really, how do hotcakes sell?) and that theaters have added extra shows. On the website (I'm surprised I could get through), they have interactive games and you can practice your wizardry. Being in the gender webquest group, I wonder if these games would appeal as much to girls as boys. And, is this entire Harry Potter phenomenon as fanatical to girls as it is boys? or to boys as it is girls? If so, why? Hmmm...

Thanks, Reed. I guess the Xbox is a pretty hot item. Little did I know when I saw the ad during the World Series that it would be such a big deal. I guess we'll see how it does on the market.

FYI. For those of you interested (A.G.), there is an interesting article in the Union Tribune today about the Microsoft XBox. Front page of the Business section.

Flash enthusiasts:
For a look at wireframe animation using Flash, check this out.
Hey, don't yank my string....!
Have fun ;-)

Sorry folks. Evidently, only people working in the game industry are invited to tonight's IDGA coference. The place where they're meeting is just too small, but they are in search of a larger venue. Lady I spoke with didn't know about the ED TECH 670... now she does.

Wow- when I commented about the value of Hollywood production to be used in the service of educational products and games, I didn't consider that education had had such illustrious Hollywood names behind it. I pulled this off the site that Bernie mentioned on 11/11.

"Then, in the 1950s and 1960s, educational film reached a zenith in the with the Bell Labs Science Series. This set of educational films, directed by Frank Capra and produced by Jack Warner, used creative storytelling and advanced filmmaking techniques to engage a new generation of students in science."

Which is an ironic observation, of sorts, when you see how utterly low tech are their own presentations of storyboards. You can barely make out the voice overs. That said, the optical physics lesson embedded in the Amazon adventure seems, um, fine. But with all the build up of this monumental collaboration at MIT , I guess I was expecting... more? I'm not sure what. Not to be trite but elegant games are elusive, even at MIT.

I was attempting to research computer gaming camps for kids and I ran across a computer camp that mixes computers with hiking, swimming, and sports. It is interesting that learning about computers has become a fun thing for kids to do during the summer, in combination with typical summer camp activities. Computer Camp

Found another site for an organization that thinks video game violence is inappropriate, especially for children. Lion and Lamb puts video games in the same category as drinking and driving, smoking, and pollution. They advocate that there was a time when these "bad" things were also considered "cool" and they are attempting to change society's views on violent video games to make them socially unacceptable. Interesting point of view, but in their argument for why violent games are so bad for children they talk about how kids are constantly "being enticed to watch or participate in some act of make-believe violence." My question is: before video games, didn't kids role play violent behavior? Even being the "good little girl" that I was, I regularly played cops and robbers with the neighborhood kids. Then when we got older we moved on to laser tag. My point is we were active participants in the make-believe violence. So which is better, to physically run around attempting to shoot your brother or to shoot an opponent on a Television screen where the blood looks a little more life like?
I went shopping for a toy gun a few weeks ago for a Halloween costume and I had to go to 5 stores before I found one, and that was a water gun. Many stores said they don't sell toy guns, but these are the same stores that sell violent video games. It seems that role-playing violence is politically incorrect (no doubt in reaction to school shootings) but video games have taken its place.
One last question: is violent behavior a natural developmental phase children need to go through to in order to process the ideas of good vs. evil and death?

An important aspect of game design is incorporating a lock mechanism. They are of critical importance to adventure and role-playing games. It’s important to properly use lock mechanisms in a game because designers tend to overuse them. I found a great article on the use of locks. You can find it at
Role-Playing Locks.

Many interesting articles on Game Design can be found at
Game Design Articles

Another interesting article describes good project management skills in designing your game. It follows the processes of good project management. They are Planning the game project, Extracting the schedule and the budget from those plans and Controlling the generated budgets, schedules, activities, and overall objectives throughout the life of the project. Project Management

I don't know if this is new or not but here is an interview of Marc Prensky by Lguide
He likes games that are designed to solve specific business problems and uses "engines" [templates, frames or shells.]

While catching up on my 670 reading assignments (ha-ha) I saw the web sites connected to our two texts. TwitchSpeed is the one for the Prensky text. And surreal.com surreal.com is where Rouse works as a game designer etc. The surreal site presented a game called "Drakan" that may help you gender webquesters: check out the "Brave heroine Rynn and her noble, wise and powerful dragon Arokh" who (like all of us on a normal day) "engage in brutal hand-to-hand combat, solve puzzles, and interact with a host of bizarre creatures." P.S. to Michael G. & Robert F.: Wow, that was a great idea for a GBG game. I love it! Why don't you "jump ship" from your current eGame group and start a second GBG team to compete with Paul and me?! :0)

Okay, so I just bought my first digital game. And guess what it was? Thanks to Erin (etc.), I used my "one-click" Amazon shopping option and bought "You Don't Know Jack." However, instead of the recent version I chose the "Jack Snack Pack" which is a "Healthy mix of trivia vid