After wrapping up my final projects, I thought it would be a good idea to type up my last blog. My final projects consisted of a twine game and a multimedia recording diving into a certain game close to myself.

To start, twine. This is a very cool way to make an interactive game but without the headaches and troubleshooting needed when making a game in a more intense environment such as unity. Twine is definitely something that all students should check out if they used something else for their project, it is interactive and I found a lot of helpful resources online.

I have some programming experience and was thinking about diving deep into a software such as unity but was pleasantly surprised with how interesting a twine game could be. I have fun with the whole process of making a mystery story game. Having said that, in a future class such as game design, I might take the plunge.

As far as my multimedia project goes, I spent a lot of time coming up with the ideas that meant the most to me. I really enjoy what brings people together in video games so I thought I would focus on community. Having said that, community is a broad term. This can mean a lot of different things for a lot of different games. In researching about this topic, I learned a lot more than I thought was possible after knowing so much about the game already. It is so interesting to me that there are almost limitless possibilities on what one person can focus in on if they have a passion for it. In certain games such as “Call of Duty” there seems to be one goal and that is to win. I focused on a more robust game type, an MMO. For those who are not well verse in MMO’s, it stands for “massively multiplayer online game”. One of the most famous MMO’s is world of warcraft, but I have chosen a more niche one, Old School RuneScape. A lot of people may have heard about this game but not so many have actually been around it all that much. I have been around the game since the mid 2000’s and over the years it has gone through numerous cycles of being great, and unfortunately not so great. What this game has that others do not is a dedicated fan base, a real community. This is what makes it so much fun for me because everyone is involved in making the game thrive.

Having said all of that, I would like to wrap up my final blog with a thank you to all of my classmates, although this was not a normal semester by any means, it was a memorable one. The discord class time was definitely my favorite out of any “distance” learning activities. I wish everyone the best of luck and hope everyone stays in good health.

This week, we focused on games such as Call of Duty. Call of Duty is almost exactly what the name is, it is a game about war, military, and everything else that comes with it. For those of us who aren’t on the real life battlefield, they can get a glimpse into a semi-realistic version of it. I almost think these games should be made to not contain real history in them due to their graphic nature, new games with less gruesome portrayal seem to be the move. However, they prove to be popular every year but that seems to be due to a somewhat stale time in the FPS ecosystem. It is true that every year one can count on call of duty to come out with a new title, however it may be a copy of the year before, people still run for the shelves. Moreover games are leading to be on steam. This week during discussion we spoke mainly about steam as a platform and how several large companies are cutting their own margins just to be on steam and gain more traction. Having said that, steam is becoming more diverse. In a year where the majority of the world is locked inside, steam has come out to shine. Steam is having sales just about every day to take advantage of this very strange time in history. Within this marketplace, there are rising genres such as female fighters. This is definitely a stride in a different direction than before, female fighters seem out of place in the current ecosystem. I think change in the area may be warranted. For too long have fighting games revolved around the masculine identity. Female fighters bring in a new crowd, females. This is definitely a time where the marketplace is expanding ever so fast, just about anyone can hop on their laptop, launch steam, and try one of these games. Also, in class, we discussed other fighting games including super smash. Games such as super smash have been extremely popular. This might be in part of their simplicity along with how long Nintendo has been out and evolved. Super smash is one of the games that can oftentimes be seen in the esports world. Having said that, I think it may be time to shift the space and head towards something mixed. Instead of Mario always being a main character in the game, we can try to have a character like Peach be the leader, maybe even a mix of both.

This is definitely a shifting time in the world, why can we not shift the tides in the gaming industry too. In my opinion, the more the merrier. Certainly, there will be people lining up to beckon if something is changed and not to their liking, yet, this should not stop the new innovation from happening. I think change is good and warranted in this landscape, we have seen Mario for several decades leading the tides in the Nintendo franchise, maybe it’s time for Peach.

This week’s blog I wanted to switch gears. Seeing as Covid-19 has started taking grasp of the world, campus has been essentially closed off. We will now be in a forever different world where we have to go from in class discussion to a “distance learning” format. As discussed by the professor, we will be using Discord as a means of communication for our distance learning efforts. Discords is a very cool tool in my opinion. It not only allows you to connect to anyone in the world with a single click of a button it allows you to really connect. Discord is built on community. This fact alone allows it to go above and beyond other forms of social media. For those of you who are not familiar, Discord has an unlimited amount of servers for just about anything, in this case, we are using it for a classroom. Within discord, there are a set of simple avenues of communication. To start off, there is a simple text chat. In combination with this text chat, there are voice channels. Right off the bat, this allows for multiple people to join a server and engage in a meaningful discussion. In our own regard, we can have a professor give a lecture while students type in the text chat, asking questions, seeking answers to anything they want. I personally have been using discord for a great while, at first I was a skeptic but this is simply miles ahead of other services such as skype or zoom.

In addition to these voice and text channels, Discord allows for users to “Go Live” another instant feature where hundreds of people can view your screen and watch you on your computer, live. In this week, this feature was demonstrated by a fellow classmate playing and streaming Life is Strange. This seemed almost too perfect of a game for this week, right as we settle into Covid-19 new normal, we play a game where life is anything but normal. I personally enjoy using discord for class discussion due to the ease of use and active participation it pushes for all sorts of students, mobile, desktop or even the one presenting.

Having said that, discord also allowed us to get into groups and perform small group talks like we have in class, but we can join anytime we want and not only during class hours like a service such as zoom. This is definitely a strange transition from the classroom, but I think the moral of the story is that discord is very helpful and is a great tool for groups that revolve around community. The times are changing and I hope we can get back to our normal class routine sometime soon, but in the meantime, discord is a great option and without it, this semester would be even more difficult.

Certainly, even several years ago this distance learning would have been unheard of, the semester would have been cancelled, but with the use of modern day tools and resources, we can have a somewhat normal class, online.

To contrast to the Esports discussion. I thought this week’s mention of casual gamers would fit nicely in comparison to the competitive esports world. Casual gamers are what make it all work. The majority of people cannot become a competitive esports celebrity due to the large sacrifices needed in terms of career stability. As the most popular game changes, so do people’s careers within esports. Having said that, the casual gamers make up the largest portion of the gaming industry and allow for growth in all sectors that branch off from itself. A casual gamer has been coined as not being a gamer by some. This notion is just not correct, casual gamers make the ecosystem thrive. A casual gamer is someone who is interested in the space but cannot devote the majority of their time to it. A casual gamer can appreciate all the work that goes into a game but might not know the high-level mechanics to speed run it daily. This has created an atmosphere that some might call toxic between casual gamers and those who are in the competitive esports industry. Having said that, they share commonalities, they might even be playing the same game. Casual gamers, Stardew valley, chess for girls, feminism and computer games.

A game that we explored this week perhaps fits into that more casual player base, Stardew Valley. Personally, I thought this game was exactly that, casual. Having seen it in action, I have been reminded to think twice if I haven’t played it myself. This game is really for anyone. Role players will be very attracted to this game due to its open word and infinite and feel. Starting out on a farm like plot, the rest is really up to you to find your path or journey. Certain players may take advantage of this freedom and explore while others may take a more goal-oriented approach and set out on progression-based tasks.

Back to the Esports scene. This is where these two gaming types mix together, with another week’s content, streaming. There seems to be some common ground amongst these gamers, competitive players may use “casual” games to cool down and still keep up to date on their mechanical skills with a keyboard and mouse or controller. Furthermore, some competitive players have a streaming career on twitch or YouTube gaming where the chat interacts and can vote on the game they play. This allows for a mix of the genres, a community effort. Bringing people together is what most games are all about and I think that streaming really ties the competitive Esports world and casual gamers together. Furthermore, someone considered casual can watch and improve by gaining insight from the best players in the world, in real time. It is definitely an exciting time to be a gamer, anything seems to be possible in this evolving landscape, definitely trending upwards like never before.

After discussing the readings this week, the one that stood out to me the most was the “Code is Political” source. Having been involved in coding for several years now, I have never really thought about this. After reading through this source, I have gained a deeper knowledge and understanding for those who are not native English speakers. In the coding world, everything seems to be in English, all tutorials, examples, and guidelines, English. This begs the question why. I think that since the largest technology companies have been founded in the United States of America.

To tie in with another week’s blog about esports, I think the coding world is also heavily male dominated and some of the backlash that the VICE article spoke about can be solved by having an “even” playing field. In the coming years, I think that the coding world will even out due to its popularity and knowing that anyone can do it after a little bit of hard work. Code being political also stems from the fact that each country’s government will oftentimes keep their code base for large systems locked away. This creates a gap among certain countries infrastructure which makes it political.

There is a question of whether or not coding should bridge the gap and switch into other languages. For me this would be very difficult but I can see it as an avenue for other leading countries to gain a clear advantage if they were able to code in their native tongue. Having said that, I definitely have a biased answer and would rather it stay in English due to personal gain.

I think a true fix for this would be to have a more inclusive language to type in. This could be thought of as a spoken language, but instead of that, a coding language, something similar to math where it is able to be seen and understood across the globe without any barriers to those who do not understand a certain dialect.

For a lighter tone, the code developed by a satirical group called trump script seems to be light hearted in nature depending on what political party you are in. This revolved around poking fun at some of our current president’s rhetoric and was definitely politely motivated albeit satirical for those who took part in it.

This really drives home the idea that no matter the topic, it is worth researching due to the unforeseen consequences and or parties involved in an ever-evolving field, what helps us stay connected, coding. Another interesting topic is whether or not there should be feminism within coding, this seems like an ever more important question. The answer to me is quite simple, the more people that are involved in coding, the more work gets done and the more things progress along in the world. Certainly, coding has a lot more behind it than whether or not your Facebook page loads in the blink of an eye.

This week we spoke about the esports industry. The esports industry is something I am very familiar with and have followed for quite some time. To start off, there are organizations within each genre of game that typically gather a large amount of talent and form some type of team. In doing so, they gather a large following from the fans. These organizations can then form leagues with others and create an NFL type atmosphere for each up and coming game that the community enjoys.

There are only a few games that can outlast the competition such as CSGO and League of Legends being very popular in the recent years. I think part of the reason for these games being so popular is their ease of access. Certain games need a beefy computer but these seem to be playable on all types of machines. Furthermore, these games are free for the base game and allow new players to try it out without any risk or upfront cost aside from a computer that they most likely already owned.

The esports industry has opened a lot of new career paths for those interested in gaming. To start off, there are more games than ever, as each one becomes more popular, more money is invested into the scene. This has a great effect on the industry and it has been growing at a steady rate ever since the internet has become widely available.

I think the appeal of esports is that just about anyone can participate. There is a barrier of having a computer but in today’s world, they have become widely available and are cheaper every year. Esports is simply more than just playing games, it is highly competitive.

Over the course of my gaming history, I have seen FPS grow wildly popular due to their competitive team environment attracting new players due to their vocal and engaging fanbase. Some of these games have been criticized for being violent and having too much gore which opens up the space for games like FortNite to shine due to their cartoony graphics and more playful vibe. Having said that, there has not been enough research to see the lasting effects playing these games will have on everyone which will be interesting in the long run to see what happens.

Esports is an ever evolving field that will continue to change in the near future. Having said that, I think there needs to be a focus on inclusion within Esports. Due to their lack of female involvement it begs the question of why. I think a good start would be to have females represented throughout all teams and have a fair chance to play. Having said that, many people believe that there are not many females on these professional teams due to the lack of female involvement in gaming at all. I find this hard to believe and am pushing for change. In this class alone, I have seen the female involvement and think that in the near future it will even out and Esports can take the lead and have more equality than sports in the “non-gaming” world. Certainly, this is an evolving space and has much more room to grow, I am definitely interested in this field.

This week there was the topic of streaming. This is something I am passionate about. As far as streaming goes, I have watched a lot of streams. I have mainly watched streams on Twitch and YouTube but there are definitely a lot of other sites. Recently in the news, several large Twitch streamers has gone over to a new platform called “Mixer”. This platform was developed and maintained by Microsoft. This is interesting now that some of the largest tech companies have their hands dipped in the streaming world. As far as other large companies, Twitch, owned and operated by Amazon is the most popular for gaming.  Platforms such as YouTube are also popular but not so much for gaming due to the lack of a live chat interaction.

Streaming is something that is very unique compared to other forms of entertainment. A streamer can have a very small tight knit community or it can be as large as a mainstream television show. This is what is most interesting to me because everyone that streams and gains any kind of following is always unique.

I think that streaming will take over television sometime in the future due to the fact that it is live. There is nothing like being able to watch your favorite celebrity and have Realtime interaction with them. Some may say that you can do this on another medium such as twitter or Facebook.

Several software’s were talked about this week such as open broadcaster software and XSplit. These are primarily used for streaming. I have learned a lot about these indirectly through watching streamers setup their own computers live. I have personally used open broadcaster software due to its ease of use and the fact that it is an entire recording sweet open to the public, for free.

As far as the readings talked about this week, Ruberg, Cullen, and Brewster outlined some ideas about the current streaming atmosphere. In their latest source “Nothing but a ‘titty streamer’, outlines some of the problems surrounding livestreaming. A lot of people view female streamers as only streaming due to their gender. This is definitely a problem and creates a toxic environment that was never meant to happen. Over the next few years, the livestreaming space will most certainly change and problems outlined by these writers must be fixed.

Also, the streaming space has brought to light competitive gaming, this is known as esports which is a growing field and I personally think anyone who likes sports and is interested somewhat in games will really enjoy looking into the esports field, it is quite exciting.

I have considered using open broadcaster software for my multimedia creative research project for the end of the semester, this week there is the project proposal which I will most likely be talking about how I plan to use some of the software’s spoken about this week.

This week focused on certain readings about how games are represented in the world. Reading through the source “How to Play Video Games” has touched on certain popular figures in the media. Stars such as Kim Kardashian have started to make their way into the gaming industry. I had no idea that these games existed but it seems they are quite popular. Having said that, the class discuss that this might be quite damaging due to the narrow mindedness in some of these games. In the case of Kim Kardashians game, there is a short selection of customizations you can pick. One may argue that it is to keep the game simple and easy to pickup while others have argued that not everyone fits into these roles. These roles include body types, and personality traits. Essentially, you can play as someone similar to how Kim Kardashian is portrayed which is far from the “normal” people seen in reality.

Another topic this week was based on a short series known as “The Guild” on Netflix. This was an interesting watch to say the least. It was essentially viewing a guild of MMO players and how their life unfolds. A lot of it was quite unrealistic but often opens up the possibility that certain people may live this way.

This show illustrated some of the fears some people may have with their guild members showing up at their door after stalking them online. I don’t see this as a regular problem but I am sure it has happened before.

Furthermore, this week touched on Ren’Py which is another gaming creation tool. I will also heavily consider this for my final creative project. This looks like a more amped version of twine that allows for a more robust experience. Definitely need some coding experience for this one but there seems to be helpful tools on line that anyone can pick up on over the course o fa semester.

On top of this, we watched through a playthrough of “dream daddy” in class. This game was nothing like what I have played on my own, this was a dating simulator on steam. Quite interesting and had flavors of Pokémon boss battles in the middle of a date.

This week definitely had a lot of topics and readings which allows for the class to learn a lot quickly with small doses of just about anything related to games, gender, and culture. I enjoyed all of the content this week and would like to tie in some of my own experiences. I started gaming with Wii which did not have any of the games listed above, the gaming industry has definitely expanded into much more over the past several years which is very good for those who like to play new game genres. I have now moved onto PC gaming and never realized there were many more platforms on PC aside from steam. I have set aside some time this week to explore some of the new game genres talked about in class and replay some of the games that are similar.

Throughout this week, we spoke about twine games. Twine is a free tool that can be used to make a storyboard game. This is a very interesting idea to me seeing as I usually play FPS or MMO games. Taking a step back and getting into a good story can really change your perspective if the content is good enough.

As far as examples of twine games, we took a look at several. To start off, there was depression quest. This is a game where you quite literally play some living with depression, you go through their job, relationships, how they manage their illness along with possible treatments. What this game does is shows the user what a person living with depression has to go through on a daily basis. This shows that depression isn’t a phase, it is a serious problem that many people have to go through. I thought that this game was very commendable due to some of the proceeds being donated to the Nation Suicide Prevention Hotline.

There was also a platform shared this week which I have never heard of. This platform is called “itch.io”. On this site, users can find all sorts of games, specifically games made with twine. This is a very cool way to share indie games and a great platform for those who are up and coming story tellers.

Another thing I noticed about itch was the diversity they had in all of the games listed on the site. This gives an opportunity for niche games and genres that would not typically be listed on steam or seen on something such as epic games launcher.

On top of the showcasing of games, we learned in class a little bit about what twine is and how to use it. This makes me think about the next phase for the class and what I will use for my creative project. Twine will definitely be in the running for something that I will use in my final project. As far as other topics this week, from “nymgamer.com” there was an article written by Bianca Batti and Alisha Karabinus about gatekeeping in video games. I found this article to be a good read since this seems to be a new term thrown around a lot. This article talked about gatekeeping and the hold on certain games. Some games have been thrown into the category known as “walking simulator”. This has been suggested to be offensive towards certain games and used in a negative connotation meaning that there is nothing to do in the game but walk around and go through prewritten dialogue. As far as gatekeeping goes, it went deeper and talk about not just gatekeeping games, but those who can study and produce them. This idea to me is very strange and I do not understand why this is becoming a contest. I think all games deserve a spot in anyone’s library for whatever reason, at the end of the day they are for entertainment.

Throughout the first week of class, I have settled in and taken a look at all of the course material. What grabbed me the most so far is the interest inventory. I have never had a class where we have considered what the students want to learn. This is a very interesting idea to me and I think it sets the stage for how creative this class will be.

As I am writing this, I think it is also very cool that there is a weekly blog. This allows for students to actively participate in the class after the week and being able to divulge in all the material in a meaningful way. Having said that, I am interested to see what others post and look forward to reading all of the upcoming blogs.

As far as what we did in class, the personal gaming history activity was interesting to me. We spent time jotting down games that we have played in the past and going back in the depths to find out what has impacted us the most and what is most memorable. This timeline was quite interesting for me to see, I have definitely forgotten about a large majority of the games I have played and doing this has rekindled the want to go back and play them once again. The reflection part of this was interesting, some students spoke about mechanics of games and that was the core reason they were drawn to the game while others were drawn to the game due to the story line or art. As far as lessons learned from this, the fact that there are so many games out there and everyone in the class seemed to have their own niche was cool to me, it was not a large bandwagon.

Next, the reading Age, Race, Class and Sex: Women Redefining Difference. This was an interesting read, I have never read something quite like this. I am glad to see that this is a reading that is to open the mind of those who have not quite thought about these details. As far as in class reflection on this, tackling the idea of the mythical norm was a standout topic. This mythical norm idea was that not everyone fits into this “magic” idea of what it is to be normal. Every single person deviates from a certain stereotype and that outlines why it is poor to base ideas on stereotypes instead of true facts. Also, the idea that there is racism within the African American communities itself was something I have never really though of but can now see is a problem. It is definitely interesting to see the perspective of others through a different lens and talk about it in an open dialogue having ideas and thoughts piggy back off of other students that might have more experience on the topics. I am looking forward to the weeks ahead and the topics that come to follow.