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.

When Aster Falls is a visual novel that follows the relationship between Rohan and a succubus, Aster. Rohan wakes up on morning to find a succubus in her room who state that Rohan has one the human lottery and this succubus, Aster is going to use her to gather energy for her hive. Upon hearing this Rohan quickly shoots down the idea explaining that she is asexual and not interested in sex. Upon hearing this, Aster is relieved and explains how she is constantly out on missions and does not get a lot of time to relax. Rohan begins asking Aster questions about herself and where she’s from. Aster explains that succubi feed off emotions of love and lust. Through her explanations, the player gets the impression that Aster, might also be on the aromantic and asexual spectrum, as Aster explains that sleeping with humans is more of a job and less about attraction to them. It is important that the game does mention this since it shows the complexities of the asexual and aromantic spectrum. Just because someone has had sex, does not mean they cannot be asexual. While there are many asexual people who do not have sex, there are those who do and even those who enjoy it. Aster also makes it clear that romantic relationships are heavily frowned upon in her society. Aster then asks Rohan if she’s told everyone about her orientation. The game allows the user to either state they have told pretty much everyone their close to or just their friends. This is an interesting decision, since technically either would be reasonable for Rohan to have done and by giving the user this choice, the user gets to feel more like they are playing as the character by giving them some agency on who they are. After this, the user can choose what activity they wish to do with Aster. There are three possibilities, cooking, board games, or watching TV. Through board games and cooking the player becomes to form a bond with Aster. Watching TV does the same as well, but since the player watches a dating game show, they get to learn that Rohan is not aromantic and still looks for romantic relationships. This segment is done well, but it is unfortunate that if a player does not watch TV they do not get to learn as much about Rohan’s identity. This is just a minor thing though, since while they will not explicitly learn as much about it, they can implicitly through the relationship Rohan and Aster build and their actions. Another interesting thing is that eventually, Aster will feed off of Rohan through their romantic relationship. This initially puts Aster off because she is worried Rohan would not be okay with it. This is an interesting choice, since it in a sense shows the validity of purely romantic relationships, but not equating it to less than a sexual one, but it also shows Aster’s confusion on the difference between asexuality and aromanticism. It gives the player another chance to understand these are too separate orientations and not mutually exclusive. The game eventually ends with Rohan and Aster getting together and enjoying their time together. When Aster Falls definitely takes steps to educate its audience on asexuality and a bit of the diversities of the aromantic and asexual spectrum. This does to appear to be its primary focus though, the game definitely puts its emphasis on creating a cute romance between Aster and Rohan. Even though it may not focus too much on educating its audience, it is still able to show positive asexual representation by having developed explicitly asexual characters who are not looked down upon for their sexuality.

https://sad-ghost-studios.itch.io/when-aster-falls (link to the game for anyone who wants to play)

For my research project, I have been looking into asexuality (with a bit on the rest of the a-spec just due to overlap) and its appearance in video games. (And by appearance I mean lack there of.) Upon referencing the LGBT Game archive I have been able to find some references to asexual characters in more main stream titles such as Borderlands and Persona. Which sounds great, but the main issue is that in these tittles the characters are not explicitly stated to be on the a-spec and are just heavley implied to be. While it is nice to see characters who’s dialogs and personalities make them appear to be on the a-spec, it in the end does not do much to help with visibility and education of the public on these orientations. By not making these orientations explicit, it is much easier to sweep them under the radar so that they can still be marketed to unaccepting or unknowledgable audiences with out them ever knowing that a game might contain queer characters. This form of representation, while it is nice to see relatable characters, is disingenuous and sometimes feels as though it is used to artificially make a game seem accepting, when the game itself still hides it as to avoid backlash. Do games with queer characters need to go out of their way to go into every aspect of that character’s identity? No. But, when a game makes a queer character, it should be more explicit than one line about not doing romance. Yes this does get across the point that this character is probably under the a-spec but it can be easily swept under the rug. Things such as characters having pride flags in their rooms (or in the case of the ace community black rings and aro community white rings). While these are still small elements, they are at least elements that once found are indisputable.

While there is historical precendece for hiding queer character to avoid backlash. Or even completey rewriting games to hide queer representation. (For expamples of this read into the Rainbow Arcade about the history of queer games). Are we not supposed to be striving for better? The time for hiding queer representation or putting it in small segments that can be easily edited out and forgotten for unaccecpting audiences is over. I want my representation to be explicit and undeniable. (There are also a few other demands but that’s another blog rant)

References:

https://lgbtqgamearchive.com/category/characters/asexual/page/1/

Rainbow Arcade

Personally, first person shooters are my bread and butter of gaming. The excitement of being able to land a 360 no scope from across the map is one of the few joys that could never be recreated in any other game. First person shooters come in a various flavors and backdrops, from the sci-fi space adventure to the post-apostolic wastelands. But by far the biggest use of a first person shooter is that of a military background. Be it the first World War or the modern wars of today, chances are if a period in time had firearms present there is a game based on that period in some kind of military backdrop. These games tend to be the biggest sellers in their genera, such as Battlefield and Call of Duty. But why is it that military shooters sell so well, and what’s with the glorification of military action and war? I can present some answers to that as a player of such games.

My first shooter was actually a Call of Duty game. I can’t remember the name, but I do remember it being based on fighting in World War 2. ( a common staple in many a shooter) I remembered fondly how good it felt to be taking down the virtual bad guys, only to be amazed to learn that the game was in fact based on REAL bad guys that we actually fought and WON. Little 10 year old me couldn’t believe that story, that the events transpiring before me were based on real things and just proved that the good guys always won. From there I began developing a taste form more shooters, usually in the context of historical shooters.

Fast forward to 2009 and the newest game out was Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. What peaked my interest in this game was the setting of the modern day. The guns in game were way better than the bolt actions of the World War eras I was used to, and the shiny new technology of unmanned drones and sentry turrets made me feel like I could take on the whole world in the game. To boot, there was this vague story line about some all encompassing terrorist group and Russians (of course) which fitted perfectly with my elementary school level history lessons. “Hey, those are the bad guys!” I probably thought as I kindly allowed my lazer guided missile to turn a man’s innards into outnards. Little did I realize that was probably the intention they were going for.

I used to be a military head. Still kinda am. I can tell you random facts about the genius of innovation that was the AK-47 or the muzzle velocity of a M249 SAW (it’s 3,000 ft/s btw). Part of that reason was my exposure to military shooters. They presented me this cool and awesome world of explosions, violence and being the hero. A fantasy that appealed to lil old me. So when i found out that I could be a part of all that for real, I was really considering it. I was actively thinking about going into the armed forces, first as a scout sniper, but deciding I could be a decent S.W.A.T marksman. And that’s what I think was one of the goals of so much militarism in games. To convince kids like me to join up and buff up the ranks of our military, to show the world that we have a big and capable fighting force. Also from a game developers perspective this is a chance to make money hand over fist while getting some brownie points from good ol’ Uncle Sam.

In the end though I didn’t fall though with it. As i got older, I began seeing just how opposite real war and battles are from the games. There’s no regenerating health, no arsenal of high tech weapons at your sole disposal. Real fighting is so much more than that, and is something I personally hope I’ll never have to experience. Was i naive? Yes, maybe a little. Was I astonished by the allure? Kind of in some ways. But I’m not saying all games of these types are just pieces of propaganda to get people to join the military. I’m just putting out there the allure I felt when playing those games. Do I still play them? Of course. Gotta keep my K/D ratio positive. What is important to take away from this is that these games, whether intentional or not are glorifying the prospect of war. It’s important that we keep that in mind if we choose to purchase them, as well as who else will be exposed to them. Be responsible and stick to the age ratings.

I just submitted my final research project for the course, and though I feel as though a large worry has subsided I also feel a bit…empty? While writing the research paper I felt very passionate for what I was writing, as Pokemon has always influenced my thoughts and emotions since I was a young child. It always hurts to admit something we love is flawed, but I’m thankful the day I realized many of the great problems the franchise had it was not through my own critical view, but rather Game Freak putting their faults on display front and center. Upon finishing this paper I wished I could continue on, and have considered it for a brief moment or two (had I not written more than forty pages in the last week or so I would consider it a bit more strongly). I feel as though the Pokemon Universe is ginormous, and as such has a lot of faults. Like all good games, its positive attributes outnumber its faults, and though we could certainly question whether it is deserving of praise in the first place I would rather focus on the few faults within the franchise so few look at.

In my last post I spoke of the customization system in X & Y and Sword and Shield, and I fleshed out this idea in my paper more so. However, I wanted to add onto what I said in a less formal environment. What’s truly interesting about customization systems being introduces is that it should by all means take away the player character’s existence as a protagonist. Meaning, by all means Serena should not exist in the anime, nor Calem, or whoever the h*ck the  protagonists are from Sun and Moon. And yet they do. Pokemon continues keeping these characters, and giving them personality through its anime, manga and other media while giving players the option to customize their player character to suit their own tastes and looks. With the initial addition of the customization system to Pokemon X & Y there was also certainly some backlash, in that males received substantially less options than females did when it came to clothing, styles and accessories. With time of course would come a far better customization system in Pokemon Sword and Shield, and yet the three games that came in between that time had no customization system at all. Its strange to me that Game Freak and the Pokemon Company as a whole would abandon such a feature as they added nothing to replace it, and as a result likely led many players to feel less immersed and less interested in their character as a whole.

But, ultimately Pokemon Sword and Shield came along with a fully customizable character. Customization options in game feel endless, and it is one of the best “new” features ever added to a Pokemon game, in my opinion. There are plenty of clothing options, and female characters only receive ten percent more options in comparison to their male counterparts. Though there are certainly many other issues with the games their customization system is pretty up to par with current games and I can only hope that they continue to offer it in future games, while offering more and more changes to player characters to better suit the players who use them.

After our first full week of classes, I already knew that DMS 448 was going to be an interesting and fun class to be a part of. Being a gamer and a fan of games for the entirety of my life, I knew that taking this class was going to expand my horizons on the topic of video games and what they bring about. To start, I was more than intrigued with the trolling article that was assigned this past week due to my past experiences with trolling. As discussed in class, I have been previously involved in the act of trolling in online video games. I was pretty skittish to even mention that in class due to the fact that there are varying levels that come with trolling and one can assumed the past actions of one player; from very mild cases of trolling, to borderline harassment. In my case, and like most of my classmates, we were involved in very minor cases of video game trolling. For me, trolling consisted of loading up Call of Duty when I was middle school, and pissing people off of in online lobbies by the way I played; trapping people in corners, flash-banging and shooting my own teammates, revealing positions, and much more. I was that annoying sixth grader that would always manage to strike the nerves of other players through my game play. Most of my actions were derived from watching gaming Youtube videos of other trolls in Call of Duty such as KYRSPEEDY and others. I also started trolling after becoming bored with the game at hand, finding a new ways to entertain myself. However, after reading through Cook’s Under the Bridge essay, I became concerned with how some trolls came about after reading: “they found that trolling behavior correlated positively with three out of the four components of the Dark Tetrad: sadism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism” (Cook,  3325). I started to think about why i started to troll and became very curious over this statement I found in Cook’s paper. Firstly, was I Sadistic for my behaviors in games? Looking back, for true gamers, I feel they seem as if i was trying to ruin video games for everyone in the lobby, which is both true and not; being kinda Sadistic in a way. However, i was just trying to have fun on a video game that was losing my interest. On the other hand, there are some trolls out there that are truly psychos, and have Sadistic tendencies. Zoe Quinn’s ex boyfriend I believe, can fall into that category of trolls. Don’t get me wrong cheating is a malicious act, but when the guy your dating is an abusive douche, it doesn’t seem as bad. But then to go on and write a 10,000 word manifesto to ruin your ex seems a little satanic to me. That is why i believe there are varying levels to the act of trolling. From the harmless corner trap to a degrading manifesto, trolling consists of many forms, all tending to piss off other players to a degree that is all dependent on the personality of the troll at hand.

Week 13 of classes connected to the themes I want to present in my final research paper. Firstly, there were a lot of interesting themes within the Examination of the Relationship Between Gender, Performance, and Enjoyment of a First Person Shooter Game. Firstly, I want to talk about the gender differences within video game selection due to the game design and content.  “Preference research suggests that woman value media content that features considerable amounts of meaningful dialogue and character interaction rather than the action-oriented structure that is often featured in most popular video games” (Hopp, 342). This makes me think about the esports universe. Since esports revolves around the games that the most people play, does this limit esports in a sense. FPS shooters dominate the esport scene as well as MMORPG’s; FPS focusing on the action-oriented structure, whereas role playing games use that action-oriented structure but with an emphasis on teamwork and other aspects of the game. Within Hopp’s article, it presented a research study surrounding the game counter strike. Not going into too much detail because I want to save it for my paper, but Hopp then went on to include how inexperienced men who never played counterstrike before would still perform better than inexperienced women at the game. This interests me because it makes me question if the esports scene will soon have a growing female audience. If none of the games interest females due to the action-oriented structure of the content which then correlates to personal performance, will we see a new genre of esports come into fruition that is dominated by the female genre? Like how the NBA and the WNBA exist but with esports. Don’t get me wrong, I know that a vast amount of female gamers have already busted through the action-oriented esports scene, but my question is will there ever be a new esports genre that is based around new themes that relate to aspects that female gamers enjoy?

Based off Hopp’s article, the new genre would have to consist of games that utilize dialogue and character interaction; but how will those themes be designed to meet the competitiveness of esports. Would it even be possible to create genre like that and will it work? I believe that as time goes on, more female gamers will continue to break through onto to the scene, and eventually join and form teams. But then the question is what will be the future of esports. Will there be a separate women’s and men’s league or just one big league for each game. In my opinion for gaming, being a specific gender does not give advantage to an individual, and simply relies on the person playing the game; so I think one big league consisting of both female, male, and mixed teams for any gender, would be pretty cool. I believe that this can make esports even bigger than it already is, but do enough girls really want to play games professionally. Time will tell.