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http://www.joystiq.com/2009/11/20/banned-psn-player-sues-nintendo-and-microsoft/

Haven’t played much of these, but a friend tweeted about this not too long ago, and I just got around to looking at the list. I’d be interested to hear what others think, and if they have played any of these (or would think to add to this list in some way shape/form).

http://www.accreditedonlinecolleges.org/blog/2009/50-serious-games-for-social-change/

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First-off, I apologize to Capcom about my response to Eurogamer’s sensationalistic preview of Resident Evil 5.  It turns out that the game after all, isn’t that racist given that there are two black characters who assist you throughout the game, one of which is the best thing to happen for southpaws since Link.The first thing that you’ll notice about Sheva is that she stands to the right of the screen and has an awkward run that’s different from every other third person game, the second thing that you’ll notice about her is that she aims with her left hand. The best part about this is that when two people play cooperatively, one person is stuck with Sheva and must deal with the neglect that we lefties have dealt with for as long as there has a been a right-handed norm. Forcing right-handed players to play as Sheva Alomar is the first step in the lefty plan to eventually force the right handed masses to suffer the same unfortunate chainsaw accidents that kill most southpaws before the age of thirty.

This may seem like too much elation but how many gaming protagonists besides Link and Sheva have you encountered that are left-handed? (Every single person in counter-strike doesn’t count since there is no difference between the Arab Guerilla Warfare terrorist Higharolla Kockamamie and the Spetznaz counter terrorist Vodka Gobalsky. For all you know, the terrorists may lose two players and Vodka may be drafted into the terrorists as a member of the Pheonix Connixicon. Vodka and Higharolla also both have no personality to speak off. Hell, their names may change during the round.) TL;DR, there are none. Diversity costs money and lefty gaming protagonists “run weird” to most right handed people, making the game less likely to sell.

However, Sheva may change that. If people play (and like) Resident Evil 5, then there may be more room for a left-handed protagonist. That’s right, Sheva is the first step in ensuring that a lefty option may someday be available in most shooters. And what’s so wrong with that? If games can allow for protagonists who are black (Riddick) female (Lara Croft) and homosexual (Hana Tsu Vachel) and still be commercially successful then why should the industry have avoided the dreaded left-handed shooter protagonist until 2009.Does a gun appearing on the left side of the screen really prove to be that much of a distraction?

But soon, soon one in twenty shooter protagonists will be left-handed. Soon we shall have our restitution. The lefties shall reign and right handed gamers will soon play games in which their left handed hero will have to deal with a random chance of an unfortunate chainsaw accident occurring. That’s right, feel our pain, mother****ers! Viva le lefty revolución!

Whenever I see things like this, I say to myself, “Yes! This is just what the world needs! More meaningful games! More constructive interactivity!”
While the content of the game is actually very depressing, it is an important issue that we all have to come in terms with. The world isn’t perfect, and while there are plenty of documentaries about the HIV / AIDS epidemic in certain parts of Africa, nothing beats an engrossing experience on how to avoid, combat, and counteract these situations.

The game itself puts players into different senarios in which they learn about safe-sex practices and how to deal with certain situations from their in-game avatars. Honestly, I wonder why this method of teaching has not been used here in the states. A game like this could enhance lectures about peer pressure and sexual issues that emerge in high school settings. This is something everyone should be able to benefit from.

I wonder how people would react if a game like this was made and pushed in public schools…

In this week’s reading, “Complete Freedom 0f Movement: Video Games as Gendered Play Spaces,” the author Henry Jenkins discusses the idea of games spaces and the difference between boys’ and girls’ culture.  One thing I found interesting about his article is that he typified “boy games” as being plot heavy, linear adventures, while “girl games” were more character based, slower paced, and a meandering plot, if plot was involved at all.  In terms of film, television, and literature, it is the character based stories that become critical darlings.  Granted, character based stories allow for a greater exploration of the human psyche, and therefor are more intrinsically “artistic,” it was just a funny thing to think about, for me anyways.

At the end of the article, Jenkins wonders what a type of “genderless” game space may be, where both boys and girls are free to explore in any way that they want to, be it interpersonal relationships or shooting things.  I think the MMO world could be the genderless game space Jenkins dreams of.  Most have a focus on adventuring and combat, but there are also overarching plots that unfold, and players are free to explore, for the most part, any part of the game they want.  There may be points that involve level requirements, or skill requirements, or payment of some kind, but the player is not penelized (by the game itself, anyways) for their individual game styles.  In fact, the MMO “EvE Online” is essentially one giant sandbox, players are free to explore a massively universe, and can focus on things like exploration and clan management over things like combat; it’s possible to play the game without ever fighting, if the player chose it.

Also, there are plenty of “genderless” games in the independent community.  Like most artistic communities, the real gruntwork is done on the peripherals.  I thought Jenkins ended his article with a “gee-whiz, I sure don’t know how designers are gonna pull this off” kind of thinking in terms of genderless game spaces, but I believe this challenge has already been met since the time this article was written.

The original article can be found here.

Tracey John, blogger for “MTV Multiplayer,” recently had an interview with the creative director and senior producer for the upcoming “DC Universe Online” MMO.  In the interview, the developers explain how they think they are making their game “female-friendly.”  Basically, they give half-descriptions of their healing, buffing, and group management roles, because “they (women) usually like to play the stuff that’s not so up-front combat-wise.”  I guess the developers think girls don’t like to throw down with us dirty, smelly boys?

The very next paragraph, he describes DCUO’s “knock-out” feature, in stead of dying, the character just gets knocked-out, and can return to action faster than in other MMOs.  See girls?  You aren’t really dying.  You just need a second wind, that’s all.

I found those comments a little condescending.  Most of the girl gamers I know are just as likely to play combat roles as anything else.  I did notice a trend towards ranged-combat, but then again, this is just my observations of very small group; I am not going to even pretend to speak towards trends at large.  In any case, it seems as though, at least through their words, the developers are making a judgement call on females as gamers.  We have to make the group management roles interesting so the ladies have something to do.

That’s not to say that those roles don’t need to be spruced up; it’s always hard to find those crucial group members because they’re so boring to play.  The players tend to not feel like they are “a part of the action.”  I think those roles really do need to be made more active, to be more than just watching those little red bars shrink, while pressing a button or two here and there.  However, I do think it’s wrong to say that this aspect of MMOs needs to be improved for the women-folk.  I also don’t think we need to make the combat portion of a game faster and more active for the men.  Any person should be able to enjoy any portion of the game.

As long as DCUO steers clear of the “Women in Refrigerators” problem that plagues most super hero comics I think the developers don’t have to worry about making their game “female-friendly.”

Last week’s reading got me thinking about Play as a Sacramental Construct. This week, it’s Play as a wider Cultural Construct.

Sutton-Smith gives us a solid rhetorical model to evaluate play as a mode of cultural authorship. While I would’ve like to see some sample insight into how his proposed model for rhetorical analysis of play would function (say, applying that model to a popular board game) on paper it seems like a solid rubric to evaluate the cultural impact of a play artifact.

Questions:

* Last week we read about Game as Text. One can argue that, as Text, a game can be subject to the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis. So, does culture affect the games that are played? Or vice versa?

* Culture serves as a framework for social cohesion- it presents a set of values, a social contract, for a society to abide by. Games *can* serve this function (in fact I intend on making the idea of games as a vehicle for social justice as a hallmark of my career). So why hasn’t it lived up to it’s potential? Is it the consumers? The producers? Or the medium itself?

While on the topic of social constructs, Sniderman offers some insight on the importance of unwritten rules in play. He points out that any game- or, indeed, any rules-based system, like government or law or economics or religion- has many more unstated (and unstatable) rules than those that are explicitly spelled out. Most of these rules, he argues, can’t even be known, but something in human nature gives us the capacity to play along anyway- the ability to live in the world of as-if.

I did find a point of contention, however. On page 498, he talks about people’s willingness to engage with arbitrary systems like language and economics because failure to “play along” could jeopordize their personal wellbeing, but that games don’t hold the same weight. To wit: “The common perception is that no one gets hurt if a game is spoiled.” While consequences in play are blunted- and indeed is one of the things that separates play from the real thing- I would argue that, if you believe that play performs an important social function (something which our previous readings would support) then the consequences of spoiling the game are quite real. Not only does “unsportsmanlike” behavior weaken the game itself as a cultural artifact, but it strains relations between the offender and the offended, thus weakening the tribe.

Questions:

* Can you make a game composed entirely of unwritten rules? What would it look like? Does it already exist?

* Given the breadth and depth of unwritten rules in any game (or rule-based system), and the pitfalls that come with too many rules being made explicit (and thus susceptible to interpretation and challenge), can it be said that people inherently prefer more unwritten rules?

Julian Dibbell’s article (link) illustrates a very detailed account of the rising of a nascent society: a veritable new frontier in the digital world. The online domain of LambdaMOO circa 1993 is not at all unlike the infancy of America’s Wild West. Both “frontiers” served as lawless lands open for settlement. But get enough people congregated in a single environment and conflicts are sure to arise, as Dibbell points out with the “Bungle Affair.”  The inevitability of human conflict leads to the inevitability of a governing response, even if that response is anarchistic in nature. It’s a safe assumption to say that most of these people who had the luxury of participating in an online MUD were also afforded the luxury of living in a developed part of the world under some governmental foundation or another. Indeed, it’s likely that many of LambdaMOO’s users visited so frequently because they enjoyed the freedom that the virtual world offered.  Yet, here they were stumbling into a virtual world free of any laws, oppressive or otherwise, and being forced to deal with the consequences of such freedom. It’s human development in it’s infancy, but in a virtual world. Our progression as a civilization in virtual reality is mimicking our history of progression in the real world.

An interesting experiment by Marissa Ashkenaz had 8 participants wear plus-size shapes in Second Life. They each kept journals about their experience and Marissa has just posted their findings at her website (marissaracecourse.com).