Computer Games as Fandom

One of my odd quirks is that I occasionally randomly write college-paper-like essays on topics that come to my brain... the most recent was the lack of respect that computer games get from the fen communities

Go to any science fiction/fantasy convention and you’ll see people dressed as their favorite characters, from Klingons to Browncoats, from PsiCops to Goa’uld. You’ll see characters from movies, television, comics, books, anime...but rarely will you see a computer game character.

Listen to panels, and its the same story, discussions about the latest film projects, the newest TV shows, so and so’s latest book in such and such universe. Wander down to gaming, and you might hear discussion of the hot MMORPG of the week, but almost never discussion of the story.

So what have computer games taken such a backseat to film, television and books as a medium for creative science fiction and fantasy storytelling? Partially because, up until recently, they haven’t been able to deliver.

One of the early forerunners was the best selling computer game of all time until The Sims came along. With five games, a publisher-thwarted online multiplayer spin off, three books, (with a 4th pending), a Disneyworld attraction that was doomed by lack of appropriate technology, it has a background to stand up to any in book or on screen. A developed language, an established history, a fully realized culture, elements of hard science and fantasy woven into the story, not as throw-away plot devices, and a basic premise that should make any fan drool; that books can transport you to other worlds. And yet, how many of you, until that last sentence, even knew I was talking about Cyan World’s Myst series? A universe that has everything that most fen want in a background, and it’s been overlooked for almost 15 years, except by a dedicated group of fans.

Since the first Myst game arrived, and the technology developed for games has skyrocketed, developers have had to stand up and take notice that they can’t just have mindless pixel shapes running around on a screen. Players want realistic characters, interaction, and history. They want motivation for what’s happening, and why they are doing what they do.

Some of the online multiplayer games are taking a stand in developing cultures for their different races, story backgrounds, and world histories.

City of Heroes (and its partner game, City of Villains), for example, has a complete timeline and history, with story elements that are slowly released as part of gameplay. Guild Wars (Which calls itself a “Competitive Online Role playing Game”) comes with a “Lore Book” that gives, well, lore about the game world, and players are given quests that help further the storyline.

In the world of single player games, story is becoming an important part of even the most dyed in the wool first person shooter. Halo (and Halo 2) follows in the footsteps of the science fiction greats by creating a fine mix of alien and human conflict on a strange world. The good balance of story characters and gameplay make it worth paying attention to as a work of creative fiction, even if the thought of a movie adaptation makes many fen cringe.

In essence, I find very little to separate a well-written, richly historied computer game from the well-written, richly historied mainstays of science fiction and fantasy fandom. I think we do the people who put their creative efforts into these works a disservice by so roundly rejecting them.

How then, do we change this perception of computer games as not worthy of fandom? Perhaps by encouraging more panels on computer game fandom, by offering genre-specific costuming prizes at conventions, by interviewing computer game writers and artists and bringing their talents to the spotlight.

Welcome to the Indranet

not strangling people

I know that people are coming from a point of compassion. I understand that they see us in ongoing distress, and they want that stress to go away.

However, the nagging about putting our child in a home, or 'in the system', is not helpful. Especially when weve stated, repeatedly, why that is not currently an option. "You can't afford not to" is not a empathetic or constructive statement, it is born of ignorance. Putting the family in tens of thousands of dollars of debt each month is not going to ease the stress level. Relying on an overtaxed, underfunded, dubious state system is not going to provide her with support and stability.

So stop. Just, stop. If that's all you have to say about the situation, just stop talking. Because you are not helping.

Ahh, politics

Evidently, publicly disagreeing with certain people in certain places makes you a happy target for their pattern of spreading malicious disinformation. Can you see me quaking in my boots?

I have no fear of these mayhemic mudslingers, because I know who I am, the people who's opinion I give a damn about know who I am, and everyone else can either be sucked in by lies, or not.

I am not playing this game here, there or anywhere else.

Hmmm

You have two items. Properly handled, both items are safe and effective for the jobs they do. They both have the potential for accidents, that can cause serious harm, up to and including fatalities. They can both, in the wrong hands, be used to deliberately cause harm, although one has been designed for that purpose, and one hasn't.

It would make sense, then, that both things should be carefully monitored, right? That people should have to prove the ability to use them safely, understand the rules surrounding them, and have their ownership and use of the items tracked, and have stiff penalties for misuse?

I gotta crow!

The major website project I've been working on has gotten off the ground, finally.

RespiteSearch.org

After years of wrestling with inadequate resources in finding respite care for our daughter, I decided to take matters into my own hands.

Why Real Lve Preacher is teh roxxor

I disagree. You do pick and choose in the Bible. You do because there is no other choice but to do so. I presume you do not advocate slavery as a valid way of having people work for you. And yet the New Testament encourages slaves not to rebel but to be obedient to their masters. I assume (I hope rightly) that you permit the women of your church to cut their hair. Paul forbade this clearly in First Corinthians.

If you worship on Sunday and carry out a normal Saturday for our culture, you are disregarding one of the Ten Commandments. At what point did you decide that commandment was less important than the others?

I could go on and on with this list. I could, for example, go into Leviticus and bring out a couple of doozies.

So you see, the Bible isn't the kind of book that will allow you to make wild claims like, "I used to pick and choose but now I don't."

It's just not possible to avoid picking and choosing, and I feel if you would examine the way you use scripture you will see that interpretation, prioritizing, and choosing are things we cannot avoid.

rlp in the responses to his essay on Slippery Slope Argument

Hear those War Drums?

My own views on the hotbutton of abortion aside, The idea of a state passing a law forbidding it even in cases of rape or incest strikes me as not the way to deal with the issue. So colour me irritated with South Dakota did just that.

However, in a brilliant show of native sovregnity, President Cecilia Fire Thunder, of the Ogala Sioux Tribe, has announce her intent to have a Planned Parenthood clinic opened on tribal lands, where it can provide reproductive health services, including, if needed, abortion, free of the state law.

http://www.indianz.com/News/2006/013061.asp

Healthy Parents =Healthy Kids

A new study found that treating depression in mothers, means their kids are less likely to be depressed.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/03/21/moms.and.depression.ap/index.html

Movie

So, V for Vendetta. Good movie, lots of preaching to the choir. The people who really should get the idea of recognizing extreme governement control aren't the people who'll be sitting in the theatre.

Just Not OK

If you are a pharmacist, your job, what you are licenced by your state to do, is dispense the medications that a DOCTOR has decided are the appropriate ones for THEIR patient. Your job is not to second guess the doctor, or pass judgement on the patient for the medications they are taking. AT THE MOST your job is to flag potential dangerous drug interactions, and contact the doctor.

If you have moral issues with handing out some of those drugs, you need a new job. Being a service-oriented pharmacist is not the place for you.

What comes next? Doctors being allowed to not treat obese patients, because they belive gluttony is a sin? Laws allowing waitstaff to refuse to serve somoene the steak they ordered, because the waitress is a vegitarian? Your morals allow you to make choices for YOURSELF. They do not give you the right to make choices for others.

New Uru Live Petition

Over 4000 people signed that first petition, but that list of names is 2 years old! Lets get a current and relevant headcount! The investors want numbers? Lets show them just how many people think Uru Live is worth having!

This call goes out to ALL Uru fans, not just UU users. And the call goes out to anyone who would value playing a mind-challenging, family friendly, non-violent online adventure game.

This time, we CAN make a difference!

http://www.petitiononline.com/uru2006/petition.html

(Feel free to copy the above text just as it is, to post elsewhere.)

So you want to be a writer...

why not home your skills doing pages for [Insert Title Here]

Making a Mockery

What's the difference between mockery, 'bashing', hate speech, teasing, bullying, etc? How is it that mocking something is ok, but bashing something isn't? Isn't 'bashing' just another form of mockery?

Sybilla Says:

I think it's a question of degree. Teasing is meant to either annoy or playfully mock the recipient. It can be either playful or mean, and sometimes gets taken to extremes, at which point it's no longer teasing, but abuse. Bashing, however, is aggressive and threatening, the verbal equivalent of getting severely beat up. In the middle is mocking, which, to me, is like heavy-handed teasing with malicious intent. Bullying is a means of intimidation and usually carries a threat or undercurrent of violence.

Wikipedia offers an in-depth look into bashing and its implications.

While writing this damn long comment, I consulted a dictionary, and this is what it told me:

Tease: "1. To annoy or pester; vex. 2. To make fun of; mock playfully."

Bash: "To engage in harsh, accusatory, threatening criticism." Also "to beat or assault severely."

Mock: "To treat with ridicule or contempt; deride."

Bully: "To treat in an overbearing or intimidating manner."

So yes, I think it's a matter of degree and intent. The difference between teasing and bashing is much like the difference between laughing at someone for the way she's dressed and punching her in the mouth because of it.

It seems that the question becomes, when a person or group is engaged in an activity that mocks or saterises another person or group-what is their intent and motivation, and will it be hurtful and truly harmful for the people being mocked, were they to experience it?

I think that the lions share of responsibility for determining if something is harmful is first, the recipient or subject of the mockery, followed by society as a whole. First for the subject, to stand up and say what's being done is hurtful, and should not be accepted, then for society to agree, and take steps to eliminate the mocking.

For example, take blackfaced performance. Up until the mid 20th century, blackface was considered and acceptable way to portray African-Americans. No one though twice about if it was offensive or harmful. Even some African-American performers wore blackface when portraying black characters. It took years before that form of mocking the apperance and stereyotyped personality of 'coons' was deemed unacceptable.

Obviously, offending someone with mockery or sature is unavoidable, because of the nature of satire, but when does mockery cross the line, and how do we determine that? Just saying "X deserves to be mocked" is unacceptable, because it runs perilously close to telling someone to just get a sense of humor, or you're 'just joking'.

Tell that to the Jews trying to eliminate the mockery of the 'moneylender', or the Pagans and the warty witch at Halloween, or the Christians trying to get out from under the shadow of Phelps and Robertson, and so on and so forth...

Speculative Preenactment. Like the SCA or Civil War players, only for the future. Not like a LARP, with stats and storyline and such.

This came out of a bit of discussion of Uru as an Alternate Reality Game, rather than a MMORPG. Blade actually participated in Majestic for a while, and I would count The Stone as a puzzle based ARG, because of its offline comunity aspects.

Chaucer Hath a Blog

My firste blogge poste

My lighte goost ful blisfully is went
Up to the holughnesse of the blogospere,
And now it is hooly in mine entente
To bitche about tonnes of triviale thinges here.
Gentile redere, pray keep my soule from helle
And comment on this poste: R O F L

Quote of the Day

From the VAXJedi:

Everytime a bunch of people take a stand against intolerance of various forms, and call people on intolerance, I hear someone say something like 'aren't you being intolerant of intolerant people?'. When I hear that, I just want to be intolerant of their right to breathe by wrapping my hands around their neck. It annoys me because it's just semantic gymnastics that simply isn't as clever as the person thinks it is.

New Beginnings, for all of us.

Can you do it? Can you walk through this door Cyan has given us, with open heart, open hand, and open mind? Can you start with a blank page, and begin anew?

Who gives a flying squee if such and such a group has a 'hood already? Who cares if so and so has made an avatar? Sure, we can go back to our own little corners and kvetch to ourselves, but are we humble enough to take what Cyan is offering, and make a fresh start of it? Can we let the wounds heal, or will we keep opening them? Can we put away the blame and judgement and rebuild, or, like the D'ni, will our pride keep us down?

What 'they' and 'them' are doing is unimportant. What matters is you. Me. Are we ready for d'mala, and D'mala? I sure the hell am ready to try.

*holds out hand*

Who's coming?

D'mala

How is D'mala that different from UU and the shards we already have?

Several big reasons, most of which can be found on the new UU FAQ:

17) Who are the people in Until Uru who are asking questions and doing surveys?
Employees of Cyan and our licensees will be periodically asking questions and collecting information. Thanks for your input.

19) Does this mean URU Live is coming back?
No, this is just a small step.

20) Will fan Ages be supported?
It is Cyan's goal to allow our fans to begin to write their own Ages. We hope to provide the tools and process in the future. But for now they are not supported.

Contrast this to the original UU FAQ, which made it very clear that we were never to expect new content, that Cyan wan't involved in UU at all, and UU was just something they were allowing.

Now, we have an offical "cannon" shard, where we can anticipate seeing DRC people, there's the potential of Cyan-created storyline, and officially sacntioned content. It fills in the gaps that UU had. And, there was a whole lot of "yet"s in Rand's letter.

I think many of the problems that plagued the community were a symptom of bored people trying to fill the no content void. With the potential of a changing story and enviroment, I think much of that will be eliminated.

And the until in UU is much more than just symbolic, now...

21) Will Until Uru be shut down if Uru Live comes back?
The name "Until Uru" says it all.

Uru: Ages Beyond Myst can be found very cheaply on Amazon. Uru: Complete Chronicles works too, and can be had just as cheaply. Working on getting the tutorial information for the needed dual install.

Conservative or Liberal?

People who self-identify as "conservatives" and have always been considered to be conservatives become liberal heathens the moment they dissent, even on the most non-ideological grounds, from a Bush decree. That’s because "conservatism" is now a term used to describe personal loyalty to the leader (just as "liberal" is used to describe disloyalty to that leader), and no longer refers to a set of beliefs about government.

More at the link.