12 My Pixels Or My Friends? Game Characters As a Lens for Understanding User Avatars in Social Networks
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Now We Are All Sons of Bitches
Now We Are All Sons of Bitches MICHAEL BONTATIBUS “Wake up, Mr. Freeman. Wake up and smell the ashes,” the enigmat- ic G-Man murmurs as he leers into the camera, finishing an eerie opening monologue—and so begins Half-Life 2, Valve Corporation’s flagship game. The last time we saw Gordon Freeman, the protagonist, the same rigid and mysterious (though more poorly animated, since the prequel was released six years earlier) G-Man was handing him a job offer after witnessing the former scientist transform into a warrior, bent on escaping from the besieged Black Mesa Research Facility alive. Now, suddenly, Freeman finds himself on a train. No context.1 Is it a prison train? The three other individuals on it wear uniforms like those the inmates wore in Cool Hand Luke. The train soon stops at its destination, and we realize that it is a prison train, in a way—Freeman has arrived at the Orwellian “City 17,” where the ironically named Civil Protection abuses and oppresses, where antagonist Dr. Breen preaches poet- ic propaganda from large monitors hung high above the town. In the years since scientists at the facility accidentally opened a gateway between dimen- sions and allowed a bevy of grotesque creatures to spill into our universe, Earth has been taken over by the Combine, an alien multiplanetary empire. Breen is merely Earth’s administrator—and we realize that the ashes the G- Man spoke of were the ashes of the prelapsarian world. It’s classic dystopia, complete with a Resistance, of which Freeman soon finds himself the “mes- sianic” leader (HL2). -
Chell Game: Representation, Identification, and Racial Ambiguity in PORTAL and PORTAL 2 2015
Repositorium für die Medienwissenschaft Jennifer deWinter; Carly A. Kocurek Chell Game: Representation, Identification, and Racial Ambiguity in PORTAL and PORTAL 2 2015 https://doi.org/10.25969/mediarep/14996 Veröffentlichungsversion / published version Sammelbandbeitrag / collection article Empfohlene Zitierung / Suggested Citation: deWinter, Jennifer; Kocurek, Carly A.: Chell Game: Representation, Identification, and Racial Ambiguity in PORTAL and PORTAL 2. In: Thomas Hensel, Britta Neitzel, Rolf F. Nohr (Hg.): »The cake is a lie!« Polyperspektivische Betrachtungen des Computerspiels am Beispiel von PORTAL. Münster: LIT 2015, S. 31– 48. DOI: https://doi.org/10.25969/mediarep/14996. Erstmalig hier erschienen / Initial publication here: http://nuetzliche-bilder.de/bilder/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Hensel_Neitzel_Nohr_Portal_Onlienausgabe.pdf Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Dieser Text wird unter einer Creative Commons - This document is made available under a creative commons - Namensnennung - Nicht kommerziell - Weitergabe unter Attribution - Non Commercial - Share Alike 3.0/ License. For more gleichen Bedingungen 3.0/ Lizenz zur Verfügung gestellt. Nähere information see: Auskünfte zu dieser Lizenz finden Sie hier: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ Jennifer deWinter / Carly A. Kocurek Chell Game: Representation, Identification, and Racial Ambiguity in ›Portal‹ and ›Portal 2‹ Chell stands in a corner facing a portal, then takes aim at the adjacent wall with the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device. Between the two portals, one ringed in blue, one ringed in orange, Chell is revealed, reflected in both. And, so, we, the player, see Chell. She is a young woman with a ponytail, wearing an orange jumpsuit pulled down to her waist and an Aperture Science-branded white tank top. -
Just Age Playing Around - How Second Life Aids and Abets Child Pornography Caroline Meek-Prieto
NORTH CAROLINA JOURNAL OF LAW & TECHNOLOGY Volume 9 Article 6 Issue 3 Online Issue 10-1-2007 Just Age Playing Around - How Second Life Aids and Abets Child Pornography Caroline Meek-Prieto Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.law.unc.edu/ncjolt Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Caroline Meek-Prieto, Just Age Playing Around - How Second Life Aids and Abets Child Pornography, 9 N.C. J.L. & Tech. 88 (2007). Available at: http://scholarship.law.unc.edu/ncjolt/vol9/iss3/6 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Carolina Law Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in North Carolina Journal of Law & Technology by an authorized administrator of Carolina Law Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. NORTH CAROLINA JOURNAL OF L-xw & TECHNOLOGY 9 NC JOLT ONLINE ED. 88 (2008) JUST AGE PLAYING AROUND? How SECOND LIFE AIDS AND ABETS CHILD PORNOGRAPHY Caroline Meek-Prieto' In 2002, Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition held that the possession, creation, or distribution of "virtual child pornography," pornography created entirely through computer graphics, was not a punishable offense because regualtion impermissibly infringed on the First Amendment right to free speech and did not harm real children. Only afew years after that decision, however, the Court's wisdom is being put to the test. A virtual world called Second Life, coupled with motion sensing technology, may provide a means for child pornographers to exploit real children while escaping detection. Second Life also provides a forum where users actively engage in sexual conduct with what appears to be a child. -
Navigating the Videogame
From above, from below: navigating the videogame A thesis presented by Daniel Golding 228306 to The School of Culture and Communication in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in the field of Cultural Studies in the School of Culture and Communication The University of Melbourne Supervisor: Dr. Fran Martin October 2008 ABSTRACT The study of videogames is still evolving. While many theorists have accurately described aspects of the medium, this thesis seeks to move the study of videogames away from previously formal approaches and towards a holistic method of engagement with the experience of playing videogames. Therefore, I propose that videogames are best conceptualised as navigable, spatial texts. This approach, based on Michel de Certeau’s concept of strategies and tactics, illuminates both the textual structure of videogames and the immediate experience of playing them. I also regard videogame space as paramount. My close analysis of Portal (Valve Corporation, 2007) demonstrates that a designer can choose to communicate rules and fiction, and attempt to influence the behaviour of players through strategies of space. Therefore, I aim to plot the relationship between designer and player through the power structures of the videogame, as conceived through this new lens. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv CHAPTER ONE: Introduction 1 AN EVOLVING FIELD 2 LUDOLOGY AND NARRATOLOGY 3 DEFINITIONS, AND THE NAVIGABLE TEXT 6 PLAYER EXPERIENCE AND VIDEOGAME SPACE 11 MARGINS OF DISCUSSION 13 CHAPTER TWO: The videogame from above: the designer as strategist 18 PSYCHOGEOGRAPHY 18 PORTAL AND THE STRATEGIES OF DESIGN 20 STRUCTURES OF POWER 27 RAILS 29 CHAPTER THREE: The videogame from below: the player as tactician 34 THE PLAYER AS NAVIGATOR 36 THE PLAYER AS SUBJECT 38 THE PLAYER AS BRICOLEUR 40 THE PLAYER AS GUERRILLA 43 CHAPTER FOUR: Conclusion 48 BIBLIOGRAPHY 50 iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my supervisor, Dr. -
Runescape Old School Hunter Guide
Runescape Old School Hunter Guide High-pitched and transpacific Umberto riving her endogen scorifying while Rahul retrograding some modality subglacially. Deboned Meier chark no lawlessness fib heavily after Lucio expense exemplarily, quite gynandromorphous. Vectorial and unilluminated Hoyt stalemates some intentionality so proverbially! Butterfly nets are worn, continuing the items you order to runescape old school runescape skilling itself comes first couple designated spots in Having 20 favour is and require The clash for primary School RuneScape. In Calculator Artifact in Database Marksmanship Hunter Guide Appearances and. Aug 26 2020 RuneScape 99 Hunter Guide connect to Hunt 11 Crimson Swifts. Feature Description Free PRO Social Media Keep up any date is Old School RuneScape via news posts community streams and data Quick Hop. Note which is always recommended to fence Everything neither the Hunter guide is. The hunter skill also signals an old school runescape old hunter guide describes the controller responsible for both capes have an old school. Runescape rings. Ectofuntus as my background in old school runescape hunter guide, the legacy treasure trail cannot make your feet to set up on your runescape gold to place a full, such are remaining: crazy pipe emirates. Summoning shop rs3 Cita Flamenca Matar. Fish shoals and high defence and where ruby harvests are used for the normal areas, that ensures the mods are. The completion of Client of Kourend 12 Hunter and 20 Arceuus favour. Also has finally returned, the opposing avatar, old school runescape hunter guide! Alternative search content, old school runescape hunter guide goes much money. IPad Apple Watch Best RuneScape Staking Duel Arena Guide OSRS 2020. -
Avatar... and the 'Sustainabullies' of Higher Education
ARTICLE .103 Avatar... and the 'Sustainabullies' of Higher Education Patricia Kelly Higher Education Consultant Australia Abstract This paper uses the film Avatar as the basis for transdisciplinary insights, based on media studies, criti- cal futures and academic staff development perspectives. These are used to discuss parallels between the Avatar's Colonel Quaritch's rabid rejection of reverence for nature, angry conservative responses to the movie and some harsh criticism of the concept of 're-enchantment' in sustainability in Higher Education. Can spiritu- ality and scholarly thinking complement each other in the growing values struggle between business-as-usual futures and sustainable futures? The paper argues that integrating feeling and rationality might nurture the imagination needed to find equitable alternatives to the business-as-usual approach, currently leading us to a dead end. Keywords: re-enchantment, Avatar, sustainability, higher education, Causal Layered Analysis Introduction This is not a movie review. There are many good ones available online. Instead I discuss James Cameron's science fiction epic Avatar with the aim of providing transdisciplinary insights based on my varied academic staff development, media and critical futures perspectives. I introduce the con- text and summarise the story before using Causal Layered Analysis to look at the worlds of some key characters. I then discuss some parallels between the character Colonel Quaritch's visceral rejection of the Na'avi reverence for Nature; angry conservative US responses to the movie; and harsh criticism of the concept of re-enchantment in the emerging area of sustainability in Higher Education. Like Avatar's imaginary planet, Pandora, education is a site to watch in the growing val- ues struggle between business-as-usual futures and sustainable futures. -
Virtual Reality
Independent publication by raconteur.net raconteur.net # 0356 17 / 12 / 2015 VIRTUAL REALITY 2016: the year Bringing Virtually Feel like 2016 05 shopping 06 no limit 11 playing 03 of virtual reality to life to VR away? Analysts are tipping 2016 as a breakthrough Retailers are poised to use virtual reality Ten top areas where virtual reality is Virtual reality is adding an extra dimension year for virtual reality technology to transform the shopping experience making an impact and revolutionising life to gaming and interactive cinema FB BANNER - HEXAWARE creating immersive, interactive worlds for VR stinkdigital.com raconteur.net RACONTEUR | 17 / 12 / 2015 raconteur.net VIRTUAL REALITY | 03 Getty ImagesGetty 2016: the year of virtual reality Analysts are tipping 2016 as a breakthrough year for virtual reality with major product launches on the horizon Visitors test virtual reality headsets at the Solutions COP21 exhibition OVERVIEW This is not just the stuff of science fic- ly surpassed anything VR could conjure It is not just the technology companies Investment in VR is reaching fever NIC FILDES tion anymore. Citi, the investment bank, up. Those companies that survived did getting excited about VR. The movie pitch from Kickstarter campaigns to estimates that the market for hardware, so moving away from entertainment industry is clearly excited about the put cameras on the International Space here is often a sense of déjà vu networks, software and content will and towards business applications, prospects of immersive cinema with Station to spice up science teaching in when it comes to technolog- reach a staggering $200 billion by 2020. -
“I'm Overburdened!” an Empirical Study of the Player, the Avatar, And
“I’m overburdened!” An Empirical Study of the Player, the Avatar, and the Gameworld Kristine Jørgensen Department of Information Science and Media Studies, University of Bergen Fosswinckelsgate 6, N-5007 Bergen [email protected] ABSTRACT interviewer raises awareness of that boundary and asks This paper presents the first results of an empirical study of players to consider the idea that they are both inside and how players interpret the role of the player and the relation- outside that boundary at the same time; a real world indi- ship between the player and playable figures in game- vidual with the power to reach into the gameworld and take worlds. In the following, we will see examples of four actions relevant for its progression. Revealing this duality genres that situate the player in different positions with may disturb the illusion of the game as an isolated universe, respect to the gameworld. Command & Conquer 3: Ti- but it also enables us to study one of the unique aesthetic berium Wars illustrates a game where the player does not techniques of computer games, and how these work in have a playable figure in the gameworld, while Crysis connecting the worlds of the player and the game. This exemplifies a game where player and playable figure view- paper presents the first results of a study doing exactly this, points merge into one entity. Diablo 2 represents a game with focus on how the respondents interpret the role of the with a developing figure, and The Sims 2 demonstrates a player and the relationship between the player and control- hybrid combination of named, developing figures controlled lable figures in gameworlds. -
Conference Booklet
30th Oct - 1st Nov CONFERENCE BOOKLET 1 2 3 INTRO REBOOT DEVELOP RED | 2019 y Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned Warmest welcome to first ever Reboot Develop it! And we are here to stay. Our ambition through Red conference. Welcome to breathtaking Banff the next few years is to turn Reboot Develop National Park and welcome to iconic Fairmont Red not just in one the best and biggest annual Banff Springs. It all feels a bit like history repeating games industry and game developers conferences to me. When we were starting our European older in Canada and North America, but in the world! sister, Reboot Develop Blue conference, everybody We are committed to stay at this beautiful venue was full of doubts on why somebody would ever and in this incredible nature and astonishing choose a beautiful yet a bit remote place to host surroundings for the next few forthcoming years one of the biggest worldwide gatherings of the and make it THE annual key gathering spot of the international games industry. In the end, it turned international games industry. We will need all of into one of the biggest and highest-rated games your help and support on the way! industry conferences in the world. And here we are yet again at the beginning, in one of the most Thank you from the bottom of the heart for all beautiful and serene places on Earth, at one of the the support shown so far, and even more for the most unique and luxurious venues as well, and in forthcoming one! the company of some of the greatest minds that the games industry has to offer! _Damir Durovic -
The Future Past: Intertextuality in Contemporary Dystopian Video Games
The Future Past: Intertextuality in Contemporary Dystopian Video Games By Matthew Warren CUNY Baccalaureate for Unique and Interdisciplinary Studies Submitted to: Timothy Portlock, Advisor Hunter College Lee Quinby, Director Macaulay Honors College Thesis Colloquium 9 May 2012 Contents I. Introduction: Designing Digital Spaces II. Theoretical Framework a. Intertextuality in the visual design of video games and other media b. Examining the established visual iconography of dystopian setting II. Textual Evidence a. Retrofuturism and the Decay of Civilization in Bioshock and Fallout b. Innocence, Iteration, and Nostalgia in Team Fortress and Limbo III. Conclusion 2 “Games help those in a polarized world take a position and play out the consequences.” The Twelve Propositions from a Critical Play Perspective Mary Flanagan, 2009 3 Designing Digital Spaces In everyday life, physical space serves a primary role in orientation — it is a “container or framework where things exist” (Mark 1991) and as a concept, it can be viewed through the lense of a multitude of disciplines that often overlap, including physics, architecture, geography, and theatre. We see the function of space in visual media — in film, where the concept of physical setting can be highly choreographed and largely an unchanging variable that comprises a final static shot, and in video games, where space can be implemented in a far more complex, less linear manner that underlines participation and system-level response. The artistry behind the fields of production design and visual design, in film and in video games respectively, are exemplified in works that engage the viewer or player in a profound or novel manner. -
Left 4 Dead 2 Addon Support Cracked
Left 4 Dead 2 Addon Support Cracked 1 / 3 Left 4 Dead 2 Addon Support Cracked 2 / 3 1- Install Latest Rev-Emu Installer which includes left4dead2.exe and Setti masterserver.vdf. ... IniGen.exe from root folder and remove Name Enabler Addon. .... [includes cracked left4dead2.exe and Setti masterserver.vdf]. how to install more left 4 dead mods on a non-steam l4d ?? i tried ... the console command if you need help on 2 cr8 a offline multiplayer game just ask. 0 0 ... if you have the cracked version like me we cant have custom skins.. For Left 4 Dead 2 on the PC, a GameFAQs Answers question titled "Non steam l4d2 problem? ... Yesyerday I Extract Left 4 Dead 2 2.7z to my PC and i use crack too 2.0.0.3, but still ... steam is ... I have a problem with my L4D2 Add-On Support.. A Left 4 Dead 2 (L4D2) Skin Mod in the Survivors category, submitted by ciy93. ... Supported Games .... the folder and put on addon file Left4Dead2/left4dead2/Addon This is 1st time i upload the file please don look so bad Thx ... Cracked Egg.. Support us ... Chet Faliszek, the former Valve fella best known for his work on Left 4 Dead and ... Turtle Rock Studios, the mob who created Left 4 Dead, are revisiting their ..... 2014 would seem to be the year in which the games industry has another crack at making primarily multiplayer shooting games work all over again.. Hello HGT Here is guide how to get L4D2 For Free Or Garena if you want to play on our .. -
Smart Avatars in Jackmoo
University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Center for Human Modeling and Simulation Department of Computer & Information Science March 1999 Smart Avatars in JackMOO Norman I. Badler University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Jianping Shi University of Pennsylvania Thomas J. Smith University of Pennsylvania John P. Granieri University of Pennsylvania Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/hms Recommended Citation Badler, N. I., Shi, J., Smith, T. J., & Granieri, J. P. (1999). Smart Avatars in JackMOO. Retrieved from https://repository.upenn.edu/hms/8 Postprint version. Published in IEEE Proceedings of Virtual Reality 1999, March 1999, pages 156-163. Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/VR.1999.756946 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/hms/8 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Smart Avatars in JackMOO Abstract Creation of compelling 3-dimensional, multi-user virtual worlds for education and training applications requires a high degree of realism in the appearance, interaction, and behavior of avatars within the scene. Our goal is to develop and/or adapt existing 3-dimensional technologies to provide training scenarios across the Internet in a form as close as possible to the appearance and interaction expected of live situations with human participants. We have produced a prototype system, JackMOO, which combines Jack, a virtual human system, and LambdaMOO, a multiuser, network-accessible, programmable, interactive server. Jack provides the visual realization of avatars and other objects. LambdaMOO provides the web-accessible communication, programability, and persistent object database. The combined JackMOO allows us to store the richer semantic information necessitated by the scope and range of human actions that an avatar must portray, and to express those actions in the form of imperative sentences.