US12B - Computer Games as Art, Culture, and Technology
Discussions, Winter 2008

Overview of this website

This website is built to help students in discussion and lab sections 1 and 4 of US12B keep track of relevant course materials, including due dates, discussion handouts and URLs. This isn't meant as a substitute for the official course syllabus at http://www.ics.uci.edu/~frost/US12B/syllabus.html - please take a look at it for the most recent information about this course.

Course Syllabus

• http://www.ics.uci.edu/~frost/US12B/syllabus.html.

• In addition, course-related materials can be accessed at http://eee.uci.edu/ (login required)

Tips

• Come to office hours for help with writing or academic questions
• Keep a notebook of all course-related material (notes, assignments, exams, etc.)
• Writers of all levels can benefit from the Peer Tutor Program and/or the Learning & Academic Resource Center
• Absence or tardiness to a lab, discussion, or lecturewill result in a loss of participation points. You must attend the discussion section in which you are registered. If you wish to attend another discussion section, you must make an official change through WebReg.

Discussion Notes

Week 1 Discussion - Wednesday Jan 9th 2008

• Welcome back!
• Second Life video:
  /LI>
• General discussion about Second Life
• An overview of this quarter's general themes: Second Life and Artistic Practice
• An overview of this quarter's assignments: http://www.ics.uci.edu/~frost/US12B/syllabus.html
  • Paper #3: Paper #3 Prompt (from last year, will be significantly changed)
  • Source Analysis - Source Analysis Assignment (Draft)
  • Game (in Second Life)
• I'd like you to pick a topic for this quarter's paper as soon as possible - next week we will be brainstorming different ideas
• Remember that your writing diagnostic is due tonight at 9pm... any questons?:
  

  Reading: Henry Jenkins, Art Form for the Digital Age (http://tinyurl.com/ypu5o8)
  Write a cogent, well-reasoned response to the above reading. Focus on either of these questions:
  1. How closely can the historical development of cinema serve as a model for the development of computer games as an art form?
  2. What is the relationship between games providing opportunities for children to play and explore, and games maturing as an art form?
  After a brief summary of the article, make a claim in response to one of the questions above. Be sure to use quotations from the article to support your thesis claim. Your 150 – 250 word, typed essay must be electronically submitted (see below).
  TIPS:
  o After briefly summarizing the important points of the reading, make a claim (an “argument”) about something you find particularly memorable or effective.
  o Back up your claim about the piece by using specific evidence from the text itself to support your claim. Quote something, and explain what it means.
  o Try to comment analytically and with insight on the content and/or the structure of the piece.
  o SUSTAIN an idea you have in response to the reading and explain why you find it so.
  DUE: Wednesday, January 9, at 9 p.m.
  Turn in your essay to the EEE dropbox called “US 12B Diagnostic”.
  1. Write your response on a computer and save it in .doc, .txt, .rtf, or .pdf format. Make sure your first and last name is at the top of the page.
  2. Go to https://eee.uci.edu
  3. Log in with your UCInetID.
  4. Click on MyEEE.
  5. Under UNI STU 12B COMPUTER GAMES 1 Lec A (87655), click on Dropbox.
  6. Under US 12B Diagnostic, click on Assignment Submission.
  7. Click on Upload Files.
  8. Upload one file with your short essay in it.
  

• Closing video (related to next week's reading) - Stubbs the Zombie:
  
• NOTE: Next week our class may be videotaped by the Teaching, Learning and Technology Center
• HOMEWORK: Look at Steven Wilson's index of experimental projects - Intersections of Art, Technology, Science & Culture - pick two that you're interested in

Week 2 Discussion: What is an artist?
Jan 16th 2008

• Please get out a piece of paper and a pen/pencil... let's try to figure out what an "artist" is, what they do and why they do it. You will be presenting on your ideas during class.
  Why are these people called artists on YouTube?
• What is an artist? "Artist" videos:
  
  
  EscApe Artist:
  
  
  Akiane Kramarik - Spiritual Young Artist:
  
  
  Sand Artist:
  
  
  Mystery VH1 Pickup Artist - Message from Mystery:
  
  Rick Ross - Speedin (Remix) Featuring 15 artist + dwnld link:
  
  
  Leonardo da Vinci Artist Trailer
  
  
  
• Small Group Activity: Split into groups for 5 minutes and make two sentence definition about: 1. what you think an artist is and 2. what value you think it has (if any). Have one person be ready to read this to the group.
• Discussion of art & video games - what is going on in the following examples?
  • Creative historical re-creations: Endgames: Waco Resurrection
  • Violence and videogames: Brody Condon's Suicide Solution and visuality in: "Elvis" and RamDass.
  • Pain/comfort: Eddo Stern's Cockfight Arena
  • Pain/comfort: Mark Allen and Eddo Stern's Tekken Torture Tournament
  • Pain/comfort: //////////fur////'s PainStation
• Discuss: Is art good UI design? Is it efficient? How does it help people? Is artistic use of video games perverting technological correctness?
• Next, Discussion of Source Analysis Assignment: Be sure to carefully review the Source Analysis Assignment, due Jan 30th 2008. Submit electronic copies via EEE and Turnitin by 8:55am, and hardcopy at the start of your discussion section.
• IMPORTANT: Next week, meet at the Science Library Interactive Learning Center Room 164 on Wednesday, Jan. 23rd.
• Homework that will make your lives easier (at least in this class): Review Steven Wilson's index of experimental projects - Intersections of Art, Technology, Science & Culture and pick two projects you're interested in.

Week 3 Discussion - Wednesday, Jan. 23rd 2008

• Meet today at the Science Library Interactive Learning Center Room 164. When coming to the Science Library from Aldrich Park, go to the right side of the Science Library courtyard/entry:
  
  
• Cathy Palmer (Head of Education and Outreach at the UC Irvine) will be leading us in a research instruction session that will help your research skills - especially within the context of your paper due next week.
  
  
• NOTE: Although the assignment requirements have stayed exactly the same, the Source Analysis Assignment is now called "Paper #3". This assignment is worth 5% of your final grade, and is due next week: Jan 30th 2008. Submit electronic copies via EEE and Turnitin by 8:55am, and hardcopy at the start of your discussion section next week.
• Attendance will be taken today: this will count toward your participation grade.
• For our instruction session, we will be discussing several features found through UCI Libraries
  • ANTPAC and helping identify materials that the library owns, including conference proceedings, books, videos, etc.
  • Expanded Academic ASAP which identifies journal and popular magazine articles on a variety of topics
  • ACD Digital Library - an example of a specialized database
  • She will use Google Scholar to show how to use the UCeLinks tool to link to full text of materials and to emphasize the use of the Web or software VPN when accessing library materials from off-campus

Week 4 Discussion - Wednesday, Jan. 30th 2008

• Today we're going to start writing your capstone papers! (sort of)
  
  
  
  
  
• But, before we start, I'd like to discuss what level of experience people in the class have with shooting and/or editing videos. FIP is considering holding a YouTube-ish contest where students discuss their experiences in FIP, but is only interested in doing it if enough people are interested. Note that this would be optional and not for a grade, and is only speculative at this point. Discuss.
  
• First, let's review what we did for Paper #3 - Source Analysis (due today). Please pull out your printed copy.
• Discuss the Source Analysis assignment: was it more difficult than you had anticipated? Confusing? Helpful? Interesting?
• Find your conclusion.
• Let's go around the class and have everybody read out their conclusions.
• Please submit your Paper #3 - Source Analysis at the front of the class. Also, please come talk to me after class if you need to pick up old assignments.
• Remember to complete midterm evaluations - only a couple people in each section have done this. For your convenience, here are the links: Discussion 1 (9am), Discussion 2 (10am), Discussion 3 (11am), and Discussion 4 (12 noon).
• Thanks!

Week 5 Discussion - Wednesday, Feb. 6th 2008

• Intro: Feedback/Discussion on Brody's Talk - Artist talks, making a living
  
  
• *** Midterm Review Day *** - Take out all of your notes, please.
• Reviewing the course syllabus will help preparing for the midterm, obviously
• Make group study notes here:
  READINGS:
  Ernest W. Adams, Will Computer Games Ever Be A Legitimate Art Form? (Game Developer's Conference 2001)
  Main point: Discusses art and video games
  He defines art as "lasting": "I think it highly unlikely that people will be playing Escape from Monkey Island a thousand years from now. However, I do think it’s conceivable that people will be playing Tetris a thousand years from now."
  Take risks, make players feel weird, graphics are no longer the main thing in video games
  Games ought to be more than entertainment
  Medium is capable of being alot more than just being fun.
  So,What Does It Take For Us To Be An Art Form?
  We Need An Aesthetic
  We Must Experiment
  We Must Challenge the Player
  Our Awards Must Change
  We Need Not Reviewers, But Critics (cross-reference this to Peter's "Game Biz" lecture)
  
  Henry Jenkins, An Art Form for the Digital Age, Technology Review (Sept.-Oct. 2000)
  Main thing: comparison of video games and cinema
  "Computer games are art—a popular art, an emerging art, a largely unrecognized art, but art nevertheless."
  "games do matter"
  
  Alexander Seropian, Postmortem: Wideload Games' Stubbs the Zombie
  The Commandments
  * First Commandment: We shall establish our game's creative direction.
  * Second commandment: We shall own our intellectual property.
  * Third commandment: We shall not let a third party determine our success, such as the publisher who's doing (or not doing) the marketing, or the funding source (likely a publisher) making demands that are not in-line with our goals.
  * Fourth Commandment: We shall have a small manageable team. We don't want 50 employees making one game over three years in house (we want low overhead), and we don't want to suffer the churn of ramping up and down for projects.
  
  Wagner James Au, And He Rezzed A Crooked House
  - 4th direction
  - How could a design like this be used in a videogame or in art?
  - "a home that seems to exist in more than three dimensions, a kind of multi-directional Mobius strip"
  
  
  
  LECTURES:
  
  Introduction to 3D Worlds - Tomlinson
  Second Life tour
  Met the prof, inappropriate comments to prof, monorail, etc.
  "I'm Bill Tomlinson"... "No, I'm Bill Tomlinson"
  3D worlds are like the wild west: social norms are different, apologized if something sexual happened, sitting on somebody's piano and them getting ticked off.
  Potential exam question: "What is the difference between Second Life (or 3D environment or game) and real life?"
  
  
  Krapp - Art Practice w readings on Adams / Jenkins
  Video games as an art form
  Games movies and TV, and how they are different
  Reiterating the differences, textuality, mental machinery
  Screen distance, projection, environment, image quality and sound, place, etc. etc.
  Different art forms have different attributes
  Are video games 100% comparable to movies, for example?
  Is it fair to say that video games are the same, and will develop the same?
  
  
  Software Engineering - Frost
  Shrinkwrap model (including Open Source model)
  Contract model - hire companies to create it (oursourcing)
  In-house model - in-house employees to develop software
  Waterfall Process - Feasability, requirements, planning, implementation, testing / QA, release/deployment
  
  3D Animation and Modeling - Tomlinson
  What is a tesseract?: Tesseract on Wikipedia
  Polygon counts and rendering speed
  Triangles making a dog
  
  Art Practice - Nideffer
  
  Human Computer Interaction - Frost
  Stoves and user interface, bad signs, etc.
  
  Art Practice - Hertz
  
  (cutoff?)
  The Game Biz - Krapp
  

Week 6 Discussion - Wednesday, Feb. 13th 2008

• Feedback on Midterm - What did you like and not like about the midterm?
• Let's look at this video and discuss it. In what ways does this clip relate to our Paper #4 Capstone assignment?
  
• Review and make sure everybody clearly understands the Paper #4 Capstone assignment. Discuss. Questions?
• Question: who has their Paper #3 (Source Analysis) here? (Take a show of hands)
• Question: who has started Paper #4 (Capstone)? (Take a show of hands)
• Writing activity
  1. Take out a piece of paper and a pen.
  2. If you have Paper #3 or notes or a draft for Paper #4, please pull them out.
  3. Split into groups of two. Try to pick somebody you haven't worked with before.
  4. Briefly discuss with your partner what your capstone paper will be about, generally. Make sure that they understand your argument, and get their feedback on your topic. (3 minutes)
  5. After discussing, work individually to put your thesis statement and three main argument points on paper (3 minutes).
  6. After this is complete, switch papers with your partner. Peer edit each other's work by providing written feedback (2 minutes).
  7. Discuss each other's work, and identify key terms that need to be defined in each person's proposed paper (2 minutes).
• Break for class discussion - thesis statements, arguments, topic sentences, terms
• Discussion of counterarguments
• Any volunteers to read out their draft thesis statements? I'll help you write up an outline for your paper.
  • Introduction - an interesting lead-in
  • Thesis statement
  • Definition of terms
  • Point 1
  • Point 2
  • Point 3
  • Summary of counterargument, then indicate why it is incorrect/weak
  • Conclusion - recap of paper
  • Clincher

Week 7 Discussion - Peer Editing Paper #4

Work in pairs, with someone you haven't worked with yet this quarter. As you read and comment on each other's work, keep in mind the purpose of the assignment: to investigate some specific aspect of a specific experimental computer game, emphasizing theoretical models from literature.

Have the editor take a piece of paper and construct an outline from their partner's paper. Select the thesis and topic sentences. It should resemble the following:

• Introduction - an interesting lead-in
• Thesis statement
• Definition of terms
• Point 1
• Point 2
• Point 3
• Summary of counterargument, then indicate why it is incorrect/weak
• Conclusion - recap of paper
• Clincher

The editor can mark-up the paper, and will also write comments on the back of this page. Editors, make sure to write "Edited by" and your name at the top of both. Each author must turn in the editor's written comments and the draft along with the final version of the paper.

Procedure for Editors:

1. Read the summary through once, trying to understand the overall structure and tone.
1. Are you able to easily follow the flow of the argument? Does the paper have an introductory paragraph or two which tell the reader what lies ahead, and a conclusion which wraps everything up and restates the major points?
2. Does the author's topic seem to be the right size for a 1,000 word paper? Is it narrow enough to be fully developed, but broad enough to be interesting?
2. Now carefully reread the full paper and write answers to these questions:
1. Is the paper's tone formal, business-like, rational, and convincing?
2. Does the paper compare and assess two models or typologies? Is each one well-summarized?
3. Look at the paragraphs as individual units. Do they have unity, coherence, and generally support and develop a single idea each?
4. Are there any mechanical errors (spelling, punctuation, grammar) that interfered with your reading of the paper?
5. Are the references and citations adequate? Does the paper's references section follow the correct format?
6. Has the author succeeded in "digging deeply enough to find underlying truths?" If not, where do you suggest further spadework?
3. Review your comments with the author (and vice versa)

Week 8 Discussion - Wednesday Feb 27th 2008

• Review of forward kinematics:
  
  
  Review of inverse kinematics ("IK"):
  
• Please come to the front and submit your Capstone Papers. These will be returned to you in two weeks on March 12th 2008. Thanks!
• Quick talk about using sources correctly, Turnitin
  
  
  
  
  
• Review of Krapp lecture Fri Feb 21st 2008:
  • internet history - map of the IPv4 space, map of the cultural layer history of the term network (from reticulate structures in animals and plants, to rivers and railways, electrical cable, and so forth)
  • network = related yet distant elements where circulation between nodes along rigorous paths assigns strategic character to certain nodes (can serve as a way to overcome limitations of spatial metaphors)
  • centralized, decentralized, and distributed network (rand corp) IMP router for the ARPAnet, developed at BBN (Cambridge) to solve incompatibility issues; birthday of the internet: oct 29, 1969
  • conceptual roots for this topology: vannevar bush "as we may think" (atlantic monthly, 1945), founded & headed predecessor to ARPA; hg wells: "permanent world encyclopedia", paul otlet: "mundaneum"
  • memex (=memory extender), networked desk, associative indexing (beyond dewey decimal and similar classification systems), breaking down information into packets and recombinant systems
    
  • universal data structure for a world wide network (1930s pacifism)
  • mammoth cave (see j dibbell reading & fall lectures)
    first lines of crowther's fortran program for adventure
    routing; maze versus labyrinth (multicursal versus unicursal)
    = exploration versus navigation: stone from Pylos, oldest extant labyrinth
  • crowther using software to map possible paths in the cave, and to map possible paths on the computer network
    
  • adventures spreads over the early internet; at stanford, don woods adds treasures ad puzzles, players start mapping the net-space (maintaining a record that won't fade of trails through a maze: myth of the minoraur, theseus, ariadne's thread)
  • crowther speech at the GDC 2006 choice awards, also on behalf of don woods; offspring: ZORK, but also MAZE (predecessor to DOOM)
  • handout questions: what difference does multi-player structure make to a) game experience, b) game motivation and rewards, c) game design? (cooperative vs competitive play as preferred modes, emphasis on role-play instead of identifactory play, and potential for replay fro a different side or perspective; perceived benefits of interaction with AI or with people on the network, etc)
  • HABITAT REDUX: slides from farmer & morningstar, revisiting their original lessons, adding new lessons (2004)
    
  • discuss lessons in groups: many-user environment, bandwidth, object-oriented data representation, platform, communications standards, central planning - plus: user-generated content? browser as client? interface clutter? crash early and often?
  • MMOG market share, developments: question of any future compatibility of the various virtual worlds - ghettoized net
• Discuss Peter's lecture
• Think ahead to Final Exam: identify exam questions and themes

Week 9 Discussion - Wednesday March 5th 2008

• Discussion of Cory Doctorow's "Why Online Games Are Dictatorships"
  

  Online games like World of Warcraft and Second Life are absolute dictatorships, where the whim of the companies controlling them is law. Cory Doctorow wonders if it's possible to create a game that's a democracy, where your in-world property is really yours.

  
  
  
• As discussed previously, the FIP Video Contest is announced! $200 per video! (Handout flyers for those that are interested, and here it is if you're interested):
  
  
  
  
• Let's review and discuss the "What and Why" section of the syllabus... have any of you learned this stuff? Why and why not?:

  US 12B is part of UCI's First-Year Integrated Program. Throughout the year we will be investigating computer games as artistic, cultural, and technological phenomena. An important theme of this course is collaboration. All but the simplest computer games are created by more than one person, and when we study a computer game we participate in a dialogue or negotiated process of sorts that includes the creators of the game, other players, society at large, and ourselves. We want to promote a collaborative spirit throughout the course, while being aware of the need for each student to master the material individually and to receive a grade based on his or her own performance. At the conclusion of US 12ABC, you will be able to:

  1. identify the genre of a computer game and place the game in an historical context;
  2. understand how computer game technology and techniques are used for purposes other than entertainment;
  3. design new computer games based on a variety of themes, patterns, and genres;
  4. implement simple code, art, and sound/music within a computer game.

  Because US 12ABC satisfies part of your lower-division writing requirement, in each quarter you will be writing research-based, college-level papers. You will learn to:

  1. summarize and respond critically to an argument made by another writer;
  2. formulate an argument of your own and explore it fully;
  3. construct an annotated bibliography that identifies and summarizes at least six sources possibly useful to a research question you pose about a topic;
  4. compose a coherent essay that demonstrates critical thinking, analyzes sources, and considers multiple perspectives;
  5. convey your thesis and integrate your research and your arguments in fluent, well-organized sentences and paragraphs;
  6. draw substantive, evaluative conclusions in response to a thesis you put forth.

  An essential component of being a good writer is understanding the multi-stage process of composing written work. In US 12ABC you will learn to:

  1. propose, plan, and undertake a research project that involves a number of writing activities;
  2. develop strategies for generating, revising, editing, and proofreading an essay;
  3. be an effective peer review editor, and to receive and integrate peer review comments into your writing;
  4. format an essay in a discipline-appropriate style;
  5. compose a grammatically correct, proofread and edited final draft.

• Now it's time for a Handout - it's a non-graded feedback form:
  1. Outline the process you used to compose your capstone essay.
  2. How did you choose you capstone essay topic? For example, did you know your topic before you started your Paper #3 (source analysis)?
  3. Did you find that the library instructional session (Wednesday, Jan. 23rd 2008) was useful in helping you research your capstone paper? Why or why not?
  4. Were the peer editing sessions useful? Why or why not?
  5. What have you learned or enjoyed most in this course?
• Hand back of ancient documents: US12B Midterm: Peter L, Mary L, Jason M. US12A Final: Shawn M, Meghan C, Robert D, Alex H, Lauren L, Allen L, Jae Y.

Week 10 Discussion - Wednesday March 12th 2008

• Follow-up from last week: discussion of Annotated Bibliographies
  

  "An annotated bibliography is a list of citations to books, articles, and documents. Each citation is followed by a brief (usually about 150 words) descriptive and evaluative paragraph, the annotation. The purpose of the annotation is to inform the reader of the relevance, accuracy, and quality of the sources cited." (Source: http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/research/skill28.htm)

• Final Exam Review... let's compile our notes
  1/31 - The Game Biz - Krapp - Some slides [not] available at US12 dropbox (given in place of Brody)
  
  • Had tons of graphs, statistics
  • Games make a lot of money
  • Main point: Game reviews are extremely important - moreso than reviews for movies
  • "Blockbusters"
  • Referred to metacritic.com - here's an example of a game review
  2/5 - Art Practice - Brody Condon
  
  • (he was on the midterm along with Arcangel and Nideffer)
  2/12 - Affective Computing - Baumer - Rosalind Picard, Affective Computing
  
  • Summary of Picard:
  • Give a specific example from a game where a character's physical expression of emotion is mediated by some cognitive aspect of that emotion. Post your example to the US 12B NoteBoard before 11:00 am.
  • Simulating and sensing emotion
  • Digging more into emotion and trying to implement it
  • 3D Graph - Russell & Mehrabian - Affect Space - Dominance/Stance, Valence/Pleasure, Arousal. Depending on where you are in the graph indicates your emotion
  • In groups and had to figure out a way to incorporate emotion into a game.
  2/14 - Music and Sound - Dobrian
  
  • He talked about his work in computer music in various forms, including adaptive music.
  • As a reference, his University Studies 4: Transfer Seminar "Composing Music with Computers" Syllabus may be useful to look at since it covers some of the same topics in his US12B lecture.
  • What relevance does his talk have to videogames? Adaptive soundtracks, possibly.
  2/19 - Internet, WWW - Frost - Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash, and Dan's Lecture slides
  
  • Neal Stephenson wasn't really discussed, although he asked who did the noteboard
  • Three questions: Who is the Hero of this book? Who is the Protagonist? How do avatars in the Metaverse differ from avatars in Second Life? Post your answers to the US 12B NoteBoard before 11:00 am.
  • Using metaverse and 2nd life as a visualization of all of this network traffic and routing, etc.
  • The Metaverse in Snow Crash is similar to Second Life... which is where several people think the internet is heading
  • Packets, checksum, ping, traceroute
  • Internet history: ARPA, DARPA, etc.
  • Protocols: TCP, IP, UDP, etc.
  • Main Point (?): Videogames use the internet
  • Second Life uses UDP
  2/21 - Net & Web - Krapp - Morningstar and Farmer, The Lessons of Lucasfilm's Habitat - Dibbell, A Marketable Wonder: Spelunking the American Imagination
  
  • Lessons
    • A multi-user environment is central to the idea of cyberspace.
    • Communications bandwidth is a scarce resource.
    • An object-oriented data representation is essential.
    • The implementation platform is relatively unimportant.
    • Data communications standards are vital.
  • Both papers describe the creation of complex virtual worlds. What is the most important way in which the worlds in the two papers are similar (other than "complex" or "virtual")? What is the most important way in which the worlds are different? Post your response to the US 12B NoteBoard before 11:00 am.
  2/26 - 3D Animation II - Tomlinson
  
  • Forward and inverse kinematics
  • How animation has changed
  • 20 differences between traditional (linear) and computer (interactive) animation
    • Emotion, transitions, virtuosity, collision avoidance, cinematogrphy (camera angles), cinematography (cheating), cinematogrphy (expressiveness), lighting, compositing, sound (music), sound (dialog), humor, time, script, narrative, resolution, magnitude, production components, data, character interactions.
  • How many joints do you need to be expressive? Which joints would you use to express a character? (Gave examples of walk cylces - slouching, walking proud, etc to express emotion.)
  • Which joints you animate may depend on how far away the character is away from the camera
  2/28 - Quality Assurance - Frost
  
  • Brought up testing websites
  • What - correctness, stress tests, runs on different hardware, never crashes
  • Watched video with game reviewers, "this is a serious job". These people are required since they catch stuff that programmers don't catch
  • Alpha-testing (in-house), and beta-testing (public)
  • Potential exam question: Why do you need game testers or Q&A?
  3/4 - Game Politics - Krapp - Parker, Free Play: The Politics of the Videogame - Doctorow, Why Online Games are Dictatorships Two clips from class: Net Neutrality and This Spartan Life
  
  • Representation (inclusion or deliberation), community (local, national or global), power (values, needs or conflicts) and business (regulation and taxation)
  • What is politics?
  • Banning the WoW guild that was LGBT: the politcs of enforcing and administering/controlling what someone (or some group) can or can't do
  • Parker: "Multiplayer online games routinely feature emergent economies. Programmers, absorbed in the business of turning imagined ogres, grenade launchers, and nebular vistas into stable computer code, now find themselves puzzling over inflation, product shortages, and property disputes. Just how realistic the economic models should be is a topic of continuing debate. But at least one development house, Artifact Entertainment, actually hired an economist to assist with its modeling."
  • Parker wants to reduce cinematics and have more "free play," and gives an example of why GTA is so popular. More control to the players.
  3/6 - 3D Animation III - Tomlinson
  
  • Different camera views
    • Single static, first person user-controlled, multiple static autonomous, third person autonomous, intelligent autonomous, hybrid
  • Lighting
    • Global lights, object lights, personal lights
  • Texture mapping
  • Worlds and texture co-ordinates
  • What was his main point here: using all of this stuff shifts the game's attention, focus, mood
• Ask for submissions for the essay contest... convince the writers to submit their essays to Lori Miller through Garnet by the end of the quarter.
• Reminder about the FIP video workshops scheduled for Week One of spring quarter.
• Hand back of Paper #4
  
  
  • Mean: 80.11
  • Median: 84.50
  • Mode: 87.00
  • Maximum: 96.00
  • Minimum: 0.00
  • Std. Deviation: 16.48
  • # of Scores: 66
• Reminder: The US12B Final Exam is Tuesday March 18th from 10:30-12:30, SH 128. Come at 10:30am, not 11.
• Thanks for discussioning with me!