There are some people, like my housemate, who have a name that they use consistently across the internet as a username. It makes it easy to stalk people like this online, because all you have to do is find them once, and you've found them everywhere. Because of this, they have a consistent identity on the internet.
Myself, I never developed a nickname that I felt worked as an online personality. Well, there's my high school nickname, "Ser", but it's often too short to use, and it's pretty much my name, anyways. I feel sort of left out from the in-crowd of the internet, because I don't have a handle, a codename that allows me exclusive access into the "I use the internet so much I have an identity on here" club. Even though, really, I do use the internet that much.
Not having a cohesive online identity sometimes makes me feel as though I don't really contribute much to the web, which is interesting because the whole point of Web 2.0 is that everyone can contribute equally. It's communism for communication. However, not having a name with which to brand myself means that I am just a faceless entity, floating around and leaving comments on websites without anything to tie me down to. It basically makes me anonymous.
Then again, not having an internet identity also means that I don't have to be careful about what I do online. For example, I recently started a cooking blog to try and turn my use of cooking as a method of procrastination into something that is productive. For this blog I created a new email address, and thus a new online identity, in a way. Why did I do this? Because I'm not sure how well this blog is going to go, and there's no point associating myself to it if it turns out to be something I don't enjoy doing. Also, the people who I ravage skilfully in online games won't be able to track me down and flame my recipe for chocolate chip cookies.
It all means that I'm a little bit schizophrenic in my online personality. I change depending on what site I log onto, what name I've decided to use for what circumstance. While the anonymity is nice, I do feel like I'm missing out on being a contributing part of the internet.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Character Development
Two lines that indicate character development from the film Pleasantville are:
Jennifer: I said, No! I've read like one book in my whole life and I'm not gonna let you throw it on that fire!
Jennifer's character at the beginning of the film is interested only in boys and sex. She is failing classes at school. By the end of her time in Pleasantville, she has begun to enjoy reading, so much so that she refuses to allow her boyfriend to burn the book when there are riots against the town turning into color when people experience new emotions.
David: You don't have the right to do this.
David begins the film as a very meek nerd. His experiences in Pleasantville have allowed him to grow a backbone, and believe in something greater than himself. His sense of morals have become stronger, and he has begun to believe in his own ability to stand up for himself, and others.
Jennifer: I said, No! I've read like one book in my whole life and I'm not gonna let you throw it on that fire!
Jennifer's character at the beginning of the film is interested only in boys and sex. She is failing classes at school. By the end of her time in Pleasantville, she has begun to enjoy reading, so much so that she refuses to allow her boyfriend to burn the book when there are riots against the town turning into color when people experience new emotions.
David: You don't have the right to do this.
David begins the film as a very meek nerd. His experiences in Pleasantville have allowed him to grow a backbone, and believe in something greater than himself. His sense of morals have become stronger, and he has begun to believe in his own ability to stand up for himself, and others.
Looking at Screenplay Structure - Serenity
In order to investigate the structure of screenplays, I've looked at Serenity, largely because it's what my housemate was watching on his computer last night. While there is the whole backlog of Firefly content leading up to this movie, I'm only focusing on interactions explicitly shown in the movie, for simplicity's sake.
Act I
The crew of Serenity are preparing for a new job, taking along River Tan, the traumatized "reader" who was rescued by her brother from a government facility, along in order to ensure a smooth job. During the robbery of a vault, River senses Reavers nearby, and warns the crew. An exciting chase scene ensues. Recovering from the bank job at a bar, Simon (River's brother) decides that it's time for the duo to leave the crew for the sake of their own safety. Meanwhile, River arrives at the bar and watches a video broadcast on the bar tv which triggers her into a psychotic episode, shooting everyone in the bar. Simon manages to shout out a safe word that causes her to fall asleep. Returning to Serenity, the crew get in touch with Mr. Universe - a techno-geek who uncovers that River's outburst was triggered by a subliminal message in the advertisement that River was watching. He is able to determine that River whispered the word "miranda" just before her outbreak.
The tipping point is River's psychotic episode, and the utterance of the word "miranda". It is a clue to her mental state and the experiments that the government conducted on her, and the secrets that she picked up thanks to her now psychic abilities. The film then becomes a race to discover the secret behind "miranda" before the crew, and River, can be arrested by The Operative - a man sent by the government to track down River and contain her.
Act II
When River suffers another breakdown, the crew is able to determine that "miranda" is actually an outer rim planet, rumored to be uninhabitable. Travelling to the planet means crossing Reaver territory, a suicidal act, and the crew decide to head to a mining colony where they have friends. When they arrive, the discover that the colony has been razed, and Shepherd Book, a former passenger on Serenity, has been killed. The Operative leaves a message for the crew, saying that more of the same will happen until River is handed over. Realizing that they cannot avoid what is happening, the crew decides to discover what exactly the secret behind Miranda is. In order to travel through Reaver territory the ship is remodeled to look like a Reaver ship. Succesfully making it through the Reaver territory, the crew discovers that Miranda is a perfectly habitable environment. However, the cities are empty of life, instead they are filled with decomposing corpses. The crew discovers a log recorded by an Alliance government search and rescue team, and uncover that a chemical substance was being tested on the population. The chemical was designed to suppress aggression, but it worked too well. As a result, the population of Miranda stopped acting, and simply fell asleep wherever they were and let themselves die. However, not everyone reacted the same way. Approximately a tenth of the population had the opposite reaction to the drug, becoming extremely aggressive and mentally unstable - these became the Reavers. Mal decides that this message needs to be broadcasted to the world, so that the truth can be known.
The climax to this point is the uncovering of the terrible secret which has been burning River's brain from the inside out. The crew literally has to pass through the belly of the beast when going through Reaver territory.
Act III
In order to reach Mr Universe to broadcast their discovery, the crew need to make it through the Reaver territory again, and then through The Operative's ships which await them on the other side. As they leave Reaver territory, Serenity opens fire on a Reaver ship, tricking the Reaver's into following them, and then attacking The Operative's fleet. A massive battle follows, as Serenity tries to make it to the planet where Mr Universe is located. Serenity crash lands, and is apparantly out of danger. A harpoon from a Reaver ship impacts the ship and impales the pilot, Walsh. Fleeing Serenity, the crew ends up setting up a last stand in a corridor to hold off the Reavers to allow Mal enough time to make his way to Mr Universe to broadcast the message. Discovering that Mr Universe has been killed, Mal is told by a robotic wife that there is a backup system in another part of the complex. Unfortunately, this message replays for The Operative, who follows Mal. Meanwhile the rest of the crew is losing ground the Reavers and retreats, sustaining lots of injuries. When the crew is unable to close the door behind them properly, and realize that they have left behind the med kit, River dives through the crack in the door, tosses the medkit behind her, and closes the door. Mal reaches the second transmitter, followed by The Operative, who attempts to stop Mal. A fight ensues, but Mal is able to outwit The Operative and transmit the message. He returns to the crew, and is informed that River is trapped on the other side of the door. Seconds later the door opens to reveal River, surrounded by dead Reavers. The Operative, having watched the transmission regarding Miranda, orders the Alliance fleet to stand down.
The film ends with the burials of the friends that have died along the way, and a return to the ship, where River takes control as pilot.
This third act also is fairly climactic, but as the crew is literally returning to the old world (ie; Mr Universe's control room to broadcast the message) anew (with a terrible message), I decided to split it up this way. This same story point happens again when River becomes the new pilot on Serentiy, and they continue on their travels.
Act I
The crew of Serenity are preparing for a new job, taking along River Tan, the traumatized "reader" who was rescued by her brother from a government facility, along in order to ensure a smooth job. During the robbery of a vault, River senses Reavers nearby, and warns the crew. An exciting chase scene ensues. Recovering from the bank job at a bar, Simon (River's brother) decides that it's time for the duo to leave the crew for the sake of their own safety. Meanwhile, River arrives at the bar and watches a video broadcast on the bar tv which triggers her into a psychotic episode, shooting everyone in the bar. Simon manages to shout out a safe word that causes her to fall asleep. Returning to Serenity, the crew get in touch with Mr. Universe - a techno-geek who uncovers that River's outburst was triggered by a subliminal message in the advertisement that River was watching. He is able to determine that River whispered the word "miranda" just before her outbreak.
The tipping point is River's psychotic episode, and the utterance of the word "miranda". It is a clue to her mental state and the experiments that the government conducted on her, and the secrets that she picked up thanks to her now psychic abilities. The film then becomes a race to discover the secret behind "miranda" before the crew, and River, can be arrested by The Operative - a man sent by the government to track down River and contain her.
Act II
When River suffers another breakdown, the crew is able to determine that "miranda" is actually an outer rim planet, rumored to be uninhabitable. Travelling to the planet means crossing Reaver territory, a suicidal act, and the crew decide to head to a mining colony where they have friends. When they arrive, the discover that the colony has been razed, and Shepherd Book, a former passenger on Serenity, has been killed. The Operative leaves a message for the crew, saying that more of the same will happen until River is handed over. Realizing that they cannot avoid what is happening, the crew decides to discover what exactly the secret behind Miranda is. In order to travel through Reaver territory the ship is remodeled to look like a Reaver ship. Succesfully making it through the Reaver territory, the crew discovers that Miranda is a perfectly habitable environment. However, the cities are empty of life, instead they are filled with decomposing corpses. The crew discovers a log recorded by an Alliance government search and rescue team, and uncover that a chemical substance was being tested on the population. The chemical was designed to suppress aggression, but it worked too well. As a result, the population of Miranda stopped acting, and simply fell asleep wherever they were and let themselves die. However, not everyone reacted the same way. Approximately a tenth of the population had the opposite reaction to the drug, becoming extremely aggressive and mentally unstable - these became the Reavers. Mal decides that this message needs to be broadcasted to the world, so that the truth can be known.
The climax to this point is the uncovering of the terrible secret which has been burning River's brain from the inside out. The crew literally has to pass through the belly of the beast when going through Reaver territory.
Act III
In order to reach Mr Universe to broadcast their discovery, the crew need to make it through the Reaver territory again, and then through The Operative's ships which await them on the other side. As they leave Reaver territory, Serenity opens fire on a Reaver ship, tricking the Reaver's into following them, and then attacking The Operative's fleet. A massive battle follows, as Serenity tries to make it to the planet where Mr Universe is located. Serenity crash lands, and is apparantly out of danger. A harpoon from a Reaver ship impacts the ship and impales the pilot, Walsh. Fleeing Serenity, the crew ends up setting up a last stand in a corridor to hold off the Reavers to allow Mal enough time to make his way to Mr Universe to broadcast the message. Discovering that Mr Universe has been killed, Mal is told by a robotic wife that there is a backup system in another part of the complex. Unfortunately, this message replays for The Operative, who follows Mal. Meanwhile the rest of the crew is losing ground the Reavers and retreats, sustaining lots of injuries. When the crew is unable to close the door behind them properly, and realize that they have left behind the med kit, River dives through the crack in the door, tosses the medkit behind her, and closes the door. Mal reaches the second transmitter, followed by The Operative, who attempts to stop Mal. A fight ensues, but Mal is able to outwit The Operative and transmit the message. He returns to the crew, and is informed that River is trapped on the other side of the door. Seconds later the door opens to reveal River, surrounded by dead Reavers. The Operative, having watched the transmission regarding Miranda, orders the Alliance fleet to stand down.
The film ends with the burials of the friends that have died along the way, and a return to the ship, where River takes control as pilot.
This third act also is fairly climactic, but as the crew is literally returning to the old world (ie; Mr Universe's control room to broadcast the message) anew (with a terrible message), I decided to split it up this way. This same story point happens again when River becomes the new pilot on Serentiy, and they continue on their travels.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Writing Exercise
This is my first attempt at the in-class free writing exercise. The song and artist that we listened to in class are to come. This is my first draft - the only thing changed is that I fixed some of the spelling and words that ran together because I was typing too fast to pay attention to spaces.
The sun rises over the misty town and the gloom begins to disperse. The fog is thick this morning, Jenniy is cold on her way to work. She tucks her pea green jacket around her frail form and wishes that she could afford something thicker, something without large worn holes in it, something new. In the gloom large shapes seem to loom quickly out at her, and she flinches as large letter box marches through the fog. Or rather, as she marches through the fog towards and then past the box. In this fog there is no direction that is easily discernible – she hopes she is heading in the right direction, and is simply putting one foot in front of the other in the direction that she launched herself in as she stepped out of her squat that she shares with 10 other working individuals. If there is no sense of direction can there be any sense of progression? Is the world moving at all, or is iti simply moving as she moves, and passing her by, and she is being left behind. She stops and fades into the fog, becoming one with the nebulous gasses in the air. There is nothing that she can do, she thinks, no direction that she can take, that will ever get her out of this mire. There is no future, not past, there is simply this gray and difficult to see now. The fog is so thick that she can barely see her toes in their worn work boots. She closes her eyes and walks forward again. If she cannot see the fog then it cannot exist, it cannot consume her, it cannot destroy her. But if she cannot see the fog, and the fog doesn’t exist, then if she cannot see herself, can she exist? Or by closing her eyes does she become gaseous herself, a mere whisp in the collective fog that is merely whisps of other peoples souls? She continues to move forward, the pressure of her feet against the cobblestones a distant feeling in the cold numbing fog. She is losing all sense of self as she continues forward. Then there is a sharp pain that jabs at her through the fog of her cold and the fog of her spirit and it forces her eyes open. She has walked into a bench that lines the boulevard that she works on. In the time that it has taken her to lose her soul in a gray world, the sun has fought through the thick fog and begun to evaporate it. Where there was only a blanket of grey blindness, now there are shapes glistening with dew and sparkling in the sun. But nothing looks the same anymore to her. Everything is tinged with the sinister knowledge that as soon as she closes her eyes, she will lose herself again.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
What makes an MMORPG work?
There's an article over at Gamasutra which briefly describes the upcoming game Aion as being a potential "second" to WoW in the world of MMORPG's. Reading it got me thinking about my own experiences with this form of game, and the many dissapointments that there have been in this genre.
I stayed away from MMORPG's for a long time, afraid of being sucked and losing the initiative to do any work - something which there has been a lot of press about. But it's hard to stay stoic when you love to play computer games, and are friends with a group of people who love to play them too. It's even harder when your housemate plays WoW (among others) right in front of you, and you get to see all the pretty graphics and fun things that are possible. Since opening myself up to this format of game, I've tried a huge range of MMORPG's. From WoW to Lineage (1 and 2), Tabula Rasa to Hellgate: London. And in most circumstances I have been disappointed, as have most of the rest of the world, causing servers to shut down and games to become, basically, extinct. These lost games are like dinosaurs, relics on my bookshelf which I keep for sentimental purposes but are not really playable - what's the point in playing a multiplayer game if I'm the only one playing it?
An example of this is Hellgate: London, which was released in Australia in November of 2007.
Demons have invaded Earth, and hiding out in the London Underground are the last of the human resistance. As a player, you fight your way between safe stations through recognizable locations such as Piccadilly Square and St. Paul's Cathedral, leveling up your abilities as you work out how to stop the demon occupation once and for all. Underground Stations are safe havens, were a player can heal, purchase and upgrade gear, get given and hand in quests, and interact with other players. Combat zones are individually generated instances, with mobs and layouts randomly generated, so that reentering a zone is rarely repetitive, and you never find yourself waiting for a mob to respawn after somebody else ganked your kill. The graphics of this game are beautiful, the gear fantastic, and the various classes that one can play are quite unique. My friends and I were really excited about this game, and all bought a copy so we could play together.
I stayed away from MMORPG's for a long time, afraid of being sucked and losing the initiative to do any work - something which there has been a lot of press about. But it's hard to stay stoic when you love to play computer games, and are friends with a group of people who love to play them too. It's even harder when your housemate plays WoW (among others) right in front of you, and you get to see all the pretty graphics and fun things that are possible. Since opening myself up to this format of game, I've tried a huge range of MMORPG's. From WoW to Lineage (1 and 2), Tabula Rasa to Hellgate: London. And in most circumstances I have been disappointed, as have most of the rest of the world, causing servers to shut down and games to become, basically, extinct. These lost games are like dinosaurs, relics on my bookshelf which I keep for sentimental purposes but are not really playable - what's the point in playing a multiplayer game if I'm the only one playing it?
An example of this is Hellgate: London, which was released in Australia in November of 2007.
Demons have invaded Earth, and hiding out in the London Underground are the last of the human resistance. As a player, you fight your way between safe stations through recognizable locations such as Piccadilly Square and St. Paul's Cathedral, leveling up your abilities as you work out how to stop the demon occupation once and for all. Underground Stations are safe havens, were a player can heal, purchase and upgrade gear, get given and hand in quests, and interact with other players. Combat zones are individually generated instances, with mobs and layouts randomly generated, so that reentering a zone is rarely repetitive, and you never find yourself waiting for a mob to respawn after somebody else ganked your kill. The graphics of this game are beautiful, the gear fantastic, and the various classes that one can play are quite unique. My friends and I were really excited about this game, and all bought a copy so we could play together.
Fighting demons on the streets of London - Public phone booths could be used as part of a defense!Promotional still from hellgate.iahgames.com
Less than two years after its release, in January 2009, game servers were shut down, effectively killing the game. Of course, the game had been dead for quite a while before this. So what happened? Why did Hellgate: London die a lonely death? Especially when there is obviously an audience out there for MMORPG's, as evidenced by the ongoing popularity of WoW?
Sure, I know that these two games don't run strictly on the same model - Hellgate: London operated along the same lines of Guild Wars, with an initial purchase fee and no recurring fee. Except Hellgate: London threw in a subscription possibility after the games release, which allowed paying players to access different content, a different area to the game, and better gear. It least with World of Warcraft you know exactly what payment scheme you're getting into at the start, and that everybody is basically on even footing.
While I initially despised the ongoing payment plan that WoW requires, thinking "if I've already bought the game, then why do I need to pay to play it?", I've come to see now that it is in fact one of the reasons why the game works so well, and remains so popular. That steady stream of money coming into Blizzard means that the servers are well maintained, that there are plenty of them, and that there is enough funding to support new content being constantly released. Every Tuesday the servers are shut down around the world, so that they may recieve some much needed maintenance.
The constant update of new material also helps make WoW a success. There are large expansions that are released infrequently, with smaller patches being released inbetween to keep content fresh.
An example of the smaller content releases: In the most recent patch, new skins were released for the druid shapeshifted forms.
The bear at the bottom center shows what the druid bear form used to look like.
These small tweaks, along with small changes in game play (in this circumstance, new PVP rules), keep players coming back to give these new things a try.
In the larger patches more world shattering things can happen. Literally. Blizzard has just announced that in the next expansion, Cataclysm, that:
Deathwing the Destroyer will return to Azeroth, and his eruption from Deepholm will sunder the world, leaving a festering wound across the continents. As the Horde and the Alliance race to the epicenter of the cataclysm, the kingdoms of Azeroth will witness seismic shifts in power, the kindling of a war of the elements, and the emergence of unlikely heroes who will rise up to protect their scarred and broken world from utter devastation.
Released notes inform us that there will be two new playable races - the Worgen for the Alliance and the Goblins for the Horde. The level cap will be increased from 80 to 85. New zones and raids will be opened up for exploration, and most interesting of all the classic zones, which have not changed since their releases in either the original game or their birth in the expansions, are going to be completely remapped. Thousand Needles - a dessert environment, will be flooded thanks to the effects of the cataclysm. Oggrimar, a capital city for the Orc race, will be decimated. These map changes are extremely exciting, especially for players who have been around for the five years that WoW has been released.
The upcoming expansion is a brilliant bit of marketing. It attracts new players with interesting content and a great advertising campaign. It also attracts back players who might have played WoW in the past and left because they got bored.
Aside from great ongoing content updates, what does WoW have going for it? Well, Blizzard has a lot of money. This means that they can do things like get Mr T or William Shatner in their ads.
There are even international campaigns with famous actors - such as Jean Claude Van Damme for the French audience. Every ad ends with the same slogan - "What's your game?" By pulling in famous faces to support the game, the game becomes less associated with geeks, and more a game that everyone can access.
Something else that should be noted is that WoW gets a lot of free press from all the negative press about gaming addiction. It's easy for people to look at those stories and say "That would never happen to me!"
Another thing WoW has going for it is the fact that at its inception, the Warcraft games already had a pretty large fan base - it is literally the "World" of "Warcraft".
To make a very long story short - Apart from an engaging game narrative and beautiful graphics, it's going to take a lot of finance, a lot of good ads, and a large fanbase, at minimum, to make Aion a success.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Definitions
Web 2.0: An idealised format of the internet where individuals (as opposed to corporations) decide what's important, create content, and build upon each other through the use of hyperlinks and intertextuality. This version of the internet is entirely collaborative. Websites such as digg.com, tumbler, or even wikipedia build on the idea of Web 2.0, as evidenced by the fact that anybody at all can edit content on a wiki page, or that any page on the internet can be brought to the attention of others through digg.
Widget: Small applications, usually created through open source, that help navigate the internet. Widgets plug into existing web browsing platforms adnd build upon them. An example would be a notification bar for Facebook or Google Reader. The open-source origin of most widgets, along with the manner in which they can be used to prioritise incoming information, mean that they play a large role in the formation of a Web 2.o environment. Of course, the term "widgets" also applies to application found on computer operating systems, or even on our phones now.
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