Sigh.. of relief now..
I watched Jet Li kick some ass, save Chinese women from foreign prostitution and earn the love of Aunt 13 last night. Ah.. the wonders of a Wong Fei Hung movie. Feels good to be unburdened, if only for a few days. Went shopping last night, sweet onion chips, ice-cream, apple pie, strawberries, milk - i think i need some calcium; i just realised i havent had any substantial dairy products for like 2 weeks - tofu, riceroni, coco puffs. Im eating some ice-cream now, watching History of Violence. Ok. It just ended. Hmm... I dont know yet what to think of it. Parts of the movie seem irrelevant to the rest of it. Connecting unseen dots in my head, lets go to something Leng said in a conversation he had with Matthew, Susan, and myself. Since I havent updated everyone on stuff in my recent life..
Characters
Matthew : Phd student under whom im working on a research project; immensely interesting to talk to, wealth of knowledge and opinions.
Susan : My research partner, known her for a while, was Rika's suitmate
Leng : Matthew's long time acquaintance, and main man at SEALNET (more about that later)
Topic of Conversation : Problems with using video games / games in general to teach various concepts
So Matthew is explaining to Leng the issues we faced in designing games to teach english in an immersive manner. Leng mentions hurdles in using games to demonstrate ideas to people that SEALNET projects work with. He says games tend to press toward a win-lose conclusion and finds it very hard to embedd the notion of win-win closure in a game. It occured to me then, that the reason we were using games was their enomous advantage in appeal to young people over traditional means of communicating these ideas. Why do games hold so much greater appeal? It is not just because someone can win. It is because for someone to win, somone else must lose. Think back on all those gay (Im not big on PC) games that they made you play at various orientations and whatnot in which 'everyone wins' . Those were the silliest games ever. I believe people enjoy games not just because they can win, and they like this, but because they can win, while others can lose, and the winner dominates the loser. I feel every human being feels some gratuity from dominating another. This is why u get bored of stupid pinball games after a while (except for those idiots who compare high scores), but you can play a versus fighter against someone everyday. Sad as it may seem, we derive some pleasure (some derive great pleasure), from having someone grovel beneath you. Win-win games, are quite simply, ungamely.
Characters
Matthew : Phd student under whom im working on a research project; immensely interesting to talk to, wealth of knowledge and opinions.
Susan : My research partner, known her for a while, was Rika's suitmate
Leng : Matthew's long time acquaintance, and main man at SEALNET (more about that later)
Topic of Conversation : Problems with using video games / games in general to teach various concepts
So Matthew is explaining to Leng the issues we faced in designing games to teach english in an immersive manner. Leng mentions hurdles in using games to demonstrate ideas to people that SEALNET projects work with. He says games tend to press toward a win-lose conclusion and finds it very hard to embedd the notion of win-win closure in a game. It occured to me then, that the reason we were using games was their enomous advantage in appeal to young people over traditional means of communicating these ideas. Why do games hold so much greater appeal? It is not just because someone can win. It is because for someone to win, somone else must lose. Think back on all those gay (Im not big on PC) games that they made you play at various orientations and whatnot in which 'everyone wins' . Those were the silliest games ever. I believe people enjoy games not just because they can win, and they like this, but because they can win, while others can lose, and the winner dominates the loser. I feel every human being feels some gratuity from dominating another. This is why u get bored of stupid pinball games after a while (except for those idiots who compare high scores), but you can play a versus fighter against someone everyday. Sad as it may seem, we derive some pleasure (some derive great pleasure), from having someone grovel beneath you. Win-win games, are quite simply, ungamely.
posted by Had Raven Aunt Van at 1:14 AM
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