June 24th 2008

Violence through gaming...and giant spiders that kill!

Morning

• Started "learning" Java through tutorials. Don't really get it that much, but it makes sense so far.
• Sat through Dr. Robert West's luncheon lecture about gaming studies. Didn't understand what he was talking about near the end and it sadden me that the whole study was about violent games (aka 1st person shooters, etc) and he made no reference to RPGs or TactRPGs. I mean, I believe that TactRPGs teach you some things (though any game could teach you something) like working with your mind, but I guess it wasn't the focus of the study so they made no absolute reference to them, though it still makes me a bit sad.

Afternoon

• Java!!
• Had a team meeting about how the application should look like. Decided on:
  • Color wheel is now a bunch (though not that much) of buttons
  • Menu will probably be transparent
  • Various buttons will be around the bottom left corner of the screen
  • The axes, like the one used in Maya, will probably be implemented
  • A "trash can" and an undo button will also be added
• Also, I completely agree with this quote from one of the news from Cole's blog:
  • “When these kinds of tragedies occur, it’s horrible, horrendous and sad, and it’s very difficult for people to wrestle with the real issues. It’s easier to say, ‘Oh it was those video games that brainwashed him.’ That’s much easier than saying our society is messed up, people don’t take care of each other, teachers aren’t in control, there’s rampant bullying, and there are no parents at home because they have to work two jobs.”

Speaking of games (random news):

• Insane person builds a SNES portable out of wood
• Glowing cats with video

Comments here please.

NizarKhalife - 25 Jun 2008 - 01:06

While a long term gamer such as you or myself tends to enjoy a larger spectrum of game genres, such as the "regular" RPG (as in not massively multi player), Tactical RPG, Fighting, etc., the average gamer is unfortunately not like us. The 1st person shooter genre is enjoying astronomical sales on all platforms. World of Warcraft has easily broken records for online games and has I don't know how many subscribers wasting hours of their life on it. Though I'm also saddened that the scientific community is focusing their attention on certain aspects of gaming that are perhaps not my favorite, to my understanding it is because those are the very aspects that the world is fixated upon, and thus the aspects that are affecting the most people.

ThomasNiedzielski - 24 Jun 2008 - 22:12

Well, I think you're doing pretty well on the Java tutorials. Most of the stuff you were stuck on just caused problems because the tutorial didn't specify where files would be. Keep going!