Game On: A Response to Play (#4)

The way you played as a kid probably has not changed much. It just becomes less noticeable. The truth is we live in a busy world. Our lives are consumed by our work, our families, our friends, and our personal interests. The older we get, the less time there is for play. As children, we are surrounded by toys and games to keep us entertained and stimulated. As adults, we seldom get to explore the creativity that once inspired our existence as children.

 

In retrospect, there have been several strides in incorporating new forms of play into our daily lives. Most commonly internet based games. If you look around at mainstream media a big chunk of it belongs to interactive media. Andrew Hinton discusses Quake and its impact on the gaming society. I was in high school when Quake emerged. There were hundreds of teenagers hogging all the computer labs on every floor just to get a piece of the action. It was a phenomenon. All the attention it drew caused others to give it a test drive. Quake not only filled a need for play but it also allowed room for creativity.

 

Quake was designed with the freedom of user customization. You were provided the necessary tools and functions to get started and then set free. The creators of Quake designed the game to influence user creativity and draw in a big market. There was no doubt that it had. Just the thought of this type of interaction can open so many doors for individuals who have a need to play. Once popular, “The game creators realized that, given the right conditions, the power of open communications easily eclipses the planned efforts of any single organization. The challenge is to create structures that encourage and channel that power without hindering its collective energy and creativity (Hinton, p.3).”

 

By incorporating creative freedom into gaming a virtual world can become a powerful accessory to real-life. Think about applications such as Second Life. In Second Life you can create a virtual you, own property, and even become an entrepreneur. If you are business minded you could even make playing your full time job. There has been a big emergence of developers and designers that make a living on Second Life designing objects for users. It is becoming an incredible phenomenon as well (5&6).

 

The sky is the limit for these interactive media types. What the future holds is up to us. If we reflect back on our childhood, for most of us, a majority of it was spent playing. The responsibilities of adulthood put a damper on our creativity. I believe if we were allowed to play more as adults stress would begin to lift. Our enthusiasm as a child can be our inspiration for a brighter tomorrow. We should never lose that ten year old we all have living inside of us.

Hinton, Andrew   We Live Here: Games, Third Places and the Information Architecture of the Future (2006)  

 Huizinga, J         Homo ludens: a study of the play element in culture  (1950)

           

Down with the Demon Rum

Interesting enough the phrase ” Down with the Demon Rum” was title to one of the many protests that took place during prohibition. Alcoholism was so prominent at this time that people failed to see the rise of heroin use. There was an interesting piece on the History channel this week titled ” Hooked.” It examined the history of what are now illegal drugs and how they got that way.

Odd Cast

If you enjoy text to speech applications then you should check out Odd Cast. Say whatever is on your mind in a variey of voices and languages. Even though I am not sure how accurate it is… it sure is comical.

Guess who?

 

Interesting resemblence…don’t ya think??

Cause for a Nightmare

I know being fashionable in Japan is a big part of their culture…but this is just down right scary.

Who owns what?

Ever wonder what companies own?? Here is a cool site that I stumbled across that gives you the low down on what major media companies own. Pretty interesting stuff.

What type are you?

Ever wonder what makes you… well you?? Check out this personality test based on the Jung – Myers-Briggs typological approach. I’m a ENFP. If you want to know what that means thou will take-ith the test.

Check it out yourself..I’m on break!

This technology has brought new meaning to shopping frustration….

While attending college, I worked for Home Depot as a kitchen designer. My previous Depot occupation was commander of the Self-Check out registers, which quickly became a very interesting social experiment. I got the pleasure of watching people of all ages and backgrounds, physically abuse this technology.

Self-Check out is designed to make getting in and getting out of a high traffic store much faster. This is just not the case. Self-Check Out turned into a big nightmare about 75 percent of the time. The interface is designed with a bed scanner, weighing machine, and LCD screen. The idea here is for the customer to be able to check out their own purchases. For people who are at a technological disadvantage, operating these machines is just not possible. I have seen people swear, slam their purchases, and even scream at this device. It was quiet humorous for me.

The biggest problem here is most people that tried the technology were technologically challenged. Sometimes I wondered if they used the machines just so they could complain. Besides challenging the challenged, the machines did have some quirky problems. After each item is scanned it is to be placed in the bagging area where it is to be weighed. The weight of the product is stored in the memory of the CPU inside. If there are too many bags in the bagging area, or the self-absorbed suburban house wife places her purse on it, the weight will be thrown off and you will be prohibited from continuing. This was the most common problem. Another popular frustration was ringing up items that had no UPC code. The interface is set up to locate non-UPC items with the GUI. It is organized with pictures that coordinate with the alphabet. Sounds easy right? It wasn’t unless you worked with the machines.

I could go on and on about the design and operation problems with Self-Check Out but I am sure most of you have experienced some of it. Furthermore, this technology probably won’t be upgraded or made more efficient anytime soon. The developers designed it with the self sufficient in mind. There really is no need to invest anymore money into it since it does work when the user is familiar with it. I think they expect people to adapt to it over time. If given sometime this might be the case but I doubt it.

Rank & Rave… it looks good on you

 ”Explain to me where bad drivers came from? Do they teach them the art of making a right hand turn without signaling or is that a honed skill?  Maybe its just me. For some strange reason, beyond the realm of understanding, I always end up on the road when the bell rings at Moron’s R Us. Is it really so hard to flick your signal light every now and again? All I am asking for is an attempt at considerate driving. If anyone has an explaination for older drivers and being too short to see over the steering wheel, feel free to enligten me. You can’t see as it is why get behind the wheel? It just doesn’t make sense.” 

This is what I had to listen to this morning as a customer went off on a tangent about drivers (of course I paraphrased)… the best part is that he backed into our UPS driver as he exited. How about that for Karma.

This has been your moment of Zen.

Psst… over here

My alias….. ‘dreamsndigital’ is a representation of those of us that are dreamers, future innovators, and leaders of the world…my dreams revolve around the digital world of technology; respectively graphic design and the progression of this digital art form…what type of dreamer are you?