J0anna's Academic Adventures...

Facebook's First Big Chain Letter?!

2008-08-19T19:42:00.005-07:00

Okay, so I haven't blogged here in a long time - I've been over blogging at the Centre for Digital Media and photoblogging it up on my flickr...

But I couldn't wait to share what I encountered last night, through to this afternoon (and I bet it's not over).
A family member who I trust, sent me the following message using facebook's messaging system. I could also see that they had sent it to many of their friends in a mass message.

" Attention all Facebook members.
Facebook is recently becoming very overpopulated,
There have been many members complaining that Facebook
is becoming very slow.Record shows that the reason is
that there are to many non-active Facebook members
And on the other side too many new Facebook members.
We will be sending this messages around to see if the
Members are active or not,If you're active please send
to 15 other users using Copy+Paste to show that you are active
Those who do not send this message within 2 weeks,
The user will be deleted without hesitation to create more space,
If Facebook is still overpopulated we kindly ask for donations but until then send this message to all your friends and make sure you send
this message to show me that your active and not deleted.

Founder of Facebook
Mark Zuckerber "

I received it 4 more times before I started receiving responses questioning the authenticity of the message. And they keep coming. It made me chuckle, and it's the first chain letter on facebook I've ever been sent. It reminds me of the first time I received crazy emails when I first started using the web.

Here a comment I enjoyed from the discussion:

"Attention all Facebook members.

Do you really think that they can't tell if your account has been used? And that their method of checking would be to ask people to forward a message? Do you really think that an official mailout would have misspelt "you're", or used so much informal language?

Every day, spam wastes millions of megabits per second all over the internet.

Please, think of the megabits. Think before forwarding.

Cheers,
Not A Founder Of Facebook"

PS: I am not passing the letter on. Lulz. What's next?

2008-04-02T14:17:00.002-07:00

Blended Reality: A look at bringing Second Life into Real Life

Spam Poem - a combined effort by the spammers of my Inbox

2008-02-10T19:36:00.000-08:00

etic

Thanks, we are ready to lend you money

top designer shoes

juggling gifts

FuckstickTremendousFloyd

parallelless

improve sexual endurance

diamond replicas

penis enlargement scams... get the truth

try it, your woman will be happy

thankyou, we are accepting your refinance application.

Sunday Reading

2008-02-10T15:06:00.000-08:00

* Here's one of the recent Anonymous videos about protesting against Scientology online and offline.
The hacker group has been counting down to TODAY, Feb 10, for a big assault against the Scientology "cult". So I am sure there will be some major strikes online and off today. It will be interesting to see what happens and how the media responds.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4yLnFMFM9g

* IBM expands business centre for India in 'Second Life'
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Infotech/IBM_expands_business_centre_for_India_in_Second_Life/articleshow/2738243.cms

* Cool new PicLens firefox add on lets you view pictures in a 3d side scroll reminiscent of the iphone's itunes browser
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/5579

* Social Media Information Flow
http://hq.andrewshuttleworth.com/hq/2008/02/social-media-on.html

* Loving your avatar: identity, immersion and empathy
http://warburton.typepad.com/liquidlearning/2008/01/loving-your-ava.html

MDM Students Reflect on the RSVP Mixed reality picnic

2007-10-29T11:22:00.001-07:00

RSVP Picnic in first and second life 1, originally uploaded by J0@nn@.

A week after the Contemporary Art Gallery RSVP Picnic event hosted at the GNWC Centre for Digital Media the students discussed their impressions and feedback on the event.

Event Description:

"The Contemporary Art Gallery presents RSVP - a series of dinner parties as unscripted social performance enacted by everyone in attendance, as part of the 2007 LIVE Performance Art Biennale, October 19 - 28, 2007.
Guests including Masters of Digital Media students, faculty, second life and first life educators and Second Front performance artists discussed performance and identity over picnic lunch in both worlds.
Guest-curated by Germaine Koh, ECI sessional faculty member, hosted by Joanna Robinson & Ian Verchere at the GNWC Centre for Digital Media in first and second life. "

General Feedback:

- There was a disconnect between virtual and real picnic – attention drawn to one or the other

- Facilitation between worlds was needed and was provided by Joanna but since she was not clearly defined as 'leader' this could have been more successful

- 'Weird' experience, even though eating lunch and chatting is something we do often in everyday life

- How to particpate was not defined in keeping with the unscripted social performance mandate - this made it awkward, not sure what to do

- Some students performance was centred on their SL avatar, others felt they were performing in first life for our guests at the first life campus, representing the MDM (Masters of Digital Media) program

- RSVP – Framed it as “respond please”

- Being together in the room made a different dynamic, than if we were separated in diferent rooms

- Students found themselves waiting for artist to give her performance, the professor to direct or either to give them explicit sanction to perform

- A 'Team leader' would be useful (video game guild style) to direct group action

General SL feedback:

- The SL experience is Exploratory
- SL is a Social space – a space of chatter
- SL general feels like it is lacking sense of purpose, lack of direction
- No explicit goals to orient participants unlike WoW

Talking about Emergent Play:

- Use of emotes in Wow to communicate between horde and alliance
- Metaphor of SL as a festival with many sub events simultaneously occurring

Examples of gaming Emergent play:
- Reppapropriation
- Mass suicide or town death by poison
- Seasonal quests
- Conga line
- Suggested motivations of boredom, showing off
- “Transgressive play” - pushing the limits, finding the rules and breaking them
- Emergent play requires an observer

Examples of Second Life Emergent Play:
- Different borders and rules to transgress
- Scandalous behaviour, inappropriate in some first life spaces
- "Excessive violence" and PvP
- Griefing
- Or can every Second Life activity be considered "emergent play"?

Another interesting comment about SL and reflexivity:

- SL can make you think more consciously about your first life performance and behaviour, because the rules that govern us in first life are different

Doing it the Great Northern Way - The Masters of Digital Media Program @ the Centre for Digital Media is launched

2007-09-15T19:24:00.000-07:00

Hello friends/readers/surfers/you!

It is about time for me to return to the blogosphere & share some news and updates!

It has been a busy summer, jam-packed with program preparation and events at Great Northern Way Campus (GNWC).

Centre for Digital Media Launch in Vancouver Sun, originally uploaded by J0@nn@.

GNWC is an academic partnership of British Columbia's four major post-secondary institutions: the University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University, Emily Carr Institute of Art + Design, and the British Columbia Institute of Technology.

As research assistant to the Masters of Digital Media Program (MDM) @ the GNWC Centre for Digital Media, I have been working on a number of projects over the Summer and continuing into Fall. Most of this work has centred around the use of virtual environments in education, collaboration and events.

Since October 2006, we have been exploring the use of metaverse Second Life in particular, at our virtual space there called "University Project". http://slurl.com/secondlife/University%20Project/150/84/23/

Explorations have revolved around developing practical course uses centred around a pedagogy of participation, student centred design (something MDM is exploring in both the physical and the virtual) and the organization and hosting of blended reality events.

We have held a number of events and explorations in Second Life to date, including:

 Collaborative modding and building of learning spaces workshop
 Blended reality open house and campus events, including BC Premier's first visit to Second Life at our blended reality program launch
 Community partner Vancouver Police Department's Second Life information and recruitment session
 Blended reality book launch by renowned sci-fi writer and MDM advisory board member William Gibson
 Hosting a virtual conference - CITASA MC 3.0 2007

Now that the program has launched, and students have begun their courses, our future plans for the use of our virtual campus in Second Life include:

* Courses using SL including:
-Building Virtual Worlds (several metaverses)
-Visual Story
-Interdisciplinary Improvisation
* Further exploration of blended reality events and activities
Eg - ‘RSVP’ Campus & SL blended reality lunch, presented by Contemporary Art Gallery Oct 22 2007
* Student modification/design & redesign of our space(s)
* Exhibition of student work and possible student store

So these are some of the elements of the MDM program I am working on, in addition to speaking engagements this semester.

This week I am looking forward to participating in a panel entitled The Reality Continuum: Physical, Blended and Virtual Realities in Second Life at VidFest (The Vancouver International Digital Festival) http://www.vidfest.com/

In other news, I am looking at some changes and updates to my website in the coming days, and being a Resident Evil buff, keep an eye out for my commentary on the new Resident Evil film, "Extinction" soon to be released. Should be interesting!

Over and out for now, cyberspace.

Metro article page 2 - May 31 2007

2007-06-03T22:38:00.001-07:00

Metro article page 2 - May 31 2007, originally uploaded by J0@nn@.

Joanna Robinson aka JoannaTrail Blazer - MDM Research Assistant

VPD Event hosted by the Masters of Digital Media Program @ GNWC - at the Virtual Centre for Digital Media (University Project sim)

www.gnwc.ca/mdm/

The final day of Resident Evil Outbreak (File 2) Online!

2007-03-31T11:12:00.000-07:00

"Capcom regretfully announces the end of online support for Resident Evil Outbreak File #2.
Service will terminate on March 31st, 2007.

Fans are, of course, free to continue playing the game offline even after the online server has been shut down.

We would like to apologize for any disappointment this decision may cause the dedicated online community."

I received an email earlier in the week from a friend I used to play daily with in Resident Evil Outbreak (REO) telling me the sad news.
Rumours say that the server will be online til 12 midnight Pacific tonight.
I logged on last night just after midnight EST, and there were:

146 in Free Area (91 now playing)
3 in Nightmare Area
38 in Infinity Area
0 in Mens Club
2 in Ladies Night
12 in Bonus Event
6 in Showdown
0 in Survival
0 in Panic
0 in Elimination
= 207

I checked REO File 1 and there were 17 people online - it seems that File 1 is going to be kept online for a while longer, so I think it is safe to say it can expect a mass migration of hardcore REO players to return to it in the coming days/weeks.

It's a bizarre sort of way for the REO saga to come to a close for participants, particularly those of us who began on file 1, got excited about file 2 and went together to the new game... and now some of us will return to File 1 as the last online REO space....ever?

We all have high hopes for something comparable to (and better) than Resident Evil Outbreak to be released for PS3 or elsewhere...a true survival horror MMOG....
But some think it grim, saying things like "if they make a file 3, bush is the best president"...
There have been many messageboard threads devoted to the possibilities of File 3 and what players would like to see in such a game...but as it stands, we are not sure if we will get to play Resident Evil online together again, after these game servers are shut down.

Players had mixed sentiments, but most were sad or angry at Capcom's decision, even calling them "Crapcom" in game titles. Other game titles could be read either way, such as "thanks Capcom".

Other memorable comments from the gathering of the REO community on the File 2 game servers last night:

"I haven't seen this many people since last year"
"What's going on, a fucking reunion?"
"This is outrageous!!" (after finding out File 2 was closing down)
"I guess all go file 1 after shutdown"
"at least ob has the best scenarios ever created" (ob refers to REO File 1)
"sweet nightmares"

I will return tonight and meet up with some old friends, some of which have been playing REO regularly since I met them after its release in 2003.
Thankyou to all of you for making REO so much more than what capcom programmed it to be! We had a blast. And I will see you on File #1. Looking forward to hitting the zoo one more time tonight, until she goes down!
- J0anna ;)

PS: Here is one of my favourite game play videos from REO File #2, by MEMDB.

Resident Evil Outbreak File #2 - Girls Nite Out

Fiddling with Google Sketchup

2007-03-13T14:40:00.001-07:00

Fiddling with Google Sketchup, originally uploaded by J0@nn@.

I had some difficulty...using the help, this was what I did on my first try.

Note the avatar that I couldn't even manage to make female... eek!

I really like what this program can do (which is more than I managed to achieve on my first go, I couldn't even resize my shapes to be 3d easily), but I'm not finding it very user friendly!

It's a shame, as there is a Build Your Campus in 3D contest I'd love to enter if I could get a better handle on this!

2007-02-08T02:21:00.000-08:00

Modding the Metaverse Machinima

MDM Learning Space Modding/Building Exercise - After

2007-01-25T13:58:00.000-08:00

MDM Learning Space Modding/Building Exercise - After
Originally uploaded by J0@nn@.

NMC Campus is Accreting Land

2007-01-17T01:42:00.000-08:00

NMC Campus is Accreting Land
Originally uploaded by NMC Second Life.

Educational/Learning Space Modding Workshop in Second Life - January 18th & 25th 2007

2007-01-14T19:28:00.000-08:00

From TracyTrail Blazer (& me, JoannaTrail Blazer!):

VCDM Classroom Jan 14 2007
Originally uploaded by J0@nn@.

Some of you may remember me from last November when I posted an invitation to our Virtual Open House at the Virtual Centre for Digital Media where we talked about a new Masters of Digital Media (MDM) program at the Great Northern Way Campus starting in September 2007. The open house was a great success and we are moving forward to put together some innovative ideas & educational tools in Second Life for our 'real life' curriculum.

One initiative that we are currently working on is transforming traditional style educational spaces (for example lecture halls and seminar rooms) into student designed collaborative learning environments. We would like to move beyond conventional 'real life' pedagogical delivery modes and encourage students to actively engage and participate in their learning milieu by creating virtual learning spaces & places, and have students learn technical design skills (and modding) at the same time.

Having said that, I'd like to invite you to a workshop we are having at the Virtual Centre for Digital Media (Erie) on Thursday January 18th - 1oam SLT/PST AND repeated later the same day at 1pm SLT/PST where we will have a 'brainstorming' session to take the existing seminar room at the Virtual Centre for Digital Media, and transform it into something that is collaboratively created by a group of individuals - the intention is to show that a group of individuals can come together and create their own learning space.

The following week (Wed Jan 24th 10am SLT/PST) we will put theory into practice and actually do the modifications and changes to the room to see what the end result might look like; however if you only want to come to the brainstorming session on the 18th - that's fine too - We're interested in your thoughts, ideas and expertise.

If you have questions, please feel free to email me at joanna@gnwc.ca

More information about the program here:

http://www.gnwc.ca/mdm/

http://www.mastersofdigitalmedia.blogspot.com

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gnwc

2006-11-23T22:26:00.000-08:00

Masters of Digital Media: The Making of the Centre for Digital Media in Second Life

A Possible Future - What will be the state of Gaming & Virtual Environments in years to come?

2006-11-23T15:04:00.000-08:00

I was pondering the changes in the video games I have played over the years, from the home console version of Pong my father brought home which I thought was SO cool, shooting asteriods and hyperspacing....being Luigi at one friends house and beating up my other friends on Mortal Kombat with the oh so naughty blood feature turned on... Sonic the Hedgehog which I described as like being "in an interactive movie" when my Dad asked me what was so great about it after catching me sneaking downstairs to play at 5am one morning...and wandering around with a bunch Cys and later alien avatars in AlphaWorld then ActiveWorlds....
And I must not leave out the chunk of hours of my life I spent devoted to being a Matriarch Sorceress in Diablo nor the countless evenings I spent shooting zombies and outsmarting the evil Umbrella corporation...
So many interesting experiences to reflect upon now that I am a little older (and I like to think wiser) and am reading about and participating in game research.

These days the suped up PS2 with it's HDD I bought Final Fantasy just to get a hold of and it's extra memory cards and vibrating controller sits idle when not working on my Resident Evil Outbreak research project and has even ~gasp~ gathered a layer of dust a few times now!
I am living a Second Life and loving it. Not only am I exploring Second Life with my own personal account, as I blogged about recently, I have an avatar/acct for my Virtual Research Assistant job with the Masters of Digital Media Program at GNWC, working on a virtual locale for their Centre for Digital Media.

Looking back on these experiences and the many others I've had, some of which I may share another time, I imagine the possible future of my gaming, and indeed as the Wii and PS3 are released, and virtual environments are increasingly used in education and training, the future of gaming (and VR) for all of us.

I imagine perhaps in future histories of gaming, that in the early 2000's gamers gradually drifted from their consoles to virtual environments, where their avatar and experiences could be highly customized and changed from day to day....
At the same time, audiences who had never played a video game in their life took up the games this group had largely left behind, the Yahoo Literati, the Solitaire, the Console games.
Even further in the future, perhaps this group then joins the others, in a virtual world or worlds that would make ActiveWorlds and Second Life look entirely primitive, but a definite ancestor.
A place or series of places where websites are no longer pages, where groups have highly complex virtual communities that are disconnected from "rl" as well as groups that are entirely blurred between them. Places where fantasy WoW type scenarios take place, shooter environments, educational environments, virtual music scenes and performing arts venues, environments we haven't even dreamed of yet, an experience that can be what we traditionally think of as gaming as well as whatever we may dream of experiencing together...a place where we both play and work and where we all contribute to what is around us and what experience, and can be whomever we want to be...

Open house for Masters of Digital Media in physical & Second Life...

2006-11-09T19:14:00.000-08:00

The Virtual Centre for Digital Media Building under construction in Second Life
Originally uploaded by Jo-anna.

On November 25, 2006 the open house for the Masters of Digital Media (MDM)
Program will be held concurrently at its real life location in Vancouver, BC
at the Great Northern Way Campus AND at its Second Life presence at the Virtual
Centre for Digital Media Building! We're accepting applications for 2007 and
more information about the open house and the program can be found at our
website: http://www.gnwc.ca/mdm.

A cornerstone course planned for the MDM Program is "Building Virtual
Worlds", and the opportunity to use Second Life as a major platform for
instruction and interaction in that course is very exciting. MDM Program
also has two (possibly the first ever) virtual Research Assistants who will
be on-site for the SL Open House to guide people, they are sociologist Tracy Kennedy (University of Toronto) - SL name: TracyTrail Blazer, and graduate
student Joanna Robinson (Brock University) - SL name: JoannaTrail Blazer.
Please look for either of them in world, the location of the Open House at
the Virtual Centre for Digital Media Building (under construction) can be
found in their picks (Erie, 178, 55, 25).

The MDM Program has an advisory board that consists of world-class educators
and leaders in the digital media industry (William Gibson, Glenn Entis, Don
Mattrick, Scott Fisher and Joi Ito) and leading industry partners (Blast
Radius, Electronic Arts, Mainframe Entertainment, Microsoft, New Media BC,
Price Waterhouse Coopers, Propaganda Games-BVG/Disney, Radical
Entertainment-Vivendi Games, Rainmaker Animation & Visual Effects, Relic
Entertainment-THQ).

JoannaTrail Blazer & the Virtual Centre for Digital Media in Second Life

2006-11-01T09:18:00.000-08:00

JoannaTrail Blazer - Virtual Research Assistant
Originally uploaded by Jo-anna.

Hello all!
As I mentioned in my previous post, I have been asked to help organize the building of the virtual space for the Masters of Digital Media @ Great Northern Way Campus. Along with other team members interested in VR and education including TracyTrail Blazer (Tracy Kennedy of the University of Toronto) I will be hosting the open house in Second Life simultaneously with the open house at the physical site in Great Northern Way Campus in Vancouver BC.

The Masters of Digital Media program is unique in it's structure, support from four major educational institutions and partners in BC's burgeoning digital games and media industry. To read more, visit http://www.gnwc.ca/mdm
We also have a blog athttp://mastersofdigitalmedia.blogspot.com
The group blog will track the progress of the project and feature screenshots of work in progress, and general info about the program as it develops.
Also, pictures are at http://www.flickr.com/photos/gnwc/

Here is a recent article about the program and SL project in the Vancouver Sun!

More updates soon...

Masters of Digital Media @ Great Northern Way Campus

2006-10-29T13:03:00.000-08:00

Hello all,
Here's a great video about an exciting new program at Great Northern Way Campus in Vancouver, BC, Canada.

The Masters of Digital Media is going to build a Second Life space, the "Virtual Centre for Digital Media" Building. Tracy Kennedy and I will be helping it get together, and hosting the open house at the virtual location November 25...
Check it out! More to come...

Resident Evil Outbreak/Online Research - Participants wanted

2006-10-16T13:06:00.000-07:00

Dear Fellow Gamers,
I, Joanna Robinson, Graduate Student, from the Department of Communications, Popular Culture & Film, Brock University (www.brocku.ca/cpcf/), invite you to participate in a research project entitled Gender, Representations & Interactions in Resident Evil Online.

The purpose of this research project is to explore the different ways players interact in Resident Evil Online and how they think and feel about Resident Evil Online’s characters as their virtual bodies. It is also about how you play the game, other than how it was designed to be played.

I am particularly interested in talking with female REO gamers (as well as male) of any age that play Resident Evil Outbreak online, or have played it!

The expected duration is a 40-60 minute interview (by web-messaging or email) and an optional 10-30 minute session playing Resident Evil Online.

This research should benefit games research in general, by providing an important historical case study of an online console game community, as well as generating recommendations for gender inclusive game design in the future.

This is a single site project, conducted by one researcher using her password protected home office computer.
If you have any pertinent questions about your rights as a research participant, please contact the Brock University Research Ethics Officer (905 688-5550 ext 3035, reb@brocku.ca) There are no funds raised or profits gained by this research.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at jrobinson@brocku.ca. There are also details on my website.

Thank you,

JOANNA S. ROBINSON (aka J0anna)
www.JoannaSRobinson.com

Joanna S. Robinson               Dale Bradley
Graduate Student              Assistant Professor
(905) 688-5550                (905) 688 5550 ext 3180
jrobinson@brocku.ca               dbradley@brocku.ca

CITASA 2006 - Participating in the conference online...

2006-08-11T07:05:00.000-07:00

I didn't make it out to the ASA (American Sociological Association) conference this year, due to drafting my thesis! The conference was held in beautiful Montreal, and I am enjoying checking out the photos on flickr of those who were able to attend...

Excitingly though, this year the Communication & Information Technologies section of ASA (CITASA) held their discussions in conjunction with online participants! So I was able to participate in a number of interesting discussions in (almost) real time on the site messageboard, and still be a part of things. A variety of issues were discussed relating to the sociology of ICTs including the use of laptops in the classroom, library filtering of the internet and online health resources...

Participating in a conference online without actually being there was a first for me, and a lot of fun! Congrats to those who organized it, and I look forward to next years....although I hope to be there in person as well next time!

To read or add to the discussions, head over to http://www.citasa.org/

A student film trailer I was in - 'Legend of Tiamat'

2006-07-26T14:13:00.000-07:00


Legend of Tiamat is a film trailer production made as a college project by envysion.org and hooknflesh.biz.

Thoughts on Women in Games 2006

2006-07-15T17:24:00.000-07:00

Phew! Difficult to know where to start in discussing Women in Games 2006.

The event, July 10-11 2006 @ the University of Teesside, Middlesbrough UK was attended by an enthusiastic group of game designers & researchers from all over the UK as well as international visitors, including yours truly.
The entire group attended most presentations, and discussions were really lively, interesting and thought provoking. Since I am no journalist (I do academic rants...uh, I mean interpretations of data better), I will not try to provide an overview, but instead focus on some of the sessions that interested me in particular. I hope you find my notes useful, and feel free to discuss them with me here or in private by email (Joanna.Robinson@brocku.ca)

Registration & Coffee
* Always a good way to start any conference, mmmmmmmm coffee....

Left: Deb Tillett, CEO of BreakAway Games, Right: Me!
Originally uploaded by Jo-anna.

"Quality of Life" - Deb Tillett, CEO BreakAway Games
* After the welcome address by the Vice Chancellor of the University and Make Eyles' opening address, Deb got the conference off to a great start, discussing how BreakAway takes care of their employees needs and how this translates into good work and retention, (both women and men).
* Deb's talk revealed a company environment in which employees are made to feel like family members....and in which employee's family members become involved and invested in the goals of the company through genuine caring and involvement.
* I found the steps that BreakAway had taken in terms of caring for employee's spouses/partners particularly commendable. Helping new employee's families settle in the town was another important extra step that most corporations wouldn't bother with, that has the potential to make a major difference....
* Later in the day, Deb participated in the Quality of Life panel, moderated by Jason Della Rocca of IGDA.

Left: Me, Right: Jason Della Rocca, Executive Director of IGDA
Originally uploaded by Jo-anna.

Particularly useful I thought was her suggestion that the burgeoning games industry learn from the successes and mistakes of existing creative industries.... hear hear!
* On a personal note, it was inspirational to hear Deb talk - she was confident, assertive, (successful) and clearly passionate about what she does. I really enjoyed her contributions to conference discussions....

"The Making of an Art Game" - Emma Westecott
* A fascinating presentation which challenged us to think about the potential for future game design....
* I enjoyed the example of an art game that she showed, about Beethoven's ghost. This game used noise and blurring at one point to simulate the experience of Beethoven's hearing loss later in his life. Emma challenged the audience to think about how games can simulate and express experiences beyond the "fun" and "entertainment" that is currently being produced en masse.
* I think her point was driven home brilliantly by the example. While the noise was unpleasant and the blurring disorienting, it was a fascinating experience....
* Emma was right to cite art and film history, in its many explorations of a myriad of experiences as important and useful to designers today... I have often pondered where games will go in the future, and there is *so much* that can be done in terms of producing experiences with this amazing medium that has yet to be embarked upon!

T. L. Taylor & I
Originally uploaded by Jo-anna.

"A future for gender and computer game studies?" - T. L. Taylor
* As I had an inkling she would after reading her book, T. L. Taylor rocked the house with her talk on the possible directions research into women and games should go in the future.
* Among many important interventions, T.L. reminded us that researchers are also gendered bodies, and that gendered communication issues do not disappear when we research games, particularly online.
* Areas she cited as needing further research included social networks, studies of console gaming women (as much as been written about female PC gamers) and more detailed studies of the women who play games now, rather than simply posulating about "what women (may) want".
* Importantly, T. L reminded us that we are now 10 years removed from the "pink games" movement, and we need to keep progressing...she even showed the infamous "chess for girls" clip from Saturday Night Live. hehehe.
* Also, she suggested that studies of newbies or pathways to gaming was an important avenue that has not been adequately investigated, including how players come to start playing a game, and why they stay in the community and continue to play....
* T. L. reminded us that there is much left to be done in this field, and I was encouraged and uplifted by her talk!

Eduteams - Helen Routledge, TLPD
* This was a really great presentation, done along with two students from St. Saviours High School at which TLPD simulated a game design team and put together a learning game.
* The students who presented along with Helen were articulate and enthusiastic and had clearly learned alot from the experience. Also, the actual game they produced was great! As they noted, it may even be a good way for some students to study! Wish they had this program when I was in high school!

Kitt of the UK Frag Dolls & I
Originally uploaded by Jo-anna.

Frag Dolls UK - Kitt Kearney
* Kitt's talk was really interesting. What I found particularly positive was how Kitt explained how she wanted the Frag Dolls to help as a gateway for new, (potentially young) girl gamers....so that they can perceive the gaming world as a legitimate space for them. Again, we go back to the issue of pure visibility. And she does have a point...while the representations of gender in the Frag Dolls cartoons might be seen in some ways as problematic, they will signify and trigger certain things to parents, and to young girls (as socialized).
* One can debate all day whether or not this is the right approach to get more women into gaming, and if a corporate built team of women is really the right people to be mentoring these new recruits. But as Kitt asserted in her presentation, at least they are trying something, right now, and it is producing results.
*And after discussing some of my reservations with Kitt about the image of Frag Dolls, I do feel that the Frag Dolls has the potential to make a difference to perceptions about female gamers, moving away from booth babes to bad-assed (competent) babes. It is a great starting point...

Left to right: Kyle Machulis of Linden Labs (Second Life), Me, Kitt of the UK Frag Dolls
Originally uploaded by Jo-anna.

"Sex in Games" - Kyle Machulis - Linden Labs
* A really fun and thought provoking way to end the conference. Kyle presented a history of sexual content in games, along with the various issues such games and their developers have faced. He also spent some time discussing emergent sex, and even birth and babies in Second Life. Loads of fun, and fascinating to think about what may be next & the implications..... Thanks Kyle!

Playing with Gender: Performance & Subversion in Resident Evil Online
(My Presentation!)
* Suffice to say, things went well! It was a challenge for me to put this paper together, as although I am experienced presenting to academic audiences, this was my first time addressing a group consisting of mostly designers and industry reps.
* Lots of interesting questions and discussions arose with various participants throughout the conference about my presentation. It was great to talk about how my research pertains to designer objectives, as well as contributing to a greater understanding of player audiences.
* I will be putting a PDF version of the paper and Powerpoint of my presentation on my website in the coming days. The live game play videos (re-enactments) used to illustrate concepts from my paper will also be available soon.
* If you would like to hear more about/discuss my research on Resident Evil: Outbreak (Online) further, please feel free to contact me at Joanna.Robinson@brocku.ca and I will be glad to chat with you about it....

Mark Eyles, Maggie Parker, Me, Gabrielle Kent
Originally uploaded by Jo-anna.

Click here to see the rest of my trip photos in my flickr photo album. :)

Thankyou to all of the presenters, to everyone on the Women in Games steering committee and to Gabrielle Kent in particular - Women in Games 2006 was a fantastic experience!

Women in Games Conference 2006

2006-07-14T13:34:00.000-07:00

I'm back from my awesome trip to the UK to go to Women in Games 2006!
I am jetlagged & really sleepy, so I'll save my more detailed report for tomorrow. :)

I've uploaded some pictures from my trip to my Flickr Photo Album at http://www.flickr.com/photos/jo-anna/

I want to write more now, but my jetlag and fuzzy brain will not allow it. In short though, it was a really fantastic conference, with some very interesting and useful presentations.

More very soon on my thoughts on the presentations and ideas discussed....

Thankyou to all of the conference organizers and participants, AND also everyone I met along my trip and in my visit to London afterwards...I had a fantastic time!

It's about time I got a (Second) Life!

2006-07-02T21:02:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a busy couple of weeks (ok, months!) but here I am, exploring the wonderful world wide web once more.... in my curiousity over the references I've seen to SecondLife lately, I headed on over. While I expected something much like the ActiveWorlds or CybernetWorlds, which were my first "VR" or virtual chat programs/environment experiences, I was pleasantly suprised by what I found and how much easier it was in comparison.
Unlike in these programs, in SecondLife, customization is pretty user friendly and allows for the greatest degree of user input into representations (without paying for a custom made avatar, made by someone else to your specifications) that I have seen so far!
For AW and CNW, I had to buy my own world (annual fee, over 100 dollars US) to be able to customize the avatars, other than choosing from what was provided already which consisted of a limited amount of pre-made avatars for free version users. With my pay account and world, then I had to edit the files myself, using a crude modelling program, so things were still limited. Or, I could try to explain what I wanted in my personal avatar to someone else, and pay 20 dollars US and up each. This is obviously alot to go through to have a customized avatar.
So in comparison, SecondLife is very exciting stuff!
I won't get into debating whether this is a video game or a virtual chat program. Doesn't matter, I enjoy these virtual world thingies. One of the many things that excites me (because I LOVE to build environments, but I will save that for another rant) is the ability to self-represent through avatar customization. The degree of freedom to customize in "SL" was really amazing, and I soon figured out how to take off all my clothes as well as change their appearance when on. After I got the virtual streaking out of my system, I went about the fascinating task of sorting out how I wanted my avatar to look and thinking about how it may be perceived by others. As you will see, I came up with a feminine looking avatar, tall with a medium body weight and width. I chose to keep a human skin tone, even though I could have had any colour in the spectrum whatsoever, and lightened the default tan to something more like my own skin tone. I enjoyed my long purple hair, but changed to another hair colour to accomodate a great wild looking hairstyle. Below you will see the start I made on my avatar - I am sure I will fiddle with her some more soon! I was fascinated by the diverse avatars I saw others wearing, from spectacularly 'sexy' and 'wild' (in the sense that they were otherworldly or may not be socially acceptable in the 'real world' because they are too 'crazy') to simple virtual jeans. Most were highly individual, and while some referenced 'types' as a starting point (eg Goth Girl) they were still very unique and unlike any mass media created images I have ever seen! I was excited to see lots of women standing around the lobby, dressed in their finest - shiny heels and ruffly skirts (interestingly, lots of women wore skirts and heels, I wonder if they had as much difficulty choosing between pants and a skirt as I did??) as well as giant sh*t-kickin-boots and trousers, all manner of expressive and exciting avatars...their wild hairdos blowing in the breeze. The guys looked fun too, one of them had a neat sword I'd like to get my hands on, and I saw one guy run by that looked like a superhero I had never seen before!
I am sure I will have much more to say down the road on this environment and its communities. But for now, my thanks to my new friends (two women and one man) who, after I had chatted with them awhile gave me (virtual) money and clothing, helped me learn to navigate some of the controls and generally gave me a warm welcome! It was a very pleasant newbie experience that helped take the edge off the learning curve too.
I've included 3 of the screenshots I took during my first adventure into SecondLife below (permission gained!). I will add more to my flickr photos as I further work with my avatar's representation...

It looks like it will be yet another busy work week for me, as Friday I am off to the UK for a few days to participate in the Women in Games 2006 conference! More soon!

UPDATE JULY 14:
My SecondLife avatar has changed significantly since this post....screenshots are on my flickr photo album! http://www.flickr.com/photos/jo-anna/

D&D Character Alignment Test

2006-06-06T14:41:00.000-07:00

So I found this D&D character alignment test, via looking at RPG Alignment designed tshirts at OfflineTshirts .com.
While on the gamer tshirts topic, other faves of mine are J!NX and ThinkGeek.

My results on the character alignment test were...~drum roll~....Neutral.
Neutral?
hmm. Interesting...

Here's the shirt I ended up buying!
"I do not need Mario to save me!"

Your Character’s Alignment

Based on your answers to the quiz, your character’s most likely alignment is Neutral.

Neutral

A neutral character does what seems to be a good idea. She doesn’t feel strongly one way or the other when it comes to good vs. evil or law vs. chaos. Most neutrality is a lack of conviction or bias rather than a commitment to neutrality. Such a character thinks of good as better than evil. After all, she would rather have good neighbors and rulers than evil ones. Still, she’s not personally committed to upholding good in any abstract or universal way. Some neutral characters, on the other hand, commit themselves philosophically to neutrality. They see good, evil, law, and chaos as prejudices and dangerous extremes. They advocate the middle way of neutrality as the best, most balanced road in the long run. The common phrase for neutral is "true neutral." Neutral is the best alignment you can be because it means you act naturally, without prejudice or compulsion.

--excerpted from the Player’s Handbook, Chapter 6

Click here to take the Character Alignment Test