For this assignment, we are looking into the world of gaming using discussion boards from different gaming sites where the gamers self-identify as a culture or subculture.
The first site that I visited was www.gaymer.org. This site is specifically geared towards gay gamers. On this site I found two discussion boards dealing with homosexuality and gaming. The first forum was "Which is more difficult?, Coming out as gay or as a gamer." The topic as can be guessed from the title discussed if people thought that it is harder to come out as being gay or as being a gamer. According to the discussion, there are a lot of stereotypes with being a gamer including, all gamers are virgins, anti-social, and/or socially awkward which makes people keep it a secret that they are gamers. Reading some of the post, it seems that the group is divided between those that think that there is no such thing as "coming out" as a gamer and that it doesn't compare to coming out about being gay, and those who do believe that it is the same situation, when it coming out to friends. I think that those that didn't think it was the same, never really answered the question, they just gave reasons for why it wasn't the same but not if it was more difficult to come out about being gay or a gamer. Those that said it was stated how they were accepted by parents and friends for being gay, but had lost numerous friends and significant others because they were gamers. I thought that overall this was a very interesting topic and something to think about when considering something that you are passionate about and how it may affect how those you care about treat you.
The next forum also from gaymer.com is "Xbox against the gays". This discussion tackled the issue of how Microsoft disallowed a man to use the screen name "theGAYERgamer" on Xbox Live because it was an offensive user name. According to Xbox Live Service, it wasn't allowed because of its sexual nature. The groups main issue was that they wanted to know if The division among this group, was very slim. Most people did believe that the name should have been allowed because it expressed who the man is. They also thought that it was most likely that if it said "theSTRAIGHTgamer" it would not have been a problem. Others did however, saw where Microsoft was coming from and understood why they disallowed the name, because of the growing issue of the word being used as a negative term. A Xbox Live team member said that he didn't know how they would explain to a young child's mother why they saw a gamertag that contain content of sexual nature. Personally in my opinion, I believe that if you are going to enable your child to be exposed to violent, explicit video games in the first place, there is no place for a parent to talk about what gamertag their child sees. There were no points really to be made that had not been touched on in this forum.
The final site that I visited was www.gamespot.com, which is mainly for women gamers. The discussion board that I chose for this site was "Women's Portrayal in Video Games". The creator of this forum wanted to know what people thought about a recent article she had down on women's clothing in video games. The main point that came about in this discussion was how company's geared their games towards boys, teenagers to be exact, so they feel a need to have the women characters with big breast and provocative clothing. One person did switch the topic around and talk about how female gamers don't like how the character Ivy looks, but they don't mind how Aries looks in Final Fantasy. The final point brought about was why does it really matter how the character is dressed, and whether it would make the game anymore enjoyable. The group was pretty divide across the board in this forum, but did answer the question of how they felt about the way women are portrayed in video games. Overall, I don't think that it should matter what the characters are wearing, male or female, because someone is always going to not like the way the character is dress, how they act, or what they say. The game isn't about what they are wearing but how they perform in the game.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Gaming Platforms
In this lab exercise, our groups were given the task of playing video games, tough right?! We had to sample a game from each platform and then write evaluations on them, taking into consideration their genre, audience, features, publishers, and other games made from those publishers. Below is what we found out about the games and the networking incorporated with them.
Console Gaming
In class today, we were picked one console game that none of the group members were familiar with. We chose the Xbox 360 and played Kung Fu Panda. There was no networking involved in this game. Thinking this game would be for smaller children, and not considering the title, the game was very violent. Going through only level one, we had to beat off about 60 hog looking things in order to become a Dragon Warrior. Although we went into this game thinking it was for kids, it was a pretty fun game and we sped through the first level quickly. The genre of this game was Action Adventure/Comedy. Activision published this game along with all Cabela hunting games, Call of Duty 3, and the Pimp My Ride video game.
Console Gaming
In class today, we were picked one console game that none of the group members were familiar with. We chose the Xbox 360 and played Kung Fu Panda. There was no networking involved in this game. Thinking this game would be for smaller children, and not considering the title, the game was very violent. Going through only level one, we had to beat off about 60 hog looking things in order to become a Dragon Warrior. Although we went into this game thinking it was for kids, it was a pretty fun game and we sped through the first level quickly. The genre of this game was Action Adventure/Comedy. Activision published this game along with all Cabela hunting games, Call of Duty 3, and the Pimp My Ride video game.
PC Gaming
The game I worked with during the lab was World of Warcraft. It is a MMORPG (Massive multiplayer online role playing game) for all PC platforms. the publisher of the game is Blizzard Entertainment which is a big name in the gaming industry. World of Warcraft has been out since 2005 and has had many expansions since then but that is not the first big name game that Blizzard has come out with. In 1997 Blizzard came out with Diablo, an RPG (Role playing game) type game that players moved in completing quests and gaining experience to beat the game. In 1998 Blizzard unveiled Starcraft which is still considered to be the best strategy game ever made with its extremely fast paced game play and environment setting in the far future on different planets.
Mobile Gaming
The group used the iPod for our mobile device to access the games, "Crayon Physics", "Jelly Car", and "Spore". "Crayon Physics" was made in January 2009 by Hudson Entertainment. The purpose of the game is to create different paths using the crayon tool to get to the golden star. It is a logic type game, and is classified under the genre Puzzle. Three other games published by Hudson Entertainment similat to "Caryon Physics" include: "Puzzloop Free," "nikoli SUDOKU Free," and "Aqua Forest." For the next game we played with "Jelly Car" created in 2008. The object of this game is to get to the check point by changing the form of your car to get through obstacles. This is another logic type game, but it also involves physics which classifies this under Physics Puzzles. There are no other games published by Timothy FitzRandolph, the creator of this game. The final mobile game that we played was "Spore" made in 2008 by Electronic Arts. The purpose of this game is to EAT or BE EATEN. You must evolve your Spore as you avoid bigger creatures and eat smaller ones. This game is considered to be an Action and Strategy type game. Three other games similar to "Spore" are, "Scrabble," "Skate It," "TETRIS."
Networking
The group used the iPod for our mobile device to access the games, "Crayon Physics", "Jelly Car", and "Spore". "Crayon Physics" was made in January 2009 by Hudson Entertainment. The purpose of the game is to create different paths using the crayon tool to get to the golden star. It is a logic type game, and is classified under the genre Puzzle. Three other games published by Hudson Entertainment similat to "Caryon Physics" include: "Puzzloop Free," "nikoli SUDOKU Free," and "Aqua Forest." For the next game we played with "Jelly Car" created in 2008. The object of this game is to get to the check point by changing the form of your car to get through obstacles. This is another logic type game, but it also involves physics which classifies this under Physics Puzzles. There are no other games published by Timothy FitzRandolph, the creator of this game. The final mobile game that we played was "Spore" made in 2008 by Electronic Arts. The purpose of this game is to EAT or BE EATEN. You must evolve your Spore as you avoid bigger creatures and eat smaller ones. This game is considered to be an Action and Strategy type game. Three other games similar to "Spore" are, "Scrabble," "Skate It," "TETRIS."
Networking
Networking is supported by the PC and the three main console gaming systems right now. Almost all games have online capabilities now to keep you connected with friends. Whether it's taking each other on a head-to-head race or competing on leaderboards, most games offer some kind of online feature. As for console games, online networks have also been practically mandated as vital for new games. Both Nintendo and Playstion's networks are free for anyone who owns the system whereas Xbox's online network, Xbox Live, is around $3-4 a month.
If you'd like to learn more about each network, click on a link below:
As for mobile gaming, like the games we sampled for the iPod Touch, having an online community is not as developed. The games we touched on have no options for online gaming, or community interaction. There are some games that may utilize the wifi capabilities of the iPod Touch, but because being online isn't as constant as it's brother, the iPhone, the games available for it don't exercise that option.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Video Teleconferencing
For this assignment, we are evaluating the use of three different voice chatting services; Yahoo! Messenger, Google Chat, and Skype. We saw how these different services worked, by networking with each other in class.
Yahoo!
Yahoo! Messenger would not install on to the computers, but we were able to use instant messenger online. With Yahoo! Messenger, we were just able to instant messenger each other, which is not ideal for holding conferences for a business. We were not able to voice chat, video chat, or chat on one instant messenger with multiple people.
Google Chat
Google Chat is a great way to keep in touch through your e-mail contacts in other ways than just e-mail. One is able use voice chat, group instant messenger, and video chat (we did not use this feature in class, but it is available with just one person). Conference calls cannot be made, which does not make Google Chat the right service for teleconferencing with a business.
Skype
Skype offers the most out of the three services. While voice chatting with classmates, we exchanged videos and documents, chatted, played games, and continued talking without any interruption. With this service we could do all of the things that we were unable to do with Google Chat and Yahoo Messenger.
The use of each service was fast and easy, but I think that overall, Skype is the best chatting service to use. It gives you the most options for holding calls with multiple people including voice calls, the ability to instant message comments, and share files. This is great for business conference calls, because it enables you to talk with multiple people at once. The newest version of Skype also now allows you to video chat with more than one person at a time, which is why for professional use Skype is the best choice for teleconferencing.
Yahoo!
Yahoo! Messenger would not install on to the computers, but we were able to use instant messenger online. With Yahoo! Messenger, we were just able to instant messenger each other, which is not ideal for holding conferences for a business. We were not able to voice chat, video chat, or chat on one instant messenger with multiple people.
Google Chat
Google Chat is a great way to keep in touch through your e-mail contacts in other ways than just e-mail. One is able use voice chat, group instant messenger, and video chat (we did not use this feature in class, but it is available with just one person). Conference calls cannot be made, which does not make Google Chat the right service for teleconferencing with a business.
Skype
Skype offers the most out of the three services. While voice chatting with classmates, we exchanged videos and documents, chatted, played games, and continued talking without any interruption. With this service we could do all of the things that we were unable to do with Google Chat and Yahoo Messenger.
The use of each service was fast and easy, but I think that overall, Skype is the best chatting service to use. It gives you the most options for holding calls with multiple people including voice calls, the ability to instant message comments, and share files. This is great for business conference calls, because it enables you to talk with multiple people at once. The newest version of Skype also now allows you to video chat with more than one person at a time, which is why for professional use Skype is the best choice for teleconferencing.
Skype VIOP on iPod Touch
For this assginment, the group had to download the program Skype to an iPod, and analyze the features that it gives you. We then compared Skype used on an iPod to Skype used on a desktop PC or laptop PC.
iPod Skype vs. Cell Phone
iPod Skype is free to call any other skype user, which enables you to make calls to anyone that you want to without paying a monthly bill. Skype is also member based, which allows individuals to keep in touch through the same ways as a cell phone for free. Some phones are not able to instant message with people online, but with Skype on the iPod Touch you are able to.
From Desktop PC
Everything is free and easier to navigate than on the iPod Touch. With your PC, you are also able to voice chat if you have a microphone available to use.
From Laptop PC
The features that you are able to do with a Desktop PC are pretty much the same for a Laptop PC. With a laptop PC however, most cameras are built in, which enables you to video chat with others, unlike with the iPod Touch, there is no camera feature that allows you to do this.
Overall, Skype is better when used on a Desktop or Laptop PC. Having Skype on your iPod Touch is great for instant messaging with friends when your on the go and you have access to some form of wifi, but nothing else. Skype on an iPod Touch will not truly be successful until a video feature is added, that enables users to video/voice chat on the go. This is what would set Skype apart from your typical cell phone. All in all, I personally am fine using my cell phone to be able to call anyone no matter their provider, and video chatting on my laptop to someone out of state. So for me Skype is not needed on my iPod Touch.
iPod Skype vs. Cell Phone
iPod Skype is free to call any other skype user, which enables you to make calls to anyone that you want to without paying a monthly bill. Skype is also member based, which allows individuals to keep in touch through the same ways as a cell phone for free. Some phones are not able to instant message with people online, but with Skype on the iPod Touch you are able to.
From Desktop PC
Everything is free and easier to navigate than on the iPod Touch. With your PC, you are also able to voice chat if you have a microphone available to use.
From Laptop PC
The features that you are able to do with a Desktop PC are pretty much the same for a Laptop PC. With a laptop PC however, most cameras are built in, which enables you to video chat with others, unlike with the iPod Touch, there is no camera feature that allows you to do this.
Overall, Skype is better when used on a Desktop or Laptop PC. Having Skype on your iPod Touch is great for instant messaging with friends when your on the go and you have access to some form of wifi, but nothing else. Skype on an iPod Touch will not truly be successful until a video feature is added, that enables users to video/voice chat on the go. This is what would set Skype apart from your typical cell phone. All in all, I personally am fine using my cell phone to be able to call anyone no matter their provider, and video chatting on my laptop to someone out of state. So for me Skype is not needed on my iPod Touch.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Business Analytics Proposal
For this assignment, we are presenting a business proposal to a flower shop owner who would like to expand her brick-and-mortar flower shop into an online business. There are numerous e-commerce software that someone can use. I have chosen what I believe are the three best platforms for the flower shop owner and below I have provided a proposal with the pros and cons of each software. Of the three I have also written which one I believe is the best overall for the flower shop owner.
osCommerce
The first software is osCommerce which is an e-commerce and online store-management solution that offers a wide range of out-of-the-box features. The software enables online stores to be setup fairly quickly with a little effort.
Pros:
Free!
Automatic Web-based installation
Unlimited Number of products and categories
Multi-currency support/Multilingual
Different Shipping Options
Cons:
Add-ons have to be installed yourself
Harder to modify the design of page because there is no graphic template system
Magento
A feature-rich eCommerce platform built on open-source technology that provides online merchants with unprecedented flexibility and control over the look, content and functionality of their eCommerce store.
Pros:
FREE!
Site Management (Control multiple websites)
Training on how to use the site
Mobile Commerce
Marketing Promotions and Tools (Coupons, Promotional pricing)
Customer Service and Customer History Options
Catalog Browsing Option
Cons:
Complicated coding style
ProStores
An eBay Company, that enables small and medium-sized businesses to sell products and services online. This software provides merchants with everything they need to set up, design, and manage a customizable virtual storefront.
Pros:
Free One Month Trial; No Setup Fee
Up to 5,000 products; 5GB of storage
Easy Setup
Cons:
$29.95/a month
Simple Design Choices
In conclusion, I think that the best software choice for my flower shop client would be Magento. Magento offers all that my client needs in order to start up an online shop for her small business. It's free and the most user-friendly of the three options which is key for a floweriest. It also offers more options for providing the customer with the most efficient way to shop online. All of the e-commerce software's are good choices but, I believe that Magento is the best one.
Website Sources:
www.oscommerce.com
www.magentocommerce.com
www.prostores.com/index.html
www.linuxlinks.com
For this assignment, we are presenting a business proposal to a flower shop owner who would like to expand her brick-and-mortar flower shop into an online business. There are numerous e-commerce software that someone can use. I have chosen what I believe are the three best platforms for the flower shop owner and below I have provided a proposal with the pros and cons of each software. Of the three I have also written which one I believe is the best overall for the flower shop owner.
osCommerce
The first software is osCommerce which is an e-commerce and online store-management solution that offers a wide range of out-of-the-box features. The software enables online stores to be setup fairly quickly with a little effort.
Pros:
Free!
Automatic Web-based installation
Unlimited Number of products and categories
Multi-currency support/Multilingual
Different Shipping Options
Cons:
Add-ons have to be installed yourself
Harder to modify the design of page because there is no graphic template system
Magento
A feature-rich eCommerce platform built on open-source technology that provides online merchants with unprecedented flexibility and control over the look, content and functionality of their eCommerce store.
Pros:
FREE!
Site Management (Control multiple websites)
Training on how to use the site
Mobile Commerce
Marketing Promotions and Tools (Coupons, Promotional pricing)
Customer Service and Customer History Options
Catalog Browsing Option
Cons:
Complicated coding style
ProStores
An eBay Company, that enables small and medium-sized businesses to sell products and services online. This software provides merchants with everything they need to set up, design, and manage a customizable virtual storefront.
Pros:
Free One Month Trial; No Setup Fee
Up to 5,000 products; 5GB of storage
Easy Setup
Cons:
$29.95/a month
Simple Design Choices
In conclusion, I think that the best software choice for my flower shop client would be Magento. Magento offers all that my client needs in order to start up an online shop for her small business. It's free and the most user-friendly of the three options which is key for a floweriest. It also offers more options for providing the customer with the most efficient way to shop online. All of the e-commerce software's are good choices but, I believe that Magento is the best one.
Website Sources:
www.oscommerce.com
www.magentocommerce.com
www.prostores.com/index.html
www.linuxlinks.com
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Creative Commons
For this assignment, I needed to first explore the website, CreativeCommons.com and what its purpose is. Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that was created to increase the amount of creativity people could have with the work that is available to the public for free and legal sharing, use, repurposing, and remixing without any copy right issues. Below you can find five different photos that were taken with different forms of home video technology. All were found under the Creative Commons Attribution License which makes them legal to share and edit, as long as the original publisher is given credit.
Dolphin Frisbee
by: Dan4th Flickr account
Music Baby
by: Ted's Flickr account
Key West-Mile 0
by: Twodolla Flickr Account
King Neptune-Virginia Beach
by: Anthroscribe Flickr Account
White Tiger Cub
Joaquinuy Flickr Account
Dolphin Frisbee
by: Dan4th Flickr account
Music Baby
by: Ted's Flickr account
Key West-Mile 0
by: Twodolla Flickr Account
King Neptune-Virginia Beach
by: Anthroscribe Flickr Account
White Tiger Cub
Joaquinuy Flickr Account
The next part of the assignment was then to find a documentary film on photography using the Prelinger Archives. The Prelinger Archives were taken from the Prelinger Library in San Francisco, in a move to building a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form. Prelinger Archives are also be found under the Creative Commons Attribution License.
Digital Photography
This is a video about digital photography. Digital photography got its start in the mid 1990's. This program looks at early examples of digital photography hardware and software. Included are demonstrations of the Fuji D5-7, Ricoh RDC2, Kodak DC25, LivePix, Adobe Photo Shop 4.0, HP DeskJet 693C, Epson Stylus Color 500, Sony DMM155, Logitech Pagescan Color, and Microtek ScanMaker E3. Guests include Michael Mcnamara of Popular Photography magazine, Kyla Carlson of PC Computing magazine, and John Goddard of PC World.
Overall, I liked this assignment. It enabled us to see what types of rights we have, to be able to express ourselves freely using bits and pieces of others work. I think Creative Commons is a great organization idea, and will continue to make a huge impact in the world of creative expression through photography, music, videos, etc.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Free Music for the iPod Touch
In this lab, our group was asked to find several sources of free music downloads and streaming music providers. Below is what we found:
Free Music Streaming:
Downloads for iPod Touch:
We found multiply sites where we could listen to music freely based on the Artist, the Genre of Music, and the year that the music was produced. We also included places on the website where one could find free downloadable music for their iPod Touch. When looking on the sites, we found that one could get recent music, but it was harder than finding old and/or undiscovered music. All the sites overall, were easy to navigate through and gave no problem when downloading the music. I think that this exercise was fun and one that will benefit me in the future. It allowed us to research about something that millions of people do every day, download illegal music, but it challenged us to find legal ways to do it.
Free Music Streaming:
- Napster.com (offered World Music)
- AOL.com
- Last.fm (offered World Music)
- Grooveshark.com
- flytunes.fm (offered World Music)
- Pandora.com (offered World Music)
- MusicIndiaOnline.com (offered World Music)
- radiomaqam.com (offered World Music)
- mymusicstream.com
- audiolizer.com
Downloads for iPod Touch:
- B.o.B-Airplanes: Blog from "Hypemachine" called "I hope your ears bleed"
- 3Oh3- Don't Trust Me: from LastFM.com
- Hot Hot Heat- Goddess on the Prairie: Free Mps on MP3.com
- The Pains of Being Pure at Heart-Higher than the Stars: LastFM.com
- Usher-OMG: Blog from "Hypemachine" called "Vacay Wave"
- The Ready Set-Sweetest Girl: PureVolume.com
We found multiply sites where we could listen to music freely based on the Artist, the Genre of Music, and the year that the music was produced. We also included places on the website where one could find free downloadable music for their iPod Touch. When looking on the sites, we found that one could get recent music, but it was harder than finding old and/or undiscovered music. All the sites overall, were easy to navigate through and gave no problem when downloading the music. I think that this exercise was fun and one that will benefit me in the future. It allowed us to research about something that millions of people do every day, download illegal music, but it challenged us to find legal ways to do it.
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