WEEK 13 ESSAY BY Christopher Kralevski

What is virtual reality and what should it be?

Virtual reality is a make believe place that does not exist in a physical sense but within a computer generated three dimensional environment allowing the user or player to interact and explore within the virtual site as a low cost function with side benefits. In a virtual setting a side benefit can make a tedious task to be simpler such as online food shopping, with a few clicks all foods can be ordered within a few minutes and delivered to your door. In business a virtual office would be able to hold a staff meeting without the need of a large room, all staff would be able to dial in with their phones and computers. Virtual shops can be open 24 hours a day and offer thousands of products online cheaper because the overheads are minimised to be only the warehouse, no staffing or shop rentals. In essence virtual reality should make things simpler, faster, safer, cheaper, and save you time. Virtual reality of today has now moved far ahead of the simple way of the VIEW MASTER in the late 1930s. As technology advances so do our virtual reality systems, it opens the endless potentials and possibilities to explore new ways of gaming and even new ways of storytelling. Yet the human race has a long way to go to get to that point. Given that virtual reality (VR) is primly aimed at the gaming community and military warfare research. The storytelling has changed from Films and motion captures and have adapted into VR technology systems to give the player or film viewer more of and exciting, visual experience and understanding of the environments that they may be working in or even training with out the risk of real word hazard. Immersive surroundings enclose a player such that all they recognize is a part of a new world. Long before the central processing unit or personal computer, oral storytellers fashioned new virtual and immersive worlds all the time. Audiences still become wrapped up in the story world, seeing all of the facts, making associates between the events in the story and their own lives. Hence, in a virtual reality atmosphere that uses story, the player is even more immersed. Knowing more about how a participant is immersed in narrative would allow a virtual reality designer to work more efficiently. (Reference 1, 2, 3) This essay examines three aspect of virtual reality, narrative technology and the future of Virtual reality games. This contributes very much to an player sense of interest in the VR encounter. These fundamentals also plan out well from oral storytelling to new forms of media and many VR applications. What virtual reality should do is take the fundamentals of a real setting and make it feel real, the customer would be able to do more with less, making the experience enjoyable. However in gaming the virtual environment is more for leisure and fun so the experience becomes more memorable rather than job satisfaction. In a game a person becomes aware that they are in an artificial world and accordingly adjust their virtual character behaviour to progress into the new world. (Reference 6, 7, 8, 9)

Story telling is a form of communication and it is how people share their ideas, their thoughts, and their experiences to each other. Story telling has been done by many cultures going back many centuries, from campfires to classrooms, from books to radio to films. As the listener of the story they would have to imagine the scenario from the words of the storyteller, picture the event in their minds and then capture their experience. In the movies, the cinema would provide the narrative with its use of a large screen for the visual graphic and the actors for the viewer to follow, but it lacked the interaction, the viewer can only follow the movie as the director produced the film. In a virtual setting the viewer now becomes one of the characters and is now part of the story, they are now in the middle of a plot, and then they would control where they go and what they do in equal spectacular visionary forms via the graphic cards. The interaction between the game and the game player is self-involving, central to the game player, and providing a pleasurable experience.  In a way the virtual reality becomes a large part of the narrative, the only difference between the virtual environment and cinema is the means of the display being the big screen instead of the PC graphics and the interaction from just being a viewer to being part of the scene in relation to the story. (Reference 1, 3)

In a general sense technology has been evolving ever since the discovery of the wheel, the wheel was a tool that allowed us to do more in terms of transport and deliveries. But we also progressed into the printing press, the telephone, and the internet that in a sense allowed humans to interact all around the world seamlessly. Technology now days is a fast paced and it is changing all the time, new hardware that doubles functionality supersedes the old hardware which was new a few months before that, we can now fit more into less, and new video cards can do sharper images with more colours, we also have motherboards with multi cored cpu’s, and so on. Technology has gone far beyond its Y2K bug to new boundaries that seem infinite, all in the size of an iPhone.   Virtual reality environments still we have a long way to go because many people still want virtual reality to be the future of gaming and simulations. The virtual reality system is only now being introduced to us as a new gaming experience, such as with the Sony Oculius Rift – a 3 dimensional head display.  But most up to date virtual reality environments are displayed either on a computer screen or with special head mount display, and some simulations include additional speakers or headphones targeted towards VR users. Even some advanced systems now include tactile information, generally known as force feedback in medical, gaming and military applications. Furthermore, virtual reality covers remote communication environments, which provide virtual presence of users with the concepts of Skype (tele-presence) and being able to interact with the remote environment. The simulated environment can be similar to the real world in order to create a life like experience for example, in simulations for pilot or combat training or it differs significantly from reality, such as in VR games. (Reference 4, 6, 9)

The future of Virtual reality games: From humble beginnings such as the two-dimensional ping-pong from the early 70’s to the now World Of War craft, it is hard to predict where the future of virtual reality will lead us into. The one thing we should expect is a three dimensional feature into the arena, to entice the general public into the three dimensional aspect such as the Oculus Rift or Microsoft “HoloLens”, it will have to be mainstream and affordable. An alternative to 3 dimensional headsets, game developers would enable their games to use secondary screens to give the player a wider view of the game that will add to the effect to the player. I imagine people will expect more true to life graphics showing the perspiration of a characters face with the sweat marks running down a persons face as he leans to take a shot at the threatening alien with the Sun glaring into his eyes. All of this with the matching true sound of a sniper rifle gun firing into the sunset.      (Reference 5, 9) I can see secondary gaming devices becoming more relevant in the gaming world as they can aid in the experience of playing games by its inbuilt screen showing a map or your inventory relating to your game in a seamless fashion without leaving the game field. The secondary device would also allow you to stop playing on the primary screen and then allow you to continue playing on its secondary. The secondary device could be your mobile phone interacting with your gaming unit. Games will also need to be affordable, open source games will allow game developers to build and sell their games cheaply for a market share into the games arena. It may not have the graphic and sound quality but it has the potential to provide leisure at a lower cost to the consumer. Augmented reality is another possibility for gamers where it will allows your mobile phone to take in your surrounding areas and virtualise a gaming concept such as skirmish.    Cloud gaming will be a place where consumers will be able to buy, play, and update their games from a cloud server via a stable internet connection. The scope of Cloud Gaming will cover computers and mobile devices, the actual game is stored and played on the Clouds server, the results of the game is streamed over the internet onto customers device.   I believe soon we will be able to have access to these Virtual reality systems where we can see a different parts of the world or universe, or even playing games and watching films. This technology might be the next big thing to come out and revolutionized the way we interact with in games, movies and knowledge. (Reference 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9) By Christopher Kralevski

Reference

1)            http://www.macs.hw.ac.uk/~ruth/Papers/narrative/VRTowardsNarrativeTheory.pdf

(Towards a narrative theory of Virtual Reality, By Sandy Louchart, Ruth Aylett)

2)            http://ww.cybertherapy.info/pages/telepresence.pdf

(Defining Virtual Reality: Dimensions Determining Telepresence, By Jonathan Steuer, October 15, 1993)

3)            http://alumni.media.mit.edu/~brooks/storybiz/immersiveNotVirtual.pdf

(MOTOROLA LABS/HUMAN INTERFACE LABS, BY KEVIN BROOKS)

4)            http://motionographer.com/2015/01/30/vr-storytelling-wars-begin-but-will-anyone-be-watching/

(VR storytelling wars begin, but will anyone be watching?, By Justin Cone, JANUARY 30, 2015)

5)            http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/future-of-gaming/

(Future of Gaming: 5 Exciting Emerging Trends, By  Michael Poh)

6)            http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/virtual-reality

7)            http://www.vrs.org.uk/

8)            http://www.techradar.com/us/news/world-of-tech/future-tech/the-vr-race-who-s-closest-to-making-vr-a-reality--1266538

(The VR race: who's closest to making VR a reality?, By JT Ripton and Lily Prasuethsut)

9)            http://www.vrs.org.uk/virtual-reality-military/index.html

Virtual Reality

What is virtual reality and what should it be?

Virtual reality today has now moved far beyond the simple old way of the VIEW MASTER in the late 1930s. As technology advances so do our virtual reality systems, it opens the endless potentials and possibilities to explore new ways of gaming and even new ways of storytelling, mapping our universe and many more applications. But the human race has a long way to go to get to that point. Given that virtual reality (VR) is only amide at the gaming community for now and still being research. The way of storytelling has and will change and is improved upon. Films and motion capture have adapted VR technology to its systems to give the player or 

film viewer more of and exciting and visual experience.

As technology progress forward so dose our under standing of Virtual reality systems. If you told me a few years ago that Virtual reality systems will be available to buy and be able to live up to our expiations to what Virtual reality should be like I would have never believe you no matter how good your argument is.  But as we developed more technologies and prefect the Virtual reality we will soon be able to buy our own Virtual reality systems. Such as the oculus rift by Sony and more and more companies are developing more of these Virtual reality systems such as 

Microsoft with there own Microsoft Hololens.

I believe soon we will be able to have access to these Virtual reality systems where we can see a different parts of the world or universe, or even playing games and watching films. This technology might be the next big thing to come out and revolutionised the way we intact with in games, movies and knowledge.

By Christopher Kralevski   

week 9 video game addiction

video game addiction

what is video game addiction? well it is explained as an impulse control disorder. and in some cases have been similar linked to pathological gambling. this form of addiction is also been referred as video game overuse or compulsive.

there are many people who are suffering from video game addiction. and possibly will use the internet to gain access to massively multi-player online role-playing games (MMORPGs) and multi-user domain games (MUDs). the main focus of these games are to accomplish goals and complete missions. reaching high scores in a fantasy world such as world of war craft or a first person shouter such as call of duty.

now many people have that negative effect towards gaming if you play it for too long. they think that the player does not get none or very little solacing with other people. but with games being so advance in technology many individuals who suffer from video game addiction use the large virtual world to connect with other people around the world. those people with video game addiction may enjoy aspects of the on line games that allows the player to meet and socialize and even exchange ideas through the games. these gamer play for such a great deal of time to accomplish tasks and missions the players feel obligation and loyalty to other players on the game.  This might further the individual’s good reason of his/her use and logic of association with other players, that are otherwise strangers.

because of the this statistics show that both men and boys are more prone to turn out to be a addicted to video games than women and girls. now new research has establish that almost one in 10 youth gamer (ages 8-18) can be classified as pathological gamer or addicted to video-gaming.

is video game addiction acts as a big part of the video gaming industry today. now i like to play games as much as the next guy but I do believe you have to have a balance between games and real life. video game addiction is a pressing matter but i do believe that it is a faze that will go away because after a while the player will get board and soon drop the game for something else and more exciting and better off. it even might be another game but I used to be addicted to gamming but i soon found the games that I was playing was getting boring to me and i started to stop playing games all the time and only play them causally here and there. and the statistics show that gamer are aged between 8 to 18 so children and young adults and that was about the time i started to find the video games less inserting and that is when I picked up other hobbies such as vintage cars and motorcycles. I believe that video game addiction in the next few years will soon decline because players will start to experience new technology and new ways to play games instead of the classic way of  playing games.

By Christopher Kralevski    

Week 8 Violence in Video Games

Violence in video games

Video games today are more aggressive and violence then the simple ways of gaming in the 1980. And studies imply that children are being more aggressive and violent because of this.

Researchers shows that the regular use of playing violet video games, over 3,034 children who the study’s was conducted on over a course of 3 years had a higher rate of aggressive behaviors and thoughts. The research was published in the JAMA Pediatrics, a journal of the American medical association by researchers in Iowa state university and the national institute of education in Singapore.

The children who contributed where around 11 years of age and three quarters of them where boys. Many of the answers found by the boys and girls were alike and Researchers stated that their findings do sustain previous research that gives a link between video games and aggressive behavior.

Now you may think that video games are to blame of the violence that young children and adults show but take in mind that the research that was being

done over the 3 years had NO involvement from the children’s parent.

And now this leads me to believe that the mother and father have a big roll to play in this study. Now if booth of the parent acted in the children behalf knowing what is right for them violence in video games wont be a big problem for young children and adults. Because every time when a game get released and the child get the game and starts playing it and then the parents see what happens in the video game and complain and then want the game to be banned because simply the game is to violent for children to play and believe that the game developers are to blame for it.

Firstly that is not true. I believe the problem lies with the parent when they first buy the game for their child without ever reading that is the game about and content in the game as well. But they buy it any way simply because there 10 year old wants it. Now the parent has to think for their child because if you ask any 10 year old boy or girl they just want to eat candy and dink lemonade on a dally basics. And as we all know as fully-grown adults that are not a healthy way to live your life.

a large number of children and young adults still play violent video games. and still grows in numbers every day. To advance our understanding of the effects of violent video games and how to properly sensor it form young children and further explore the negative effects it has on the modern society.

by Christopher Kralevski

Week 7 Gender in Video Games

Gender in Video Games

The video game industry is seen as a male predominate industry and the portrayal of women in video games and other media has been a topic of research of sexism in video gaming. Now women in particular are extensively belittle as game characters in a large majority of games. And in there interpretation often imply traditional gender roles, objectification, sexual or a negative stereotypes. For example a damsel in distress.

This has been going on from the early years of gamming. when you had to go and save princess peach in Super mairo and giving that bad stereotypes of sexism in TombRader. This adds up to a large percentage of male’s gamers only playing games. But in recent studies done by “Entertainment Software Association” only 52% of gamers are male and 48% of gamers are female and 71% of gamers are over 18 years of age.

So what is going on in the gamming industries are we progressing or are we regressing when the topic comes up in women in video gamming?

Since the 1990s the percentage of female as side characters or main characters in games has stood around the 15% mark and since then very little has changed about that. Only Now we are seeing big game titles now include women not to be seen as the damsel in distress but independent strong fighters in games. Such as Lara Craft in Tomb Raider or Ellie in the Last of Us. For the most part recent data found only that 4% of the main characters in the top 25 selling games in 2013 where female.

So we are moving in the right direction and we are now including women as decent and respectable characters to play as in games. And Hopefully all video games will move in this course of having a equivalent, sensible portrayal of male and female characters. Without putting the emphasis on characterization, videogames will advance and the socialization of gender rolls will act more importantly in video games on how they are viewed and played. This will determine on how video games players view the world.                               

By Christopher Kralevski

WEEK 6 Video Game Genres

Video Game Genres

The games genre have been defined by its individual set of game play tests and are classified self supporting of there setting or game world content, not like works of fiction being films or books. As for example a shooter game is still a shooter games, despite of whether it takes place in a fantasy world or in outerspace.

Video games in the early 1990s such as platformers like Super Mario Bros. where the latest craze but at the end of the decade that design of game has moved in demand of military/sci-fi shooters.

In the 1970s the gamming has been growing with technology and through that process the video game genres have been changing with it. For example in the mid 1970s the biggest craze was the arcade and racing games but as time went along and technology got more powerful game developers became more creative. And different genres started to come out by 1985 and by the year 2000 shooter games and adventure genres games where in. such as Halo (2001), call of duty (2003), half life (1998) and resident evil (1996).

As technology moves forward so much our gamming has changed form the personal computer and consoles to our hand held devices such as I phones. And the time for the big game developer producing mega blockbuster games has gone and you will find more and more independent game developers producing small games out there and that is the growing trend in the gamming industry in the past decade. The genre of gamming wills all ways frequently is in flux with the march of technology. The better the technology the more possibilities that game studios and developers will have in creating new and exciting video game genres.

By Christopher Kralevski

Week 5 christopher kralevski

Ludonarrative resonance/dissonance

The approach when a game is being planned it is meant to lead the player on an experience of the developer’s choice.  Now Ludic comes from the Latin word ludere that means ‘to play’. And game play and ‘’win-states’’ are different types of ludic functionality that splits and individualize videogames from other media and from themselves. Even the classifications are done by the games ludic functionality: platformers, puzzles and shooters.

With the narrative within games gives us and the player a motivation where ‘’win – states’’ fail to do so. And now for merely ludic perspective or game play a ‘’win-staes’’ are all and very essential to making a game that is compelling.

Now the top case of this is being Tetris. Except once the ludic blinders have been detached the experience can plummet in games. And that dose not makes the game compelling. We as the player and as humans are creatures of awareness; we are use to the door creak and the feel of wind on your face and hands. The experiences we all shear and have come to recognize and associate with as a normal way of life whatever ever it may be.  When playing a game such as tetris the players ludic level starts to decrease over time so developers start to use narrative to make the game more compiling to play.

Narrative is an important part of a game and the game play experience. Only a few games can go far with out a story such as: mass effect, the last of us, and bioshock. This is a flawless way of the ludic and narrative basics that creates the true advantage of videogame art form and game play.

But with all things that has grand possibly there are also a dangures downside to all of the narrative in games that has to be very gently navigated through. And is mostly referred to as ludonarrative dissonance, it is basically the difference between narrative and game play. when game play dose not mach the narrative. For example The uncharted series is frequently called up on the face you play as the main character “Nathan Drake”. his portrayal in cut scenes are a charming treasure hunter but in game play he is a heartless killer. However, The uncharted series has received many awared throughout it’s time. There is a growing group with in the game development and it’s gaming industry that everyone looks for that ludonarrative dissonance. It has become one of the most popular ways to biled a game around, and more and more games developers are doing the same thing.

ludonarrative dissonance is still a difficult idea for a majority of gamers to accept,

Some time in the future there will no longer be critiques of games calling them out for ludonarrative dissonance, but in its place ludonarrative resonance.

The future of all games lies in the total and flawless melding of ludic and narrative fundamentals.

 Many games have come very close, others have on purpose exploited dissonance, but there is still potential waiting to be achieved in ludonarrative resonance.

By Christopher kralevski

WEEK 4 by Christopher kralevski

Verisimilitude vs Stylised Aesthetics

games now have a high level of graphic and processing power and through the years the games have tried and evolved more and more into realistic graphics or on the other end stylised graphics.  now both of them have their own positives and negatives reward

many game players out there enjoy how games that have realistic graphics, it allows the player to leap in to the game much faster and easier and there for makes the game much more enjoyable. however it may sometimes go a bit too extreme, such as (2011 L.A NOIRE). now if realistic graphics getting more advance and crossing the fine line with uncanny valley. gamers want realistic graphics but when games start looking like you and me they seem odd you noticed something wrong and it has that bizarre feeling, and when games try too hard to be realistic they cross the line into the uncanny valley.

now on the other side stylised graphics does not have that realistic look but has that cartoon look and feel to it. players can still get in to game but it gives game developers and gamers a freedom to express their different art styles and genre of games. world of war craft and dota are a game based around stylised graphics and have very little realistic graphics. It is based around a fantasy style game where stylised graphics really play a big part in the game and how it sells over 7.1 million people play world of war craft.

Verisimilitude vs Stylised Aesthetics is a big factor in games on how they perform and sell in the open market both have their positive and negative Verisimilitude can be a good factor in a game but if you go too far with it, you will end up in the uncanny valley but on the other end or the scale you have Stylised Aesthetics it has that cartoon style and unique type of design  that we all know. players don't mind that distinctive technique we know as Stylised Aesthetics. but Stylised Aesthetics seem to sell over Verisimilitude. Stylised Aesthetics have more possibility of genre and game styles and there for more of a best game seller and more popular than its opposite Verisimilitude.

by Christopher kralevski

WEEK 3 By Christopher Kralevski

Game Studies 
2D Vs 3D GAMES

Now 3D game platforms seen to favor gamers to day, they have a rising in popularity in game design and production ever since the late 1990s. 3D game platforms display a superior level of realism, which has established a more appealing and more thriving in immersing the player in the game.

On the other hand, with the boost of mobile games apps selling the return of 2D gamming is coming. Mobile phone games do need simpler graphics. As 2D graphics are turning into more common and cheaper ways of making a game, many game designers are turning to this way of making games.

Now there are advantages and disadvantages to both sides of 2D and 3D games.

Advantages of 2D games are they are easier to make, cost effective and there are a large amount of engines out there to run the game on a 2D platform. 2D games has only a easy goal in mind when playing the game, some games out there are very distracting in game objective and game play. Such as “grand fifed auto” and “world of war craft” in my opinion I don’t mind the exter missions or objective but some times they get a bit to chaotic for me and I lose interest in the game. The 2D gaming experience has basic controls than the 3D gaming dose. It some times is better with less controls for a game because it make the game have a friendly interface for players how want to pick up and play with out going over the instructions first on how to play.  

Advantages of 3D games are becoming more realistic and impressive to play. More and more genres can be used in the 3D games and also be expanded on. Some games can offer you a world that you can explore and create in and create more depth and meaning that can enhanced the story plot and game play experience such as “mind craft”, “grand fifed auto” and “call of duty”. And with the technology being more advance and impressive every year the graphics are getting better and better games are becoming movies that we and play. Many games out there such as “uncharted” and “the last of us” are a great example of this technology it brings a new game play experience to us.

Disadvantages of 2D games are they are not very realistic, down to earth type of game. Gamers out there want some thing with a bit more sense of what is happing and feel that they can relate to the mane character or hero of the game. Space is an other thing on the screen of a game with 3D games you can move any where you want but with the 2D games there is only a limed space so het screen for the player to move around in, dodge in and jump in.

Disadvantages of 3D games are that they take more time to make and ten times more expensive to make than a 2D game. It become a major factor when buying a game, you pay a lot of money for a game that look good but the game play or story is just awful to play and you feel you just got ripped off on the game that is why 3D game out there are more of a hit and miss than the 2D games are. And that is why 3D game are more expensive than the 2D games because less time and money goes in a 2D than 3D.

The VERDICT is …

3D

Why 3D because I think of the quality of the game and how much time I will invest in playing the game. 2D games have its points I do like and it is a fast growing trend of game that is making a come back on our mobile phones. But the heavy hitter is the 3D games. It has made out it self to be the standard of gamming for to day and there for takes the titles of being the gaming platform of choose.

By Christopher Kralevski 

WEEK 2 Game Studies Christopher Kralevski

MAXIS -The SIMS

The Sims has become one of the most successful games of the 21st century. The players was given control over the virtual Sims and allowed player to customize his or her Sims, house and lifestyle the Sims lived in. it was one of the most popular game ever soled and around six million copies had been sold worldwide. Making it one of the best selling computer games in history.

ID SoftWare-Wolfenstin

Wolfenstein this is the game that started it all. It cemented the type of game that really develops into the first person shooter. Wolfenstein and DOOM set the template for the first person shooter such as battlefield, call of duty and halo. And now the Wolfstein franchise it well known and established game that will all ways be set the standard for the first person shooter. 

Blizzard Entertainment-The world of war craft

The world of war craft has been one of the most successful and largest games ever published. It is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (mmorpg) created by Blizzard Entertainment. The game gives the player to play as different characters and sets it on a online server. It was one of those games that didn't stop, once you logged off, The game keeps on going. It was a way of communication all around the world and where people meet up to play the game and complete the quests. And with 7.1 million subscribers The world of war craft is now the world's most subscribed game (mmorpg), and also holds the Guinness world record for the most popular mmorpg by subscribers. And having made over 10 billion in 2012 it has been the highest grossed game of all time. in 2014 it has been announced that more than 100 million game accounts has been made over the life time if the game history. And that is why the game has and will all way's be one of the most popular and unique game out there.