On your way to becoming ‘Twitter famous’.

‘How to get noticed on Twitter.’

A simple info-graphic I made with some handy tips for the aspiring Twitter account 🙂

Shopping for the mainstream gamer: 5 games they need to play.

‘Games’ by Ian Dick is licensed under CC BY 2.0

If you’re reading this, then it’s likely that you’re in the market for a gift to a close gamer friend or family member for the holidays or looking for something new to play. It’s also likely that you’re somewhat stumped as to what to buy for them, or what to play.

Now, I can only assume that you, or the person you’re shopping is fairly familiar with AAA games and the regular mainstream games we see on the shelves every year. (ie. Call of Duty, FIFA, Assassins Creed) It can be hard to break through the big releases we see on all the advertisements and the big shelves at the front of stores, but there are a plethora of titles hiding in the corner of GAME or deep in the bowels of Steam or PSN.

These are the top 5 games that I would consider must-plays due to their cultural significance and impact on gaming in general. Whoever you’re shopping for, these are games that are simply unmissable, and will help you or the person you’re buying for break out of the brown sludge that is the mainstream gaming space 😉

 

5. Paper’s Please.

Paper’s Please screenshot. (Taken by me)

It’s hard to sell Paper’s Please to someone. You play as a border control officer on the borders of a fictional communist state called Arstotzka. You are quite literally tasked with checking and approving the paperwork of citizens requesting passage into the country based on a series of ever increasing guidelines and papers as the country becomes even more wary and paranoid of terrorist activity.

There’s more to it than that, however. Making mistakes costs you money. Spending too long checking a person’s papers costs you money. Breaking the rules to help people in need costs you money. Your money heats and feeds a household housing your family. Or rather, it won’t depending on your performance, moral compass, and activity regarding the game’s terrorist group.

This game in an intelligent commentary on politics, the nature of morality in a video game and quite simply one of the most unique and surprisingly fun games I’ve ever played. Both harrowing and charming in its atmosphere paired with intelligent and witty writing culminate together to create a war ridden world that exists as a stark contrast to those we see in the likes of Call of Duty.

 

Paper’s Please:

Price: £6.99

PC/Mac/Linux (Can run on even the most ancient of computers) and coming soon to Playstation Vita. 

Where to buy: Steam 

 

4. The Stanley Parable

‘Stanley Parable at A MAZE. / Berlin 2014’ by Iwan Gabovitch is licensed under CC BY 2.0

What started out as a simple modification for Half Life 2 quickly became a cult classic. The Stanley Parable is as much a witty comedy as it is an in-depth look at the sillier tropes and mechanics in video games today.

You control an office worker named Stanley, and one day you find your workplace abandoned for no apparent reason. From there, the tiniest decisions you make regarding what you do, where you go and so on provide you with distinctly different story lines, each with their own things to say. As a narrator speaks to you, and narrates your every action, you’ll be confronted with some of the funniest, saddest, harrowing and inspirational moments a game could ever offer to you in one single package.

The Stanley Parable offers dozens of story lines and endings, and encourages multiple playthroughs. It’s hard to talk about without spoiling the genius of it all (And you certainly don’t want to be spoiled), but this is a game that just can’t be missed. I cannot recommend this game enough, this is hands down the smartest video game I’ve ever played. (If you can call it a video game, see here:)

 

The Stanley Parable:

Price: £9.99 (A free ‘demo’ is available. I recommend you check it out before playing) 

PC/Mac/Linux (A kind-of-decent laptop/computer necessary to play)

Where to buy: Steam

 

3. Transistor

Transistor Screenshot (Taken by me)

This is the most recent release to be on this list, but damn is it something worth playing. If you, or your gift recipient has shown even the slightest interest in sci-fi, this is a game for them.

In Transistor, you play as Red. An influential musician in the ambiguously located, sort-of virtual city of Cloud Bank. A political attack from a leading family of self proclaimed ‘royalty’ targets you, and many other culturally significant people with a race of artificial intelligence known as ‘The Process’.

Without spoiling too much, a personal attack on you leaves an unnamed friend or family member trapped in a weapon known as the ‘Transistor’ and Red’s voice in ruins. With this weapon, you embark on a mission to free the man in the Transistor, rescue the digital essences of dying civilians and stop the Process and their creators from destroying Cloud Bank.

It’s a vaguely told tale, to say the least. While the plot is most certainly a strength of the game, Transistor is all about presentation. Fantastic visuals, flawless art design and the best soundtrack I have ever heard in gaming ever. Fans of immersive sci-fi universes and beautifully composed electronic music will sink hours into Transistor, on their first, second and third playthroughs and beyond.

An expertly crafted combat system graces the plot and presentation, also. Created by Super Giant Games, you can expect similar gameplay to Bastion (Call that an honorable mention.) or Diablo. However, the game gives you the ability to freeze time and queue up movements and abilities that will be executed in sequence instantly. Not only this, but each of your abilities can be customized and combined with other abilities to construct entirely new moves.

(ie. Crash() is a melee move that leaves targets stunned and vulnerable and Breach() is a powerful ranged ability. Combined, Breach() can become an exceptionally strong ranged ability that leaves targets stunned, but loses some of its range in the process.)

Quite simply, Transistor is my GOTY (Game of the year) and should not go unplayed.

 

Transistor:

Price: £14.99 (And I highly recommend picking up the soundtrack for an extra £7.49 also)

PC/Mac/Linux and Playstation 4.

Where to buy: Here 

 

2. The Walking Dead: Season 1.

‘The Walking Dead Game Series on PSN’ by Playstation Europe is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

Chances are, you’ve heard of The Walking Dead TV show. It’s also likely that you and/or your gift recipient have had at the very least a fleeting interest in the zombie genre at one point or another. It’s also VERY likely that anybody who spends a lot of their time watching people stream games on Twitch or Youtube has seen at least a snippet of an online personality playing (And probably unnecessarily screaming at) Telltale’s The Walking Dead.

Probably the most popular game on this list, The Walking Dead game deserves to be played. No, not watched. I don’t care if you watched someone play the entire game and/or season 2. No, watching a game being played is NOT the same as playing it, and you are everything that is wrong with the world.

*Eh hem*

The Walking Dead is a rather grim exploration into the realities of being a person in post-apocalyptic America. Surprisingly enough, this isn’t a game about the zombies; this is a game about the people you meet, talk to, protect, kill, live with, die with and so on. In The Walking Dead, you play as Lee. A criminal arrested for murder, you are set on a course for survival as fate sends you a little girl named Clementine to protect in a world beset by the undead.

This is a game about decisions. Who do you save? Do you kill them? How are rations distributed among your group? Who do you trust? Who trusts you? How will your actions make the people around you react to you? Do you tell the truth? Do you lie? Are you in it for yourself? Or do you protect the people you care most about? It’s not an easy game to play. For all of its basic gameplay mechanics, the challenge of choice can present more difficulty than any boss battle.

The Walking Dead may not be much of a ‘gamey’ game, but it is excellent. 2012’s game of the year was one that surprised many. The Walking Dead: Season 1 is a game that was in many ways a pre-cursor to the kind of emotionally impacting, zombie orientated story line you (probably) played in games like The Last of Us. And I’ve heard everybody wants more of that.

 

The Walking Dead: Season 1:

Price: £18.99 (On PC, prices will be different for console and mobile)

PC/Mac, Playstation 3, Playstation 4, Playstation Vita, Xbox 360, Xbox One, iOS, Kindle Fire HDX, Android.

Where to buy: Location will vary depending on desired platform.

 

1. Spec Ops: The Line

Spec Ops: The Line by Joshua Livingston is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Spec Ops: The Line is a game even the most casual of shooter fans can play. It’s a simple, yet robust third person shooter with all of the necessary check boxes ticked in order to offer a functional shooting experience. Decent cover mechanics, challenging enemies and everything you’d need to lose yourself in some mindless violence.

‘Then why would you put this seemingly average game on your number one spot?’ you may be thinking to yourself. That’s a fair question, but believe me when I say: Spec Ops: The Line has the most important story to tell of any game of the last generation. There’s a point being made in its bland game mechanics, a harrowing message being put across about violence in gaming that all gamers need to at least be aware of.

Inspired by works such as Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now,  Spec Ops has you assume the role of a soldier known as Captain Walker. You are tasked with a recon mission into Dubai after a catastrophic sandstorm demolishes the city. What starts out as a fairly ordinary story of a squad searching for a surviving American Soldier known as Joseph Conrad amongst other things, turns into a horrifying exploration of humanity, morality and violence.

I know this all sounds like fluff, but I mean it when I say Spec Ops is more than anything a horror game: It delves deeply into the natures of morality in war, the relationship between player and character, the role and validity of a ‘hero’ in war and our desensitization to military violence in video games in ways that emulate the same psychological horrors found in the horror genre.

Specific scenes throughout the game made me realize just how unaffected we have become to violence in war, and made me feel physically sick at just how horrific war is. A particular scene had me put down the game for days, and made me feel personally guilty and responsible for an action I took during the game. If that’s not impactful, I don’t know what is.

Spec Ops is something you, your brother, your sister, your friends, even your dog if it can NEED to play. No video game story has ever been so relevant to the medium, and is especially relevant regarding the shooter loving crowd. If anything, buy this game for your friends and family just so you can watch their faces as they are taunted by the loading screens for being fans of the shooter genre. They may never pick up Call of Duty again, but I guarantee that they will love it.

At the very least; The ending will blow your mind 😉

 

Spec Ops: The Line

Price: £19.99 (On PC)

PC/Mac, Xbox 360, Playstation 3.

Where to buy: Steam, online retailers. (Game may be hard to find in stores)

Creative Commons: Protecting and sharing your content.

‘Creative Commons Poster – Take it!’ by Gwyneth Anne Bronwynne is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

In my last post I wrote about a clear abuse of the modern day uses of copyright protection in regards to a fan made video game project set in CCP’s owned World of Darkness IP.

It’s clear in that story and many others like it make it clear that there is something deeply archaic and wrong with the way that intellectual and creative properties are so restrictively protected in a society where content is so openly available. There is however, an alternative to this problematic protection method for this new, interconnected world of content creators, sharers and receivers: Creative Commons.

Creative Commons is a non-profit organisation that aims to expand the licenses available to aspiring and existing creators regarding legal rights and ownership. They have released to the public a number of copy-right licenses, free of charge. These allow creators to easily communicate what rights the license holder retains and what rights the consumer has regarding their use of said content.

These flexible licenses more effectively detail the content’s legal do’s and don’t’s and provide a wider range of rights for the consumer. ‘Some rights reserved’ licenses allow users to share, edit, morph, shape and in some cases, even commercialize content with no expressed permission from the creator as long as the user is accredited correctly. (These terms vary based on the creator’s preferences)

While these licenses are fantastic for low in-come creators seeking more specific protections for no cost. They excel at creating a less restrictive copyright system that opens up a range of different kinds of licenses that allow little to no commercial compensation and even external manipulation without worrying about getting express permission from the rights holders.

It’s baffling that Creative Commons exists only as a niche copyright protection system despite being so ideal for content in the information age. In a society where we are constantly challenging restriction and lack of freedom online and off, it’s surprising that restrictive permission culture still reigns most dominant.

As more aspiring content creators begin to adopt Creative Commons and future flexible permission systems, perhaps we’ll begin to see a more open world for content protection. For now, all we can do is continue to support Creative Commons in its endeavor and raise awareness for freedom in creative works, intellectual properties and franchises and a open, less controlled society in general.

‘Kitten’ by Ole Martin Bjørnli Günther is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

Here’s a picture of a kitten licensed via Creative Commons. Adorable.

CCP Games and the World of Darkness franchise.

Jeanette Voerman from Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines. Screenshot taken from in-game.

Before you ask, no. They don’t sparkle.

It’s bad enough that CCP Games (The developers of EvE Online) cancelled their World of Darkness MMO earlier this year after almost a decade of development and PR silence, but now they go and squash a fan-made effort to reinvigorate a much beloved game because it’s ‘breaching’ the terms of their ownership of an IP they’ve been sitting on for ten years now.

But before that, some context is necessary. Back in 2004, a modern day take on the vampire focused roleplaying universe of The World of Darkness was brought to us by Troika in the form of the game ‘Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines’. As broken and half finished as the game was, it’s arguably considered one of the most compellingly dark, harrowing, atmospheric, funny and well written universes ever brought to the RPG circle.

A cult following followed this game to the point where the game today has been supported so heavily by the modding community, that the game has essentially been bug fixed, finished and beyond by fans of the franchise. Even today, 10 years after release, you can expect to see the game in the ‘most popular’ category of every Steam Sale that includes the game in its list of price cuts. You can read more about the history of Troika, Vampire and the game’s 10 years of continued bug fixing and mod support right here.

So, as you might expect: Fans wanted more. After the dissolve of Troika. CCP games ended up acquiring the rights to video game depictions of the World of Darkness universe. It was announced they were to develop a massively multiplayer online game. While many rolled their eyes at this, the game promised a plethora of innovative features such as beginning the game as a human (Which had its own viable meta-game) with the option (Or lack if you find yourself within the gaze of a so inclined vampire) of turning.

World of Darkness screenshot from http://bit.ly/126v4mB.

Players were to choose from a multitude of bloodlines of kindred, each with their own traits, advantages and disadvantages, and players were to be the sole guiding star for the game’s rules and structure. For example, an elected player would exist as the ‘prince’ of a city, and with the aid of their player controlled advisers, would have been able to permanently execute players they found to be breaching their way of running things. The game would have essentially been a sandbox for player driven political disputes, Second Life-esque social mechanics and support and a world completely open to a player’s desires and aims in what they would have wanted out of a truly open World of Darkness.

As the years went on, we heard remarkably little about the MMO’s development. Some tech demos here, a brief interview there, even some leaked screenshots from time to time. Then, word of completely scrapped alpha builds, and multiple reboots of the entire project began to surface. Lay-offs and employees being diverted from the project to EVE Online began to occur. At the beginning of 2014, CCP expressed desire at taking deep inspiration for sandbox games such as Day Z and Rust, and we all thought that the project was still moseying along at its own steady pace. We were patient. It was the most innovative sounding game I’d ever heard of, and I was willing to wait. I had faith. And boy, was I wrong to keep clinging to the hope that it’d ever see the dark of night.

CCP announced earlier this year, that the project had come to a close. We were sad. The WoD and Vampire community unanimously expressed disappointment at the long-time-coming close to such an ambitious project. While I was angry, having waited so long with so little for nothing, I understood. It was TOO ambitious. Especially for a developer with an already ambitious MMO to sustain of such a small user-base as EVE. This was okay. (A brief history of the World of Darkness MMO can be found on Wikipedia here, and a more detailed look at the game’s rocky development can be found here.)

What wasn’t and isn’t okay? Sitting on an IP with no expressed intention to do anything with it. CCP still own all rights to the World of Darkness, and there seems to be no sign of intention to develop or sell the rights to other studios. There is popular demand for this theoretical spiritual successor to Vampire: The Masquerade, and nothing seems to be happening. Disappointed, many turned to fan-led creations. There, just for a little while, there seemed to be a glimmer of hope: Project Vaulderie.

 

Project Vaulderie Screenshot from http://bit.ly/1vSnHgk

A small group of people announced an ambitious recreation of Vampire: The Masquerade within the Unity engine. Graphical enhancements, more content, polished game mechanics and even a multiplayer mode in the same vein as the WoD MMO – albeit at a much smaller scope. While the project went along slowly, it showed promise. It had an audience, it had an increasing amount of contributors, and it had momentum.

Then it happened. Last week, CCP shut the project down.

‘It appears that Project Vaulderie is now engaging in the unauthorized creation, use, and sale of products bearing the name of CCP’s registered intellectual property, Vampire: The Masquerade, without any license, authorization or permission of CCP.’

Notice the use of ‘sale of products’. A free, fan creation for the fans CCP refuses to cater to, despite sitting on the rights to is being shut down. DESPITE the project not breaching these terms anymore than the hundreds of Vampire mods that already exist, CCP used legal scare tactics to shut the project down despite having absolutely no right to.

I am so angry about this blatant abuse of copyright. There is no legal backbone to this claim, and I would urge the developers of the project to dispute these claims if I didn’t understand the fear behind just a few loosely connected individuals challenging a company as large as CCP. It’s absolutely sickening that CCP would scare a small group of loyal fans into forfeiting a fan creation that they had every right to create and share with the world just because they own a franchise they apparently don’t want the world to play anymore.

I expect more games from the World of Darkness universe will surface should they still be wanted, but I don’t expect them soon. Once more, we as fans are expected to wait patiently, oh so patiently… Oh well. I only hope that other developers, AAA, indie or otherwise see this void left in the market by CCP and act accordingly. Then again, the last time I hoped for anything, I was not rewarded.

If anything, this situation represents a growing issue with the state of copyright and copyright holders regarding intellectual and creative properties today. Tomorrow, I will be writing about a growing, more open alternative: Creative Commons.

The Guardian article summary: Movie piracy: threat to the future of films intensifies.

“piracy vs iTunes” by Will Lion is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

The original article can be found here: http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/jul/17/digital-piracy-film-online-counterfeit-dvds.

The article begins by saying that the movie industry consistently fails to convince many that piracy is theft and a crime to feel bad about. 30% of the UK partakes in piracy to some degree and that this theft costs audiovisual industries £500M annually. A common view as to why this is the case is that it’s a ‘victim-less crime.’ In particular it states that the independent film maker is most at harm to piracy due to lack of budget or income. Pre-sales often secure independent film finance and the rise of piracy is discouraging people to pay for content and this causes projects to collapse from lack of funding. The article contradicts itself by listing a number of hugely successful films released over the past year that received independent financing, but goes on to state that UK cinemas lose about £220M box office revenue due to piracy. Security is named to be an increasing focus in cinemas to halt this kind of content fraud. A quarter of a million jobs will be at risk if copyright infringement is left as it is by 2015 un the UK. Piracy is in fact a victim orientated crime it goes on to say. eOne Films representative lists a number of legal alternatives and states that piracy is inexcusable due to low cost services such as Netflix. Piracy is nothing, but “straightforward plagiarism for profit” and that you are putting money into the hands of a criminal whether pirating physical copies or online. The article concludes with a number of movements illustrating the rise of ISP’s and media industries aiming to combat piracy, but questions their effectiveness. The author stands on a very one-sided view of pirated content all throughout and makes their opinion very clear: Piracy is a threat to the movie industry.

Diana Lodderhose. (2014). Movie Piracy: threat to the future of films intensifies. Available: http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/jul/17/digital-piracy-film-online-counterfeit-dvds. Last accessed 20/11/2014.

Using Pinterest to get employed.

“Pinterest Signs at Target” by Mike Mozart is licensed under CC BY 2.0

A quick look at how you can use Pinterest to get employers to notice.

Instagram’s use of Folksonomy, and using it to succeed.

“Instagram Logo Transparent” by Zenspa1 is licensed by CC BY2.0

Hashtags are Instagram’s key use of folksonomy; the practice of collaboratively creating ‘tags’ to annotate and categorize content. Today this can also be referred to as ‘social tagging’ or ‘social indexing’. The use of hashtags on Instagram opens up your image to a variety of specific aspects of said content depending on what you choose to ‘tag’ it as.

 

 For example, an image of a building of historical significance can be labeled by its name, its location, an event, person or movement or other categories directly linked with the content itself as well as broader tags such as #architecture or #beautiful and other adjectives you would use to describe said picture. The former method of tagging something is called narrow folksonomy. It is when a few users, primarily the content creator tag the object with a very specific or limited number of terms. The latter method is known as using a broad folksonomy. This is where the object is tagged with a variety of terms from a variety of vocabularies in an effort to create a larger amount of metadata for it. 

To use folksonomies and tag successfully on Instagram, using both broad and narrow indexes is the best way to get your image or video across to its intended audience. The narrow folksonomies will index your content to a very specific audience, mainly the ones directly and most interested in your type of content. While the broader folksnomies open up your image to a wider audience, making it more accessible to audiences outside of the more specific ones as defined by the narrower tags.

“Cute grey kitten” by Nicolas Suzor is licensed under CC BY SA- 2.0.

For example. a picture of a kitten could be narrowly defined by #cat, and target cat-lovers and those wishing to look up cats specifically, but using a broader tag such as #adorable alongside this will attract both those interested and looking for cats, as well as those more casually interested in anything adorable as well. While the narrow folksonomy usage could garner you an audience of cat-lovers, the broader indexing alongside this will net you both a very specific following as well as views and online interest from a more loosely interested and casual demographic. This is an ideal way to net yourself your targeted following as well as generating interest from outside of it.

 

CAFOD: #oneclimate, #oneworld

“A Hand for CAFOD” by H M Cotterill is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

CAFOD is a primarily Catholic charity working against climate change all around the globe. While they do apply many Catholic teachings to their organisations core principles and beliefs, it’s a charity that holds an equally noble cause even to the most atheistic of us.

Last week I attended a lecture at Leeds Trinity University where CAFOD spoke to students of various ages. I was tasked with live tweeting my experience in said lecture about all the various aspects of CAFOD’s speeches, principles and statistics. The most impactful part of the organisations presentation, to me, was their slogan and hashtag: ‘One Climate, One World’.

This simple phrase alongside the talks from Jesse Romero, Dr Ann-Marie Mealey and Andy Challinor on behalf of CAFOD’s organisation was a very informative and enlightening experience for me in many ways. I have always been of the firm belief that climate change is a natural part of the planet’s life cycle, and that my actions nor those of any others had a meaningful impact on ‘global warming’.

While they did little to sway my belief, they did open my eyes to the ways in which climate change is affecting mine, and other cultures around the world. In particular, the effects of global warming on glaciers in Peru and the importance of these glaciers to a town’s water supply and lifestyle was something I would have never thought an issue in the world today. The event was something of a bubble burster regarding the first world bubble I and many others live in and the issues around the globe that we just don’t see or concern ourselves with.

Me and others on my course were tasked with raising awareness about CAFOD as an exercise in social networking and its use regarding rallying behind a cause. We were to tweet about the organisation’s event, the people behind it and other related topics using the hash-tags #OneClimate and #OneWorld.

Several of my tweets were shared by CAFOD, Andy Challinor, my university and many others during the event. One of my tweets was even one of the most shared posts regarding CAFOD as according to a social networking statistics site. The whole event according to a graph had spiked awareness of the organisation tenfold during its hour duration.

This was astonishing to me. The fact that a simple tweet can raise so much awareness for a cause. That simple posts on the internet can cause so much buzz for a movement or group in ways that no other kind of marketing or advertising can achieve. It made me think hard about the kind of good social networking is and can be used to raise money for charities and movements with the goal to better and even save lives. The potential behind this kind of awareness raising is almost limitless. I’m interested in what could be achieved in a society even more open to internet orientated marketing and how much more good could be done.

CAFOD is an organisation that I truly respect. Despite my views on religion and climate change, I still firmly believe in its existence and the impact it is having on so many different cultures and societies throughout the world. It has definitely made me think about the little things I could do to help their cause. Using less electricity, water, recycling; all of the things we’ve had drilled into our heads, but rarely take notice of. Not just to ‘combat’ climate change, but just to preserve energy and resources so that perhaps one day what we save can go to those in need of it/them.

My experience with CAFOD has changed my views on several things. Climate change for one, but also my impact on the world. The things I do and say online can matter to something or someone. Whether it be a cause like CAFOD or otherwise. It only takes one person to get a movement going if they know the right things to say to the right people. Much like how we as individuals can help our world in a more direct fashion.

We can help those like CAFOD in doing it themselves by simply tweeting on their hash-tag, posting on a blog or sharing something on Facebook associated with some meaningful cause or movement. Who knows who you could inspire?

At the end of the day, all of the big things that happen and go on in our world start with a single person, and with a resource like the internet, it’s that much easier for that person to be you. You can make a difference. Although, it doesn’t start with your 654th Instagram upload of a Starbucks 😉

‘Walking simulators’ and effective game design.

“The Vanishing of Ethan Carter (4k)” by Gronkh is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

A new ‘genre’ of games has quickly arisen on the PC gaming space over the past few years, and has been the subject of much debate since its debut. The ‘walking simulator’.

It’s not clear what actually defines the walking simulator beyond extensive amounts of walking as a main gameplay mechanic, but the general consensus seems to be a game where there’s little to nothing to do, but walk and take in scenery, exposition and events you have little ability to interact with. The debate amongst gaming journalists is whether these ‘games’ can actually be considered part of the gaming medium.

“Dear Esther (2012)” by RMA2kay4 is licensed under CC by 2.0

The first game to spark these debates was Dear Esther. An indie game released in 2011 that originated as a mod for the Source Engine several years prior. The game revolves around a man with an unknown background making his way to a mountain in the middle of a mysterious island. You the player, guide this man around through different environments, finding items, places and other ‘things’ (No spoilers) whilst the protagonist spouts randomised exposition that differs every playthrough.

Aside from the game’s extremely ambiguous narrative that never really comes into its own (Or make sense), can it really be considered a good game? Or even a game? Does walking around in a 3-D space emulating an experience more like a novel or a film fall under the category of actual ‘gameplay’?

Put simply? It depends. In traditional terms, a game is defined by the existence of some kind of “fail state”. Which means that the ability to fail or lose the game is the key trait defining it as a part of the medium. Even this definition has sparked controversy, as many consider never reaching the end of Dear Esther (A game with no traditional fail state) as a fail state in of itself. Proteus and Gone Home are two similar ‘games’ in the genre that are worth checking out if only to help your understanding of the criticisms placed upon the ‘typical’ walking sim.

Two recent releases, The Vanishing of Ethan Carter and The Stanley Parable do the walking sim in ways more deserving of the title ‘video game’, however and have been recognised as such by the gaming community as well.

“Stanley Parable at A MAZE. Berlin 2014” by Iwan Gabovitch is licensed under CC by 2.0

The Stanley Parable is an expertly written work of genius that exists to be a commentary on the gaming medium and all of its typical tropes. While there are no gameplay mechanics beyond walking and the occasional button press, it has numerous endings (Going into the double digits) with various types of ‘fail’ states depending on what you did what you were told by the narrator. The game gets away with its lack of mechanics by being almost a critique of the genre as well as itself.

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter however, is a mystery game that most typically resembles Dear Esther with its forest based setting and beautiful aesthetic, but actually contains some complex gameplay mechanics within it. You are tasked with finding clues, using supernatural powers to put events into chronological order as well as myriad of different logic puzzles to undertake. Not only that, but it has a ‘fail state’ in that you can fail to uncover the entire plot if you fail to decipher clues and events correctly. Unlike the former mentioned, Ethan Carter manages to incorporate lots of walking in pretty environments as well as some complex game mechanics.

So, is the walking sim a genre of video game? If you were expecting a definitive answer, you’re not going to get one. It depends. Some of them are lazy, unimaginative and lacking in all things required to be a video game at all. Some of them, like Dear Esther are trying to be something beautiful, minimalist and artistic in their exclusion of typical game mechanics, but ultimately fall into a very difficult grey area of classification by doing so. And very few, the exceptional ones within the genre, manage to be games in their own right, as well as be classified as a walking simulator.

But even if it’s not a game, does it matter if you enjoyed ‘playing’ it?

Tips for creating a good piece of online content.

“social media” by Sean MacEntee is licensed under CC BY 2.0

It’s kind of ridiculous how easy it is for anybody to put something up on the internet. At the same time, it’s also kind of ridiculous how hard it is for someone to even begin to get their content seen by people online. With billions of voices all fighting to be heard through the same channels and platforms, the average user needs to bring a lot more to the table to avoid being caught in the current of online irrelevancy.

Being a part of a course at university dedicated to online content generation, I have researched and discovered many different methods and approaches you can take to make your voice heard. Naturally, I think it best to pass these tips on, and hopefully someone will be able to use some of what I say to better their own online endeavors.

AUDIENCE.

If you don’t know who you you’re writing or publishing material for, how can you be creating anything at all? Before you write anything, you need to know what it is you’re aiming to create, what is the purpose of this piece and WHO this piece is going to cater for. Is it a wide audience? Or a specific one? Do you cater to the average consumer? Or a niche one? You can’t create any kind of good content without keeping an audience in mind, because no one is going to read your piece if they don’t find your content compelling enough for them.

Typically specific, niche and specialized audiences will be easier to garner more interest. Targeting an audience with rare and unique content is much easier to do than cater to the thousands. Especially when it comes to marketing your product, as reaching out to a much more defined group is a much simpler task than advertising in a way that encompasses many groups of people.

PLATFORM.

Deciding what platform you wish to publish your content is just as an important decision as deciding what to write. A platform defines your content more than one might initially think, as every website and social network has their own traits, strengths and weaknesses. For example, creating a page on Facebook is a good way to get a quick established following due to it being typically a network for you and those that you already know. Whereas Twitter allows you to garner an audience much more easily with those that you don’t. Researching what platform is right for your content will be a major contributor regarding the success and popularity of your content.

Choose a platform that will make it easier for your targeted audience to access and consume. Your ideal platform is the one that makes consumption of your product as easy and accessible as possible.

CONSISTENCY.

Creating a Twitter with highly contrasting types of content and formality isn’t a good way to keep an audience. If half of the content you produce is highly professional and business based, and the other informal and linked to you more personally, you are going to quickly lose the audiences for both of the types of content you are producing. People are not going to stick around for one half of your work they like when they have to put up with the half that they don’t.

Establish your formality, tone, audience and themes early on and stick to them so that your audience knows exactly what your content is about. If you need or want to create “different” content, then on whatever platform you are using, create another account for it. You will have an easier time keeping a following if they are being given the content they were promised.

As well as this, make sure that your content is being delivered to your audience frequently. It goes without saying that no one is going to stick around and wait for that blog you promised them in a week’s time 6 months ago. Be consistent in both your content, and the frequency of its delivery.