Cultural Super Models....

In "Cultural Models" by James Gee, he defines the cultural model a the virtues and ideas we hold ourselves to because of our upbringing, parental influence or current situation. He believes that through the use of "duel" story telling, the audience can either choose to make an unbaised decision or pick a side based of the familiarity one story shares with their own cultural model. The destinctions between right and wrong are blurred when we are able to live through that which is different from our own beliefs.

He made an interesting note about how in Sonic Adventure 2 Battle the player can choose to play as the "good guys" or the "bad guys". The only diference between the two are their goals, yet the player is still playing to win and feels as though his cause for wanting to win is just enough to achieve the goals of the character he is playing, whether it be to destroy the world or to save it. The player becomes more familiar with both sides of the story and shares feelings and concerns for all it's characters.

Something New: Final Fantasy XI

Or to be more specific, Final Fantasy XI: Treasures of Aht Urhgan, the newest expansion pack to the MMORPG that offers more than just the conventional upgrade and list of new missions. The Empire of Aht Urhgan is vast, huge, beutiful and dangerous. Since my avatar is not of the level that can participate in a majority of the newly added content, I will tell about the exciting things that I was able to accomplish as a level 46 thief. I think the main draw for me and everyone else who ran out to purchase the new expansion pack was the three new jobs that can be unlocked; Blue Mage, Corsair and Puppetmaster. I have just finished unlocking the last job last night and I had already been playing for a week. The popularity of the new jobs is surprisingly contagious, everyone wants to have these new jobs. I haven't even unlocked all the normal jobs I've had access to (I believe I have Paladin, Dark Knight and Bard left to do) and still, like many others, I had to have access to all of these new jobs before I could continue my everyday virual existence.

But that's not what I found most surprising about this new expansion. The creation of the new jobs was like setting everyone's counter back to zero. High levels were hanging out with low levels, those with more experience were open and willing to share it with those who had less. The most interesting story I have to share was my jouney to become a Corsair. After dying for the forth time out in the wilderness of Arrpago Reef, I was about ready to get back on the boat and go home. I had no idea where I was going, or what I was even suppose to do and quite frankly I was getting sick of dying. I "shouted" for anyone who was doing the mission, or knew what they were doing or anything that could help me get this one, incredibly evasive new job. There was no answer. I hung my head, paid the boat fair, and got on the ferry. All of the sudden I recieved a tell from someone inviting me to their party. I asked what was up, and they said,"your doing Corsair, right?" I ran off the ferry and joined the party. There were three others, all high level. One of them, "Tenla", was guiding us. She was generiously using her magic to keep us hidden from the monsters that would kill me iin two hits. we ran through the marshe, stopping only to reapply the spells that kept us hidden. We had almost made it to the reef when a Mature Treant came down on 'Reap". We decided to fight it, and what a fight it was. This thing was kicking our collective asses and I couldn't even hit it. Even the high levels had to use all their power and techniques to make a dent in this thing....then the imp came. Maybe we could have beaten the Mature Treant if we had it alone, but the imp was a problem. Tenla put the imp to sleep and we though we had this one in the bag, but then, another imp showed up. We started dropping like flies. We ran, hoping to make it to the zone area. Unfortunatly, there was a lamia and two undead skeletons blocking the way and the only ones getting through were the thieves, that was me and another guy I can't remeber the name of.

Tenla fell in the thick of the lamia spawn area, Reap fell just before the zone (I hate when that happenes). I needed to revive my new found friends because I was dead meat with out them. We made it to he reef but we still had no idea where to go. We needed a black mage's "tractor" and a white mage's "revive". There was no way to get Tenla out of the lions' den without it. As luck would have it, there was a party of two coming toward us; a black and a white mage. We were able to regroup, revive, and return to the mission. Out of gratitude, we added the two newcomers to our ranks.

Like a centipede, we crawled though Arrpago Reef, making sure we didn't leave anyone behind, refreshing our spells, and tring to remain unseen. Something that we weren't used to was that the lamia and imps had "true site". This means that even with the affects of "Invisable" and "Sneak" (the spells we had been using to evade detection) if we came close to one of these creatures it would attack regardless. So it was a very dangerous task to undertake, but it was well worth it.

Something new: Kingdom Hearts 2

Since I have finished Indigo Prophecy, I have to find a different subject to report on to continue my video game blog. Kingdom Hearts 2 is a game that I've been playing in between sessions of Indigo Phophecy, and I am really enjoying the experience. Even though the premiss of the game is to tell a story that involves Disney and Square-Enix characters co-mingling in the same universe, the game succeeds because it is able to tie a part of our childhood to the experience of being a young adult. Even as an adult, I myself have been transported to a simpler time in my life. A time when I wasn't concerned about carving out a niche for myself in this world, but more so when I was able to enjoy life for what it was... But then again, the innocence of the game is met at some points with reality. Emotions are felt with the characters, sadness, anger, joy. Real experiences are simulated, dealing with loss, death, dispare, only to be countered by their opposites. The feeling I get when playing this game is not one of the detached viewer who feels little in regaurds to the characters he is controlling, but a deep emotional connection to the lifes of the character portrayed on the screen. No longer is Goofy a rediculus character or Donald Duck an annoying, hot tempered side character. The attachement to these personea have become more intimate do to the time spent with them. We, as players, are allowed to see a full spectrum of emotions that these characters exude, not just the ones we are suppose to see in the short time spent watching them in some of their cartoons.

The avatar and the self...

In "Hyperidentities" by Miroslaw Filiciak, he makes a connection between the self and the avatar. He states that in the modern times in which we live, we have more options as to what way we want to portray ourselves as individuals. In previous eras, a person was defined by their profession. Today, the individual is defined by their interests and their hobbies, the work portion of their lives is used to fuel these entertaining activities. The avatar is an example of this. He argues that the avatar is not just an extention of the user, but the user itself, fulfilling themselves as an individual in cyber space. Much like the position of a career oriented individual of yesteryear, today's individual's independence, their importance, is derived who they choose to be, not who they have to be.

Indigo Prophecy: Week#8 (it's finally over!)

Yes, it's true. I have beaten Indigo Prophecy, and, I have noticed something about a narrative with a multiple branching story line. It is very hard to keep a white sock out of a wash of red shirts. This means that to make a fulfilling and enriching story with deep characters, a captivating plot and continuity is one thing, trying to make a story that goes in every direction and still have things make sence at the end is a whole different ballgame. I musta got the "not so good" ending because I end up as a super zombie fighting against the Orange Clan and the Purple Clan. The Orange Clan where the guys behind the mayan oracle, but the Purple Clan totally came out of left field. Something about them being an AI that became conscious and wanted to rule over mankind (psst, they apparently brought me back to life after the oracle killed me and my ex-girlfriend). The bums that played a quiet role in the game were actually a secret organization watching events unfold, The Indigo Child didn't do anything but deliver that fatefull message to whatever, Tyler goes to Florida with his girlfriend, Carla somehow falls in love with Lucas (the killer) and they have sex in a train car and apparently, the world is ending....

This really is an interesting story, and I would not mind actually knowing the whole story as opposed to just the part I was able to play through. But, it's not going to be by playing the game. I'll find a FAQ about it somewhere and I'll read the events, but I'll be damned if I have to sit there and "play" through that absolutly horrid gaming experience again. The ending wasn't even worth watching... I played the end chapter again to try and get a "better" ending, but to no avail. Why Indigo Prophecy?!? WHY!?! Why do I actually feel like I'm not having fun when I play with you. Why is your Simon sez gameplay so worthless and pitiful? Why are your graphics, control, camera, ect. so terrible? I read the credits..... the director appologizes to his son for the many long hours away from his family, working on this game.... it must be really disappointing to know that his son will remember that producing this craptacular title was more important than coming home at night to his family. But here's the real kicker....they totally left it open for a sequel. I'm sorry Mr. Cage, I wish you the best of luck next time....but I really want my $50.00 back.

I, Avatar: part 2

In an article written by Sherry Turkle, she argues that the lives we lead may not be the actual reality that makes us, as an independent being, exist. It becomees apparent to ludologists that one's presence in a virtual space most often leads to the creation of a more liberal minded personae. These personae become ways for individuals to express themselves in ways they couldn't in the constraints of their "physical" reality. It is also being argued that a person can feel more like themselves with the assistence of a virtual persona than they can in the physical relm where one might feel trapt by their current job, living arrangement, physical shortcummings or social status. This being said, can not the drudgery of an unwanted (or unfulfillinf) existance be less real than one enjoyed on the virtal plane? If a person finds the time spent in a virtual world more fulfilling on a productive and social status building level, than why can't that existence be considered that person's true reality?