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more thoughts about KotOR

February 13, 2012
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It’s pretty amazing how much I’d forgotten. I remembered the CCG mini-game Pazaak, but I’d forgotten the first Knights of the Old Republic had podracing. For some reason I thought that was part of the sequel. And, man, I gotta say… the podracing line of quests on the first planet, Taris, so that you can win Bastila, the Jedi-turned-slave, is so freakin ridiculous. That sentence is freakin ridiculous. Podracing. Slavegirl. Taris (and rakghouls). All of that.

Plus, during it, the crazy wookiee, Zaalbar, swears a life oath to you because you unlocked a door. And it wasn’t even your character who unlocked it; it was his bff, Mission Vao. But noooo… he sees you like he swallowed some Love Potion #9 and swears to stay by your side forever. That must have been some door.

Zaalbar: Oh, yes, I had a life, full of hopes and dreams, but then that door came along and I fell into deep despair. I was just about to kill myself by repeatedly Ram Manning that door. Then you came along. Then you came along, and I will never leave your side. I hereby swear a life oath to you, having no idea if you’re an upstanding guy or not, knowing NOTHING about you, I swear a life oath to you.

Zaalbar (4 seconds later): Wait a sec, Mission. Where did you come from? Oh, you’re the one who unlocked that door? DAMMIT!!!

Actually, this reminds me about something in SWTOR. During certain cutscenes in the trooper storyline, various NPCs say, “you did it all by yourself!” and you reply “I’m a one-woman army!” all the while… hello? your companion is standing *right* *there*!

Anyway, KotOR. There’s also a man-the-turrets mini-game when you first get on the Millenium Ebon Hawk. Clearly Bioware was taking iconic scenes from the movies and threw them in the game with podracing and the turrets and the fastest ship in the galaxy knock off. No idea where Pazaak came from, but that’s really the only mini-game I like.

So, this game was a great game. It got about 94% on gamerankings. It had a lot of stuff in it that was amazing. Yet I’m encountering stuff I think is crazy ridiculous. Maybe if it didn’t have these inclusions, it would have been closer to 98%. Or maybe back then these things didn’t irk like they do now. Or maybe the main story (despite the Taris beginnings) is just as awesome as I remember. And maybe I’ll actually finish this play through, so I can answer that question!

thoughts about Knights of the Old Republic

February 10, 2012
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Yes, that’s the original Knights of the Old Republic (KotOR), not the new MMO, The Old Republic (SWTOR).

From Games

Some of you may know that KotOR was an influential game in steering me to become a PhD student looking at cooperation collaboration and teamwork in (online) games. Anyway, I decided to reinstall it, throw in some mods, and check it out, now that I’ve played SWTOR for a while. Here’s some really brief notes:

  • Low poly count and textures. The extent of this surprised me. I remembered it being much more detailed, but that was back then… It’s not as bad as playing Deus Ex these days, at least.
  • Sparsely populated, so… no change, really.
  • You can actually talk to everyone and get a line of banter, it seems. There’s even just people who’ll engage in a one-line dialog with you. Nice flavor.
  • I like that it isn’t clear who are quest givers.
  • I love how NPCs appear as recurring characters who you just sort of chance upon at first, like Cordo, the bountyhunter, or Mission Vao. You see them in a scene but then have hardly any interaction with them until later in the game. Lots of foreshadowing or “here’s some info and set-ups, which we won’t tell you when they come together for something bigger or if they’re just flavor.” I like the unpredictable nature of it… uncertain nature of it.

 

Rakghoul Morality

February 1, 2012
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From Rakghoul Morality

I’ve been playing a lot of Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR). Very brief impressions:

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Want a copy of my book?

February 1, 2012
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Leet Noobs can be found on Amazon and Barnes&Noble, but I have an extra and am offering it to someone who can’t afford it but really wants to read it in return for a review.

John Carter McKnight reviewed it already on his blog, btw. It’s glowing! And kind of amazing how he can distill some things that I I should have made more explicit. AND amazing how well he can interleave reflections on his own work into the review.

Leet Noobs: a new book for a new year!

January 3, 2012
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Two weeks ago, my book came out on Amazon!

Leet Noobs: The Life and Death of an Expert Player Group in World of Warcraft

Leet Noobs cover

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Some video interviews of DML Summer Institute 2011 scholars

November 23, 2011
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[Edit Nov 23, 2011, 11:02am] Looks like these were uploaded yesterday, so hopefully the rest (6 more) will be added soonish. :)

incl. me!

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Digital Games Research Association #digra11

October 5, 2011
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Ok, so I suck at updating this blog.

A few weeks ago I attended the Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA)’s bi-annual meeting. This year it was at Hilversum, The Netherlands!

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Penny Arcade Expo PAX11, Aug 26-28, 2011

August 29, 2011
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So, like last year, I was in a panel this year at the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX)!

It was me, Chris Paul (Seattle U), Roger Altizer (U of Utah), Nathan Dutton (Ohio U), Todd Harper (MIT GAMBIT), and Shawna Kelly (USC/Intel).

While last year we presented a general overview and introduction to games studies/games research in academia to people who may be interested in games as a career but don’t want to go into the games industry, this year we each had five minutes to share where we’re at and what we do and then share the work of someone else in the field that we like.

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Computer Supported Collaborative Learning July 4-8, 2011 in Hong Kong

August 29, 2011
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So this post is overdue, and in the interest of just giving an update, I’ll write quickly.

I went to Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) in early July. Saw a lot of people. Robin joined me for part of it, and we shopped for toys and nail polish together, sometimes with Cynthia D’Angelo. We went to the horse races (which was totally rad). I had some very, very awesome breakfasts (dim sum type buns) from a hole-in-the-wall across the street from my hotel with Ben DeVane and Ben Shapiro.

From CSCL 2011

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I got a book deal!!! Leet Noobs: The Life and Death of an Expert Player Group in World of Warcraft

August 10, 2011
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Actually, I got it a while back; signed the contract some time in April I think. The draft was due to Colin Lankshear and Michele Knobel, the series editors, on August 1. Colin just emailed me and a Peter Lang Publishers person that they think it’s good to go!

I just need to reformat, edit it a bit for informal/formal consistency, move footnotes to endnotes, etc. (It comes from my dissertation but is different in some significant ways.)

Working with Colin and Michele has been a total joy. (very smooth and similar experience to publishing something in their journal E-Learning)

After the whole process is over, I’ll do a write-up of it here. Just as with getting a PhD, how to get a book published is completely opaque to people who’ve never done it before, yet everyone who’s done it doesn’t seem to realize that at all…