Arranged Delirium

For those of you who don’t know about it, World of Warcraft is an online MMORPG (massively multi-player online role-playing game). The game just celebrated its 5-year anniversary and boasts in excess of 11 million players. But in terms of recognizing it as a source of entertainment or a cultural influence - well, that requires understanding it a bit better.

This short Business Management article lays out some interesting statistics that could help us place it into context.

The Guardian article linked here provides a little more detail and description of the game and generates some interesting questions (which we’ll discuss in class). But specifically his argument regarding what exactly the game is, proves interesting.

Finally, there’s a piece in Prospect that discusses the game, and why World of Warcraft matters...

My colleague AMH and I are team-teaching a computer games course this term which is great fun. For implementation, we’re using a tool called GameMaker and students are generating a number of interesting games so far. (BTW, the online tutorials are very good.) I’ve also come across GameSalad which is a great tool for making games for the iPhone platform.

We’ve also had a number of good discussions regarding game design, trends in the field, and the social impact of computer gaming. Next week, we’ll be talking about ethical issues and MMORPGs and some of the cultural issues.I’d been slow to recognize the value of academic inquiry into the area of computer gaming, and now I see what a mis-step that’s been. In many ways, I think it would be dangerous for us NOT to think carefully about this, given how prevalent it is in our society. It would be analogous to not thinking carefully about the cultural implications of television!

Yes, I play World of Warcraft. No, I’m not as bad as this guy. (Make sure to read the steps below the image.)  I’m younger for one thing, and I have more hair. It is funny though - and I thank my colleague CH for sending along the link. I really think the Panera Bread iMac Man needs a laptop though, and I think a fund for such a purpose would be a worthwhile social endeavor.

One of the most frustrating and frequent technical dilemmas I face regularly involves printing. Any kind of printing. Images, syllabi, assignment sheets, reimbursement forms - you name it, I’ve got problems printing it. Laser or inkjet, I’ve got problems with it.

Now, something that concerns me, is that I’m actually (believe it or not) fairly technically inclined. So, I can find my way out of most of these problems (although admittedly it annoys me greatly since its typically 5 minutes before class). But I’ve had a number of students complaining of their own printing issues as well, so I offer up this decent article from MacWorld that does a nice job of sorting through some common printing problems. My own issues tend to come from driver problems which Apple has tended to address via system software updates, but I think I’ve probably faced each of the examples in the article at least once.

BTW, I also have difficulty photocopying…

With thanks toward A.W. (a friend from high school) I present you with Nic Cage as Everyone. Admittedly, some of the Photoshop work is poor, but it’s still funny. It also underscores why folks should think twice about posting pictures to the web. Granted, you may not be a public a figure as Mr. Cage, but…