5/8

§NOW AND THEN
Extra Credits - Episode 200! - How Far Have Games Come Since 2008?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKmNzujz-Aw

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Is Minecraft the Most Important Game Right Now? | Game/Show | PBS Digital Studios
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkKNt6Xq1dY

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Retro Review: System Shock 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vnh0l_Ecpx4






§DESIGN
SWT - Inputs and the Rift
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEht8W6w2Rc

§

Players sit up and pay more attention when they think they might die. Permadeath games and the like don't even bother with the fake-out; if you make a mistake, boom, goodbye, thanks for playing.
/.../
Quicksaves, regenerating health and other sorts of developer generosity are well-intentioned but often diminish the experience. These systems make no demands, so the player sleepwalks through the game. Let's call it: some of these shooters are just walking simulators with a bit of colourful pizazz. There's nothing to lose, so there's nothing to play for. This isn't to say all games need extraordinary challenge, but how risk compensation affects player behaviour is not something that should be ignored. Tricks to simulate risk might work but it's all too possible players will figure them out after which point they begin to relax. Suddenly, it's a walking simulator.
http://www.electrondance.com/how-to-stop-making-players-lazy




§QUEER
Kim Kardashian is surfing this wave of male tears all the way to the bank. In a world with limited opportunities for famous women as they age, Kardashian broke the Internet simply by lending her likeness to a single mobile game. And to read Kardashian as a vapid figure who does not deserve her fame is to fundamentally misunderstand the ways in which women exercise agency within the sexist constraints of celebrity culture.
http://www.dailydot.com/opinion/hating-kim-kardashian-makes-her-stronger/

§

Let’s talk about how folks in fandom were rewriting [Mass Effect 3] in a massive variety of creative and clever ways for over a year before that one dudebro did it, in horribly out-of-character quasi-prose, and was the subject of front-page Kotaku articles showcasing his devotion to the series.

Let’s talk about how female-dominated fannish spaces have been around for decades. Let’s talk about how “fans brought back Star Trek in the 70s!” always brings to mind stereotypical Trekkie dudes and not the women who were actually organizing and running conventions.

Let’s talk about how women are over 50% of moviegoers. Let’s talk about how women make up nearly 50% of gamers. Let’s talk about how, despite all this, the industry is still almost entirely guys making content for guys.

I’m just saying. Let’s fucking talk about this.
http://eponymous-rose.tumblr.com/post/84698057207/wait-wait-wait-while-im-still-having-my-grumpy