Mitu.nu - Latest Comments

Re: On “Fake Geek Girls” and Gratuitous Gendering of Actual Human Problems

Anonymous Anonymous — Mon, 07 May 2012 09:55:58 -0000

The geek/gaming scene could stand to be more inclusive. Of that there is no doubt.

However, there is a valuable discussion to be had about fakers and posers. They exists in all other subcultures and are in no way gender dependent. Guys may lie about their interest to impress a colleague or a date, just as readily as girls do.

I think the focus on female fakers in geek culture has more to do with females being seen as having the most to gain by faking. Guys are the majority, and geeky guys are pretty much mainstream at this point. As a guy there just no point in faking it as a geek. You would be a drop in the ocean. Much better to go out claiming to be into poetry. Girls, however, are in demand. As potential romantic partners, as ad-revenue generating columnists and depressingly... as porn. As a female faker you stand to gain attention and possibly even a paycheck.

I don't think anyone of any gender should have to pony up a laundry list of geek credentials before they're taken seriously, especially in a subculture that is increasingly becoming just "culture". However, I do understand the desire of those most hardcore for calling out and being critical of posers/fakers. It's a complicated issue, complicated further by the slanted demographic of geekdom.

Re: GDC Microtalk: How Designing for Love Can Change The World

John Carter McKnight — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 22:41:07 -0000

"How to love, and how to explore" - this is *wonderful. What a lovely blend of such seemingly disparate cultural phenomena!

Cannot wait for "Redshirts," too.

Re: On “Fake Geek Girls” and Gratuitous Gendering of Actual Human Problems

Alexhincapie723 — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 21:11:35 -0000

I liked it !!! ...... I'm Alexander by the way, From Medellin,Colombia :)

Re: Are Games Astronomy?

Dan Furman — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 12:58:17 -0000

Have never heard this from the point of view of games. But I agree: at the moment, we are the most complex organization of energy that we know of in the universe. Not our bodies or minds, but the whole complex of human civilization, which reproduces itself and makes further evolution possible--from 'star stuff' to the algorithms that make the gameworlds possible. In my opinion, it is our interface with the world that makes increasing complexity possible...and brings the importance of emotion and art back together with 'science'.
There is a (relativelynew trend of thought in science emphasizing 'emergence' that is more compatible with this approach. Very interesting stuff.

Re: Are Games Astronomy?

Mitu — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 14:14:32 -0000

Thank you so much for reading, and for your kind comment!

And gosh, that exhibit sign is wonderful. What a lovely, concise explanation! As a game designer, and thus someone whose life is, as it turns out, all about making models, I wish I'd been able to understand this so clearly when I was a kid.

Re: Are Games Astronomy?

Matt Jones — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 13:02:45 -0000

This is lovely. Also, reminds me of one of my favourite ever pictures in my flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/b...

Re: Are Games Astronomy?

Ronnie — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 19:45:31 -0000

Beautiful

Re: Are Games Astronomy?

poddys — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 15:24:26 -0000

It never ceases to amaze me just how tiny and insignificant our small planet seems set against the apparently limitless size of the universe. Then when you look at how insignificant each one of us is compared with this Earth, and how a lifetime to each of us in a spark in time. It's beyond comprehension.

Re: On Randomness: Games and The Universe

Mitu — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 06:31:33 -0000

Yes, in the interview I recorded with Martin Hollis to go along with the GSW piece (which I'll be turning into a podcast soon), we discussed the same thing - only with regards to 'serendipity' instead of apophenia (which I guess, are very related concepts); at least, one could regard experiencing apophenia as a serendipitous event.

Anyway, yes, we touched upon the same point you're aptly making: If you want a player to have feelings of 'Wow, I stumbled upon this happy accident', then of course it needs to feel like a non-authored sort of experience. So, yes, critical path apophenia/serendipity almost begins to seem contradictory, I agree - or, at the very least, is a very difficult problem to crack.

So yes, being such, perhaps serendipitous feelings are confined only to procedurally generated - or otherwise emergent - sorts of games; but even then, I wonder if there is more we can do to harness/encourage these sorts of experiences without, as you say, making the experience seem contrived.

Thanks for the comment!

Re: On Randomness: Games and The Universe

Neil Dansey — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 06:09:48 -0000

Regarding the Apophenia theme, here are some links discussing its potential implications on pervasive games design:

http://www.determinedsoftware....
http://pervasivegames.wordpres...

(Be gentle, as the first link was pretty much my first stab at a short paper!)

The problem I found was that according to my understanding of the definition of apophenia, one must notice a connection unmotivated. For example, if I say 'look at this piece of toast with Jesus on it!' everyone will see it, but (in my opinion) the fact they were prompted means they have not *really* expericened apophenia. If you are not allowed to prompt players to perceive things in a certain way, how can you control the apophenia in games? Even if you add non-essential apophenic content into your game without prompting, I think it is still too contrived (i.e. you have added an expectation that they should be interpreting the game content in a certain way). Also, what if they fail to see it? This means that you cannot have critical-path apophenia in your game.

This is why I moved onto ambiguity for my research, and don't even get me started on the problems with that ;)

Neil

Re: On GDC, Ideas, and Cities

Mitu — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 18:32:46 -0000

Hah! Thanks for taking my weirdness seriously (and, of course, for accepting the apology! :D)

Re: On GDC, Ideas, and Cities

Louise — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 18:13:18 -0000

Apologies accepted. There are a lot of people in my company whose passion for what they do overruns. The well known insider term for describing those who exude this passion is that 'if you cut them, they bleed green.' And, yes, some of the people who are described as such probably get terribly excited about yoghurt ;) That aside, interesting article! I have been doing a lot of talking about urban environments recently with my brother (his masters is highly focused on urban analysis.) More specifically we have been discussing the perceptual analysis of public risk in urban spaces. Your article made me think about how, (and if) the dynamics of 'risk' that we experience in 'normal' public spaces would be altered in a game developer's urban utopia as you have described?! See - you are not alone - I take your 'weirdness' and run with it!! Haha!

Re: On GDC, Ideas, and Cities

Nous — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 12:04:42 -0000

That's because we can communicate (and therefore interact with each other "exchanging ideas" of different kinds) non-verbally as well as verbally - a shared physical space can offer additional opportunities for interaction by means of voice intonation, body language, emotional contagiousness, instantly shared physical apparatus and artefacts, and so on.

Re: On GDC, Ideas, and Cities

Mitu — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 11:56:22 -0000

So, in continuing facetious-with-layer-of-truthiness of this post, perhaps we could simply critically increase the number of idea 'nodes' (i.e. people with ideas?).

Y'see, I'm not sure if it is 'physical or otherwise'. While the internet has unarguably gone a long way towards contributing to our 'ideas economy', I do think there is massive value to be gained from physical proximity. Of course, if you haven't seen Jenova Chen's entry for the Game Design Challenge (which didn't win, but was also very worthy indeed), he suggested a way for the TED website to be more engaging and facilitate the flow of ideas. I'm not sure about this exact implementation he proposed, but the general principle was one I really admired. (Video online here, he is last: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

Re: On GDC, Ideas, and Cities

Nous — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 11:42:58 -0000

Density is just one way of looking at distance. Distance is important because any kind of "exchange", "contact" or generally interaction is speed-limited. So anything that reduces distance (physical or otherwise) or increases speed effectively serves to also increase density.

Re: Proust Was a … Game Designer? (Games Design, Research, and the “Fourth Culture”)

pills to help get pregnant — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 00:23:59 -0000

Because its games are lighter, they can be developed more rapidly than the three-year cycle that is the norm of the gaming industry. Fewer designers are needed per game, and the stakes are lower for each release, should a game fail to capture the ...

Re: Taking my time to perfect the beat, and I still got love for the street.

Mitu — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 23:19:39 -0000

I laughed and laughed.

Re: Taking my time to perfect the beat, and I still got love for the street.

Ben Abraham — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 21:35:33 -0000

Alain de Botton is a man severely in need of a hat.

Re: Taking my time to perfect the beat, and I still got love for the street.

Mitu — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 15:01:49 -0000

Alain de Botton is definitely the best of everyday philosophical writers. I'm currently reading more of The Art of Travel.

Re: Taking my time to perfect the beat, and I still got love for the street.

Michel McBride-charpentier — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 14:41:35 -0000

Ohh thanks for the roundabout reminder to read The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work. I think a lot of the reason I've been so down lately has to do with career-starting anxiety.

Re: Hannah Montana and Philosophy (Pt 1): Camusian Existentialism & Embracing the Absurd

K Shamim11 — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 23:45:20 -0000

what a beautiful web side ! more have been watching and more have been geting enjoy.

Re: Hannah Montana and Philosophy (Pt 1): Camusian Existentialism & Embracing the Absurd

K Shamim11 — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 03:59:10 -0000

~Life`s a climb, but the view is great" if every one be think it ...............

Re: On eXistenZ and Immersion: from the Immersive Fallacy to the Immersive Apogee?

Gatsoman — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 20:14:55 -0000

Great write up!

I just also recently realised that I've been styling my hair like Ted Pikul for the past year - but ironically I am in the business of user interface design and software development, unlike the real Ted.

How weird is that??

Re: Hannah Montana and Philosophy (Pt 1): Camusian Existentialism & Embracing the Absurd

PaulECoyote — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 12:37:22 -0000

Thanks for that, made me think.

Re: Hannah Montana and Philosophy (Pt 1): Camusian Existentialism & Embracing the Absurd

George — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 01:14:02 -0000

Your brain works in the awesomest, cleverest ways. :)