The Delusionists are a group of university comedy revue types, much the same as the D-Generation, The Chaser and Monty Python started out. They're from Sydney and I have no problem putting them into the company of those three - their stuff really works and they know how to end a sketch.
Jesus: Healer, Preacher, Carpenter
Dick in a bottle. (In case you can't tell)
A few good men
3.6.08
2.6.08
Loving: Oz
You can tell when I have major work to do - I seem to discover some amazing new distraction for "study breaks".
I've been watching Oz, a dark, gritty prison drama for a while now but I've just finished the 4th season and it really is getting better and better. (At times it seems to be going a little over the top with the melodrama and the speed with which worlds of crap seem to poor down on the heads of everyone - but shit man, it's Oz and it's ok.)
Oz is set in Emerald City, the experimental unit of Oswald State Correctional Facility, which means that rather than bars everywhere, the prisoners live in a more open plan kind of place, with the cells closed off by some kind of plexiglass. From a tv perspective this makes a lot of sense as you have a much clearer view of the whole goings on.
Being an HBO show (home of The Sopranos, Sex and the City, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Wire, Deadwood, Six Feet Under - basically anything good from America that's been on tv in the last 10 years - except The West Wing), you get the full in-your-face gamut of language, sex, violence, drug use and other adult content. If you don't have a couple of people being brutally shanked (stabbed), beaten or otherwise killed in an episode, it's a slow week in the prison.
Episodes are tied together by some kind of overarching theme, provided by the shows narrator (of sorts), wheelchair bound Augustus Hill. These are often philosophical in nature and have ranged from the wide variety of home-made knives you find in a prison to famous people who have been prisoners (Galileo etc) and broader reflections on family or revenge.
I started searching the YouTube videos for something to show you but hit one spoiler and don't want to know any more. The link will give you an idea anyways.
Here's a clip I've put up previously that shows what happens when Seinfeld comes to visit Oz. (This came about because Seinfeld's cousin plays a thug biker in the show and apparently Jerry visits the set from time to time)
30.5.08
Feeling: the pressure
14 days to go and 6400 words (and 2 game designs) to be done.
Shame that it's also a fairly busy time workwise.
I'd really rather start playing GTA IV right about now.
Shame that it's also a fairly busy time workwise.
I'd really rather start playing GTA IV right about now.
29.5.08
28.5.08
Enjoying: mean doctor slang
Ever wondered about the often incomprehensible acronyms and scribbles on medical charts? Chances are the doctor has more to say that you might think - and it's not always nice.
This website lists hundreds - possibly thousands - of these terms and makes for some entertaining reading.
Some of my personal faves:
Donorcycle - motorbike: the biggest cause of donated organs!
BTSOOM - Beats The Sh*t Out Of Me
PRATFO - Patient Reassured And Told to F*** Off
DENTIST - Doesn't Even Need Treatment - It's Sorted, Truly
LFTWM - Looking for 3 Wise Men (applied to young pregnant females who deny having had intercourse)
LGFD - looks good from door (but not closely examined, possibly an obnoxious patient)
27.5.08
Choosing: new wallpaper.
One good thing about the trip and the plethora of pix that came with it is the opportunity to change my desktop. These are the current choices.
(Holyrood Park, Edinburgh)
(One of the many oddly hyper symmetrical forests dotted around the countryside of southern France)
(Holyrood Park, Edinburgh)
(One of the many oddly hyper symmetrical forests dotted around the countryside of southern France)
26.5.08
Dreaming: about going to Hell
Not a title you might expect to see all that often but I had a fragment of a dream this morning that is still bouncing around my lobes in a not entirely comfortable way. The details are fading fast but the vibe remains.
I was in a line in a marginally shabby hall near a few simple office tables with people sitting processing forms. One of the tables had a small machine similar to those used for finger-prick blood sugar analysis type tests but I was a little disturbed by the fact that they didn't change the needle between people, as though it really didn't matter anyway.
I hestitated about this and was told something along the lines of "just do it you baby" so I put my finger (my middle finger) in but turned it around nail side down. There was a small prick of the finger and a tiny drop of blood and then I wrapped it in a messy looking cotton-ballesque/papery kind of bundle.
I then proceeded through some narrow rooms, on my way somewhere and in the first were sinks/trenches(?) full of sewage (which looked a little like the toxic waste sections of Portal) and the next housed a man washing his hands that I knew I didn't want to talk to. There was suddenly a lot of nice looking sinks with soap beside them and after the last room I felt as though I wanted to wash my hands but felt that I shouldn't, it was a trap. Around this point I think I realised that this was hell and it was only going to get worse.
All very disturbing really - in my half awake state I then pondered what my hell would really be like - loud and crowded and aggessive dogs barking perhaps - and even now I have this vaguely uneasy sense.
I can put it down to the stir fry I made last night with a bunch of chilli in conjunction with being asked to formalise my Godfather status of some friends kid perhaps (which by the way I'm not in the least bit troubled about) and who knows what else is going on in my head.
I'm not a particularly religious person and I see the concept of Hell as a construct for social control but it wasn't a pleasant dream.
To top it off, there is a slightly lame half inflated blimp outside my window now which keeps bringing to mind the Spinal Tap episode of The Simpsons -
I have a strange mind sometimes methinks.
I was in a line in a marginally shabby hall near a few simple office tables with people sitting processing forms. One of the tables had a small machine similar to those used for finger-prick blood sugar analysis type tests but I was a little disturbed by the fact that they didn't change the needle between people, as though it really didn't matter anyway.
I hestitated about this and was told something along the lines of "just do it you baby" so I put my finger (my middle finger) in but turned it around nail side down. There was a small prick of the finger and a tiny drop of blood and then I wrapped it in a messy looking cotton-ballesque/papery kind of bundle.
I then proceeded through some narrow rooms, on my way somewhere and in the first were sinks/trenches(?) full of sewage (which looked a little like the toxic waste sections of Portal) and the next housed a man washing his hands that I knew I didn't want to talk to. There was suddenly a lot of nice looking sinks with soap beside them and after the last room I felt as though I wanted to wash my hands but felt that I shouldn't, it was a trap. Around this point I think I realised that this was hell and it was only going to get worse.
All very disturbing really - in my half awake state I then pondered what my hell would really be like - loud and crowded and aggessive dogs barking perhaps - and even now I have this vaguely uneasy sense.
I can put it down to the stir fry I made last night with a bunch of chilli in conjunction with being asked to formalise my Godfather status of some friends kid perhaps (which by the way I'm not in the least bit troubled about) and who knows what else is going on in my head.
I'm not a particularly religious person and I see the concept of Hell as a construct for social control but it wasn't a pleasant dream.
To top it off, there is a slightly lame half inflated blimp outside my window now which keeps bringing to mind the Spinal Tap episode of The Simpsons -
[During the Spinal Tap concert, a large devil appears and immediately deflates]
Tufnel: Well. It seems some silly twit did not get a big enough oxygen tank, but that's supposed to be a devil.
St. Hubbins: Filled up with air, it's very evil and impressive.
Smalls: We salute you, our half-inflated Dark Lord!
I have a strange mind sometimes methinks.
23.5.08
Investigating: Possible uses for First Person Perspective/Shooter games in education
Yep, it's this old hobby-horse again but I still believe that FPP/FPS games can prove useful in education. Research into this field is still a little scant but I have found some useful stuff - not just about using these games in military training either.
This is the proposal that I've put together for a uni project to investigate these options - now I have a whopping great 21 days to put together the 6400 words I've promised to deliver (and 2 game prototypes - or at least designs)
Title:
Creating the First Person Learner: Educational Applications of the First Person Shooter game genre.
1. Abstract
Gameplay in First Person Shooter (FPS) games is generally highly structured with the player given limited options in terms of the paths they can take and the decisions that they can make. They are often taught a specific skill, practise it for a period of time and when they have adequately demonstrated it, they are given progressively more advanced skills.
This often reflects students’ initial experiences of Vocational Education and Training (VET), during which they spend large amounts of time methodically developing foundation skills and knowledge in their chosen discipline.
This proposal describes a study that aims to investigate the potential uses of First Person Shooter style games as learning tools for students in the VET sector. It will centre around identifying the unique characteristics of the FPS genre and examining ways in which varying educational approaches might be applied to the design of FPS style games for these learners.
2. Introduction
While the use of computer games in education has been widely researched in recent years (Prensky, 2006), a significant focus of this research has been on the development of higher level skills such as problem solving and collaboration in third-person perspective games and particularly virtual worlds such as Second Life. (Kay, 2007)
Much less attention has been paid to the first person perspective genre, typified by the highly popular (and sometimes controversial) First Person Shooter. An initial scan of educational and games research however has indicated that this genre possesses a number of relatively unique characteristics that mesh well with behaviourist, cognitivist and even constructivist approaches to education.
Behaviourist.
Robyler and Havriluk (1997) point out that among the “needs addressed by directed instruction” (their term for the Behaviourist approach) are “making learning paths more efficient... especially for instruction in skills that are prerequisite to higher-level skills” and “performing time-consuming and labor intensive tasks (e.g., skill practice), freeing teacher time for other, more complex student needs”.
In 2005, Oliver and Pelletier devised a methodology which permitted a detailed analysis of how people learn from particular instances of game play. They compared a player of an FPS game (Deux Ex) who played a level having previously used a training level with one who had not. Unsurprisingly, the player who had played the heavily structured and repetitive training level first progressed through the level far more quickly than the second player and also mastered a number of essential skills that the second player did not.
Cognitivist
In 2001, Fuchs and Eckermann developed Expositur – ein virtueller Wissenraum, a game based collaborative project showcasing ten Viennese museums. This first person perspective knowledge space, built using the Unreal FPS game engine, made use of loci, a place based mnemotechnique dating back to the ancient Greeks, to enhance the meaning of its virtual museum exhibits by “connecting seemingly unrelated imagery to gain insight into visual similarities and connotations”(p.84).
They considered “the freedom of the user to go his or her own way in the virtual environment as an important feature that allows for individually shaped relational networks inside a complex field of knowledge”(p.84), which ties in well with Ertmer and Newby's description of knowledge acquisition under Cognitivism as “a mental activity that entails internal coding and structuring by the learner”. (1993, p.58).
Constructivist
Some researchers have also investigated the use of FPS games to develop higher level skills in decision making and problem solving using authentic and immersive scenario based learning approaches commonly found in the constructivist approach to education. (Colvin, Clark & Mayer, 2007). Barlow and Lewis from the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) presented a paper to the SimTecT conference in 2005 discussing their use of a customised FPS game (Operation Flashpoint) to develop and examine the tactical decision making skills of ADFA students in a variety of authentic scenarios.
I believe that elements from all of these approaches can be successfully integrated into an FPS based learning game, whether it be a drill based reinforcement of key concepts, using the arrangement of information in three dimensional space as a cognitive aid or engaging students with an authentic and immersive scenario based learning experience.
3. Methodology
This project will draw on the ADDIE instructional systems design model. This is a five stage process involving Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation and Evaluation and represents “a dynamic, flexible guideline for building effective training and performance support tools”. (Wikipedia, 2008) Given time and resource constraints, the project will focus on the first three stages of the ADDIE process.
In the Analysis phase I will initially seek to answer a number of questions which will give me a better idea of the strengths of the FPS genre, suitable content and activities for the games, evaluation strategies and pedagogical approaches to developing these games. Given my stated aim of examining games suitable for VET students, this will initially involve identifying particular types of structured tasks that would be appropriate to this form however all options will be considered as they arise.
Some of the key questions to be considered are:
What is the anatomy of an FPS game?
How do FPS games differ from third person perspective and virtual world games and what advantages do they offer?
How can FPS games be educational?
What kind of educational approaches lend themselves to this type of games based learning?
What are the factors that might determine the most appropriate target audience for an FPS based learning game?
What impact might game violence or destruction of virtual objects have on the learning experience?
In what circumstances might game violence or destruction of objects be appropriate in a learning activity?
Do single player and multiplayer games support different educational approaches?
A number of game design questions will also be considered including:
To what extent does the level of realistic representation of the learners' environment affect their engagement with the game?
What makes a game enjoyable and what makes a player want to play a game repeatedly?
In answering these questions I will draw on existing research into the use of games in education in general then focus on the use of FPS games and environments specifically.
I have a growing list of game oriented resources at http://del.icio.us/colsim/edugames
which will be my first port of call. From there I'll also look into writing from Marc Prensky, James Gee, the Serious Games Initiative, Constance Steinkuehler, Jack Thompson and other games in education writers and theorists as a starting point.
I will also make contact with Barlow and Lewis at ADFA and teachers at the Academy of Interactive Entertainment, a respected game design school in Canberra.
Based on the findings of this research, I will develop design statements for and build prototypes of two small games using FPS Creator, a game development software package. These games will serve to demonstrate some of the possible practical applications of the FPS game genre in education.
5. Results and Discussion
Assessment of this project will centre around a final report which documents and discusses the outcomes of this research. This report will examine the methodology used and outline the answers found to the questions listed earlier. It will consider the success or failure of my attempts to integrate learning strategies into FPS based games and consider approaches for future developments of educational games.
During the course of the project I will regularly discuss the use of games and particularly FPS games in education by posting observations and reflections on my edublog at http://gamelearner.edublogs.org. This reflection process will enable me to formulate my ideas and seek feedback from the wider games in education community. I will include a summary of these posts as an appendix to the report.
I will also include an annotated bibliography of the six most significant publications that I find in my research .
Due date:
June 13, 2008
Final Report – Methodology and findings
4000 words
50%
June 13, 2008
Annotated Bibliography (6 x 200 words)
1200 words
15%
June 13, 2008
Reflections
1200 words
15%
June 13, 2008
Game prototypes x 2
N/A
N/A
Easy right? :)
22.5.08
LOLing: Yahtzee reviews Painkiller
Painkiller is an old school first person shooter game from a couple of years ago now and hilarious game reviewer Yahtzee appears to have enjoyed it a lot. (He says it far better than I ever could so just enjoy the clip)
21.5.08
Remembering: the London Eye
I'm not sure if this is cheating (in blogging terms) but I have a tonne of pix from the trip and it seems wasteful not to make use of some of the better ones.
I like this one because it gives a sense of the scale of the London Eye and the menacing clouds in the background add a little drama to it. (You can click on the image to see the larger version)
For a glorified ferris wheel it was probably a little exxy at 15.50 (pounds, not dollars) but after a while you get a little immune to the tourist trap gouge and just figure - well, what the hell, might as well see what the fuss is about.
A spin around the wheel takes around 30 minutes and is somewhat pretentiously referred to as a "flight". (Evidently something to do with British Airways early involvement with the project according to the PC)
I have to confess that I was keener to try the Eye after seeing Karl and Susan having a go on it on an episode of Neighbours last year (although they had a bubble to themselves and weren't sharing with a German family with an uncanny knack for being everywhere you want to go)
There were some pretty impressive overall views from the thing - but not really translating so well to photos and it was impressive to get a bird's eye perspective of the endless muddle of streets that make up the city but I wouldn't write home about it (unless I had some blog space to fill :)
I like this one because it gives a sense of the scale of the London Eye and the menacing clouds in the background add a little drama to it. (You can click on the image to see the larger version)
For a glorified ferris wheel it was probably a little exxy at 15.50 (pounds, not dollars) but after a while you get a little immune to the tourist trap gouge and just figure - well, what the hell, might as well see what the fuss is about.
A spin around the wheel takes around 30 minutes and is somewhat pretentiously referred to as a "flight". (Evidently something to do with British Airways early involvement with the project according to the PC)
I have to confess that I was keener to try the Eye after seeing Karl and Susan having a go on it on an episode of Neighbours last year (although they had a bubble to themselves and weren't sharing with a German family with an uncanny knack for being everywhere you want to go)
There were some pretty impressive overall views from the thing - but not really translating so well to photos and it was impressive to get a bird's eye perspective of the endless muddle of streets that make up the city but I wouldn't write home about it (unless I had some blog space to fill :)
20.5.08
Returning: from the Tour
Both the Tour Eiffel and "the tour" (the whole grand 6 week thang).
Amazing, just amazing. After a few early attempts to keep posting, it soon seemed more important to just be getting out there and getting into it, so apologies if you've been missing me but I'm sure you understand.
I'm still processing everything at the moment (and re-acclimatising) and I want to try to avoid boring people with endless banging on but I'll run through a story or two in posts to come. I'm also (slowly) putting pics up which are in the slideshow below.
In short, highlights:
U.K - London's hustle and bustle, the greenery, the history, trying haggis, Holyrood Park in Edinburgh, the Welsh countryside, Portmeirion (Wales, where The Prisoner was filmed), the Tate Modern, stumbling upon William Blake's grave
France - the food, the good looking people, the lush countryside, the considerate drivers (seriously), the very nice trains, the food, smooth wines, Rickard (an aniseedy apertif), the OTT grandeur of the chateaus, seeing Da Vinci's grave, visiting Oradour village war memorial, the anarchy of Paris traffic
Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.
Amazing, just amazing. After a few early attempts to keep posting, it soon seemed more important to just be getting out there and getting into it, so apologies if you've been missing me but I'm sure you understand.
I'm still processing everything at the moment (and re-acclimatising) and I want to try to avoid boring people with endless banging on but I'll run through a story or two in posts to come. I'm also (slowly) putting pics up which are in the slideshow below.
In short, highlights:
U.K - London's hustle and bustle, the greenery, the history, trying haggis, Holyrood Park in Edinburgh, the Welsh countryside, Portmeirion (Wales, where The Prisoner was filmed), the Tate Modern, stumbling upon William Blake's grave
France - the food, the good looking people, the lush countryside, the considerate drivers (seriously), the very nice trains, the food, smooth wines, Rickard (an aniseedy apertif), the OTT grandeur of the chateaus, seeing Da Vinci's grave, visiting Oradour village war memorial, the anarchy of Paris traffic
Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.
4.5.08
Feeling: for the train conductor
This is a station in Wales
Still loving France - just having trouble getting pics up online
So far we have seen Angouleme, St Emilion, Bordeaux, Bergerac, Perigeuex and now Limoges
Still loving France - just having trouble getting pics up online
So far we have seen Angouleme, St Emilion, Bordeaux, Bergerac, Perigeuex and now Limoges
29.4.08
Visiting: the village
Fans of The Prisoner might recognise this place - it is a tripped out private village on the coast of Wales called Portmeirion. Strange and beautiful place.
Meanwhile we are a week into the France leg of the trip and it is still awesome - countryside, architecture, food - I may not come back
Meanwhile we are a week into the France leg of the trip and it is still awesome - countryside, architecture, food - I may not come back
27.4.08
Fighting: French keyboards
The trip is fantastiqué but this french keyboard layout is driving me nuts
The trip is fqntqstiaue but this french keyboqrd lqyout is driving ,e nuts
The auick brozn fox ju,ps over the lqwy dog
Nu,bers qre qll in Cqpitqls; the comma is now a ;
gaaaaaaah :)
The trip is fqntqstiaue but this french keyboqrd lqyout is driving ,e nuts
The auick brozn fox ju,ps over the lqwy dog
Nu,bers qre qll in Cqpitqls; the comma is now a ;
gaaaaaaah :)
Visiting: Sunny Llandudno beach
It's a cliché to take the piss out of English (and Welsh) beaches but it's hard not to sometimes.
18.4.08
Climbing: the Scott memorial
This is just a part of the hugely gothic inspired (Sir Walter) Scott Memorial in Edinburgh - a massive structure in the middle of the city and apparently the largest memorial to a writer anywhere.
Stumbling: upon the grave of William Blake
Most of my knowledge of William Blake comes from the Jim Jarmusch film Dead Man (and reading up on him afterwards) but it was great to find this gravesite in a cemetery just up the road from our hotel in London.
We also passed his birthsite at some point, which I kind of liked as well.
The one poem of his that I recall (or at least a fragment thereof) is:
Every night and every morn
Some to misery are born
Every morn and every night
Some are born to sweet delight
Some are born to sweet delight
Some are born to endless night.
We also passed his birthsite at some point, which I kind of liked as well.
The one poem of his that I recall (or at least a fragment thereof) is:
Every night and every morn
Some to misery are born
Every morn and every night
Some are born to sweet delight
Some are born to sweet delight
Some are born to endless night.
16.4.08
Eating: Haggis
Of all the foods that I'm aware of, there is nothing that quite provokes the response of "ewwwwwwww" as much as Haggis. Not because people have tried it, just because they've heard what it consists of -
There are many recipes, most of which have in common the following ingredients: sheep's 'pluck' (heart, liver and lungs), minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and traditionally boiled in the animal's stomach for approximately three hours.
Hmm, having just read this, I've realised that I may not have had the full haggis experience - though it's a little vague as to whether you are served the stomach as part of the meal or it's just used for cooking. It's also traditionally served with mashed potatos and turnips (or "neeps and taties")
Now I realise that this isn't the best picture - I'm much better with Photoshop than Gimp when it comes to fixing colours - but hopefully it gives the gist.
Haggis to me tastes a bit like a nicely warmed pate - that rich, warm and full flavour with a little extra spiciness to give it a little kick. The texture is like lumpy mashed potatoes, with some of the lumps (which you can't see as much as sense) being something that you know is bits of offal but not disturbingly so. It was served with a range of sauces - French mustard, Brown sauce and something else - but these weren't needed as the mashed potatos and turnips worked fine with it and I really can't see why you'd need any extra flavour.
I liked it and I'd eat it again - good hearty comfort food.
The people I've mentioned eating it to so far have still had that awful/offal reaction, but really, if you think about the things that we have no problem eating (like sausages) - what's the difference? If you're going to eat one part why not eat another. (Though I will draw the line at tripe on the grounds that it tastes horrendous)
13.4.08
Checking: in
(Look kids - Big Ben)
(I looked up from eating my kebab last night and this is what I saw in Edinburgh)
Great few days - lots of cycling - pretty much on the bike everywhere we have been, which lends itself to observations about national stereotypes that I'll leave to another time when the net cafe guy isnt staring at me. (But in brief - the English are super polite and riding around a massive city like London is surprisingly cruisey - the Scots are also nice but a little more horn-inclined)
Weather has been pretty good - only light droplet showers at the most and Edinburgh (got here yesterday) has been warmer than London. (Not to say it's warm, just less bracing)
Trying to avoid the boring touristy pics but sometimes it's hard - it's like it's proof that you've been there or something.
More later
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