What Can We Learn from #GamerGate?
Since August, the internet has been in an uproar about the #gamergate controversy. It seems that everyone has a different opinion about the point of the movement and its impact on the industry. Regardless of what the parties involved intend, and the horrible behavior of jerks abusing the anonymity provided by the internet, there are two main issues that should be pulled from this clusterfuck and more closely examined.
1. Ethics in Journalism
Regardless of your feelings about the #gamergate movement, this is an important issue that shouldn't be ignored. When I was a teacher, I always warned my students about the information available on the internet. The internet gives us incredible freedom to express ourselves and share our opinions, however there are no controls in place to vet websites, online authors, or their works. Anyone with an internet connection can start a website or blog and post whatever they like.
This isn't always a bad thing. Many online authors, including myself and many of my friends, are passionate fans who simply want to share what they love with other fans. These grassroots writers are often considered more credible since they are "of the people" but sometimes that can make it harder for them to stay objective. When you are a fan of something, it's tempting to feel like you are legitimately connected to it or dream of getting paid for writing about it. Companies are getting savvy about giving review copies, merchandise, special access to events, and even job opportunities to reviewers/fans who can have a positive impact on their sales. One recent example is the Shadow of Mordor marketing company, Plaid Social Labs, 
who only provided advanced copies of the game to approved reviewers who signed a lengthy agreement that stipulated a positive review, specific social media promotion requirements, and gave the company final approval over any videos reviewing the game.
While conflicts of interest and quid pro quos are not a new problem in journalism, it is new to have so many well-known online commentators who lack the ethical training that comes with a degree in journalism. We need to start demanding transparency from online sites and their contributors, especially in a world where more and more purchases are based on the information we gather online.
2. Misogyny in Gaming
There is no denying that #gamergate has been inextricably linked with horrific threats against a number of women in the gaming industry. Regardless of whether the people involved in these attacks are really part of the #gamergate movement or assholes just using it as an excuse to behave like monsters, this issue should be taken seriously by everyone in the gaming community. Nobody should be subject to threats such as these simply for being an outspoken woman in the gaming industry.
The very essence of these threats is to dominate the women involved and to scare them so that they don't speak out about the often unfair conditions in the gaming world. Graphic descriptions of rape seem to be a special flavor of threat that asshats save for women. Thanks for that.
This problem predates #gamergate, as seen with Anita Sarkeesian and her Tropes vs. Women in Video Games series, which first started getting online attention with her incredibly successful Kickstarter project in 2012. Even if you don't agree with all the arguments she presents in her videos, the horrific responses from enraged video game fans over the past few years has been shocking. She has repeatedly been driven from her home and threatened with graphic rape and death scenarios, simply for stating her opinion of how women are treated in video games on her own YouTube channel. 
As a woman, I have faced misogyny in gaming, usually at conventions where I am interacting with strangers. It's disheartening and makes me feel like I don't belong, even when I'm the one wearing the GM Volunteer badge. I can't imagine the courage it takes to face violent threats from strangers who know where you live. We need to stand together and loudly voice that we will not tolerate this type of treatment towards ANYONE in our community. Trolls and predators should not be ignored, but should be vehemently told that they do NOT speak for us.
If the gaming community can take a step back from the drama and conjecture of the #gamergate controversy, we could learn from recent events and become better for this whole awful experience.
Skyrim Wedding Picture
What happens when a costumer and a photographer/VFX artist fall in love? EPIC PICTURES! This visual celebration of our nuptials and our obsession with Skyrim, has been a long time in the making and we debuted it on February 17th in honor of our first wedding anniversary.
Each member of our wedding party, including our ring bearer and flower girl, were photographed individually in front of a green screen. The clothes were all bought at local thrift stores and we had a blast ripping them up, then covering them in movie dirt and blood. Actually, I was a little too vigorous while ripping up my stunt bridal gown with scissors, so there is actually a good amount of real blood on mine. #legit
While this started as a fun project to celebrate our fandom, it's quickly become very popular! Our picture was even featured on Kotaku.com! We really love that other fans have enjoyed our work and really appreciate all the well wishes!
Now, to plan for next year...
Achievement Unlocked: Learning from Video Games
This week, a fellow teacher asked me to help her grade the California Mission projects that are a staple of 4th grade. She explained that the students were allowed to make models of their assigned mission out of whatever materials they liked, most chose Legos, cardboard, or food items, but there were a few that she needed a "computer person" to grade. She plopped in a flashdrive and I was completely surprised and delighted!
The students had created their missions in Minecraft.
Now, I have spent countless hours in Minecraft, so I really appreciated the effort that went into these digital mission models. One student in particular had even made his mission to scale (I think each Minecraft block equaled 3 feet), filled the place with plants and livestock, made fountains, and even did his best to recreate the Jesus statue that is on display. They had then taken screen shots, or recorded themselves giving a tour of the mission to turn in for credit. The thing that really struck me was the passion that was evident in the students' voices as they explained their missions. They were so proud of what they had made, and could explain every detail of their mission. It was evident that their passion for Minecraft had helped them connect with the history lesson on a whole new level. I assured the teacher that these were very impressive projects, and the students did indeed put the same (or more!) effort into their projects as the other students. I joked that she should give extra credit if they did it in survival mode, but she just looked confused. Go fig.
Kids are becoming more and more plugged into technology. Studies show that the younger generations are actually changing the way they process information and are more able to multitask than any previous generation. Many teachers grow frustrated by this because they feel that it shortens attention spans, and makes the "real world" seem less interesting or too difficult when constant entertainment and easy answers are a few clicks away. The trouble is, technology isn't going anywhere. Now we carry complete game consoles and movie collections in our pockets. Education has to adapt.
People CAN learn from video games. What evidence do I have for this? The countless world maps, boss fights, spell combos, crafting requirements, and more that I have memorized for video games over the years. If I were put into a real life Azeroth, I'd be set. Why can't we apply this concept to education? The Assassin's Creed games are very historically accurate. The clothing, city maps, and cultures are very well done, and I was delighted by the level of detail in Assassin's Creed III. Their recreation of Colonial fashion and culture was amazing, and they even had period music being performed by the NPCs. I'd love to have a G-Rated version of the game for US history students to explore. Giving them a half hour to explore a digital version of Boston during the Revolution is much more memorable and engaging than any description, reading, or video I could show them about that time period. Helping Benjamin Franklin find the pages to his almanac while watching British troops patrol the streets, stray dogs barking at horses, and ships floating in the harbor is the closest thing we have to time travel. Why talk to students about the Boston Tea Party when we can provide a way for them to participate in it?
Online multiplication drills aren't using the full potential of games in education. We need to encourage companies to create good educational games, or to alter mainstream games to be useful in the classroom. Communities must accept that games are a viable way to learn and allow educators to spend money on them and the technology needed to use them. In the meantime, educators must use the games already at our disposal to enhance our students' experiences in the classroom. We need to find a way to channel the younger generation's love affair with technology into an educational resource.
Kimi's Cosplay Interview for Examiner.com
I was interviewed by Examiner.com about cosplay, gaming, and how the two are linked. Read up to get the inside scoop on my upcoming cosplays, my dream cosplay, cosplay advice, my favorite alcoholic beverages, and more!
Special thanks to Claire Broderick, the gaming writer for Examiner.com who came up with such great questions!
Kimi's Cosplay Interview on Examiner.com
Diving into Diablo III
After finishing Act II in Diablo III, I finally feel like I have experience enough of the game to write about it. I'm having a blast, but there are definitely some pros and cons to this long-awaited game.
First off, if you aren't playing in elective mode, you are playing with training wheels on. Elective mode lets you place any skill you want on whichever hotkeys you prefer to use. This gives experienced gamers a lot more flexibility, but also runs the risk of new players making unbalanced builds that could limit their effectiveness. I highly recommend that you turn it on as soon as possible!
PROS
- It's the familiar Diablo we all loved, but sexier. Like running into an old friend from middle school on your first day of college and finding out that he's an underwear model now...ahem... not that I'd know what that's like. Anyway, the game looks amazing.
- The classes are really great and well thought out. I'm playing a Monk and am having a great time. I frequently party with a demon hunter and a barbarian, and each loves playing their class just as much as I love mine. Each character's skills are very useful, but still fit with the theme of their class.
- Tiered difficulty is a great aspect of the game. The game becomes more challenging based on the number of people in the party, and this keeps it interesting.
- Friends! The battle.net friend system first appeared in World of Warcraft, but it's a wonderful addition to Diablo III. I can easily contact my gaming buddies and party up, and the transition from single player to multiplayer is almost seamless. It has all the perks of an MMO, but none of the spammers, monthly fees, or guild drama.
CONS
- Linear gameplay. Like... insanely linear. You can't even walk off the edges of cliffs because it would mess up the story. I expected this, but after Skyrim it took a while for me to get used to it again. It might be nice to have some extra side quests to help village people for some extra XP.
- Incredibly predictable quests. You know exactly how things are going to play out within the first few moments of each quest. I'd like to have seen a bit more thought put into surprising us. "No way... the creepy mage with the menacing laugh ends up betraying us? Shocking... not."
- Overpowered PCs are a bit of a problem. I felt WAY overpowered in the beta, but that was expected. I still feel that I am rather overpowered as a PC currently, and have yet to really be worried in a fight. This makes the game lose some of it's excitement and challenge. The only thing that seems dangerous in the game is the poisons, and those seem too deadly for what they are! I'm still in "normal" difficulty, so this may just be softening players up for the horrors of the Nightmare, Hell, and Inferno modes. Hardcore mode is an option, but I don't feel like having a video game character's death be permanent.
- RP options... or complete lack thereof. I'd have loved for there to be a little customization to the RP part of the story. Sometimes my character spouts out things that seem really dumb. I would never have had her say anything remotely like that. It would be nice to have some options in the quest conversations, even if they ended up leading to the same quest events.
- Friends. I love my battle.net friends. Really, I do. Most of them are my very dear friends from my tabletop groups, but I would sometimes like to be able to play alone without people chatting me up or trying to form a party. Why on earth isn't there an "offline" or "hidden" feature on the friends list? Not that I'd ever use it... *cough* *cough*
Despite these few flaws, I am loving Diablo III and have sunk a huge portion of my recent life into it. I do hope that they continue to improve on the battle.net system and the servers, but I have been lucky enough to have very few problems with either.
PRO TIP: DON'T ADD YOUR BOSS OR COWORKERS TO YOUR BATTLE.NET ACCOUNT! It really puts a damper on those "sick" days when you get back to work and your boss knows you were online for 19 hours straight.
Skyrim, Dawnguard, & Kinect
Skyrim has been a huge success for Bethesda Softworks. The average person's playtime for Skyrim has been about 90 hours since its release in November. The nonlinear gameplay provides endless hours of entertainment. This is not a game that you "finish", this is a game that you eventually grow bored of, but trust me, it will take a while. I love the freedom provided in this game. It is the closest a non-MMO has come to recreating the joy I get from playing tabletop RPGs. It's about as sandboxy as a video game can get.
The new Skyrim downloadable content (DLC) will be released this summer. It's called Dawnguard and is a huge mystery. Rumors about new content like Snow Elves and crossbows abound, but we really have no idea what will be included in the new content. The only thing that has been released officially is the teaser image, which shows a glowy-eyed man wearing the trademark Skyrim helmet. (It cracks me up that this is STILL the helm that they use for all the merchandising since it's such low-level gear in the game.) The DLC will be released to Xbox 360 players before everyone else, which has really upset a lot of PC and PS3 gamers.
What improvements and content am I hoping for in Dawnguard?
1) I'd love to have them add Snow Elves. I'm a fan of Elves in general, and the lore surrounding the fall of the Snow Elves and their corruption into the feral Falmer race is fascinating. It reminds me of the corruption of the elves into the foul orcs in Tolkien lore.
2) Quests need to be class specific. Yes, some quests are easier to complete for certain classes, but my warrior should never have been able to complete a quest line and become Archmage of Winterhold, and my mage should never have been able to join the Companions. I love sandbox games, but there needs to be some logical limit on a character's capabilities. This would also encourage me to play different classes. I don't expect them to go back and patch all the old quests, but it would be great if new quests were logically connected with profession and class.
3) I want to be able to drop fucking quest items from my inventory. Seriously. I'm now stuck carrying around five Stones of Barenziah. It's lame, because I have 4 houses where I can store stuff. Let me put it in my dresser drawer until I'm ready to finish that quest, or sell it if I'm desperate for money!
4) Horses. Make them not a pain in the ass. If an equine-obsessed girl like me don't want to own a horse in a game, there is a serious problem.
There have been some new developments for Skyrim recently. Last week, a new patch was available for the Xbox/Kinect setup that allowed players to use voice commands in Skyrim. I haven't gotten nearly enough use out of my Kinect, so I was very curious to see if this option actually functioned well in gameplay. A handy PDF is available for those with bad memories (me) and the Kinect works surprisingly well with voice commands in game. The quick commands for the map, game controls, and menus, all work very well and I have started using them in place of the controller. However, the dragon shouts were the big ticket item with this patch.
Instead of having one dragon shout option at a time, a player can now use their voice to use any shout in their arsenal. It's the perfect use for the Kinect, right?.... Sort of. The idea is sound and the technology works much better than I expected, but I am only able to cast the correct shout about 70% of the time when I'm using the three syllable dragon shouts. You really have to enunciate, and space out each part of the shout. You will cast a less powerful version of the shout or fail completely if you rush your syllables together. Take the time to study up on the correct pronunciations of the shouts before you get into trouble. My shouts have improved with practice, but there are a few shouts that I cannot vocally cast for some unknown reason. Maybe my California accent doesn't translate well to dragon.
Of course, you can always just yell the common tongue name of the spell, but where is the fun in that? FUS RO DAH!!!!!