Happy New Year!

Happy Holidays and a Fantastic New Year!




Okay...so as it's about to be a brand new year (not quite for me yet) I'm making a resolution to keep up with my blog more. I'm putting it on the top of my priority list and resolve to post more regularly. Now, this really means something.... because I don't normally make ANY resolutions at all but there are a few I'll be making this year and even thought it isn't in the number one spot, my blog is up there:

Resolutions

1. Finish my PhD
2. Get healthy (by exercising more and cooking amazingly healthy dishes for me and my family)
3. Blog more!
4. Keep up with the latest innovations in Market Research, Social Media and Gaming Culture
5. Get my Feral Druid up to 85 and raiding and in the process teach my 11 year old daughter how to be a kickass Warlock



Whew... well, that's a lot and there's more I'd like to do with the new year but I need to focus on the first few up there on my list. Hopefully posting here will keep me on the straight and narrow. Those of you out there in internet land need to make sure these things are happening; a gentle nudge here and there can go a long way!

Anyways... hope your New Year is fantastic! I'll see you on the other side of the new year!

Future Gamer

Here's the face of a future gamer -

She loves her "Gurky"!

On the Road

I've been on the road traveling for nearly the past 3 weeks. It's grueling and extremely rewarding.

For two weeks I've been bouncing across the US staying with World of Warcraft players, spending time with them, talking with them and getting to know them on a personal level you just can't achieve via game interface. This was all wrapped up with an amazing, exciting, sometimes frustrating but extremely enjoyable trip to Blizzcon.

I'm exhausted but really excited and invigorated about my PhD research and video games in general. I think too often we get focused on Theory (yes, the "T" is intentional) and the ideology of what we study that we forget about what makes it so important and interesting; the players. This is especially true for video games. We focus so much on the art, the narrative, the meaning that we often times lose sight of the player - those that makes the game come to life after the designers have birthed it. They have their own personal thoughts and ideas and play style and continue to push the boundaries of the industry forward for us all. Talking with gamers in deep depth about their history and why they play has been extremely enlightening. I think video game companies would benefit substantially if they hired on an ethnographer to just talk with video game players on a deep and personal level. The information you get from people when they aren't talking about video games is just as important and eye-opening as the information you get when they are directly discussing games.

I still owe some thoughts on PAX (extremely late I know), the Portland Retro Gaming Expo (again...really untimely) and of course Blizzcon.

Here's a teaser pic of Blizzcon while you wait for me to get it all down!

I wish my teachers had been this cool

I have to share a short email exchange that happened today.

My daughter is in the 6th grade and has what sounds like a really cool social sciences/language arts teacher. Last night at the dinner table she was explaining a conversation that occurred in the classroom (explained in the email so I won't reiterate it here) which struck a deep cord of the geek girl in me.

I couldn't help myself and had to email her teacher to correct the imagined (on my part) grievous error in his explanation and understanding of lightsaber technology.

Please note that the teacher does indeed school me. I take it all in stride though; this is what happens when you argue about imaginary science...but hey, isn't that what most physicists do? (kidding...kidding...for the most part...)

Me original email to the teacher -

Let me preface this by saying that Fiona was absolutely appalled that I was going to email you because she really enjoys you as a teacher and truly enjoys your classes. I told her I’d email but I do so in a friendly way and not in an angry parent sort of way. I’m almost finished with my PhD in Anthropology in which I focus on popular culture (video games specifically) and just got back from a Popular Culture Conference in Minnesota so teachings of popular culture is very much on the forefront of my mind.

I’m Fiona’s mom and last night she was telling me about a lesson you were teaching on the suspension of disbelief and you used the example of the Star War’s lightsaber. She said that she was told that because they were made of light you couldn’t stop light and therefore had to suspend your disbelieve and just enjoy them for the fiction. (Now it’s possible Fiona got this wrong but I just wanted to make sure we’re all on the same page).

A light saber isn’t exactly made of light. It’s bound energy that more resembles plasma more than anything else. I took this from a fan site: “The weapon consisted of a blade of pure plasma energy emitted from the hilt and suspended in a force containment field.” As bounded energy or plasma, it CAN be easy contained by the apparatus in which it is housed.

Once unleashed, the power channels through a positively charged continuous energy lens at the center of the handle. The beam then arcs circumferentially back to a negatively charged high energy flux aperture. A superconductor transfers the power from the flux aperture to the power cell. As a result, a lightsaber only expends power when its blade cuts through something. So efficient is the blade, that it does not radiate heat unless it comes into contact with something.

Even if it were light you could contain it by a reflection apparatus on each end causing a refractor loop to contain and harness the light. So while it’s an awesome example of the suspension of disbelieve it was incorrect in the world of popular culture rhetoric and knowledge. :)

My point here in writing is just to say that the lightsaber is NOT made of light as its name would suggest but plasma which is much more easily contained and easily within the realm of possibility. I wanted to let you know that, your lesson spurred a nice long discussion of Star Wars, physics, lightsaber technology and the notion of suspension of disbelief last night during dinner. It’s great to see teachers incorporating popular culture references into their lessons because it really helps the students make a connection with the lesson.

As I said, this isn’t meant as an angry sort of parent letter…more of a “here’s what I’m thinking” sort of thing.

May the Force be with You!!! :)

His AWESOME response -

Touché.

Thank you. I appreciate more than you may be aware your dinner conversation. I am so glad that it was a topic of discussion. I think you will really like our discussions in the future of how we use the Cosmogonic Cycle of Campbell (which we call the Hero Cycle)to map stories and literature. Star Wars is again a perfect example of it.

As for the lightsaber, I did not realize that it was an arc of plasma energy focused by an “energy lens”. It must have been invented in the same research laboratory as the Heisenberg Compensator for Star Trek’s transporter.

May the Force be with you as well,

I did email him back after that to let him know I couldn't wait for my daughter to come to discuss the lesson on Campbell's Hero Cycle.

I think we took it both in stride as I recognize he schooled me and he recognized that in the world of fan fiction he had gotten an important fact wrong. My daughter told me that he talked about the email in class today an discussed the "correct" idea behind the light saber. I guess for this geek mom it was a win-win and lesson learned for both of us.

Only thing is...I wish I had a teacher this cool when I was in middle school!

MPCA 2010 Day 3 - Wrap Up

I was hoping to get this blogged the final day of the conference but the death plague I caught before leaving finally got to me. I pushed myself really hard to make it through the final day and while I'm still paying for it health wise I had an amazing time and absolutely cannot wait until next year's conference in Wisconsin.

For this third and final day I spent the first part of the morning in meetings. I had a great breakfast and got to talk with the other area chairs for the conference and listen to plans for next years conference.

Afterwards, I was planning to attend a session on Religion and Popular Culture but was instead invited to the executive committee's meeting. I'm glad I had the opportunity to stay and hear how much passion, effort, pre-planning and work goes into these meetings. The executive committee is really interested in being able to balance out the financial needs of the organization with the wants and desires of those attending and presenting at the conference. To help them with this I'm going to be pulling a survey together for all conference attendees to take. These results will help the organization figure out how best to handle upcoming conferences and to continually refine and make the conference a fantastic experience for all. If you're an MPCA member please look for that in the coming weeks. We need everyone's feedback so please let your voice be heard!

I'll also be starting a twitter feed, blog and working on a Facebook page for the association and it will house important information, snippets of people's work, interesting news, book reviews and more. If you have any ideas of things you'd like to see, please email me and let me know and I'll make every attempt to make that happen for you.

I was able to attend the last two panels of the conference. The first was on Detective fiction with talks on the work of Dan Brown, the show, The Wired and City of Glass. While I'm not personally into that genre, it was a great discussion of this genre and spurred thoughts and conversations on the understanding of genre in general within literature and other forms of media. Styles of writing are shifting and yet we, for the most part, continue to use the same classifications of genre that we've always used. It's a nice way to be able to find things at your local bookstore but does it truly capture the essence of modern writing? We see this problem in video games as well. Genre is becoming so loose, crossed and fluid that I wonder what the future of it will be. We clearly need to rethink it but we of course can't compartmentalize things to a point where everything is it's own genre. There has to be a happy medium in there somewhere.

The very last panel of the day was about Fandom, fan works and Fanfiction. I personally love theories and work on Fan culture and this discussion was an amazing way to wrap up the conference for me. There was a somewhat heated discussion at the end about copyright issues and the ethics behind fan fiction. I feel divided on the issue myself. On the one hand these fans are boosting the fandom of a particular work by keeping it alive. Think of Twilight. Would Twilight be as popular without the fans to keep the flames alive? We can't tell people, "Be fans but only buy our official products and don't carry it further". What is it they say; "imitation is the best form of flattery" and I think these examples are no exception. But at the same time when you take the author's characters and twist them in such a way that there is little resemblance to the original intent, it feels dirty or sacrilege to the author's work.

There was an art major in the room at the time who was absolutely appalled by people stealing work like that and she felt that it made her career and passion a joke. If it was okay for people to just swoop in and take something already made and twist it for their own what was the point of coming up with something at all. I understand a bit of how she feels. I have gone to college and studied and worked really hard to become an anthropologist and work as an ethnographer. It really grinds me like nothing else when people call themself an ethnographer when they in fact have no theoretical background in it or little to no training. What good is my 15+ years of training when anyone can say they do what I do? I suppose this is the argument against fan fiction. If, I were an author, carefully cultivated a world and populated it with characters of my own making, how would I feel if someone then took that hard work and turned it into their own? For some authors it's awful, for others they love the attention. The bottom line is that fan studies is an amazing realm of work and needs to continue to explore the many facets of fan cultures, authority, authorship, transmedia, and the transformative power and nature of their passion.

All in all, my brain left very full and happy with the weekend events.

MPCA 2010 Day 2

Today has been just an AMAZING day at the MPCA conference in Minnesota.

I woke up late which caused me to miss breakfast and the first panel I planned to attend. I blame this on the death plague I acquired the night before flying out.

I had planned on attending a Television panel called, "Colorful Characters: People and Profiles". I'm sorry to have missed it. I'll have to see if I can't get the papers or presentations from their respective authors.

By waking up late I did however get a chance to take some leisure time to look at the book vendor tables. It was extremely productive to say the least. I talked with a couple of book publishers and one is a publisher out of the UK that is looking to move more in the US market. They're interested in my work and I plan on submitting some articles to them for publication. I also talked with another couple of publishers who are interested in my dissertation once I finish it up. All in all, I was really happy. PLUS (this is both good and bad....good for my brain, bad for my pocketbook) I found a TON of books that I'll be returning home with. 12 in total. I cannot wait to get reading as it all looks so good. Some of it is for my dissertation and some of it is just because it's of personal interest to me. It gives you a sneak peak into what I might do after the dissertation....



The panels today really blew me away. I was fascinated by the knowledge and eye opening discussions that took place today. I attended two panels on SciFi, Fantasy and Horror and a panel on Text and Textualities of directors in movies.

Check out my Twitter as I tweeted throughout the day on what was going on in each panel as it happened.

As a little recap though, some of the highlights that really excited me were the following:

For starters, I really enjoyed the deep discussion we had in one panel about Zombies and their meanings in Romero's movie and their role within culture. Even more so we discussed what Romero's movies meant and the commentary behind them. It was a really good and deep intellectual discussion. I also heard a few pieces that really change my perspective on popular works such as Stephen King's The Shining and the movies The Grudge as well as District Nine.

Lunch was a great opportunity to network and discuss what other people's interests and studies where. I met a great gal who studies health and popular culture and is recently working on health/disease based communities in cyber space. Her work is completely fascinating and many of the communities she's looking at, while small, have great implications for future studies on health related communities, especially in social media research on things like the patient journey.

One of the things that I've been blown away by is how passionate everyone is about popular culture. Not only are they passionate people but they are friendly and eager to share their knowledge in a huge and diverse array of topics. I definitely want to do more with the organization so I attended their business meeting to look for those opportunities. I'm now on the AV (audio visual) subcommittee, their new social media guru and I'm going to help the executive secretary out with a post conference quantitative survey. I'm extremely happy and pleased to be helping out!

I ended the day attending a film panel. All of the speakers were extremely captivating and I walked away with some great book suggestions to help me in my own research. Beyond being an interesting and enjoyable movie I never thought about Inglorious Basterds to the extent they did. They discussed how the movie really makes us look at the dehumanizing process to make brutality acceptable and about the genius directing of this movie. As one panelist said, "This is a movie that teaches us to watch movies". They pointed out little things I never noticed in the movie like how one of Shosana's dresses had a 1970s zipper on it (completely intentional), how the projector scene was an intentional Romeo and Juliet discourse, the scene prior to Bridget von Hammersmark's death is very much a reverse Cinderalla story and that Quentin Tarantino's hands were the ones used in her death scene, not actor Christoph Waltz's hands. Paul Booth talked about director Richard Kelly's work - Donnie Darko, Southland Tales and The Box. I learned a new respect for this director and the complexity of his films and cinematography.

This conference has made me pine to join the ranks of academia and teach again but I also gained a newfound respect for what I do. It has given me a unique set of skills that I can use in my continuing research. It has given me renewed vigor to know that I'm absolutely in the right field of studies and have the drive and confidence to go forward and finish my PhD. There's absolutely a feeling of belonging and respect.

I'm sad tomorrow is the last day but ready to get home to see my kids and husband. Hopefully the death plague and the push I'm making to get through the conference won't do me in!

MPCA 2010

Greetings from Minnesota!

I'm attending the Midwest Popular Culture Association's annual conference.

So far it has been extremely enlightening and the networking has been fantastic. It has restored my faith in professional studies and understanding of popular culture as well as brought to light some fantastic "food for thought".

So much of what has been discussed also has implications for research in social media. It has been nothing short of amazing.

The first annual video games panel presented today. Despite having acquired the death plague the night before leaving I was able to make it through the entire presentation. It went fantastic (although I wished I'd had gotten the memo from my panelists that purple was the in color to wear).





Will and Jameson were not only great speakers/presenters they also had great, well thought out and discussed topics.

Will discussed historical narrative (or the lack thereof) within Panzer General but make it clear that it extrapolates to many other historical games. "It's history without memory".

Jameson presented on the narrative of the Playstation 2 game "Siren". I found the talk to be of particular interest, looking at how we understand classical narrative and how we can use narrative theory to understand video games.

I presented, using World of Warcraft as an example, on understanding how fun isn't what we typically think and play is work. Virtual and real are blurred distinctions that we need to not think as dichotomous.

I recorded the panel (cut off some of Will...I forgot to turn it on to record...sorry Will!!!). As soon as I get home I'll uploaded this for you to watch which should provide context for my presentation and allow you to see the other two panelists. (You can't see me.... lol...but you can hear me. I promise that's me!)

Here is my presentation. Keep in mind this was designed to be orally presented. I'll try to get some notes on at a later date to make it easier to understand and follow.

For some reason it's cutting off the presentation here on the blog...you can access the presentation directly at: HERE

Mario and Portland Collide!

The city absolutely needs to leave these:

Steampunk meets Victorian London high society

Soulless by Gail Carriger

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Alexia Tarabotti is one of the rare prenatural; born without a Soul. This serves her two functions; one is that she can nullify any supernatural being's abilities. The other is that she is a no nonsense, insatiably curious, intelligent, strong headed young women living in 19th century London when women have a very particularly role to play. Compounding to all this is her Italian heritage which makes her independent streak even stronger while giving her unconventional beauty perhaps a bit too sharp the time period.

In an alternative London much akin to a steampunk Victorian world, Vampires, Werewolves, and Ghost not only freely walk among humans but have been integrated into London's society and politics. Soulless focuses on Alexia Tarabotti's adventures of becoming entangled in an interesting struggle between the supernaturals, humans and those who are not so happy with the supernatural societal integration. Oh and we can't forget the werewolf romance!

I picked up this book on a lark. I'm hungry to read and it seemed to have an interesting premise. I wanted so hard to NOT like this book once I started reading it. The author's metaphors need work. Describing a dying vampire as "overcooked asparagus" was a bit much for my tastes. I'm also not one to like romance (spelled out in great detail) in my books. This book has the many moments of cheesy romance which at first seemed far to forced to have any hint of believability. Of course, my own personal reading taste has me staying as far away from cheesy romance as possible so it might strike such distaste with other readers.

Despite this I found myself deeply and immensely enjoying this book and the story within. Once I got past the first few chapters I couldn't put the book down. I found myself intrigued and interested in the life of Alex Tarabotti and those around her. I finished this book while on a research trip to Vegas and had to pick up the second one Changeless while there.

I'm looking forward to many more adventures of The Parasol Protectorate.

View all my reviews >>

Confessions of an Ethnographer part 3- Flying...it sucks

You would think that if you pick a career that requires world travel that you would like the main mode of travel to get you anywhere. I speak of course of flying.

When I think of flying I can only think about this:


This is of course an image from Lost and is no way real.

However, that's all I can think about. Planes to me are big metal boxes of doom. Every time it bumps or rocks or shakes I instantly panic and think we're falling out of the sky. I had one flight were I dug my nails into my arms to keep calm. I came off the plane with bloody arms and some nice welts.

As you can see, it really takes the enjoyment out of having to go somewhere when I have to fly. I've cancelled trips last minute because I just couldn't bring myself to get on a plane. My fear of flying is massively intense. If we were meant to fly, we'd have wings. Really...

I'm not so bad anymore. I used to cry for weeks prior to having to get on a plane. Now, I'm down to the night or so before.

I attribute my fear of flying to a few things:

1. My first flight ever was to Japan. I don't do things small. Nope, for me they have to be on a grand scale and flying 14 hours when I've never flown before was a really dumb idea. Of course, had I flown and known how terrified I'd be, I might have never actually gone to Japan. Not only did I go but I made that horrific flight to and from Japan twice. The first time I flew I was going over for an intensive Japanese language summer program. We all went as a group and while everyone ran around having fun I sat in my chair wanting to die.

2. This brings me to point number two. Not only was I afraid on that first flight but I was REALLY sick. I get horrible motion sickness on planes. I know now to take something for it but I had no idea the first time I flew and suffered every horrible minute of the 14 hour flight. My fellow university students kept bouncing around the plane (these were the days before you had to stay seated and belted at all times) and tried to get me to join in. I wanted nothing but for them to leave me alone. They thought I was a stuck up bitch. That stigma never quite went away... it's hard to explain to someone that you feel like your brain is going to explode and your stomach turn inside our from nausea and a headache.

3. I'm claustrophobic and being on a plane heightens my anxiety and fear of being trapped. I'm okay until they close the door and then I start breathing fast. I'm trapped. I can't get out. I'm in it for the long haul. What is something goes wrong and I need medical attention? What if I just need some fresh air? I have no choice at that point. I'm stuck for the duration. I find some solace in sitting in an aisle. If I have to use the restroom I can easily get out. However, I'm flying out for a trip on Wednesday and booked my trip late. Yup, I got a window seat for both legs of my trip. I can feel my heart beating faster already. Even in a movie theater or when I was in college I had to sit by the door at the end of the aisle. I may never need to get up or to leave, but the comfort of knowing I can always relaxed me. No go on an airplane, at all, and especially a no go when I'm by a window seat.

4. I'm not in control. Yes...okay...so I have some control issues. I make a horrible passenger in the car...just ask my husband. On a plane, not only do I have zero control but I have zero idea of what's even going on. It doesn't sit well with me.

When I fly I can't eat. It sucks for short term flights too and from somewhere. It typically means no eating for an entire day. Luckily my upcoming trip is 4 days.

So... what's a gal to do? I hate flying. Love traveling. I love research. I love going new places. The "loves" far out weight the hate (although it's a really, really strong hatred). So, I fly. I swallow the terror I have and get on the big metal box of doom. I know all the statistics about how flying is safer than driving and what not, but that doesn't help. It's what folks call an "irrational fear". It doesn't make it any less real to me.

Funny how these things work out. It's kinda like someone decides to become an expert in spiders but finds out that close up spiders scare the shit out of them (well...okay, not quiet the same but close in my world). I kinda thought that the more I flew the more I'd get used to it. Nope. Nadda. Not happening. I'll probably always be terrified. I guess that's the price I pay for doing what I do.

Oh. And if you're even a tiny bit afraid of flying, it's never a good idea to look at pictures of plane crashes for your blog a few days before you're going to fly. Not one of my brighter moments... /sigh

Confessions of an Ethnographer part 2- Always a Researcher

There's something to be said about having passion for what you do. It makes getting up in the mornings bearable and sometimes it makes getting up in the mornings a downright joy. Sometimes though that passion overrides everything you do in life. It's not a bad thing; I think it is just another step in the process of becoming very good at what you love to do. After all you can love something but not very good at it. Likewise, you can be very good at something and not love it. Luckily, I fall into the camp of loving what I do and being good at (at least I think I'm good at it and for me that means something).

However, I can't turn off being a researcher. It may not always show but my brain is always whirling with the wonderment of meaning and connections. I have to make a conscious effort to turn it off which I honestly don't do very often. I carry a notebook with me at all times to jot thoughts down because they are many and fleeting. I'm constantly buying notebooks (it's become as much as an obsession and love for research as anything else) knowing I'll eventually fill the blank pages. My biggest problem is that I'm a perfectionist and sometimes I just write stuff on post it notes or scraps of paper so I can organize it perfectly later. That hurts me as I often end of losing those notes. Sometimes it's okay to let go (perfectionism...another topic for another day). If you want to be my best friend, buy me some awesome notebooks and I'll love you for life.

I remember when the movie Silent Hill came out. I went to the theater with a bunch of PhD students in Anthropology to watch it. Not only was it a joy to be at the theater on an opening night with so many friends but also made me downright giddy watching a movie for my all-time favorite video game series. I loved the movie (and series) so much that I bought a prop from the movie; a small thing but it holds so much meaning to me. While I loved the movie, my favorite part of the entire night was as we all stood outside the theater talking. We stepped out into the cool night, an appropriately it was raining. Everyone turned to me and said, "Well, what did you think?" I couldn't help but gush with my thoughts on the movie, the cultural connections to Japanese and American culture and the overall theories I had as it related to larger issues of violence and media. It was the same feeling I had when I went and saw Hostel. The concept of "justified violence" rolled around my head and took hold so strong I thought I would explode. This time though, I wasn't with a group of academics and the party I was with didn't quiet share my enthusiasm or get the constant bubble of brain activity spewing out of my mouth. Such is life and I've learned to deal with it since then by writing, a lot...

I'm not entirely sure how my husband puts up with me. God love him. I talk and talk and talk at him trying to bounce ideas off him or to see if a particular train of thought makes sense. He usually looks at me blankly - he never lies though, he'll tell me that he doesn't understand but it sounds good. I've increasingly become more withdrawn into my brain and research. He'll talk to me and I just don't listen. I've become good at just nodding and agreeing because my brain is 500 miles away from the actual conversation. I need to get grounded though...the research will always be there to focus on. Too bad I don't have a shut-down switch for the research part of my brain. Of course, it's become such an ingrained part of who I am I fear if I shut that down I would completely blink out.

I think I'm beginning to understand how he feels though. The other day he talked to me about his NET+ training and about the difference of iPV4 vs iPV6 and the conversion to hexidecimals. My eyes glazed over and all I could think to say back to him was, "Soooo, basically the internet is run by magical little gnomes that are really good at math." He was miffed at me because he thought I wasn't listening (but I was... I really was). The worst he's done to me is tell me that if I could study video games in anthropology then he could study the culture of dust bunnies. We still jab at each other over dust bunnies and gnomes. I guess this is what happens when you can't ever turn your mind off... you do go stupid sometimes. :)



Image from Deviant Odd13

Clarification of Confessions of an Ethnographer Part 1

I just want to make this clarifying point on the upcoming series of posts that I plan to make on "Confessions of an Ethnographer".

These post are about ME and ME only. If you're expecting to read something juicy about my research participants then you will be sorely disappointed. I hold their trust, confidentially and privacy to the highest degree. Doing research ethically is a MUST for me. I will keep to that no matter what.

Just wanted to make that clear as it's incredibly important to me.

Confessions of an ethnographer part 1

Stayed tuned. Over the next few days/weeks/months...who knows. I'm going to be giving a very intimate look into the life of an ethnographer and what it means to be an anthropologist.

We get nice and neat papers and theories but have you ever wondered what goes into getting that material? We anthropologists are human after all and we have fears, hopes, dreams and emotional reactions to the things we study. Anyone who says otherwise is a liar. The trick is separating out those raw thoughts and feelings to remain objective and be able to dig for those deeper insights that are there with the subjects we chose to research and the people we study. Our job is an embodied and deep experience. We are privy into secrets and well kept thoughts and feelings of our participants. We are confidants, truth secrets, curiosity driven researchers. Passion for research and insight runs in our blood. But like I said, we're also human. We laugh along with our participants, cry along with them, experience what they do (because without that deep raw experience we might as well be researching robotics). Along the way we make friendships, we come to care deeply about the people we study. We do this, all the while balancing our internal thoughts and feelings with staying objective and true to our research objectives. It's a rough balance but one we *must* maintain this for the sake of good research.

It doesn't mean we don't get stage fright or that we don't worry about how we'll be perceived. I personally am a needless worrier and have to fight my own personal insecurities. But I do it...and at the end of the day I'm a damn good researcher. We expect the people we study to open up to us and let us in. We have to give something in return. Anthropologists have always known and struggled with the fact that our previous in some way shapes and reshapes those we study. It's inevitable. The goal is to leave as little a mark as possible. So...we keep ourself wrapped in researcher objectivity while we research but don't be fooled... we're human and we have all kinds of things going on inside too.

I'm going to let you get a glimpse into the world of an ethnographer. Stay tuned! It will be harsh, realistic, funny and true. A rare treat indeed!

Gritty, grown up Harry Potter-esque read

Monster by A. Lee Martinez

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


When a Yeti is eating the ice cream in the freezers you're suppose to stock, who do you call? Naturally you call animal control. Good thing animal control works with the cryptobiological containment unit who are well equipped to handle Yeti's, Trolls, and all those others creepies who go bump in the night.


The concept of various layers of consciousness and creatures co-existing in one plane is always a fun one to work with and Martinez does it well. Think of this as a very gritty, grown up Harry Potter story. There are those who walk within the realm of the supernatural, those who can sense it but quickly forget (light cog) and those who are completely oblivious (incogs). When the world of the supernatural collides with a very inquisitive light cog, the universe as we know it is in trouble. This story follows Monster, Judy, Chester and a very interesting cast of characters as worlds collide.

My only negative is the ending. I really felt it "cheapened" the entire read. However, I give Martinez this...he is very true to his characters. My hats off to him for keeping true right up to the very end even if I didn't like it. Perhaps my problem was with Monster (as a personality) himself and not with the ending; and if that's the case (and I'm pretty sure it is) Martinez breathes incredible life into his characters.

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Love affair with the written word

So you've probably noticed a HUGE influx of book reviews lately. My weekends and nights seem to have been taken over by my love affair with reading. Since I started my PhD (the hardcore research portion anyways) I haven't read a book for pleasure. Don't mistake the not "reading for pleasure" with "not reading" because trust me...I've done a TON of reading, just not for fun. It helps when your "not fun" reading is on topics that interest you (like video games for me) but there's something about reading academic books that tends to zap the pleasure out of it and makes it seem more like work then leisure (let's not get started on the whole work/leisure dichotomy...that's a whole different blog topic). Over the 4th of July weekend I had a few days off of work and some time on my hands so I picked up Joe Hill's novel Horns and off we went. It was like discovering an old friend who you've missed dearly. You don't realize just how much you've missed them until you reconnect.

Reading for me is almost and obsession. It's most certainly a passion and as we all know passions can border on the obsessive. There certainly are worse things to be obsessive about. The worst part of my love for reading is that it collides with my love of collecting things so I'm all about buying books. My husband keeps telling me that my reading habit is going to put us in the poor house (he's joking...mostly) and that I should use our fantastic libraries. However, there's something about having shelf after shelf of books that makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. One day, I dream of having a house that also has a library room (an entire wing would be better; one can dream). I want the old school kind with the vaulted ceilings and ladders to reach the highest selves of books. Add a nice over stuffed leather chair, a desk and a fireplace and I'd probably never come out.

This is probably why I've yet to purchase an e-reader. Don't get me wrong, I'd absolutely LOVE an e-reader. I've certainly had opportunities to buy one but I keep putting it lower and lower on the list of things to buy. It'd be an absolute savior to have while traveling. I tend to go through 3 or 4 books on a weekend trip, especially when flying, and well, books are heavy and to have to carry around 3 or 4...whew. But there's also that part of me that hates the idea of NOT having the tangible remains to later admire. I have only re-read a handful of books in my life so I'm not even going to fool myself into thinking I keep them around in case I want to reread them. I just love having them and with an e-reader it's hard to go back and admire your love made tangible. It's also why I hate the idea of video games going completely into the cloud...

So, it's a long way of apologizing for the numerous book review postings but also a warning that more are to come. If you're a reader you hopefully appreciate the reviews and if not, just keep checking back for the more video game focused, geeky ramblings that will appear.

Demonic Ducks...who'd a thought?

A Nameless Witch by A. Lee Martinez

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Curses come in many forms and for the Nameless Witch; heroine of this story, her curse is a most peculiar and horrid one. With a demonic duck, a troll, enchanted broom and White Knight by her side she sets off for vengeance and soon finds her quest one to save the world.

The first book I read by A. Lee Martinez was "Gil's All Fright Diner" and I fell in love. His humor is magnificent and the pace of his writing is a tempo that keeps you moving steadily until the end. A Nameless Witch also has some good underlying advice to it, "Curses come in many forms and it's all about perspective."

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A Modern Haunted House Tale

Audrey's Door by Sarah Langan

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Audrey Lucas is a girl with problems. Growing up she bounced from town to town with her crazy mother, drifting herself for awhile until she manages to pull her life together enough to get a degree in architecture and take back her life; as much as one can with a mentally ill mother and a healthy dose of OCD battle.After breaking up with her boyfriend she needs to find a place to live and like mana from heaven The Breviary lands in her lap. It's cheap, it's big and it's the last of it's kind with a unique architectural history that someone with Audrey's background and passion can appreciate. Of course there's a catch; a recent tragedy has stained the walls within and the whole place seems to hum with the hunger of what happened.It's not long after she moves in that the truth begins to unravel and she begins to learn about the history of the Breviary...something is haunting her. Her dreams are fevered and her life begins to fall apart. Someone is demanding that build a door...


The book, a modern haunted house story is full of charm and character. The story unfolds nicely and the pace keeps up; for the most part. I stumbled over some of the language used as it was far to forced. There were parts were it felt like Langan was trying too hard to get across the message of the horrors of Audrey's childhood and her demented mother which have now made her into the damaged woman she is today. However, you need the background to explain the obsessive nature in which Audrey is trying to take back her; a nature which lands her at the Breviary. The story is not just about a haunted house but about how we are also are own architects. If you were a house, what sort of foundation would you have? What have your walls seen? Who has resided with you? Ultimately, it's up to us to keep standing tall and not let our walls crumble.

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How NOT to write a research book on World of Warcraft

The Warcraft Civilization: Social Science in a Virtual World by William Sims Bainbridge

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


I had such high hopes for this book. I heard about it through the hive of the social media universe and couldn't wait to get my hands on it. When I received it from Amazon I dove right in thinking I would devour it's content in just a few sittings; I have been craving a book like this and would devour it's words like a hungry person...or so I thought.

I soon found myself reading in snips and junks because I was drowning in the foolishness of it all. It didn't take long to realize this book was written by someone who doesn't clearly have a firm grasp of video games or what they mean realistically to those who play them. I couldn't help but think I was reading the work of a madman. I kept waiting for the final chapter that said, "Ha! Gotcha! This entire book was a joke... a grand social experiment to see if people would finish it". But alas, that wasn't to happen.

It became more clear as you moved through his book that he just didn't understand the game. A game is made of more than just the AI and backstory. Designers, story, game mechanics and players all work in a strange discordant harmony to produce the final outcome, especially in a fluid game like World of Warcraft. His understanding of the game (holistically) was so limited that he has mad moments of brilliant insight that disappeared as fast as they appeared, like lighting. Don't get me wrong, his observations of the game story was so expansive it was indeed impressive. I learned more about the Warcraft story in his book than the years of playing it since beta came out. He payed attention to certain things with a sharp observant eye. I won't deny him this. What Bainbridge missed though was the players and what this game means with that sort of interaction. Without the players there is no game so unless this was research about design mechanics it needed to have that spark. This book has "social science" in it's title!

World of Warcraft really consists of layers of "game". I have yet to see a researcher give a really detailed account of it from a player perspective especially as it concerns the end game. The game begins as a player goes from level 1 to level 80. But a different game emerges once you hit level 80 and it's like the previous levels were just a warm up to come. Bainbridge was so focused on those early few levels that he really misses the mark of what the game holds later on.

Bianbridge focused far too much on the Role-playing servers. It was like he himself had built an entire world in his mind and then wrote the entire strange story down on paper and called it research. I was disturbed by the dual boxing events and conversations with himself. My mind reasoned that his "research assistants" had to be actual, living, honest to god people but no...they were just more inhabitants of the game world manifest through Bainbridge's play and eventual writing.

You could strip the actual insights down to a nice paper or conference topic. This book should be read with trepidation. If video game scholars want to be viewed seriously then we need to steer clear of this sort of writing. Be warned, if you read it, you're peering into the abysmal maw of one strange mind.

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Horns by Joe Hill

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This was the first novel I read for pleasure since diving into my PhD and Joe Hill didn't disappoint. His reading style is so easy that you don't realize hours have passes and pages have flown by.

This tale in particular was magnificent. He turns assumptions on their heads and deals with the concept of good and evil in such a way that it just makes sense. I couldn't help but grin as his realization of what "devil" is settled in. I loved it.

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Ma! That nice young man on TV is talking back!

Recently at my job I was promoted to "Social Media Analyst" which is an amazing opportunity and allows me to do some really interesting work and pay attention to things that now hold more significant meaning and implications; especially concerning where we're all headed when it comes to "social" connections and interactions.

Recently the Old Spice Marketing campaign has me reeling with the possibilities of where we are at and where we go from here. Advertising has always been there as a normal part of life for me and you occasionally see some really interesting campaigns that leave you chatting around the water cooler for a few days...but nothing like this. This is THE example of viral marketing to follow. The commercials are clever and have you watching over and over again. Isaiah Mustafa is an amazing specimen of manhood and can play his roll with such sincerity and composure that one wonders how he doesn't just break into laughter with the over-the-top ridiculous of it all. And to one up the already creative genius of the campaign, Old Spice is now featuring Isaiah Mustafa standing in a shower with nothing but a towel responding to various forms of social media directed to him and Old Spice. It's like touching greatest. It really brings a product and an actor into full focus of reality rather than a nicely put together attempt to sell you something. Oh sure... don't get me wrong...they're still trying to sell you something and they're selling it well.

Just yesterday we were in Target and my husband needed some deodorant. I happen to be standing next to them while he looked for some shaving products. As I looked, I picked up a container of Old Spice and said, "Here...use this." Now, I would have NEVER picked up Old Spice prior to this new campaign. To me, Old Spice was something old men well past their prime used; musty smelling old men trying to exude what they thought manhood should be. As a market researcher I can only imagine how the entire campaign went in trying to figure out how to make Old Spice young, hip and cool. I can see the focus groups now:

Researcher: "So...what do you think of when you think of Old Spice".
Respondent 1: "My grandpa. He's senile. He used Old Spice to cover up the stench of urine."
Researcher: "I see...and how about you?"
Respondent 2: "Old Spice? Is that some expensive spice you get at Whole Foods?"
Respondent 3: "Ha! But seriously...does anyone under the age of 70 even use Old Spice? I don't think anyone in their right mind would touch that stuff."

So, they change formulas (the original sent is still lurking...) and added new products to the line. But most importantly they created the greatest marketing campaign to date. People feel like they are apart of the product and even though they're constantly selling and getting it in your head you should use their product they are doing it in a way that fits, make sense and in unobtrusive. Humor is power. People are seeking out whatever they can concerning Isaiah Mustafa and Old Spice. They are going to the product, they product has to put little effort in getting to them. I spent an hour yesterday watching the viral replies and laughed at each one. I wanted more... in the end, I made my husband buy Old Spice, something neither of us thought would ever happen. Now, if only I could get him to bake me cake and leave how to swan dive the world would be a better place...maybe I'll start with buying a monocle. MONOCLE SMILE!

Here's what I wonder though... how in the world will they top this? What's next? I expect great things from you Old Spice...great things.

A few to wet your whistle and understand this pure genius:

The real me online doesn't want to collide with the real me offline

There has been a huge stir in the world of online privacy. Even bigger, I'd say than all the privacy issues that have cropped up in the past over Facebook. This time it was a game company's turn to rock the boat. Unless you've been hiding under a rock you've heard about the huge outcry and outrage against Blizzard's proposed changes with their RealID. In case you haven't heard, Blizzard announced that with the release of Starcraft 2 and the new RealID they would be using people's real names associated with their Battle.net account for all forums and community related posts. That's right... real names. No more hiding behind an internet identity... your name and the associated offline identity in all it's glory will be there for the world to see. They are doing this, in part, to stop the griefing and trolling that inevitably happens online and make people more accountable to their actions and words online. It's a nice thought but the reality of the situation is so deep and entrenched in various identity issues that a master spider would be impressed by the web this has woven.

There was such an outcry from players so strong that within a few days of the announcement of the change Blizzard retracted it.

The first problem is that if you've seen some of the responses on Facebook to President Obama's post then you'll know how much people don't really care about what they say even when it's associated with their real name. I've seen people threaten to shot the President on Facebook... people still tend to think there is this digital wall that shield their online actions from offline consequences. So I'm not 100% sold that using real names would stop people from acting like assholes on an internet game forum.

The second problem is a little bit more interesting and requires some reading of the numerous pages upon pages of replies to Blizzard's original announcement. Some people don't want their real names used not because they are afraid of saying something wrong, they simply don't want people to know they play video games. Seriously....let that sink in a moment. They...don't....want....people....to....know...they....play...video....games...

I can only say I'm flabbergasted. This type of thought only furthers the stigma that seems to be associated with video games. I mean, you wouldn't hesitate to let people know you read or listen to music or even watch TV. But video games... can't let people know you do that in your free time. Gamers need to step up and stop being afraid of the stigma. It isn't until we let people know that playing video games is a lot like reading or listening music will we be able to elevate them beyond mere "child's play". I personally don't understand what's so wrong with telling people you play video games? It's not like you're telling people you're snorting drugs in your freetime...it's a video game! They and by extension WE aren't the red headed stepchildren of the entertainment industry. There's seriously not shame in saying you play video games.
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Overall though what this has done to show is what many people have already discussed concerning social networks and identity; people want to keep anonymity and they want to keep online separate from offline. Even more so, online people fracture their identity in a variety of ways and will fight to maintain those different identities and keep them separate. It has interesting implications on social networking design and privacy.

How to Destroy Angels - The Space in Between [Null]

Holy Shit....

Here's another one from How to Destroy Angels.

Now, before you click the video and just "listen", you need to WATCH this video.

I admit, I haven't watched a video in a LONG LONG time because they just haven't been able to hold my attention on any level. Typically I love the music and could give two shits about the video. This one...this one is different. You all know (or you should at this point) that I study violence and this is an amazing example of how we detest violence but are so madly in love with it. I read through the initial comments of people and they are calling this video "artistic", "beautiful", "moving"...but not violent. It's fascinating... utterly fascinating to me. I can't help but think of Denis Duclos' work, Werewolf Complex: America's Fascination with Violence. I'm not saying Duclos is 100% right as he certainly carries a chip on his shoulder about Americans but his work did get me thinking about how love/hate relationship with violence. The relationship is extremely complicated but it can't be ignored when we look at violence particularly as it relates to media.

That being said - this video carries with it so many elements of violence through its after images yet isn't talked about as "violence". Is it the intrigue of the story? Is it because the after images, while brutal, are shot in such a way that it transcends into "art"? Can violence be art? Is it because we know damn well that Trent really isn't dead on the floor so we don't consider the violence but rather listen to the song for the message? The most active violence that we, as an audience witness, is the fire - and some would argue it's validity and ability to be violent is nullified because fire is just an unthinking instrument of destruction and therefore it can't be violent.

Wow... thanks Trent... my mind is totally ablaze with hypothesis and questions.

But for you good reader, watch the video. Great music. Amazing video. And if you have a chance, let me know why YOU enjoyed or didn't enjoy it. Artistic? Violent? Shock value? Who cares?

Responsibility in Journalism

MAN PLAYS WII, BITES MOTHER THEN GOES ON RAMPAGE

/Feign shock...feign horror....

Police: Wii Rage Triggers Bizarre Crime Spree

Really? That was the headline?

Or course it was, because it's way more shocking to knee jerk the incident and blame the Wii for sake of NOT having any other substantial news to report on this.

Straight from the article:

The police report didn't go into detail about what happened during the Wii game or what game he was playing.

Damn you video game industry! First we have Wii tennis elbow and now we have Wii rampage? As if it wasn't bad enough that countless Americans broke their TV with your thoughtless exclusion of a better warning to use the wrist strap on the controller, you're now causing "rage"? Shame on you Nintendo...shame on you...

Yeah...I think you see the ridiculousness of this story.

Normally when incidents like this happen it's been solely blamed on the game they were playing. Here though we're taking an interesting turn in our scapegoating on the video game industry: forget the game, let's blame the system itself. That's right...when we can no longer blame the game itself, let's directly attack the platform (trust me, I do believe that there are parties always just trying to attack the industry in any way possible but usually they take it out on the game).

The step in this direction is interesting. With California as an example feeling states/the government should be able to step in an control the games you're getting (with the end goal of controlling what can be made - don't try to convince me otherwise) and wanting more regulation of the industry, they must be thrilled to see something like this happen. Clearly we're going to start stepping in the direction that controlling violent games is enough.

I can see the conversations now:

"Well, we've gotten rid of those pesky "violent games".

"But senator, there's still crime in the world, kids are still doing bad things..."

"That's right, kids are still overweight and some of them are still doing poorly in school!"

"It must be the video games...we thought it was because of the violence, but it's got to be the entire industry!"

It's not a stretch to think this. If they can attack violent video games on bad research and no real evidence of of their effects on the "under 18 crowd" I wouldn't at all be surprised if they started to campaign about the negative effects of video games in general. You can see the stirrings already...

Back to what got me started on this rant... The article though is a flimsy piece of sensational bullshit. You have no evidence at all that the Wii triggered his rage... Did he forget to take his meds? Does he have a history of violence? The headline says "Wii"...focuses on it...not about the fact that the guy lost it and hurt people. Your focus is placed wrong. You need more facts before you throw crap out there for the world to read because sometimes the world isn't responsible enough to question the crap you wrote. He "reportedly" got mad while playing the Wii... "reportedly"...but you know that's what people are going to take away from this. Wii Rage.

Please think about this. There are some real serious issues here beyond the fact the guy was playing the Wii if he felt the need to bite his mother in the ankles and felt it was okay to hit random people with his car. I'm sorry, but mentally healthy people just don't do this no matter how badly they failed at playing the Wii.

Wii Rage. Wow. I might just have "Journalist Rage" though if I see more articles like this.

You can read the original article here:

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/23486636/detail.html#

How to Destroy Angels

I have to share... I know what you're thinking, "BUT ERICA, THIS ISN'T VIDEO GAME RELATED!11!!!".

Relax...it's okay, I'm a professional and you'll like this. I promise.

This is Trent Reznor's new band and his first work since Nine Inch Nails ended.

I can't wait to hear more. Looks like the first EP will be out this summer. Can't wait.

Oh, and if you're a fan of Supernatural, this song is perfect for that show...

Couple's Therapy with WoW

Let me start off saying that my husband and I are just fine...we just never get to spend anytime together. Our life is one big blur of activity; work, kid's activities (dance and Tae Kwon Do), Mike's Tae Kwon Do, and my PhD research. Even on the weekends I book end my days by getting up at 7:30am so I can leave the house by 8am to do 4 or so hours of PhD work and then end the day by hopping online around 5pm to do more PhD work until I pass out (11pm is usually my hitting point). So... in a week, that leaves 5 hours on Saturday and 5 hours on Sunday to reconnect with my husband. Those 5 hours are typically spent at the park with the kids or some other activity, grocery shopping and cleaning, so the realism of the situation is that my husband and I are left with no hours. I love my husband but the most hours in a day I get to spend with him is sleeping...and I mean sleeping (you can get your mind out of the gutter now!).

We needed *something* to reconnect...something we could do together to feel like a couple does but there just isn't enough hours in the day. After months of trying to figure out how to literally stop time (think: Out of this World, late 80s sitcom) we just gave that up and tried to figure some better options. My husband yells at me now that I need to spend "me" time and find an activity that I like to do that's relaxing... and my reply is always the same "I don't have time". Now, this conundrum is an entirely different issue but it's all part and partial about US spending time together. There's nothing I can give up and I'm not going to let the PhD suffer or drag out longer than it has to...so we finally broke down and had him reactivate his World of Warcraft account. It makes sense because outside work, this is where I spend the majority of my time.

Now, this may seem silly but it's not. Prior to us even dating we both played WoW pretty heavily; however we were divided by faction (he played Alliance and I played Horde). I fooled around on Alliance but wasn't giving up my precious Horde. Of course, I said that, but that all changed when we actually started dating. I gave up my raiding Undead priest to go play Alliance with him. Shame really, that they didn't have all the transfers and faction changes available now; would have saved me from leveling another priest. WoW, as strange as it sounds, connected us. We loved playing together and chatted incessantly about the game, game mechanics, and the cultural nuances that came along with the culture of MMOs (okay...okay...I admit, I MOSTLY did the talking on the last part but he kindly listened to me). I was always playing catch up though to him since I had to restart a character on Alliance side, leaving my guild and Horde family behind.

When the expansion Burning Crusade came out, we both started over together. Him a Draenei Shaman and me a Draenei Paladin. I still missed Horde side but the Draenei looked so damn cool I was okay with Alliance for once. We played these characters all the way through that expansion and into the next one.

We stopped playing WoW just shortly after the expansion Wrath of the Lich King came out for a variety of reasons. We went a year, year and a half, without touching the game. I still read the forums and kept up with what was going on knowing my PhD work was around the corner. Once I finally nailed down my PhD work I reactivated my account and started playing. Ironically, when I looked for a guild I found the most interesting offers and most interesting people were Horde side. Thank god for Blizzard not only allowing realm changes but I could now take my level 80 Draenei Pally and convert her to a level 80 Blood Elf Pally. After years and years, I was finally home to Horde (and that folks is yet another post for later).

I found myself engaged and excited with the game and in love with the guild that took me in for my research. I talked incessantly at my husband about the game, the guild and especially about the upcoming Cataclysm expansion. I could see him squirm... I could see him fight it... and when they came out with announcements on upcoming Hunter changes I could see him freak inside a little. The next step of course was a no brainer. We needed a way to connect again and he was chomping inside to get back on WoW.

Funny how things come full circle. I was settled back at home with the Horde and his level 60 Dwarf Hunter...was well...alliance. So, he made the faction change over (again...another post about attachments to "sides" and characters in this game). He just did this last night so we'll see how this all works out. Rolliad the Dwarf is now Rolliad the Orc (I "accidentally" named his character when the game first came out - a funny story for another time). I find myself excited to play with him again. Of course, there are "rules" of play as my primary function on being on WoW is for my PhD but it's good to have him there.

Now I just need to wait for him to "grow up" (reach level 80) so we can actually play together. I think it's ironic that I originally made the change over to Alliance for him and now he's made the change over from Alliance to Horde for me. I'm now his "angel" (his words) there to protect him as he levels just like he was my "guardian" when I leveled my priest. I think once he reaches level 80 and we get him some gear we're going to tear shit up.

The point here is that we finally found a way to connect again...sure, we're connecting via a mediated virtual playspace but it works for us. We literally play 10 feet from one another so we chat as we play and engage with one another. More than that we're doing something together, which is more than we've been able to do for the past 4 or 5 months.

His Orc and my Blood Elf make an odd couple and I told him last night, "Good thing we already have kids because, we could make some ugly children"... ;)

My Little Pony

So...while I let my brain digest the implications of the Supreme Court ruling today I wanted to post on something that happened earlier last week (I'm behind I know...I'm trying to get caught up).

Last week Blizzard, for the first time, sold an in-game mount. By sold, I mean, the kind that costs you your hard earned dollars. Yes, you pay real money for a pixelated digital piece of property. The cost of this mount was $25 bucks. While selling stuff for in-game is not new (Blizzard sells a variety of different in-game passive pets) the fact that they were selling something that was more than just a cosmetic piece of property was. This mount was called [Celestial Steed].

So what was my reaction to this? I ran home after work and signed on to make my pony purchase. I was a bit shocked, to say the least, when I saw that there were 166,445 people in front of me in line and my que'd wait time was 7 hours. Now, if you're not familiar with how Blizzard makes sales, yes, they que you to make sure the system handles everyone in turn. If all 166k people were trying to make the purchase at once, the system would crash and there would be a lot of unhappy people... they do it to prevent the bottle neck affect that can happen. Still, I had a hard time wrapping my brain around the fact that I was digitally trying to purchase a digital good and I had to wait in line 7 hours for it.

Turns out though that Blizzard wasn't too good at estimating the que and within an hour and 45 minutes I made the purchase. My husband was a little none to pleased I spent $25 bucks on something that had no actual tangibility to it. I however, couldn't have been happier with the purchase. Besides, what does tangibility actually mean these days? I can download music via iTunes, pay for it and take enjoyment in it all without actually ever *having* it.

First, I'm a sucker for pets and mounts in WoW. Most of the cooler and more interesting mounts are hard to achieve and I just don't have the play hours to work towards those. When I played my character on the Alliance side I worked extremely hard to earn enough faction to purchase a Ram mount and loved him in all his fluffiness. When I transfered from Alliance to Horde, naturally, I lost my Ram and was given the Wolf mount instead. Don't get me wrong...the wolf is cool and all but he wasn't my Ram. I needed something to fulfill the virtual void created by the loss of my Ram mount.

Second, this mount totally made me nostalgia - back to my youth and horse collecting days. When I was younger, up until high school in fact, I collected Breyer horses and every other piece of horse- like action figure I could get my hands on. I was particularly found of these clear, sparkly horses that were from the She-Ra series (like Crystal Moonbeam or Arrow, the steed of Bow) and the [Celestial Steed] reminds of that childhood memory.

The most interesting aspect of it all was the fact that Blizzard made over $2million in one day from the sale of these digital mounts. That's right...they programmed the horse...once, sold it to thousands of people and made nothing but pure profit.

Beyond that though, was the interesting implication and talks that ensued within the game itself, about what it meant to buy an in-game item for out-game money (Blizzard is not the first game to allow this as Perfect World is a free MMO to play but if you want anything interesting you purchase it; items are what you play for in any Perfect World game, time to play is free). There were cries from those who thought it was pathetic for people to spend real money on a digital item and then there were the rebuttals about how those bitching should leave mom's basement and get a job. It showed and interesting divide between the casuals and hardcore players (those who presumably had full time jobs and played causally vs those who were students or employed and played hard but had no money - that is of course a simplistic assumption that if you work you can't play hardcore). I'm of course simplifying the entire conversation but I think it's enough to get the gist.

What this shows if that there is no longer a strong dichotomy between "online" and "offline", between "in-game" and "out-game". We often think of games, game worlds and the people who inhabit them as two very distinct and different aspects of space that doesn't cross or intersect at any point. The truth however is much messier. I spent $25 of the money I make in the "real" world for an item that can only be used and enjoyed in the "virtual" world (in the most simplistic of terms). But honestly, I don't see it like that - remember, the mount has nostalgia for me and fills a gap left by the loss of my earlier mounts - it fulfills a very real feeling and emotive experience for me.

What we think of work/play, virtual/real is not so clear anymore. We need to redefine notions of what games are and what they mean to us.

More importantly though, I seriously need to figure out how to make something that takes minimal effort and time, is endless in supply, is wanted by thousands of people and makes me over $2million dollars in a day.

Bad Monday is Bad

The US Supreme Court (not California as previously mentioned...thanks to Rich for the correction) has decided today that it WILL hear the case for computer and video game regulation.

I read this tidbit of news while at my desk and let out a loud exasperated sigh follow by, "Are you fuckin' kidding me?" (oops for inappropriate workplace language but it bubbled out before I could stop it).

At this point...I'm flabbergasted. Words fail me. If you want to know my better articulated position on the matter, read my earlier post on video games and violence.

In the meantime I'm going to sit, stew and do my best to focus on the workday while this thought runs in my head; /all circuits are busy now, please hang up, and try your call again later/.

Art and Video Games

Last week sometime Ebert posted an article on why video games are not art and will never be art.

"Let me just say that no video gamer now living will survive long enough to experience the medium as an art form."

That's a pretty strong statement, one which sent the video community to foam at the mouth and cry foul in the most frenzied way possible. Having written on the subject and debated it myself a few times I felt an initial unpleasant gut reaction as the vile of hate spewed in the back of my throat. I haven't commented until now, enjoying the frenzy of responses and reactions that have ensued since the initial posting. While Ebert's article is at the heart of it and in itself poses many, many problems (which I’ll touch on a few in a minute), of greater interest to me is the reactions from the gaming community to his assertions of games are not art. Regardless of what anyone says, he seems to have touched a very sensitive nerve located in the heart and soul of many gamers.

First, life would be so much simpler if I could read one person’s work, disagree with said work and then write a response based on the single work and be an expert with a definitive opinion. My PhD would have been done years ago. In this case Kellee Santiago is certainly onto something but she’s not THE authority and I’m not sure why we’re treating her as such. This is by no means a slap to her credentials; my point however is that if you’re going to make such a strong statement as the one above maybe you should talk to a few more people and do a little footwork and research yourself. But alas, in the world of internet tongue it’s much easier to refute one person with your own diatribe. Hell, I do this myself, but I also don’t have millions of people reading my blog and looking to me for thought leadership…with great power comes great responsibility or some shit like that and I am in no means a position of great power or leadership…at least not yet (I’ll return to this in a bit…)

The problem is that even Ebert shows we have problems defining art. Art, like so many other aspects of life are culturally constructed and have personal meaning and emphasis for the individual in such a way that what touches one individual will not touch the other. Me and my husband are great examples of this: what he likes as art I do not and what I love he does not. Right now we have barely any art on the wall because we just can’t agree on what to put there…. One day I’ll win but only when I have the money to let my taste do the walking. My husband and I can agree that we don’t get modern art….there’s a really famous painting at our hometown location in the Detroit Institute of Art that we never get. We always go look at, and stare for 5 or so minutes until we’re bored, trying desperately to get the painting. We never do. Yet, it’s art right? I mean…it has to be, it’s hanging on the wall of a bona fide art museum. I personally think it’s crap. I don’t get it…whatever…but it doesn’t make it any less art just because I don’t personally understand it. Art is extremely subjective… and for Ebert to suddenly jump in and decide to define that subjectivity with his own subjective nature about video games (and art) is just the result of an ego gone too big for one person.

The other issue I see if that Ebert takes a lot of time trying to define art and say what it is and isn’t but he doesn’t even scratch the surface on what makes a game what it means to play and what those intersections mean.

The question keeps arising about why we care what Ebert said. We care because like it or not, he is a big somebody with a lot of followers and respected for his opinion. We care because what he says can make an impact. I think, of course, it’s a double edged sword in that if we put him on a pedestal and react like we did as a community we are responsible for creating the monster. I personally don’t give two shits about Ebert…I never read his stuff. I hear about him occasionally but I never have actually gone and read a review of his or any of his work…until now. See the problem yet? Yes, I admit, I’m contributing to the problem by talking about it. I think ignoring him would have more power than any of the millions of millions of words that have already been directed towards him and his ideals. Everyone wants to get their “two cents” in on the matter and I’m no different. I feel passionate about games and as a person I never can bite my tongue for too long… just ask my poor boss at work who has to constantly hear me bitching about the wrongs I perceived committed against me. So sue me…it’s who I am, but at least I admit it.

So, it still doesn’t answer the question of why we care if video games are considered art. I don’t have any hard or absolute answers for you. What I do have is a few thoughts. First, I think a lot of what creators of video games are doing IS creating art. So we’ve moved away from the medium of the cave wall and now create art with computers and technology… it’s about a modern fight on what art is. If we buffer the art and the artist with a computer and technology should we no longer call it art? Because it’s pixels instead of brush strokes has it lost authenticity? To me, it goes much deeper than just the video game aspect of it all. Second, I think by pegging something as art you’ve suddenly given it legitimacy. The history of video games is such that I think we’re still fighting for legitimacy and a place in cultural tradition that is more than just “pop culture” or something that we consider ephemeral or not worthy of place and respect. Hell, I can relate. When I first started down the academic path of studying video games people looked at me like I was committing academic suicide. I remember a fellow graduate student, one who studied a “more traditional and therefore respected area in anthropology – Russian economy”, look at me when he found out my academic aspirations and say, “Oh…you’re studying video games…so like… cabbage patch dolls and garbage pail kids? What will you study when they [video games] fall out of flavor?” I guess he could probably eat those words now.

Ultimately we care because if nothing else the video gaming community is passionate about what they do. No…it’s not because we want to legitimize us spending hours and hours playing a game, but rather we want people to understand the beauty, the experiences and culture shaping things we call video games.