22/2/2011-The Magic Circle.

Johan Huizinga stated that when in a gaming environment we are sucked into a 'magic circle' whereby everything around us does not exist and we are immersed into an environment where either single or multi player gaming will commence.

A prime example of being immersed into a magic circle is a football pitch,if you remove the goal posts the 22 footballers and the football,the area is just a ordinary playing field.By involving the elements of a ball and the goal posts,the area evolves into a magic circle where an event will take place.In gaming terms these opponents on making a magic circle varies slightly,from where the game is being player and what you are actually playing,The nintendo wii can push the boundaries of the magic circle,and to what extent are we in a magic circle?

When talking about the nintendo wii,you have to be careful in identifying the purpose of the game,are you immersing yourself into the avatar in the game or are you being the controller of the game.This could be questioned against the Xbox as you are being immersed into a game as you are either an individual on mario Kart or are a set group of soldiers in world of war craft.So,what what extent are we being immersed into the magic circle,and is there any real way of being involved in digital games without being in the circle?

                          

                     Johan Huizinga states in his book Homo Ludens.

'A play-community generally tends to become permanent even after the game is

over..the feeling of being 'apart together' in an exceptional situation,of sharing

something important,of mutually withdrawing from the rest of the world and

rejecting the usual norms,retains its magic beyond the duration of the individual

game.' (page 12)

     So can the magic circle immerse us when playing a non digital game?

Video games are hands down more popular know in the 20th century rather

than the typical monopoly board game which is only bought out at christmas,but

can board games still have the same affect on the gamers,or do you have to

enter a realm of cyberspace?

                                                           www.homemademech.com


Mario kart is a  great example of how we are put into a magic circle when playing a game,it
has the key components of Roger Caillois idea of the magic circle which is stated in his book
Man,play and games.

Roger caillois says that there are four basic types of play in digital gaming?

1) Agon- The game is competition (World of War Craft)

2) Alea-The game is by Chance (Card games)

3) Mimicry-Identity changes (you are playing a particular person-Lara Croft)

4) Ilinx-Whereby perception has been changed (out of the norm)

But can these four types be used in a board game,or has technology and the human
imagination and involvement needed to create the perfect magic circle?

Rules of Monopoly.

Whoever finishes the game with the most amount of money WINS!
Jenga

Whoever removes the most amount of bricks without knocking over the tower WINS

Four in a row

Whoever gets four coins in a row WINS

These three non digital games are a great example of roger caillois's idea of agon,whereby the person who lasts the longest or gains the most points is the winner.An example of an agon game in digital gaming is mario kart,whereby time,speed,size and kart matters to whether you will be top of the leader board.this isa  prim example of what the magic circle really is,whereby the aspiration of becoming 1st and therefore being the winner takes on the needs of the target audience.

15/2/2011-Is there really a Beginning,Middle and an End or are we living in a fairytale?

Aristotle stated that every good piece of work should include a beginning middle and end,but is this non linearity approach used in hypertext?


Everywhere in the media it seems that Aristotle's approach is still used,from in blockbuster movies with the happy ever after endings to a good piece of journalism printed on the local tabloid.This is mainly down to the crucial fact that without a beginning middle or an end,the piece of writing is pointless as the viewing public crave for a piece of text to be located on one page not over several.

Cybertext is a great way of adapting Aristotle's poetics approach is the beginning middle and end sequences by adapting the endings to the roots in which the reader chooses to take.Whether its reading your latest blog on blogger or reading the newspaper on the sun website,Hypertext has enabled the target audience to adapt Aristotle's approach whereby structures must have a  beginning,Middle and End.Whereby the audience's are able to access whatever piece of information they wish rather than having to go through page by page.

www.einet.net

The sun website is a great example of whereby they do not following the linear way of thinking,whereby there is not a beginning middle and End,and whereby the hypertext enabled the public to view various parts of information by simply clicking on various topics down the left hand side of the screen.This shows that once a piece of text has been published the author has no control and the information is in the hands of the viewing public,

“A cybernetic system that generates a different sequence of signs every time the work is experienced”

Marie-Laure Ryan-1999:16

With the invention of the kindle in 2007,the world has gone digital crazy with more and more people using technology rather than the reliable paperback,but the what extent has the kindle damaged the nations love for a paperback and is there really any disadvantages of the kindle?

                                                            the.taoofmac.com

Annie Proulx stated in 1994 

'Nobody is going to sit down and read a novel on a twitchy little screen.ever!' 

This is not the case in 2011 whereby wherever you are,either on a train to the big city or in a local library,a percentage of the public will be reading a book electronically,but why has the kindle created so much distress to the book lovers.Although the kindle is a quick and affective way of reading a book on the go,there are a few downfalls to the great invention,Many books are unable to be accessible on the kindle,therefore a paperback may be the only option.Although the kindle is an affective and light way of carrying around a library of your favourite books,the cost way vary.An electronic book can cost up to the same amount of any hardback book,so why extinct the hardcopy when your kindle may crash one day and you be without your favourite read.


The twilight sager is a great example of showing where aristotle's theories does not adapt well with cultural aspects and the way that we know live our day to day lives.Whereby Stephanie Meyer has adapted Aristotle's approach and created a beginning,middle and an End over a sequence of four books.This is a clever way of gritting a target audience into a book,whereby the reader is guaranteed to want to read the following books to get to the romantic storyline's of the love struck teenagers,Edward and Bella.And have the need to carry on reading the following books to find out whether they do indeed live happily ever after,and stick to Aristotle approach or whether jacob ruins Aristotle's hard work. 

www.moviesonline.ca

7/02/2011-Tagging.

With the invention of search engines in 1991, the world has gone internet crazy.With the increasing use of technology for research aswell as leisure,no wonder the evolvement of tagging and archives came about.


From celeb gossip citizen journalists publishing blogs about how Paris Hilton once again has flashes her underwear on the red carpet,to the media students posting blogs once a week to ensure that they pass their degree's.With the use of tagging on search engines it has allowed our lives to become that little bit easier.

Google is the most famous search engine on the internet,it is a great way of capturing information within a click of a mouse.But whats really behind all of the hypertexts and keywords?

                                                      'www.google.com'

                                                  

As seen in the picture by typing in a keyword such as 'tagging' the webpage will show various examples.This a great example of the way spiders 'software programme' works and how a word can be linked to thousands of other webpages.

Archie-Search by filename

Veronica-allowed multiple word search (including and and or)

By allowing multiple word searches and 'spiders' on the internet it has allowed various other webpages which may not be viewed a lot to be accessible much easier.


Spiders are a computer software,which passes itself through thousands of webpages in gathering information which links to a specific keyword,this ensuring that all alternative weblinks are guaranteed to be relevant to the users needs.

In the 20th Century there are many alternative ways in which tagging is used either by tagging your drunken friend on Facebook or your favourite websites on Delicious.Delicious is a website whereby it plays a role of an archive in storing all of your most used webpages in which can be accessible on any computer.
                     'A walking library of your favourite webpages'

                                            
                                                     ' http://www.facebook.com'


Facebook is a great way of defining tagging,it is simply whereby another user is able to tag a mutual friend in either an event,image or a status update.By allowing us to do this on social networking sites its allowing us the produce hyperlinks on search engines.For example,if you type in your name into google images an image which you may have been tagged on a social networking website will appear,this will also allow the user to access the image as well as the hyperlink,this is a form of tagging and a Folksonomy.

A folksonomy is a type of distributed classification system. It is usually created by a group of individuals, typically the resource users. Users add tags to online items, such as images, videos, bookmarks and text. These tags are then shared and sometimes refined

 'http://www.dlib.org/dlib/january06/guy/01guy.html'

By allowing us to tag information and pictures on the internet,it has expanded the internet dramatically with the use of various websites being joined together by either links or key words,whereby folksonomies are able to categories information in to relevant settings and groups.

1/02/2011-Avatar's and how our identity changes?

Avatars are a great way of immersing the gamer into a latest crazes.From the longing hours of producing an avatar or being your favourite heroin,there is no doubt that the virtual world has captured the emotions of all gamers around the world.But is the 'mii' really an avatar on does the nintendo wii trick the gamers into being immersed by the virtual interaction of the gaming world?

The nintendo wii allows the user to edit the appearance of their avatar to ensure the feeling of acceptance in the gaming world.   

'www.mrcloud.com'

Staffan Björk stated the four stages of immersion whilst in a gaming experience;

-Spatial Immersion

-Emotional  Immersion

-Cognitive Immersion

-Sensory-Motoric Immersion

'Staffan Björk and Jussi Holopainen,Patterns in Game Design-2004'

These four immersions link well into showing the ways in which users are able to immerse themselves into the experience,and whether games are now created to immerse the user rather than entertain?

'www.treehugger.com'

The Omaticaya clan (Na'vi name: Omatikaya meaning "Blue Flute clan") is a Na'vi tribe of the forest. They formerly lived in a Hometreein one of Pandora's huge jungles.

'james-camerons-avatar.wikia.com'

Immersion is a great way of targeting various audiences,whether it is the latest gaming craze,such as World of War Craft or the virtual world of Second life.In 2009 James Cameron's showed us what immersion really is in his phenomenal blockbuster,Avatar.The fascinating thing about the film Avatar is the way in which the body of the real life person to remain is able to stay in real world but enabling them to control the avatar with their mind rather than body,by doing this it enables the human to be immersed into the avatar's natural habitat.Although this immersion is able in the movie,this type of immersion is unable to happen in video games mainly down to the gamer only being able to interact with the gaming world via the controller rather than their body and minds.

But are there any other ways of immersing ourselves into becoming an avatar?

From researching identity in previous blogs and seeing how it plays a huge role in the way social networking sites are portrayed online.Is our identities really showing our try colours or are we moulding ourselves into an 'avatar' on social networks.
'http://katyredmond.blogspot.com/2010/11/does-our-identity-change-in-cyberspace.html'


From posing for your latest display picture to ensuring that every minor detail of your personal life is portrays correctly on the internet seems to be the concern of the majority of social networking users .From checking in to your destination on Facebook to updating your micro-blog on twitter.The social networking scene have consumed all modern day human beings.

But are we really showing our true colours or are our avatars talking for us?