Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in kittikins5's LiveJournal:

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Wednesday, June 1st, 2005
7:59 pm	Class is over and yet... I had to share my new heights of geekdom. I'm in DC on an internship for the summer and all I keep thinking is this: Washington DC is like World of Warcraft. No, really! Everything is so close together when you're out in a part of town to go to one place its damned hard to get away because it's like WoW quests, "Well, while I'm here at the Smithsonian I might as well visit all the Monuments and art galleries too..." Like I said- new heights of geekdom. Current Mood: amused (Comment on this)
Monday, May 2nd, 2005
2:25 pm	WoW Ramblings 7 I had to post because I haven't been playing much lately (ie: at all), but logged on last night for the heck of it and had some more "firsts". * Participated fully in a group for my first instance which was pretty positive, though one member got kicked out for looting while we were fighting and I was the lowest leveled member so mean stuff kept chasing me around. But, got to play with a member of Radikal Faeries, which I thought was awesome. * Leveled for the first time in what seemed like months (yay rest state). * Made a random "friend" I chatted with for awhile. Since I have yet to actually have a long conversation in-game with someone I didn't know in RL, or know through directly through friends, I thought it was of note. Apparently even anit-social gamers can make friends on occasion. :) Current Mood: content Current Music: Bon Jovi (Comment on this)
Tuesday, April 26th, 2005
3:01 am	Stupid Elves... I've just spent half an hour trying to find academic articles, hell *any* articles, on the importance of elves in America's pop culture landscape as fantasy icons. I have failed miserably. Stupid elves. Current Mood: frustrated Current Music: Matchbox 20 (Comment on this)
Wednesday, April 20th, 2005
1:16 am	Hello Visitors: Questions, Comments, Croissants? Douglas Adams once said: "I can understand why writers take a pseudonym. It's strange having an existence in other people's minds which has little to do with you." It seems particularly apt given the nature of this class- where we are immersed in the MMO environment, but openly so. As such we're a visible part of the community, in fact many of us have become integral members of that community through our research. A particularly unique aspect of online research is how much interest those in the online community have taken in the research being conducted. Nick Yee has attributed much of his success to the fact that he follows through on his research with public, published results. Nosy as I am, I don't blame people a bit for being interested. That's why we, as a class, plan to post all of our findings online once we've, well, found something (considering THE PAPERS are due in about two and a half weeks, we better get to finding...). Our class as a whole has been discovered prior to this though, and I know we've had visitors wander over from different forums, etc. I know many of you have questions and I'd like to open this up because I'm interested. I AM nosy and I've read most of the threads posted about us and its interesting to see how the class and our work is perceived outside of our classroom. So if you're curious, I'm curious about you being curious- ask me or Dr. Delwiche, or anyone else in the class. Umm, also, I lied about the croissants. Sorry. Current Mood: contemplative Current Music: Joss Stone (Comment on this)
Tuesday, April 19th, 2005
3:43 pm	Class Ponderings... So today we discussed violence in video games and if violence in video games desensitizes people to real life violence (in other words The Great Debate in Video Game Research). Most of the class seemed to agree that playing violent video games, while not necessarily negative as it provides a release for aggression, does desensitize people to real life violence (though we all seemed to agree that its never the same as real life violence). I spoke up and said that while people seem to be more and more used to explicit violence in video games, and more broadly media in general, that this increased exposure doesn't necessarily lead to desensitization. What I didn't say then, but which Nicole touched on, was the what I see as the real problem- the blurring of reality and media. Its not video game violence that causes people to go on shooting sprees- its people's inability to differentiate between a video game and real life that causes the problem. Personally, I think most people who experience such extreme forms of disconnects are usually troubled emotionally anyway and therefore prone to extreme and in most cases unprovoked reactions, but video games seem to provide the vehicle of this disconnect. Now I don't feel that this makes video games bad. If anything, video games seem to have a unique combination of appeals that draws in a large variety of people. If anything, they might be good for most people who have trouble interacting with reality on a day to day basis because of the distance they offer (MMOs and extremely shy people for instance). In the end, any ties to video games and real life violence seem tenuous at best and then, they only seem to highlight problems that already exist and would be happening- they just seem to provide a convenient scapegoat for concerned (or not nearly concerned enough) members of society to point to. Consider Plato's view that people will never do wrong if they know that its wrong (ie: people who are doing wrong simply don't understand that their actions are wrong), and this whole conflict gets dragged into a whole new (if several thousand year old) light. I'm not really sure I had a point in all this but I felt like writing it out. On the violence scale (which I think is very individual)- I enjoyed Sin City immensely but the quest where I had to collect rat ears in World of Warcraft still grossed me out. Go figure. Current Mood: sleepy (Comment on this)
Tuesday, April 12th, 2005
8:45 pm	WoW Ramblings 6 I'm such a sucker. A Night Elf about ten levels lower than me asked if I would take him to Ironforge. From the Wetlands. I didn't, but I did escort him across the entire country. I'm not sure why. Then I gave him some nice magical shielding, told him not to dawdle when running by the orcs, gave him directions, a carefully packed lunch box, and sent him on his way with the admonishment to be careful. I think I need to go kill things with a sword or something in order to reestablish my feminism. Unfortunately I don't have a sword. Just a wand I've only killed squirrels with. *sigh* Current Mood: sleepy Current Music: Norah Jones- Come Away With Me (1 Comment |Comment on this)
10:04 am	Web Log Assignment 12 When, if ever, is breaking the rules justified? Depends on if you're looking at individuals, or the big picture. Personally, I have the deplorable tendency to break rules I disagree with. I have some authority issues I think I inherited genetically from my father, and as a result tend to view rules I disagree on with about as much enthusiasm as a plate of boiled cabbage. Now when you bring other people into the picture... In single player games, I use cheats fairly often. I like building games like Sim City, etc, but hate managing the financial aspect of it. I remember one great coding change that added about a million dollars every time you bulldozed a tree... Anyway, in multiple player games I hate cheats because your actions affect others. Using cheats on a single player game is a personal choice that only affects my enjoyment and game play. Using cheats in a multi-player game is taking that choice away from others. In the broader sense, as our society, I think rule breaking is only acceptable when it is expressed as civil disobedience. As a democracy, flawed though it may be, we have to accept the system and the rules we have instilled, otherwise they're powerless (hence the major issues I have with a certain President ignoring the UN, our Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, and... I'm going to stop now). By abiding by the laws our elected rulers create, we're validating the political system we have agreed to live under. That doesn't mean that our elected rulers don't manage to pass some monumental acts of idiocy (Patriot Act anyone, anyone?), and that's where civil disobedience and peaceful protest comes in. Part of the democratic system is that we have the right to express our voices and ask for change. Things get tricky though when people do not consent to live under the political system installed over them, whether it be a dictatorship or a democracy. I'm not sure what my unequivocal opinion is on those forced to live under a set of rules they did not consent to in terms of rule breaking. Things to ponder once my coffee kicks in properly. A note on the stunning display of hypocrisy I've managed to display in this post. I may not always abide by the rules, but anything I break, I break with full knowledge and acceptance of the consequences of such actions- that's the trick. Ignoring the rules may not be ethically sound, but by taking the punishment that comes from breaking the rules, you can do your part to protect the fabric of society. Something tells me once the coffee kicks in, I'm going to reread this post and kick myself. And edit it heavily. Oh well. Current Mood: cynical Current Music: Green Day- American Idiot (Comment on this)
Wednesday, March 30th, 2005
3:05 am	WoW Ramblings 5 Okay, the female Night Elves. They bounce. And rock. And appendages bounce and rock in response. This is not particularly a new revelation to me but seriously, stripper dance aside, do they HAVE to bounce? I keep wanting to buy my character an under-wire bra because really, that can't be comfortable. Plus, it has me thinking about coding logistics. What would 'breast bounce' even be coded as? How in the hell would you code for bra support? Humm, the servers definitely need to stabilize. Free thinking does not necessarily spawn productive thinking, as evidenced by this post. It was funny to watch everyone flood the Low Population servers though and see guilds of level-one characters attempting to raid enemy towns. Current Mood: curious Current Music: Lisa Loeb (Comment on this)
2:57 am	Web Log Assignment 11 Past Parlor Games I have played... in all honesty I think I had a Parlor deprived childhood. I did watch a lot of TV though. The only thing I can remotely think of is Heads Up 7 Up, which I don't remember the exact particulars of. I've never even seen Clue the movie. Looking forward to learning some in class though, as Mafia made my day. Ah, family. The Family. *waves hello to all the people who have drifted over from the forums* Apparently strangers have discovered us as we've become visible as a class. Just for the sexism record, I'm really about the only one I know in class who hasn't been propositioned in some way while playing a female character. Of course, no one seems to like gnomes but me so that probably explains a lot. :) Current Mood: amused Current Music: Lisa Loeb (Comment on this)
Wednesday, March 23rd, 2005
8:14 pm	Web Log Assignment 10: Lasso Looking back on it, we were fairly predictable in our choice of childhood games. But, predictability aside, we used to play Lasso (Texas children...). Lasso was never actually named (as I just made it up) but it basically consisted of us riding around in the cul-da-sac doing bike tricks and, yes, lassoing a fire hydrant. I'm not sure why but, given a refresher, even until this day I could probably lasso an inanimate object from a speeding bike. If I still remembered how to ride a bike that wasn't bolted to the gym floor that is. From what I recall Lasso never had any rules. It was a very simple repetitive game- ride your bike, stand on the handlebars, sit down, lasso the fire hydrant as you circled around. Everyone was a winner. We also used to collect frogs. I don't know why. It was a game of sorts. We'd see who could collect the most and put them in wood barrels overnight before we set them free in the morning. Funny how childhood memories can show you how truly bizarre you are. Current Mood: discontent Current Music: Joss Stone (Comment on this)
Tuesday, March 8th, 2005
9:54 pm	Squishy The movie was... squishy. I was expecting the blood and even more guts and violence. I was not expecting squishy. Lots and lots of squishy things. I do not like squishy. But if I wasn't paranoid enough, the movie certainly gave me reason to be paranoid. It was a nice mind job in parts. I'm always a fan of circular reasoning, but I could have done without the squishy. Those pods are going to give me nightmares. Current Mood: blah Current Music: White Houses (Comment on this)
Thursday, March 3rd, 2005
1:27 pm	Web Log Assignment 9: Terra Nova I am March and, when browsing through everything, the thing that most caught my attention was the article on an "island" called Paradise Island through There with iVillage. This is basically a community designed for women to gather and talk about themselves. The brief article raised some interesting question which relate in many ways to some of the discussions concerning identity, gender, and sex that we've talked about during class discussions. In a community where identity is most likely closely connected to a real life person, how will people interact and react to those who aren't representing themselves truthfully (gender benders, though simply role playing, etc)? I think this is interesting because Paradise Island encourages people to make real world connections as themselves and its interesting to thing about how a person who does so reacts in an environment like WoW where its almost expected to play as your avatar. The article also points out that by branding the island a place, a sanctuary for women, the space automatically becomes sexualized. The article addresses concerns women might have about men seeking to come into that community, which is open, due to that, but I was also interested in how popular (since 2004 when it was released) this community is. We've talked a lot about how many women are turned off and away from things made "just for women" because of the stereotyping and condescension the use of such marketing and design ploys entail. Have women flocked to that community because it is a "haven" for femininity, or have they shunned it because of its creators attempts to designate a womanly place on the web? Current Mood: okay (Comment on this)
Tuesday, March 1st, 2005
1:15 am	WoW Ramblings 4 Mothering. We've talked about this some in class, the possibility of women playing nurturing roles (the priest, shaman role, etc). I don't think we came to any particular conclusions, though I know impulsively I wanted to disagree with it because on the surface, it seemed pretty stereotypical. On the other hand, I'm at a high enough level where people actually ask to group with me, gnome mage and all, and I've lately found myself in situations where I'm the highest level mother hen watching out for one to five people several levels below me who are trying their best to get themselves killed. Now the ponderance of the day is, am I compelled to put up with their complaining when they charge ahead and die without me (and stay online longer than I planned to in order to make sure they all emerged from the cave/forest/castle/whatever in relatively one annoying piece) because I am a woman? Any guys of the class reading this, heck any girls, have you had similar experiences and impulses? Does the fact that I tend to help someone out when they come racing up to me with a pack trailing them screaming "help! help! help!" prove the nurturing hypothesis or is it just a leadership thing? I've certainly been in groups where the "mother hen" was male, but I'm curious on any thoughts, etc. Is this a gender phenomenon, or a power one? I feel too biased to make any clear cut declarations at the moment. Current Mood: tired Current Music: Norah Jones (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, February 27th, 2005
5:05 pm	Web Log Assignment 8: TL Taylor So we had our second in game lecture the other day. I enjoyed it, but while the informality has certain benefits, I've tentatively decided that I don't like it as well as a full blown lecture, if only because there seems to be a lot of wasted time. I know we spent the first ten to fifteen minutes all just sitting there saying hi and making small talk. My frustration might have had something to do with my inability to sit still for long periods of time too. On the other hand, we wouldn't even get to have lectures by people like Nick Yee and TL Taylor, among future others, without holding it in game so, I shouldn't be complaining overmuch since its a cool deal from our end. :) I know Dr. Delwiche doesn't have the logs so I'll post what I remember: * the obvious, women in games (TL Taylor- women are becoming more prevalent in games, designers are maybe starting to pay attention to women as a demographic, though they are mostly still ignored) * why women play games (pretty much not just for the social aspect) * ethics of research (fly by researchers aren't respected much, you should use your own judgment) * prevalence of games (MMOs have become widespread in use- which I personally disagree with, give it another 5-10 yrs) * Everquest (which I don't remember the particulars of) Randomly, I just noticed the Murloc's fingers convulse around their weapons after you've killed them yesterday and its weirding me out. Do all the species do this? Twitch post mortem? Current Mood: drained Current Music: The Very Best of Cole Porter (Comment on this)
Friday, February 18th, 2005
2:08 pm	Web Log Assignment 7 AGAIN Annoyed at LiveJounral right now. If I get ONE more "The Journal is in Read Only Mode and we just deleted your entire entry which was actually quite decent to give you this message because we're sadistic jerks..." Gah. Bah even. You get what you pay for I guess. Okay, I'm not writing all that out again. A quick summary then: The class exercise confused me. There were just too many layers to all the representations. There were male characters, male and female personalities, and male and females playing male and female personalities. Let's just say everytime I tried to wrap my mind around the parameters of the exercise I was already three questions behind. Now, the difference between sex and gender. Sex is all of the physical differences between people (male parts vs. female parts) while gender is more cultural expectations of males and females. Gender is a human construct, sex is mechanics. Now the difficult part for me is, like Dez, I have fairly fluid expectations when it comes to gender roles. Culturally, we have our gender stereotypes, but individuals never really fit those stereotypes, thanks goodness. For instance, as a female lifeline, if someone had asked me if I knew who won the Superbowl, if I was playing my "gender" properly, why "of course not! I was too busy cooking to pay attention" but if I was answering as myself, then "yes, the Patriots". Current Mood: working Current Music: Red Hot Chili Peppers Compilation (Comment on this)
1:37 pm	Paper Topic Summary Colonial Themes in World of Warcraft: The Conquerors and the Conquered? (Umm, let's just say that this is a "working" title, as in it will change drastically, towards the less pretentious.) Summary: Right now I think that I want to look at the possibility of colonialistic themes being built into World of Warcraft by the creators, Blizzard, and perhaps played into by those who game in this world, the players. Initial forays as both an Alliance and Horde character have had me drawing parallels from Cortes and Columbus to European countries and African colonies. I'm not exactly sure what direction I want to take yet. I need to read up on the story arc from Warcraft onward and see how viable this all is. Current Mood: working Current Music: Red Hot Chili Peppers Compilation (Comment on this)
Sunday, February 13th, 2005
5:06 pm	Web Log Assignment 6 Let's play... Well I chose to go to a role-playing server because I figured it would be more of a stretch for me. That and PvP for a Level 1-4 character didn't seem like it would be that much fun. I ended up creating a character that was a male, human, priest. One other characteristic I decided to differentiate on too was that I went for dark skin (my character looked like he was of African American descent), mostly because I know, on reflection, that I haven't seen that many human characters with dark skin and it just seemed like something that should be remedied (It did make me curious as to the ethnic makeup of the players of WoW, just as an aside once I started thinking it). Usually I'm a pretty quiet gamer. I'll definitely chat with people I know (today on my main character I physically ran into both my best friend and Brendan inside of Stormwind in the *same* alleyway which had me humming 'Its a Small Virtual World' under my breath the rest of the session), but I tend to ignore most of the characters, even when I group. Anyway, in my first five minutes playing the game I had someone asking me to sign their guild petition. I, being the friendly man that I was determined to be, did so, and then the soon to be guild leader gave me a nice present for my kindness. Its actually the first time I've ever been given something in-game from someone I didn't know beforehand so, a new experience in and of itself. I noticed when I tried to pursue a more active conversation though, and I did try, my efforts were rebuffed. Not that I blame him or her (the character was female). Whenever people usually try to chat me up in game I tend not to want to play along either. Anyway, that was actually probably the highlighted difference of my experience. The guild did make while I was online so there was some celebratory chit chat that I took part in. The main thing I noticed though was that even though it was a RP server, everyone was chatting along like normal. No one was wishing smite or dishonor on other's descendants, and I tried the whole 'greetings' and 'blessed be' schtick and it seemed to just confuse people. I wonder if maybe I was just on a less hardcore server, or if the lower level characters tend not to play into it as much, or what. There were several people chatting away in Spanish which made me think that WoW is reaching the international market. As to the questions Dr. Delwiche posed, I really don't think, aside from trying to blatantly start something by flirting, etc that you can roleplay the opposite gender in the way its usually thought of, even on a RP server. Sure, if I wanted I could have played into stereotypes and have had my character talking about Lindsay Lohan's video and how hot the Night Elf women were or something of the sort but the guys I know who play don't behave like that. They chit chat with everyone and gender doesn't really seem to enter into the virtual world, except by way of cliche. I know some of the girls in the class have had experiences with those stereotypes but I don't see them as being intrinsic to the presentation of a character via gender (despite those few aberrations), especially since its so easy to play characters of other genders. I do think that role playing other characteristic, not just in a RP server, is possible, even terribly easy. For the person who stutters, is simply shy, etc it would take a lot less courage to pick up a sword, become a warrior, and be a big shot level 60 player and the head of a popular guild. We've discussed a lot in class, when going over player motivations and types, how easy it is for the virtual world to become a playground for gamers. For people to be immature idiots, or the knights in shining armor they always dreamed about. Chat rooms share many similarities (overlooking the decreased anonymity provided by ISPs and other tracking devices). I think the biggest difference in identity presentation in the virtual vs. real world is that of appearance. I couldn't, not really, change gender, or race, etc. Representations in the virtual world are more polarized because differences are more readily apparent. For example, just by looking at the race/ class/ level of a character, someone can form a theory about the person behind that character, mostly due to the backgrounds Blizzard has built for each race/ class, etc in the background story arcs. You don't have to look for a Paladin personality in WoW, just mouse over anyone running past and their basic stats light up like Christmas lights for you. But I do think that the basic concepts of identity presentation are similar between virtual and real world situations. I could go into a new social setting dressed totally different than I usually do and those people's perceptions of me would be different than the people who know and see me every day. The difference in the virtual world right now, is that identity is less bound by the physically impossible, just the graphically. Current Mood: complacent Current Music: Best of Aretha Franklin (Comment on this)
Sunday, February 6th, 2005
1:55 am	WoW Rambling 3 A few notes for myself... I seem to be getting to the level where being able to play is not enough to be successful. I seem to need to know more and more technicalities in order to function properly as a "higher" level character (ie above 12 or 13, I'm at 16 now). Other players expect it of you and well, it makes things easier. The handbook is not highly detailed. Kind of annoying. So random things I've had problems with but have, or have not, figured out: * repairing items so I can auction them (sorta) * what to do if you don't get the nifty resurrect sign when you find your body (I took some lovely screencaps of my spirit praying over my corpse, got bored, and let the spirit healer person with wings do her thing- stupid sneak Horde attack) * what countries are Alliance or Horde (because I seem to wander into "enemy" territory with some frequency) * how to share quests (which was explained thanks to a random grouping event, though I still don't know what it actually does) On the pondering side of things, a recent Horde death (where I couldn't resurrect) had me buying into the "us vs. them mentality" with startling ease. Kind of makes me wonder how that mindset works when someone plays two characters (one Horde, one Alliance) with equal attention. Will I curse marauding gnomes with as much glee as I do marauding orcs? Can gnomes even maraud? Poor gnomes. Would be interesting to follow up with in the forums, if I ever get the chance, and see what some heavier players say. Also, the Loch Ness Monster rip off creature in the Loch is awesome. Current Mood: content Current Music: Nat King Cole (Comment on this)
Thursday, February 3rd, 2005
6:06 pm	Web Log Assignment 5 Okay, first off, I'm really not a neurotic as I look. I forget to do things like this so that's why I always post the first day the web logs are assigned, honest. I'm a preventative procrastinator. Next up, I will have to say that I enjoyed today's Trolls vs. Orcs exercise a lot. I still feel remedial because the stupid chat controls are difficult to use. They really are. I understand how they work. I can work them if I really want to but they're a PAIN. I've still managed to develop a distinct disliking of how WoW has designed the chat interface, and this is all aside from personal playing preferences. Its just cumbersome. I don't know if anyone else agrees with me but, at any rate, I'm stepping off of that particular soapbox. I'm not sure what to put for this assignment because everything I've heard from others tends to contradict my opinions on collective playing in WoW. Many players I've chatted with, either through a few groups or in person once they find out I play, love the interactivity and the ability to group with other players. There seems to be a strong element of support for how the grouping/ collective system is set up and I do know a lot of players who will chat and create a strategy before tackling a certain monster. People will have different roles that their character fulfills, from fodder to back-up, based on race/ class/ and level and they seem to play extremely successfully like this, especially the very high level players. I can see how this could be applicable in the real world in that it teaches team building and loyalty to a team (especially if a WoW group has been fighting together consistently for a long time). It also could help teach role fulfillment and stress the importance of communication (if it wasn't do dratted difficult, or maybe that's the point- more real world?). I do think there'd be resistance to embracing WoW or some other similar game as a team training technique right now in the world, there's still too many stereotypes associated with those kind of games, as we've discussed in class, but I can see it as some sort of "fun" seminar given to big Fortune 500 companies, in about ten years, when Blizzard owns them all. I also look forward to doing some interviews and getting some real opinions to questions. Hopefully by then I'll be over my chatting hissy fit. Current Mood: contemplative Current Music: Sister Hazel (Comment on this)
Tuesday, February 1st, 2005
11:21 pm	Web Log Assignment 4: The Bartle Test (Before I Forget...) First off, and this was very important because it was bolded, I am person number 295868 to take the test. Makes me feel very unique. Oh, and I'm an achiever again. I really do think I sabotage myself though. Between marketing classes, coding, and the hell that was my senior year AP Stats class I am very aware of how sentences are constructed to lead answers in these kinds of things. Makes it difficult to take them for real. But anyway, the results... Your answers were split as follows: Achiever 86% (I'm competitive, makes sense) Explorer 66% (I like all the game quirks, I'll buy it) Socializer 26% (eh, this was rated low, which is to be expected, I'm not super social with people I know) Killer 20% (I'm one of the run and hide variety of players) Although, surprisingly, I rated as a higher socializer than a killer. Go figure. I think I embrace the Player Types more than most in the class, from discussion today, but I also don't feel like I play regularly enough to really mind that I call myself an Achiever and just mean Achiever. In playing news, I still think I'm incompetent when it comes to chatting, especially Guild chatting. If I'm not killing myself because I'm not paying enough attention to the giant lizard trying to bite my head off, then I'm typing chat commands that show up into the channel. Whoops. :) But hey, go Guild. Nice people, as several of you know. Still enamored of swimming. I want to see if there's whales or sea monsters in the oceans. If you know shhh, don't ruin the surprise. Current Mood: weird (Comment on this)