Freewrite #5 (last one!)

For this last one, I'd like you to look at the following three "video games" and discuss them as literary objects. These are due on Monday, the 16th.

Basho's Frogger
http://www.ubu.com/contemp/hennessy/frogger/basho_frogger.html

Super Columbine Massacre RPG (PC only, has to be downloaded)
http://www.columbinegame.com/

The Marriage (PC only, has to be downloaded)
http://www.rodvik.com/rodgames/

The questions I'd like you to consider are the following:

• what is the purely literary "content" of the piece (i.e. what does the text, setting, context, etc. provide you about the game)? is it more like a poem or a story?
• if you were to describe these games as "narratives," which of Henry Jenkins types of narratives would apply (please quote from the text)?
• how do the "game" elements contribute to this literary content (for example, the GUI, the interactivity, the rules of play, the goals or "dramatic need" of the player)?
• how does the content of the game relate to elements of the world (i.e. its specific analog: poem, news event, marriage)? does it tell us something new about the thing it is commenting on?
• how does this game challenge or confirm values and morals of our present society? does the game have a deeper philosophical component?
• is the game art?

Please be sure to read all of the assigned video game readings before writing this. Also, be sure to do some research on those pieces that require a bit of background info (Basho and the Columbine Massacre, for instance).

The Super Columbine Massacre RPG was banned from a recent festival of independent video games on moral grounds, so that is worth reading about as well (the link above brings you there, but also Google it). It also has some problems on my computer -- it seems to double-up on my screen, so I have two very short versions of the game screen at the same time -- but you can still play and read it.

Freewrite #4 (due April 2)

In this freewrite, I want you to think about the psychological implications of computer use, both in online communities and video games. Since most of you don't play online video games, however, you can base your paper on your experience with sites like Facebook, MySpace, Nerve (or other online dating service), chat rooms, IM, etc.

I don't want this to be a general description of some online service. Be sure to use as the basis of your arguments quotes from the two articles we are reading this week, "The Lessons of Lucasfilms' Habitat" and "Video Games and Computer Holding Power." Some questions you can consider are:

• what are the implications of having "avatars" and being anonymous for your online persona?
• what are the "rules" of the community, what keeps everyone in order?
• is there a form of violence that is peculiar to this community or online communities in general?
• what are the moral issues involved in this online community?
• how does the community work as a literary object? is there a way people write on the community that is different than normal?
• how does the context of the community affect what you write?
• can this community operate as a "game"? (for instance, are there "events" that bring people in the community together in a not-normal way?) what do the maintainers of the site do to make sure people come back to the site?
• what are the limitations and benefits of this community compared to "real-world" interactions?
• how does the psychology of the video game player become exhibited in this community? is it a community that is geared toward people who find regular "life" too complicated?

Format style: All papers should be at least 2.5 pages, in 12 point type (in Times Roman or similar font with serifs) with 1.5 spacing and 1 inch margins. They will be marked down if not in this format. Research papers should have the proper biography and footnotes where applicable.

Freewrite #3: Internet Art

For this assignment, I want you to review the terms that we talked about from the introduction to Internet Art. Most of these basic concepts appear frequently throughout the book, and if you are still unclear on some of them, do some internet research about them (such as "installation art").

For the freewrite, write at least 2.5 pages on one of the sub-chapters of Internet Art (remember to use 1.5 spacing and Times Roman font). By "sub-chapter," I mean the italicized sub-headings under the four main chapter headings. Go to the website Rhizome.org and look at some of the art works discussed (or look at other pieces by the same artists).

Your freewrite should include:

• a summary of the main points of the subchapter you have chosen (including at least three quotes from the text that you redefine in your own words)
• a brief analysis/description of the art work you have decided to look at
• a sort of "update" on what the artist is doing now -- i.e. are there works on Rhizome that were not discussed in the book? did you find anything through Google about this artist?
• your evaluation on the worth of the art work -- basically, do you like it, why or why not? (you have to give reasons)

The best way to pick a subchapter would be either by flipping through the book, reading the captions to the images, and after you've found a piece that you liked, reading that sub-chapter. Or you could just look at the table of contents and pick a subheading that seems to have something to do with your interests.

This is due on Monday, the 19th.

Freewrite #2

Your next freewrite, due Wednesday, is to write about Wikipedia. I want you to go to Wikipedia and find an entry and look at its history page. Print out the history page to be handed in with your assignment.

Write a 3-4 page analysis of Wikipedia, using that entry as a focal point. I want you to relate your analysis on Wikipedia to the Stuart Moulthrop article "You Want a Revolution," especially as concerns "destabilizing social hierarchies" and the "four basic questions that could be asked about any invention" that he pulls from Marshall McLuhan.

This is not just a freewrite on your feelings about Wikipedia; you must use quotes (at least five) from the Moulthrop essay as well as the New Yorker article in your paper to back up your points. I realize the Moulthrop essay is a tough one but try your best. The general gist is answering the question: does Wikipedia support Moulthrop's contentions about hypertext?

I've put copies of the New Yorker article in my box in the ARHU office so pick it up there if you were not at last class.

Also, I will be downgrading these assignments from now on if they are handed in late, so please get them in on Wednesday.

Lastly, several of you have not handed me ideas for your final papers, nor have you put them on your blog. Do this asap. (Ben, your blog doesn't seem to be up anymore... please check the URL on the website).

Freewrite Assignment #1

2-3 pages spaced at 1.5 in a normal font

Should cover two of the experimental interfaces from the class blog:
http://2007stocktonintronewmedia.blogspot.com/2007/01/experimental-websites.html

Should include the following issues:

• general description of the piece as if you are writing about it for someone who has never seen it
• description of analogies that are used in the piece (i.e. what did the designer use to make it more easy to understand, like in our discussion of the desktop). BE INVENTIVE. A lot more is happening that what seems apparent at first.
• possible uses for such a device or interface
• speculation as to "what is happening behind the interface." This seems the hardest to grasp for some of you, so don't sweat it. We'll go over what I mean by this in class.

Look at all of the interfaces before you decide which one you want to write about.