Implications with Classification of Hardcore and Casual

June 29th, 2008

Language is particularly interesting in that it is a vehicle for natural selection; language allows us to classify objects into groups. This simple convenience makes comprehending the environment we live in a much easier task. Unfortunately such a process is usually held in our subconscious and as such we are unaware of how dangerous it can be if we take control ourselves to simplify complex issues with this form of categorization. What this means is that every time we categorize something, (particularly new, foreign and/or complex) we run the risk of allowing this simple convenience to short sight crucial properties and implications as to what it is we are defining. Being in our subconscious, we don’t realize our own shortsightedness which turns simple, necessary categorization into flawed error.

This concept can be applied to language within our own sub-culture (video games). Several pieces of language fall victims to such short sightedness, simply put, we need a re-thinking of such vocabulary. But before I get to that lets take a step back and put this language under the microscope.
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Three Steps to Success: Introduction

June 27th, 2008

Several times already I have attempted to pull apart and logically analyze various issues of interest regarding the evolutionary growth of our medium (video games). In the majority of cases though this has resulted in some awkward, inconclusive answers. While many of my ideas come inspired from favourite bloggers of mine, I always seem to draw blanks when it comes to logically grounding my ideas.

After some further thought and collaborative thinking with others I finally think that I have it packed down. So I would like to put forth my ideas in a new “mini series” of posts, sorting out one issue after the other.

As I said in this post; I feel that the video game industry is currently moving through very prosperous times. Yet despite our success, more needs to be done to main and extend this golden age into the coming decades.

For us to become fully recognized and taken seriously by mainstream global media . To get there we don’t just need to change, we need to reform and remodel our opinions towards crucial themes and issues holding us back. This selection of posts intends to break down those issues and suggest some conclusions which we can adopt. Here is the list and order of posts:

Introduction
Implications with Classification of Hardcore and Casual
Fanboys and How to Deal With Them
Game Reviews: Critique, Subjectivity and a 10 Point Scale
Summary

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Few Tweaks and a Re-Focused Outlook

June 25th, 2008

Another brief status report coming your way. You may have noticed a few changes that I have made to the site, here is a punchy, dotpoint outline:

feel the magic silhouetteNew Slew of Content Spotlight articles
Removed Sexiest People in Games
Removed Retro Review
Removed Images that Defined Video Games
Added Visual Connection
Added Journals
Removed BlogRush Widget
Added Twitter Feed

Basically I felt that the removed features didn’t match where I want to go with the site. The Retro Review was originally intended to be an overview of older titles but I think that this ultimately fails when A) I’d rather critique then write a technical account B) There are already sites like Wikipedia, MobyGames and HardcoreGaming101 which do this already and do it better.

Despite Googles favouritism towards it, I don’t wish to continue the Sexiest People in Games feature. Once again it is a bit like me pretending to be biopic/Wikipedia role doesn’t really fit me. I do like the idea of Visual Connection though as it is a way for me to congregate those largely image dominated articles together. Journals as stated last time is a platform for me to attempt (read: struggle) to write something of an academic nature.

I have also kindly taken up Twitter in the past month and now it is a part of this site. Yay! If you haven’t caught on yet (don’t worry I was pretty slow with this one too) Twitter is a new interactive site where you post what you are doing in 140 words and less and people “tweet” back and forth. This is a great way for you to stalk me, alas, stalk away!

I also removed that BlogRush rubbish which is 100% useless trash for self conscious web entrepreneurs, just to let you know. ^_^

300 words in and I have already lied about this being brief. No matter it makes an adequate enough segue. I know that the last couple of articles have been colossus in size, while I enjoy writing to such length I would like to condense and concentrate the majority of future articles so that it makes everything a bit easier to digest on your end. That doesn’t mean I will quit the lengthy article because I love them dearly, rather as the title pokes at, I just want to re-focus and concentrate my efforts. Thank you.

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