tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-41151072024-02-19T16:37:10.774-08:00Neils Clarkis probably playing videogames.
instead of posting regularly. Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.comBlogger64125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-3014130371974052682023-03-29T06:33:00.003-07:002023-03-29T06:33:25.014-07:00Up EarlyI wake up at 4am to play videogames. Ostensibly, I'm doing it to stream. To get in my daily stream. To do the thing. To commit. The internet winds up being an absolute dumpster fire, and I'm dropping most of my frames. So I kill that, but I still play. It's 5:28, and I need to start my commute soon. I've been swapping between games.the easiest explanation is that video games are addictive.&Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-12034488725780813652015-07-23T04:04:00.002-07:002015-07-23T06:50:45.905-07:00Games with Friends on a Saturday Night
With much excitement I received this CD key to a closed alpha online game. It’s part of a franchise I’ve loved, with a brand that cares about its impact. The alpha is very, very good.
Even without the leveling system.
Even without the unlockables, consumables, or the customizables.
It might eventually hearken back to Counter-Strike or AVP2, a place to meet friends on a Saturday night.
Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-44840376437009270192014-03-29T00:47:00.001-07:002014-03-29T01:08:02.815-07:00Hawt Grrls, Dick Pics and Sexy BeardsTriggers: online harassment, sexism, rape
Here is a snapshot of a chat I received in the League of Legends, earlier this week:
I often play as "Hawtgrrlirl," although the person sitting here typing this is a rather unsexy bearded male. I first picked the name almost a decade ago - in WoW - as a 23-year-old grad student. Not a few hours into that character, a charming paladin (10 levels Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-47061684651130126822014-02-26T23:46:00.002-08:002014-03-07T23:28:52.467-08:00Dickwolves
(trigger warning: rape) (skip it)
I vaguely remember dinner with Corvus Elrod, a smart indie game developer who sports a monocle and finely-waxed mustache. More than that, I remember him getting hit on by a muscular African American transvestite while waiting to be seated, outside the Taphouse Grill.
“Got any coins for Hot Chocolate?” Asked the transvestite, referring to himself in the thirdNeilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-76307113201938322412014-02-08T17:01:00.002-08:002019-08-20T23:18:04.765-07:00A Wild Book Appears!Print copies are here: https://www.createspace.com/4617177
And on Amazon in 5-7 days.
And the kindle copies are here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00I3X7MRK
Crossing the Ts and dotting the Is took, like, effort.
(edit) Happy birthday to me, rohoho. The paperback is up on amazon! The LOOK INSIDE even shows the back cover's clever red devil.Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-48104130803555757992014-01-30T02:21:00.002-08:002014-01-30T02:23:24.565-08:00Breathing Machine(s)Reading early responses to Leigh Alexander’s Breathing Machine, it looks like a lot of folks couldn’t help but reminisce.
It’s the mark of a particularly powerful work, like a dish whose heady spices remind you of childhood.
Invoking things like HyperCard, and mazes of twisty passages, she mentions a “primitive voice program” on an old powerbook. That certainly shakes the rust off the old Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-60152685205699653312014-01-13T13:41:00.006-08:002019-08-20T23:09:27.404-07:00This is happeningWhy, hello!
I'm Neils.
Over the last three or so years, I have been quietly writing a second book. It's about videogames: weird adventures inside, and little conversations about what those taught me. I'm calling it In Play: Tales of the Gaming Netherworld.
I sort of wish that I could just write blogs, and articles, and sell those like a normal games journalist. That's hard for me. Like, Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-54963685927445547702014-01-04T21:13:00.003-08:002014-01-05T08:54:20.176-08:00Let's Talk Balance
(here's the slides PDF: Tools to Keep Play Balanced!)
At this last PAX I got to sit next to a clinician who I have tremendous respect for, (the very soon-to-be-Dr.) Anna DiNoto, and we got to tell a room of gamers some of our tools for balancing play. I thought that I would share that talk with you here.
We forward the whole thing by making it clear our talk isn’t about addiction, or “Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-48795266624501969722013-11-24T18:34:00.003-08:002013-11-24T18:44:07.153-08:00The Secret World is not entirely grindyIt is still possible to play this game a lot. To binge it, even. Though in Secret World this feels much less about compulsion, gilt carrots or maliciously labyrinthine design. I'd compare it to Skyrim before I would Warcraft, in that the content feels like content.
One example I've been throwing around is of Sam Krieg, a bestselling New England author who's holed up in a lighthouse while Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-8082302896579347742013-11-19T15:00:00.002-08:002013-12-04T03:33:46.334-08:00Humble Paleontology Yeah, yeah. A few months later I crawl back here, to drop a few unceremonious words.
PAX was fun. One gentleman took this picture with his Google Glass.
Apparently there was also Much Video. That particularly unimpressed look is probably me telling him to, like, kindly quit with the ninjalike lifecapture.
Then I got to wear his specs. He activated this easter egg whereby I could turn 360,Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-68604422135171312212013-07-29T17:56:00.001-07:002013-09-11T18:33:35.054-07:00Teamwork 101: Or How I Escaped Bronze in the League of LegendsFor those that read this blog for game studies, psych research, or because (apparently) there's a page that's a top google hit for "sweet ass pictures," sorry! Today I'm just posting a quick guide that I wrote after getting out of the time-out corner in the League of Legends: Bronze Division.
Since it's at the bottom, you often deal with the worst kind of gamerly element: trolls, misogynistsNeilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-33660213103454251312013-05-07T23:09:00.000-07:002013-05-08T00:01:28.328-07:00How Games are Art: A Very Slightly Extended VersionNote: This version includes a few minor selections from Dutton's book, as well as higher-res images. The version I plan to cross-post to Gamasutra, a bit later, I want to keep at or close to 100 words. I say only very slightly extended, because this topic is insanely huge.
In 2009, aesthetician Denis Dutton wrote The Art Instinct. There, aiming for something inclusive and objective, he Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-38737646045439366372013-05-02T14:14:00.000-07:002013-05-03T13:12:31.830-07:00Languages of ExperienceNote: I'm about to cross-post this at gamasutra. I'd thought about using this blog for a version with a lot more cheeky personal rambling. Still might, I did enjoy the bit about how I make games while double-fisting tequila and redbull. For now, I'm going to keep the two posts the same.
This GDC I had the pleasure of watching two well-known game designers nearly stand up shouting, as they Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-77170282084214041352013-04-08T17:12:00.000-07:002013-04-08T17:12:18.386-07:00At the GDC
I cross-posted this as my first gamasutra blog. I'm not sure how their process functions, so for now I thought I'd set it here as well. This GDC was at times intense and serendipitous: I survived a 15 hour drive on no sleep, and was invited into locked basements for traditional Chinese folk music. It was in equal parts meditative, almost boring. I walked alone through a lot of San Francisco, Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-15777641696780017072013-03-05T18:06:00.002-08:002013-03-05T18:13:02.163-08:00The Comicon Buddy SystemMy second visit to the Emerald City Comicon was much, much better than the first. It was all about the people.
There were a few good people the first time around. I was lucky to run into an amazingly talented nerd rock singer / highschool friend. Saw a friend or two from a Tacoma comic shop. Then a couple friends with perfectly sculpted costumes. The kind of movie-set-quality Lobster Johnson Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-16447110350546157392013-01-28T09:43:00.000-08:002013-01-28T09:56:45.755-08:00Richard Bartle on Making Virtual WorldsThis is a 2007 talk given by Richard Bartle.
By way of listing out the technologies he needed to know, in order to co-create the first MUD in 1978, this monologue makes convincing points about the really important bits in games. After long minutes about AND gates and compilers, he says, "And I needed a bit of, like, imagination on the top, to create the actual world."
Then, "See what I want, isNeilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-67022801608676895032013-01-28T08:57:00.001-08:002013-01-28T10:47:34.083-08:00Then - while teaching those smarter than I, typing in dark corners, and playing entirely too much League of Legends - I did not update you, blog. I will not apologize!Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-79406979549977204472012-07-05T04:04:00.004-07:002012-07-05T04:19:24.936-07:00(Spoiler-tastic) Limbo: Not Out of the Woods Yet
Finishing
Limbo feels like crawling
out of an abusive relationship. Not the hamster wheel grinds of
Warcraft, or the rohypnol time-loss of Civilization.
This was a new brand of pain.
Oh,
right. Spoiler alert.
Limbo's
detached aesthetic works, I think, because most people would rather
not see kids decapitated by bear traps, or impaled through the
neck. We don't like hearing Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-90975162795248918872012-05-16T22:13:00.000-07:002012-06-14T15:12:28.337-07:00In Which I Fall in Love with Games All Over AgainScreen
capture wasn't really working, so, whatever. I'm not fancy. I used a camera.
First
Impressions
It's
not OK.
This
was not the point in Blendo Games' Flotilla at which I fell
back in love with games. Nor was it meeting Fun Factory and Chu-Chu.
Or
even the Goddess Afrodita.
No, to
tell you how this game unclogged the fatty deposits around my heart,
Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-47065405562437494172012-05-16T21:39:00.000-07:002012-05-16T22:48:28.862-07:00Cosmetic Enhancements Are Go
Really, really long time since I screwed with the blog layout. Little on the fabulous side, but that whole drab grey shit had to go.
Also, screen caps from the weekend's adventures at the Pasco Walmart (with Sasquatch the Rock Notch as Fett). Joel, filming it, has so far only posted his video of all this via Facebook. I'm hoping it goes to youtube before long, he did an awesome job Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-33438856806304009292012-05-07T20:30:00.000-07:002012-05-07T21:54:34.765-07:00Pondering the Reading List
I like books. Felt spectacular to
sell one, even if it was three or four years ago. That after another
couple years of sewing together the Frankenstein monster. Then it was
out, ravaging the countryside, harrying the peasantry. These days, I
can't stomach to look at parts of Game Addiction. My
co-author's sections – child development, brain plasticity,
psychological hardiness – I love those. My Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-77477742495719379782012-04-12T21:30:00.027-07:002012-04-13T01:36:26.787-07:00Get a HorseAbout a week ago Sherry Turkle's TED talk went live.She says that we love twitter, Facebook, and sometimes even that metallic “droid” ring tone, because they deliver on 3 gratifying fantasies:1. we can put our attention wherever we want it to be2. we will always be heard3. we will never have to be alonePARO both looks and sounds like a baby harp seal.Turkle was surprised when researchers and Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-4923693611333010122012-03-26T02:23:00.005-07:002012-04-12T17:40:24.163-07:00Sasquatch the Rock NotchSo, basically, my once-facebook-husband Sasquatch looks eerily like MineCraft creator / Mojang founder Markus 'Notch' Persson. Except with better hats. And corrective lenses.Picture relevant.And that's all I've got, for now.Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-32862405222719326392012-03-15T17:56:00.005-07:002012-03-15T18:32:06.191-07:00Social Media FTW!Oh. Right. I have a blog, apparently.I'm back to teaching Media Ethics at DigiPen. After four years of experimenting with some admittedly questionable methods, it's nice to finally have an idea of what that class ought to look like.Last night, some DigiPen students and staff set up a few cameras for an after-hours Design Club. It was a lot of boisterous young nerds pointing at Mass Effect Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-69483325101677251652011-11-11T23:10:00.000-08:002011-11-11T23:32:51.265-08:00...to saying, what you mean.Thumbing through The Letters of Robert Frost to Louis Untermeyer, I came across a list of lecture topics Frost had drawn up in 1916, and enclosed as part of a letter to Untermeyer. His price of $50 for 60 minutes translates to about $1000 in relative 2011 currency.That was thirty years prior to those lectures unearthed at Dartmouth. In NPR's coverage they play a recording of one, where Frost saysNeilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com0