The video is getting longer and it is almost complete. Our group is meeting tonight to write the motivation, goal, idea, and introduction of the project in library. The processes of making maps and games and discussion are included in this video. I also selected a cool background music. Thanks to Andy who made the video about making game so I just needed to put on iMovie. It saved me a lot of time.
The group is also meeting tomorrow night for rehearsal. Enjoy the video!!!
From the suggestions in class o Wednesday, I made some change of the video and also added some new clips. I spent a long time learning how to trim and fast forward video clips, and also to put texts on clips. From Dr. Hunter’s suggestion, I also make the purpose and the goal of our group project clear in the video. This is just a rough one. Enjoy!!!!
We discussed about what the video should be about in class today. The video should give people a brief conclusion of how we have been working on the project, including the videos of group discussion, process of making maps, interviewing, and making games.
We have some technical issue while we were making video in class, since it is my first time using iMovie application. I added three maps to the video representing people from corners of the world meet at Georgia Tech. I figured out how to use the zoom-in effect on iMovie while showing pictures.
The link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=of4aYpoeh90
Sometimes, when I am sitting at my desk, after all my classes and before starting my homework, I always launch a game on my computer called Modern Combat, a classic shooting game, to release my pressure. This game is a classic shooting game just like America’s Army which is mentioned in Daniel Pink’s book. The difference is that Modern Combat is an online game, and play
ers are separate to two teams to accomplish their missions. The mission can be eliminating the other team, protecting a certain spot, setting up a bomb, or domination game.
Games require people to think, but not in the way that academy requires. When my brain is overwhelmed with equations, chemical molecules, and biological theories, this game helps me throw out all the thoughts and have a fresh brain after. When I am playing the game, I view the whole screen on my computer and react when an enemy shows up. I think about hiding in a corner which enemies cannot find out, an action to avoid shot, and a strategy to order my teammates. In contrast to the academy, my right brain plays an important role when I play the game. In the game, people have ideas about how to defeat other people, about inventing strategies, about improving their moves to attack, and about defending yourself.
The game is not about numbers nor about analysis. The game is about art and creativity. An engineer cannot beat this game, since he will end up complaining about people should not shoot him from behind. “It should be a fair game,” the engineer said. Actually, in reality, the war is never a fair game. If people can see a better whole picture of the geography, they can find great hiding points, safe dugouts, and create unpredictable ambushes. These all strategies are related to right brain thinking: creativity.
Next time, when your are overwhelmed with numbers and chemical solutions, try shooting some people’s heads off. Try find a place to hide and throw a grenade from behind, you will receive huge effect of relaxation and entertainment.
picture link: http://www.google.com/imgres?q=modern+combat&um=1&hl=en&client=safari&sa=N&rls=en&biw=1085&bih=618&tbm=isch&tbnid=DAnjNEp40Q91SM:&imgrefurl=http://www.videogamer.com/xbox360/battlefield_2_modern_combat/screenshot-7.html&docid=AcjRS-95k3WtjM&imgurl=http://static2.videogamer.com/videogamer/media/images/xbox360/battlefield_2_modern_combat/screens/battlefield_2_modern_combat_7.jpg&w=640&h=360&ei=Y4mxTpLHIsWftgfxoc2WAg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=659&vpy=198&dur=351&hovh=106&hovw=187&tx=172&ty=94&sig=106888859231195640795&page=1&tbnh=82&tbnw=145&start=0&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:4,s:0
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=2438810894694
The link is the rough video I made for our project this morning. I am waiting for my group to give me comments so I can change it. Also data is awaited.
After the presentation on Monday, Dr. Hunter gave us suggestions about we could use urveymonkey.com to save tress. After our discussion, we decided to stay on the paper work, but focus to make a survey more like an interview.
Since we want to record videos about strangers having interviews, the questions we provide on the survey should be various so that different questions can be asked to strangers and we can have ample information to make our game.
These are the questions we made up:
What is American’s impression about Asian? European? African?
Do you think Canada is one of the state of United States?
Then Minsik, who is responsible for creating the monopoly game by applying the data we will collect on survey, thought questions are hard to put in game. So we then had another idea.
project We created a new interview form to just ask people questions about where you from, what language you are speaking, and what are three traditions in your country. Then we can create a video about briefly introducing our project and the photos and video about interviewing people. Also, we will make a poster about a big world map with pictures of people being interviewed from different countries. We will also print flags of countries and stick them on the map.
The game will be similar to monopoly except when people roll a die, they need to speak certain languages they step on. A powerpoint will also be made for all the information we collect. Hopefully on the presentation day, we can have a projector to present video and powerpoint we have created.
My favorite video game is NBA basketball game. It is produced by Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. I love the game, because when I am playing it, I always imagine myself as a professional basketball player that is able to perform fancy dunks and to make long-distance shots. I agreed with idea of Jane McGonigal that gamers are people who will work hard and achieve missions that are provided. Gamers are willing to solve problems which can be solved by their ability with thousands of people on the network to work together. I also agreed with the idea that gamers are eager to create epic stories and be heroes of virtual world.
I love basketball, but I am not good at it, comparing to those professionals. I love watching them play and I duplicate their moves when I play. Therefore, video game is the perfect place for me to learn and show off to my friends.
Personal player is my favorite game mode. In this game mode, you can train your player, get on NBA draft, and compete with those superstars on courts. I always imagine myself as one of the All-Stars: fans cheering for me, fancy locker room, and interviews after games. On the video game, if your player perform well on the game, then the player will gain salary, fan support, and companies such as Nike and Adidas for sponsoring. These whole process: from a rookie to a superstar, is what I have dreamed of in my life. I agreed to Jan McGonial that people play video games because they challenge themselves to pursuit goals which in reality, they have no chance.
I do not agree Jane McGonigal’s idea of how video games can change the world, since I am only obsessed with sports video game. Sports cannot change the world; instead it can help people become healthier, happier, and more optimistic. People can get away heavy pressure from works and studies by playing video games, but at the end, people need to return to reality and solve problems in reality.
Humans created video games in reality to help humans relax. Humans invented computers to help us calculate data, connect with people and provide information in reality. Every tragedy, every obstacle, and every milestone in human history were all solved and accomplished in reality. Video game is only a tool for human to export pressure, achieve virtual dreams, and gain happiness. People can find a new solution for the future in reality.
Video game for me is a best way to achieve my dreams of playing high-level basketball with those superstars. It is a tool for me to put homework aside and to relieve pressure. It is mainly a way for me to waster my spare time. After all, people need to obtain everything in reality. Even the money to buy video games is from work in reality. Everyone knows clearly that even how smart he is at video games, he still needs preparation for his calculus test, which cannot be done in video game.
After reading Daniel Pink’s symphony, I realized the reason that I was always bad at drawing was probably because I always thought of the objects I wanted to draw instead of observing them. Therefore, I drew them from my memory.
I took a drawing class in my senior class. The teach taught me exactly the same instructions as what Plank mentioned in his book. Yet at that time, I did not know what L-brain thinking is. I did not know what left and right brain are different from. The thing I did know was most people use their left brains to work.
I followed the teacher’s instructions by coping down the lines of an object first. Ignore the shades and color, just copy lines as detailed as you can. If you can, close one eye, because humans’ eyes give us sense of space. Use pencil to paint light black on the object, then observe and draw the lines of shades, and erase the light parts. Finally emphasize the dark parts.
When I started not viewing an object as an object but just another shape, I focused at the lines and boundaries.
Applying what Pink said in the book, I think my drawing teacher’s method was to make students view an object without subconscious: pretending we did not know the object. Thus, people at this point would view objects as shapes. From Pink’s book, we know that right brain is specific good at viewing things as a whole picture and a prestigious artist always draw shapes instead of drawing an object. In conclusion, when one is drawing, he should shut his left brain; or else, he would start analyzing the shape and the object, thus using his memory to draw.
I decided to draw my left hand. I made a gesture and adjusted my lamp so it could make the shades on my hand more obvious. I closed my left eye and only copied down the shapes, including the fingerprints on my fingers. Then I painted gray with my pencil and erased the light parts. Then emphasized the dark pats–just exactly what the book and my teacher taught me to do. The result was surprising: since I have not drawn for at least three months, I thought my drawing skills was rotten.
Now I am writing this blog and review my emotion when I was drawing. I felt so calm–different from when I do math questions. I did not feel my brain running equations, thinking numbers, and analyzing data; instead, my eye and my brain were observing a whole picture and try to copy down the regions of darkness and lightness and shapes of it. My brain was not thinking. I did not analyze the shape and judge, “um, this is a finger.”
I was so proud of myself after I finished the drawing. It only took me thirty minutes. The method Pink mentioned on the book was useful and simple. It made you shut your left brain off and just let your right brain do the work. So this is my drawing.
A whole week of pressure and sadness has passed. The flight flew back to my country was not only in a rush, but was also a little “lose- my-way-of-living”. Losing a family member is hard to accept; especially when academic pressure mixing together in these few weeks– things go high and low, and up and down too much. After watching Ze Frank’s Web Playroom, I decided to follow the audio and recorded my own voice from my computer.
There was no big reflection when I was singing with the audio, since I was just singing; however, after I listened to my own audio which there was no background music, I felt so composed and my whole body started to loosen.
It was a strange feeling: when you hear yourself singing, you feel like you are listening to somebody who is telling you a message. I heard the voice from computer telling me “it’s ok. Just breathe.” Then I started singing with the audio and my body started waving just as when people listening to country music, they dance with melody. The strangest thing was that I actually deep-breathed when my voice from the computer told me to do so.
When you are alive, you still have hope. This is the most valuable viewpoint of life I learned in these weeks and from this project. Sometimes, when things are going out of your reach, people need to learn how to let go and just breathe. Perfection does not belong to human: this is the reason that scientists and physicians are researching every single day. After all, there is always an end for every life.
And what is worse than the end of your life? So just breathe. When we are breathing, we can still change things and make them good for human lives.
Nowadays, there are abundant information online suggesting us ways to live. Some are beneficial, but some are bizarre. Yet, we need to try them before we make judgement. After I watched the video, I followed his instructions only because I wanted to hear what my voice would be like. I did not think that this method would help me to get better, but I thought singing a song does not waste a lot of time. So I tried. It turned out that my voice was the best medicine for my depression.
So when next time you have a bad mood, try to sing to yourself and be a good audience. Then breathe deeply to tell yourself you are still alive. You still have hope.
It is not easy to combine people’s ideas together at the first time people met each other. It is even more difficult for people to talk to each other when people are from different corners of the world. In the beginning of the project, our group discussed a way that was very helpful: shout out one’s interest and habit and have someone type into the computer. If there is repeat, it means the group has something in common.
So we sat in a circle, and shouted out things they want to do for the project. After a few circles, on the Microsoft Word document, “architecture” appeared four times. As a result, we may draw or build a building including our elements of different majors.
For example, Minsik Bang majors at Electrical Engineering; therefore, we can put modern elements and technological equipments into the building. This is the rough idea of our projects. The idea may change slightly due to people’s wellness of actually building a model.
In a word, the group discussing was productive. We used Facebook to help us communicate and computer to combine our ideas together. Using technology to help our group proceed the project, we did a nice job communicating and still are still discussing to make a project which our group members truly feel like to do.
