I was thinking about the erosion of Adventure games, and I think, more than anything, I miss the wit and sense of irreverence about them. A lot of games these days are quite serious. Even the casual and indie games tend to exert a certain ‘cool’ factor, perhaps at the expense of the zany.

Some of my favorite games - Monkey Island, Grim Fandago, Abe’s Oddysee, - were all pretty funny. And I’ll take those games over the super-serious, poker faced offerings any day.

Something that many storytellers learn early is that a dose of the funny can make the horrific, the emotional and the point of the story a lot more dramatic. Black comedy appears in many classics, whether it’s Catch-22 or Dr Strangelove. Taking humor beyond the occasional one-liner, or easter-egg slapstick moment can pay off. Everyone loves to laugh (though not always at the same things).

Equally, if you look back at the older Final Fantasy games, we see a large amount of humor. Characters bitch at each other, there are slapstick moments, and even some true laugh-out-loud scenes. Later games seem to have embraced a far more serious tone, with teenage angst and dramatic shots of near expressionless pixel-perfect faces. (Strangely, despite Square’s truly extraordinary graphical skill, their new characters seem more lifeless than any of the sprites they once used.)

I’m not sure where this dry, super-serious gaming trend has come from. Perhaps it’s because games want to be taken seriously - they want to have the same amount of critical attention as other types of media. Maybe it’s the result of targeting a more grown-up market, where funny games are seen as childish.

But using humour doesn’t have to be childish, nor does it automatically knock you off the critics radar. A good piece of satire can appeal to both the mass consumer and the intellectuals. A funny story can pose serious questions. Eliciting laughter is as valid as eliciting any other kind of emotional response. Subtle comedy can be interwoven into a story and end it in a droll punch-line.

So let me turn this over to you. Anyone got any funny games they want to share with me? Old or new, though preferably in the lower price bracket.

Sanya Weathers has an interesting post up over at Eating Bees about the way some MMORPG developers interacting with their game’s community on forums. (Her “25 Point Drama” is both true and hilarious.)

As I’ve said before, I’m a 20+year veteran of broadcast radio, and the entire “devs should post too” argument has a parallel in our business.

To set up my credentials, I’ve won over twenty state and national awards for radio copywriting and commercial production; I’ve been published in various trade magazines on the subject of how to create effective radio ads; I’ve had a long, successful career…I’ve learned quite a bit about how to create an effective radio commercial.

I’ve also lost count of the number of “Mom and Pop” clients that have come into our station, purchased an advertising schedule, and then present the copy they’ve written and say “I’m a-gonna record this!”

Mind you, there are no absolutes, and sometimes they have in their hands an excellent piece of copy, and then do a fantastic job of recording that copy.

And then there’s the other 99.9999%.

When a client buys advertising with us, my goal is to make sure their ad is as effective as it can be for them. Notice I didn’t say “sounds the best,” “is really funny” or “has rockin’ music,” I said “as effective as it can be“. This is because my employment depends on repeat business, and if the first commercial I produce for a client doesn’t give them visible results in their business, they’ll spend their advertising budget somewhere else.

I have had more than one client look me in the eye while I’m trying to help them with their ad and say “I know my business better than you do; I built it from the ground up. I know what should be said about it better than you ever will, so we’ll do it my way.”

Well, in this particular situation, no, you don’t.

You definitely know more about YOUR business than I do, yes. But I know more about MY business than you, for the same reasons.

If a community manager tried to tell a development team how to design a game, write code or manage a server, they’d be treated to a hearty chorus of “What do you know about it? Shut up.”, and rightly so. They haven’t put the time, the effort, the blood, sweat and tears into learning those things that it takes to have an opinion on the subject.

However, because dealing with a community looks simple, for some reason some developers tend to think they know how to do a community manager’s job as well (if not better) than someone who’s put five, ten, even fifteen years of their life into learning how to do it properly.

Does this mean that developers shouldn’t interact with the community? Of course not. Devs should be active in their community, but you know what? In my opinion, they should take direction from their community manager on how best to do that, and actually follow the advice they’re given.

I’ve had five calls from the same member of my radio station’s “community” this week, lodging a complaint about the classic country music we play that mentions drinking (which, if you’re familiar with country music, you know is pretty much the entire playlist). He actually suggested I edit the drinking references out of various songs by Merle Haggard, George Jones and Waylon Jennings, so we can stop “giving kids the wrong idea.”

The first time he called, he spoke with a salesperson at our company, who told him “Well, that’s just country music, and that’s what we play,” which is the broadcasting version of “Working as intended.” That didn’t help, and the complaints continued.

Finally, I got to speak with the gentleman, discussed it with him, and found out that the root of the problem was that he was a member of Al-Anon (an alcoholic support group), and was upset that we seemed to promote drinking, yet didn’t do enough in his opinion to discuss the negative aspects of alcohol.

So, I invited him in for an interview on the morning show, we talked about his experience on the air, he was thrilled, and he’s sent two new clients our way who have bought advertising.

The salesperson knows our business backward and forward…from his side of it. However, he doesn’t understand the “dealing with the public” aspect of it.

When you don’t understand how to deal with your community, it leads to “Working as intended,” which doesn’t solve anything.

Do me a favor and head over to Sanya’s blog and weigh in on the “Jellybeans Community Project“…I’ll be interested in the results.

LittleBigPlanet may be the most high-profile and anticipated game launch ever to hinge so much on user-generated content. With that in mind, storage space is sort of a big issue — if the game depends on contributions from users, how much self-made stuff will people be able to upload?

According to Gameplayer, each user will have a limited allotment of server space for their LBP creations. But there's kind of a neat catch that helps demonstrate that Media Molecule is taking their role as user-generated-content-messiah seriously:

Writes Gameplayer:

If their scheme works, users who upload the most popular levels will be rewarded with more space. It’s common sense, really — when lurking on YouTube, do you look for the videos with five stars, or with one?

On the other hand, if you wanted to play Devil’s Advocate, you could accuse Sony of some subtle social engineering here. After all, server space is so cheap these days that it’s effectively free. Just think of GMail, and Flikr, and all those sites that let you upload files that are hundreds of megabytes in size — for free.

So it’s not an issue of cost — it’s an issue of quality.

Sony wants to create a sense of value for those who’ve bought their game. By rewarding the best LittleBigPlanet players with more online space — and by restricting those who, well, suck — they can make this dream a reality. Or at least, that’s the plan.

A system that depends on community content, one could argue, ends up subject to quality issues; Microsoft has attracted criticism to that effect regarding its community games (and responded to it). But a system that holistically encourages and rewards quality creations has a good shot, right?

Server space in LittleBigPlanet to be limited [Gameplayer]

E3 2008 kicked off Monday last week with a press conference from Microsoft that started out quiet and ended with a shot that rang out across the internet. While many people expected this year's event to be dominated by attempts to snag the more casual gamer with gimmicks like motion control, Microsoft instead stayed the course (with a few notable exceptions), building on their own concept of community and social gaming rather than going for the obvious aping. In case you missed our extensive liveblogging of the event, here's a run down of the big news out of Microsoft at E3 2008.

The first big announcement of the press conference had to be exclusive downloadable content for the Xbox 360 and PC for Bethesda's Fallout 3. As a gamer with all three of the title's launch platforms in my home, that was exactly the sort of news that sealed the deal for me, and certainly a bit of a downer for the PlayStation 3 crowd, but that's not what this press conference was all about, was it?

They followed up the Fallout 3 scoop with a gaggle of sequel release dates. Resident Evil 5 in February of next year, with Fable II coming in October and Gears of War 2 slated for a November release. This was Microsoft's way of assuring 360 owners that they'd have plenty of games to look forward to over the holiday season and beyond.

Then came the first real bomb - the reinvention of Xbox Live. Support for custom avatars caught many a gamers' eye, though of course plenty of folks out there saw the new feature as an aping of Nintendo. Me? The move was definitely inspired by Nintendo, but custom avatars seem a natural addition to a console so heavily invested in community.

Along with the newly revamped Xbox Live experience came Live Party, a way for online friends to basically for a gaming group, staying together from game to game, sharing pictures, music, and even videos while never losing touch with one another.

They'll even be able to watch Netflix movies together, with MS announcing a partnership between the two companies that will allow 360 owners to download movies and watch them directly from their console, much like PC owners can do right now.

Further banking on the system's online capabilities, Microsoft also announced Xbox PrimeTime, a game show channel for the Xbox 360 where players around the world could participate in titles like Uno Rush and 1 Vs. 100, based on the hit television show.

Other revelations included news on Guitar Hero DLC from Van Halen and Metallica, a sequel to the classic Galaga coming to Xbox Live Arcade, and some pretty new controller colors.

Just when we though the show was over for Microsoft, ending with Square Enix's Yoichi Wada showing off Infinite Undiscovery, Star Ocean, and The Last Remnant, after which Sony's Don Mattrick came back on stage to sum things up. Some interesting games were shown, and the Xbox Live updates were intriguing, but that was it? Seemed a bit lackluster to me.

Then Yoichi Wada came back on stage and did this. Final Fantasy XIII, the game that launched a million PlayStation 3 systems, was no longer a PS3 exclusive. Up in the press room, Leigh and I actually whooped, scaring those nearby. Sony fanboys were outraged. Every day that I wake up and there isn't a parody of the song American Pie (Bye, bye FF X-I-I-I) in my inbox I am slightly crushed.

That last announcement carries a lot of importance for Microsoft. That a company as well respected as Square Enix deem them worthy of receiving the first multi-platform Final Fantasy title ever (XI still doesn't count) is a tremendous nod to Microsoft's success with the system as well as the perceived potential of the 360 with publishers across the industry.

All in all I'd say that Microsoft took several steps in the right direction this E3. They've taken steps towards further defining their vision of an online gaming community, revealed some extremely lucrative deals both game and movie-wise, and they've shown the sort of extra value that the Xbox 360 has to offer in a world where exclusives are becoming a very rare animal indeed.

As you can see, Write the Game is sporting a dashing new look. We were getting tired of the yellow, and believe this blue is classy, sophisticated and just a little more sexy.

In addition, there have been a few changes around the website. The good news is that Monique, of the popular gaming blog Girls Don’t Game, has agreed to contribute a couple of posts a week. The sad news is that Kdin, our prolific bringer of gaming information, has had to leave us.

We’re also bringing your attention to the absolute best indie games and mods around. Our first featured mod is Minerva Metastasis, a fantastic Half-Life 2 mod that I stumbled on completely by accident. The storyline is excellent (I can’t wait for part 2) and the maps are rightly famous. If you haven’t yet tried this FPS mod, do so now.

You may have noticed that I made some slight modifications to the regular articles, adding in a new feature called Journals. I’ll be sure to document these changes later in a follow up. If you have had any experience with tertiary education then this may already be familiar to you. Journals are academic pieces of writing which account for research articles within their field. At University, I basically write one of these per subject in my linguistics stream as a major piece. While most of these are irrelevant to the Gamer Blog, after completing one of my courses (concluding with this piece) I feel empowered to write more articles of this nature. In saying this I don’t think that the article below is greatly worthwhile. Still it is something that I would like to try my hand at in the future, covering issues of video games, technology, language and culture.

Introduction

The Internet is the fastest growing medium of communication in the modern age. The break neck speed of which the Internet is evolving is in turn changing language and the way in which communication takes place. NetSpeak; the language of online communication (Crystal, 2001) is consistently running on this treadmill of evolution, adapting to the various technological changes to existing mediums as well as the birth of new ones. The most documented and notable evolution is Web 2.0, websites that fall under this moniker are ones that have in many cases superseded past technologies (Warschauer & Grimes, 2008). The basis of Web 2.0 is interactivity and blogging is perhaps the most iconic of all of the new mediums to showcase such an attribute. Blogging is not only a key member of the Web 2.0 family though it is also the major online medium which is birthing new forms of language, particularly in the field of character development.

Interactivity and Community

Blogs are highly interactive pieces of writing. Interactive, meaning viewers have the ability to act with the blog itself through various means. Bloggers (authors of blogs) control such features; they control site design, features, permissions etc. Such features are directly related to another distinctive feature of blogging and that is community; a group of people that regularly visit and participate in the activities within the site. These two attributes work hand in hand.

Language and Character

Such aforementioned features would hold no weight on their own if it wasn’t for language. Language creates the content on a blog which draws viewers to the site. A particularly notable part of blogging language and perhaps the most distinctive feature of blogs is character; qualities that distinguish a blogging identity. Blogging is one of the most character driven mediums of literature in current existence (Warschauer & Grimes, 2008). Because of this the language of a blog, particularly a blog that is successful in executing strong character demands to be analyzed to fully understand the crux that this medium stands on.

What this article wishes to do is to address these two unique features of blogging to justify and further understand their effect in fostering character and community.

Subject Matter

In order to effectively understand the interactive qualities and language of blogging, we will analyze a successful blog to see how one blogger has used such things to create a strong community and a strong sense of character among his readers.

In this case I have chosen a blog run by author Michael Abbott, titled The Brainy Gamer (http://brainygamer.com). This blog has received significant garner and praise by many of the Internet’s most famous bloggers (Croal, 2008) (Greene, 2008). Within a short period of time (of ten months) Michael has managed to carve out his own recognizable persona and a loyal and dedicated following of readers which define this blog as a success (amongst the recognition). Michael, of course, uses various blogging features as well as strong language to help build his own character and community, which is what we will look at.

Criteria for Data Analysis

Data required from the Brainy Gamer can be split up into two divisions (one for each core topic); interactive elements of the site and areas where there is strong language use.

As a reminder, interactive elements of a blog are features that allow readers to use and act with the site. We are looking to observe how such features can create a community aspect. So by this we want to see how such features can be used encourage participation and consistent returning to the site. These features are the medium for community themselves but they also are a platform to encourage other forms of interactivity. The interactive elements that I have chosen are a Meebo chat plugin and comments. Additional interactivity can be seen on the About page and Images and Video both of which are more relevant to the language area of the blog but community elements will still be mentioned under these headings.

For language, we are referring to any instances where language is used to develop a character; unique qualities about the blogger; Michael. The beauty of blogging is that language is so dynamic and as a result the whole site and further additional features (for example blog related email) are all covered in language. The areas up for analysis are the About page, Blog Articles, Images and Video (an extension of the core language used). Of course, if language is important in the other features then it shall be documented.

Data Analysis

About

The About Page is a necessary introduction for many blogs. It is the page where the reader introduces themselves to their audience and is an integral part of the site in terms of creating a first impression (Warschauer & Grimes, 2008). Instead of having a separate About page Michael has opted to compress this into an area at the top left of every page.

The text itself is most interesting, we can see how Michael tries to create a warm and friendly atmosphere by using personal words such as “devoted” and “welcome”. He also uses this prominent space to encourage participation on his blog (“community”, “feedback and comments are always welcome”). There is nothing imposing about what he says, it is all very polite and goes a long way to make a very sincere first impression.

The waving alien image below is also rather inoffensive and the email me link below further opens up avenues for interaction with the author. It is hard to discern what exactly the meaning of the text “Email me” is though. Is this a request for emails or is Michael just stating his email, if you would like to email him? The unknown, frank nature of the text is almost encouraging interaction (“Email Me” as in ‘Please do Email Me’).

The tagline “Thoughtful conversation about video games” (at the top of the page) is like “Email Me”; directed in nature. The intention of a tagline is to briefly describe what a website is about in a few words. Notice how Michael doesn’t use the word ‘blog’ in the tagline? So instead of being a blog his site is instead a “thoughtful conversation”. He uses this opportunity to indetify his blog as a place for conversation by stating that it is actually conversation itself. Such a technique is also often used in advertisements where they try to force attributes or even the product onto your identity though language.

These features; the text, tagline, email link and image are sections in which the blogger has control over (Six Apart Ltd , 2008). We can see how Michael has used such a feature to invite people into his site, encourage them to contribute and possibly email him too, while at the same time presenting a persona for himself (of warmth and friendship).

Meebo

Underneath the ‘About’ area is a small Meebo plugin[1], this plugin allows anyone to chat with Michael live assuming that he is online (otherwise a message is left). This is another way in which users can interact with Michael. What makes this technology so noteworthy is that it is so seamless in nature which lessens the barriers into participation with the site.

Blog Articles

The core content itself; the blog articles, are the foundation of a blog and are undoubtedly the most important asset of a Blogger. Michael, over the time that he has been blogging has formed his own character through his use of language. The recent post This I believe…except when I don’t.[2] is a great example of this execution.

This I believe…except when I don’t. is a critical look at Michael’s own ideas about video game design and how an upcoming games destroys his thoughts. To strengthen his point he includes a made up quote of the game’s developer mercilessly mocking him (see Quotes). You can see how Michael has created more human (as in flawed and not perfect) character for himself through the language of the fictional quote. The use of strong words such as “hypocrite”, “pontificate”, “stupid little” go lengths to in turn punish himself (and his theories) in such a humourous and amusing fashion. Even more apparent though are the uses of short utterances which drill home a tough message and often ask difficult, in your face questions. Sentences like “don’t you?”, “Admit it.”, “Every single one.”, “A very silly man.”. The powerful language in these phrases dominate over Michael’s ideas which is what he is intending to do. He is attempting to be hard hitting on himself to create a character which reflects back onto him.The use of Michael’s last name is included as well which is a sign of great disrespect in language.

Such a quote shows how conscious Michael is of of his own weaknesses. More importantly though it shows us how Michael has taken advantage of this opportunity to create character for himself, through his own weaknesses. It also shows how willing he is to be light hearted in such a scenario and to not take himself too seriously. This instance is one example of Michael fostering character for himself on the Brainy Gamer blog of which language plays a crucial part.

Comments

Comments are the building blocks for a blogging community, they allow a hub for viewers to share their opinions on the posted article (Ali-Hasan & Adamic,2007). This is the same on The Brainy Gamer. If you browse through the articles posted on the site then you will notice that most articles have at least 10 contributed comments each one of considerable length. In almost every article you will see community members referencing other members contributions and so forth[3].

There are a few ways in which Michael uses the pre-built features of blogging to encourage and establishes the commenting area as a place for informative talk and participation. Firstly having comments installed (with no restrictions) provides a space for readers to express their opinion. The feature itself encourages community as it allows for direct input of messages in an asynchronous way.

Michael is quick to use the technology himself to reply to the contributions of others with his own comments, adding his own ideas back in. This is multi-faceted, he uses the technology as the platform and the language (within his comments) as the device to encourage more talking and community. He does this through his polite and positive character, proof for this can be seen in the various quotations.

He also encourages comments in the articles and on the podcasts and thanks people for their contributions. He does this while maintaining the sincere character that he has formed within the articles. Michael on several occasions has empathetically expressed his sincere thanks from his reader base. A perfect example can be seen an article titled “The genius of the enthusiast”[4] and in the preceding podcast[5]. Quotations can be seen under the set heading.

Images and Video

Images play a subtle but effective role on this site, they are after all a part of the blogging language. On the Brainy Gamer they usually summarize the points of the article quite well and help strengthen the main text. Take for example the article titled “Gamespot - tough crowd for the Wii”[6]. The text discusses how one particular website is being particularly harsh towards a certain set of games.

To strengthen his point Michael posts up the following image of a critic looking at a painting with a magnifying glass. The critics face resembles that he is unimpressed with the artwork, this image seems intended to be of a humourous nature relating to the sour opinions of this particular website. Michael uses such imagery to portray a certain feeling that he has of the situation, in the process exerting qualities of character about Michael. The role of the image in this case is as a reinforcer of the text and a creator of additional layers of character.

Video plays a smaller but still important part on the site. Much like in the article “More reasons not to play GTA IV”[7] video is often used to strengthen a point with video taken from a game which is being discussed. Much like the images the video reinforces the core points.

Conclusion

Overall, we can see how through the use of language and technology Michael has strengthened his blog into a community while creating an online identity for himself at the same time. Language used within the blogging articles is the heart of language use for blogs and as seen, it is the basis as to where character is founded.

It isn’t alone though, images and video, the About page, comments and the podcast as well all play their part in presenting a character for the blogger. Each of these outlets are covered in their own language and therefore can be manipulated in such a ways by the blogger to create character.

Language was also used by the blogger to encourage and invite a community onto the blog. Interactive features aided this community by not only being the medium itself but also providing avenues for further language use. As such language and the features of blogging go hand in hand to foster the growth of character and community within a blogging context.

With this said, additional technologies such as the Blogroll, podcasts and email also demand some form of insight under this framework to further understand how the blogging platform operates.

Notes

Brainy Gamer Articles

[1] Meembo
http://www.meebome.com/

[2] This I believe…except when I don’t.
http://www.brainygamer.com/the_brainy_gamer/2008/06/this-i-believee.html

[3] Comment Examples
http://www.brainygamer.com/the_brainy_gamer/2008/05/casual-or-acces.html#comments
http://www.brainygamer.com/the_brainy_gamer/2008/05/confounded-by-t.html#comments

[4] The genius of the enthusiast
http://www.brainygamer.com/the_brainy_gamer/2008/04/the-genius-of-t.html

[5] Preceding Podcast
http://www.brainygamer.com/the_brainy_gamer/2008/04/brainy-gamer-po.html

[6] Gamespot - tough crowd for the Wii
http://www.brainygamer.com/the_brainy_gamer/2008/05/gamespot.html

[7] More reasons not to play GTA IV
http://www.brainygamer.com/the_brainy_gamer/2008/05/more-reasons-no.html

Quotations

“You’re a hypocrite, Abbott. You pontificate like you’ve got it all figured out, but I know the truth about you. You want my game bad, don’t you? Admit it. You’re way more excited than you were for that silly sandbox Gotham, aren’t you? You want my game, and you want it now. Well I’ve got news for you, smart guy. My game breaks every one of your stupid little rules. That’s right. Every single one. How do you like that? Hmm? What do you say now? Yeah, I thought so. Still want it. Can’t wait to play it. You’re a very silly man, Abbott. A very silly man.”[1]

“My brain thanks you for the reassurance.” [2]

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m enjoying the Wii version of Mario Kart, and I appreciate the challenge of learning how to be successful in the game.”[3]

“I have been inundated with comments and emails from dozens of respondents offering valuable recommendations and constructive suggestions for the course”[4]

“I can’t begin to tell you how grateful I am for this overwhelming response”[5]

References

Ali-Hasan, N.F & Adamic, L.A (2007). Expressing Social Relationships on the Blog through Links and Comments, Retrieved 26th May 2008, from http://www.icwsm.org/papers/2–Ali-Hasan–Adamic.pdf

Croal, N. (2008). Top Four Gaming Tidbits For May 13th. Retrieved 26th May 2008, from http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/levelup/archive/2008/05/13/top-four-gaming-tidbits-for-may-13th-2008.aspx

Croal, N. (2008). Top Four Gaming Tidbits For May 5th. Retrieved 26th May 2008, from http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/levelup/archive/2008/05/05/top-ten-gaming-tidbits-for-may-5th-2008.aspx

Crystal, D. (2001). Medium of NetSpeak, Language and The Internet (pp.24-61). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Godwin-Jones, R. (2005) Emerging Technologies. Language Learning and Technology, 9(3), 9-12

Greene, M. (2008). Putting Together the ‘History of RPGs’ Class. Retrieved 26th May 2008, from http://kotaku.com/5009565/the-history-of-rpgs-a-reading-list

Six Apart Ltd (2008). TypePad Features. Retrieved 26th May 2008, from http://www.typepad.com/features/

Warschauer, M. & Grimes, D.(2008). Audience, Authorship, and Artifact: The Emergent Semiotics of Web 2.0. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 27(2007), 1-23