But if you’re looking for John Martin’s blog, it’s at regardingjohn.com

Directly:

• working on one for the GLS conference that I describe on the ARgaming blog here.
• working on one for the Greenbush neighborhood that I describe on my Love site here.
• working on one for Flying Moose Lodge (and my dissertation) that I describe on my Love site here.

Indirectly:

I’m not paid, but try to help out where I can with this grant of Harvard, MIT, and UW-Madison.

Even C has taken to roll one up now and then (since her dissertation is finished). I didn’t think I’d ever see that.

PaRappa the Rapper® 2
From the description:

The original rap star is back in the house! See if you have enough rhythm to keep the beat with everyone’s favorite rappin’ puppy. Join Parappa and a cast of new and familiar characters on a mission of the utmost importance: prevent the Evil Noodle Syndicate from turning everything into noodles. Check out the funky fresh tunes that are guaranteed to get your toes tappin’ and your head bobbin’.

I put in PaRappa the Rapper 2, and was immediately put off by the flat graphics and stupid storyline. But within five minutes I loved the storyline and pace, and felt kinda protective of the graphics — I can’t say that I like them, but I like the *idea* of them enough that I really *want* to like them.

As to the rest of the game, I think it’s fun, doable, nicely-paced, forgivingly taught, and the psychodelic trippiness, when you mess up and have to do the phrase over as it plays all warped — that makes me kinda sad I’m not into weed. I played to level 4 in the first sitting, which may not be very long, but it was long enough for me to *think* that I got a good feel for the game. Did I say that I loved the storyline? That’s an exaggeration. I love that it’s wacky; I love the goofiness of the rap lyrics, but the story is kind of dumb.

Frequency
From GameSpot:

Rhythm games have never really enjoyed the same level of popularity in the US as they have in Japan, where they are nothing less than a staple of gaming. In an effort to prove that Americans also know how to keep the beat, Sony has brought in American developer Harmonix to produce Frequency for the PlayStation 2. The end result is a simple but challenging rhythm game with unique gameplay and one of the best game soundtracks ever.

I remember Kurt demoing Frequency in class, and thinking to myself: “This almost looks as fun as Apple’s GarageBand!” But, after a few hours playing it, I take that back. It’s not nearly as fun (for me). The game itself was too difficult for me to enjoy. I got a lot of “barely passing” marks, for songs that didn’t really sound like they were anything (perhaps, had I been better, they would have). But it seemed like a lot of effort for a lot of frustration and only a tiny bit of payoff. If you love techno, maybe the “completed” song would be enough to inspire you — I don’t (except in certain, specific cases).

If you like techno, and like making remixes of techno, you might like the remix option. I didn’t. I found it too limited in options — it all sounded like techno.

Anyway, as she was talking about how it was difficult to fit a 120 hour curriculum into an after school format, but how effective even 6 hours were, I thought about the 200+ hours I spent the first half of this semester playing video games. And imagined a Nintendo DS “Brain Game” version of a Vygotskian math curriculum. Granted, we all deride “Math Blaster” but that’s hardly Vygotskian. Since I’ve been socialized to do things with a clear and useful purpose, I’ve had serious difficulty entering into the ‘entertainment’ mindset of video games. My WoW experience was successful for as long as it was, largely because it was an inquiry-based experience with the purpose of understanding what it was like to play, and what are the learning principles of it? But it’s not specifically applying to my dissertation, so I can’t justify continuing.

But what of a video game that had specified goals? Would it be less entertaining? Maybe for ‘kids these days’ but probably not for me, because I find great entertainment in learning new stuff — if it’s engaging enough. I’d buy a 100 hour “learn to play piano” game (Garageband?) if it were even half as engaging as WoW, and a 120 hour math game if it were fun and made sense to me. It’s like eating cereal that’s good for me — unless it really sucks, I’ll eat it and feel good about myself.

• (“Measure Up” 120hour course)
• Elkonin-Davydov Mathematics curriculum
• Pre-numeric Vygotskian
• Concepts of Quantity, equality, transitivity
• (Russian) Multiplicative Learning = content x tool x reality
• (American) Additive Learning = content + tool + reality
• content is quantities — use everyday objects, instead of numbers
• removes the divide between whole numbers and real numbers
• length is not a measurement, it’s a quantity.
• (very cool)

I’m not a racing gamer. I’ve tried Mario Cart before and disliked it. The way to play these games, it seems is to race and try to win. I prefer to enjoy the ride. I like the journey more than the destination. So the two things I really like about Grand Turismo are

• different cars drive differently
• the multi-angle replay mode

I haven’t tried all the cars yet, but between the Mini Cooper and the Mercedes Terminator (or Kompoundator, or some dumb name), I way prefer the Mini. It was much more fun to drive. I tried the automatic and the manual — like the manual. It’s like a cheap fun way to test drive cars.And the replay feature helped me relive the excitement of the test drive from angles I’d not be able to see in a see in a real test drive. I’m sort of surprised there is no porn game equivalent — different models to test drive in first-person mode, with a 3rd-person replay with lots of angles, set to some rockin’ tune. Seems to me it’d sell pretty well in some markets… oh wait, was that what GTA was heralded as by Hillary?

Here’s an aspect of gameplay that I like. I like to wander around and mine and collect herbs, then hearthstone to Thunderbluff and auction them off. I like stealthing through mines, dodging past guards and NPC miners, taking out as few as possible. I like smelting bronze from copper and tin bars that I’ve smelted from copper and tin ore. It was an immensely satisfying moment when I sold 20 bronze bars for 2 gold.

I don’t like the dungeons so much, although I do find them satisfying. I like the cameraderie of grouping, but am generally overly-apologetic about my lack of expertise in them. I like helping “younger” players when I can, which isn’t often because I usually feel like an eternal newbie. and I like getting help and advice from others.

I’ve dueled twice and dislike it. I’ve never really liked PvP competition — or the way I feel when engaged in it — in virtual or real space.

I tried playing GTA: Vice City on my new PS2 for a few hours. I’m not offended by the hookers, or by the game play where I’m encouraged to beat people up. I just find it boring. The gamespace isn’t all that intriguing. The controls are awkward. The characters all look or act the same. The first few quests are sort of dumb (as far as I got).

I’ll accept it as a character flaw that I have. With World of Warcraft I felt interested enough at the beginning to go further/longer into it, but with GTA I pushed past my interest within the first few minutes. The second hour was painful. Sorry, but it’s not the game for me. glad I only paid $6 used for it, and not $40 new.

Last night in Ashenvale — contested territory on my PvP (Player vs. Player) server — I answered a LFM (looking for member) call for some dungeon, and once in the party/group I realized I was with 13 year olds. The chat window was full of “big gay fag” this and “nigga” that. And in the 15 minutes I waited for them to make their way across the territory to the dungeon, they died 3 times (each) because they attacked low level Alliance players who had high-level Alliance players watching over them. Reap = Sow.

Confession: the other day in Ashenvale I saw a same level Night Druid fighting some beast, and I attacked him — two hits from afar. Then I imagined myself in his shoes, fighting a beast and getting banged by another player. And I left him alone, feeling pretty crappy about myself. Farther down the road, running in my cat form, I see a rider approach, and I prowl into my stealth mode. He sees me of course — higher level players have that ability. And he waves, and I know I’m doomed, so I de-cat and wave back, ready to accept a quick death, but he moves on.

This is my new strategy. Nonaggression. I may even try to buff the next Alliance I see (I wonder if that works). If I start another player, I’ll call it “NeutralLikeSwitzerland” or something. Or play on a PvE server.

More likely though, I won’t continue playing past level 31. The weather’s getting nice (well, except for the severe snowstorm outside), and I’m itching to go outside.