Gaming Humanities

Gaming should definitely be apart of the Digital Humanities, because games also have a story. Most games in fact have a 'story mode' built into the gaming experience so that the player can follow and experience the narrative playing out while they play. Without a story games would be boring and the goal for the end would be dry.  A story keeps the reader or player in this sense an entertainment that entices them to keep finding out more. Video games are not just a vice that entrances a person into playing, though they do, they can provide morals within their stories.

Games do count on the fact that they can be informative even with little information for the player, for example; the game could tell the story of World War II or the murder of someone that happened and the game leads to the the player figuring out who the killer was. Though games like these may or may not exist, because most games are based on fiction, but could ultimately lead to a lesson. Game developers add small little hints that most do not pick up on, but if they are found from analyzation can mean something.

Video games are a form of interactive fiction which is an electronic literature piece therefore counts as part of Digital Humanities. Players interact with the game to find the end of the story. Some games are lacking a story, but that does not mean games do not count. A majority of games have a backstory that therefore introduces the goal of the game or the game could tell the story during the playing. Some games also have 'missions' that could resemble a chapter in the story. It is a stopping point that allows the reader to either stop and continue later or continue immediately. Video games are like movies that can be changed by the player or played out in first person whereas a movie plays it out for the watcher, same as a book. The only difference between games and movies and books is that the first person player holds the story.

Anon

Gronk

BY: JEREMY STAFFEN

Breaking Flowers

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Broken

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RedRidinghood

In RedRidinghood Donna Leishman retells the story of Little Red Riding Hood. The story can be followed in multiple windows and although the story is mostly linear, there are several clickable objects that can be missed and affect how much of the story is shown. I really enjoyed this and am glad Leishman did not follow the same interaction that was in deviant. I did not have to search constantly for what to click on to advance and was interested and surprised on a second viewing to see new material. Discovering Red Riding Hoods diary added to the story but was not necessary to finish giving me enough time to play it again rather than get frustrated at how long it took to get through once. The diary reveals she had a crush on the boy who pursues her on his scooter however things went in a darker direction after breaking her heart and he is portrayed as the wolf. Giving him hairy arms was a particularly clever way of displaying the visual representation. There are many hidden clickables in this story to search for and is worth the time searching them out for new creative additions to the storyline.

Is Code Language? Why is Digital Literacy Important?

 Code is most certainly a language but it is the language of the computer. The computer can't do what you don’t know how to tell it. Digital Literacy is important for several arguable reasons, first and foremost the computer will always be faster and remember more than the best person in any profession. As in the old saying two heads are better than one, the best professional is even better when they can program a computer to make their job easier or expand their abilities where they are lacking. Currently a lot of fields use a programmer to write their programs for them but the information can be limited when the programmer knows little about the field he is writing the program for and in turn the person that knows the field does not realize the potential for what the software may be able to do for them. Aside from the fact you can have a single person do the job of two, making it cheaper, the time two people take communicating and restructuring software could take much longer. What I consider particularly important is the missed creativity from an individual to bring a fantastic story to life the way they see it or an idea enhanced the way they envision. As pointed out in We can code it! by Tasneem Raja software developers who were working on a website in Boston found a way to not only help the community, but to save lives as well. You do not need to be a programmer, just to understand a simple interface with computers in their own language. Just because a person is a banker should not limit his creativity to banking. Knowing how to produce that interactive story or idea could provide the world with an otherwise missed achievement of brilliance.

Google Maps Essay

On a journey I go!
by Travis Moulayianis

This is a google maps essay about the journey of a dollar bill;  where it was made, where it will end up, and where it ceases to exist.

Google maps essay

My travels with my best friend since childhood.
 By Lawrence Bruce

 Travel stories from New Jersey to Las Vegas with my best friend.

Google Maps Essay

An Unforgettable Week
By: Jeremy Staffen

The stories and route of the awesome vacation I took this past summer.

Google Maps Essays

June Weekend by Kiri McCoy 
Description:

In the summer of 2015, I went to see Imagine Dragons and Hershey's Show of the Summer, and my adventure was full of hidden surprises along the way.

Uncreative Siberia

Kenneth Goldsmith is a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and he teaches a class called Uncreative Writing where the students are encouraged to plagiarize and the more plagiarism the better the grade. Goldsmith goes on to describe the content and expectations in the classroom where he explains that his students transcribe audio clips, write screenplays for films, and as a final he has them purchase a paper online for them to present as if they had written that paper. I feel that this is an exceptionally informative class that allows students to be creative in a different way. This class allows the students to rewrite works and bring great ideas together into one work in a way that gives those ideas new meanings and perspectives. Yes, plagiarism is stealing, and stealing is wrong, but if everyone including the writer already knows that, then why is it so wrong? Many give credit anyway to the works they use, but writing seems to be the only work that is criticized for using other's ideas in a creative way. Why does writing have to be so publicly perfect in the views of others, if the work is a creative recreation in the view of someone else? If artwork was as criticized as writing is, then only one artist could do particular types of landscapes or objects, or even people as well as different types of painting, drawing techniques, and so forth. We would have very limited pieces of works with only one perspective to look from, and that would get pretty boring after awhile. Fashion is the same way, if one person wore a certain shirt then would it not be stealing their look of you also wore that shirt? That is plagiarism, but nobody looks at it from that perspective. Think about this more deeply and you may just have viewed the subject from a different perspective. 

Sydney's Siberia was a very interesting piece to read and interact with. The piece started with an image with a red square that the reader can voluntarily move. The reader then clicks a section of the image only to be zoomed into more images. Next the reader chooses an image to reader and the process is then repeated infinitely. I sat for about two hours just repeatedly going through the piece, because you never knew what images were going to pop up next. The images did not relate to each other in any way, and each one had a phrase or two that somewhat pertained to the photo. Also each phrase was slightly vague on the concepts, but it kept me thinking about them all individually. My whole goal in reading this for as long as I did was to read everything and see every image which is probably achievable, but I do not think I got to that point. I kept seeing new images every time I clicked to see more, and I kept telling myself that I would eventually see everything. It was a very interesting process, and I started to use tactics to try and see everything, but to my knowledge, if I would have kept going, it would have been for a long time more. I do believe this piece was fun and very interesting, but I recommend viewing it when you have time on your side.