Reflective Evaluation

“You have to talk about ‘The Terminator’ if you’re talking about artificial intelligence. I actually think that that’s way off. I don’t think that an artificially intelligent system that has superhuman intelligence will be violent. I do think that it will disrupt our culture.” 

• – Gray Scott

A major factor that played into the difficulty of this module was the effect of financial problems, and the necessity of having to sort them out, taking time away from my work. I feel that this was unavoidable however, yet was still a big issue I see fit to note down for future reference so if something similar comes up, I learn to try and juggle the two things and still be able to get on with my work.

I feel however that during this module I learnt a lot of new things about a number of different aspects within the games industry and related fields, such as AI advancement as well as the interactions between humans and computers, which all in all have helped me when it comes to formulating ideas for games, or something similar. For example, the discussions on human computer interaction have given me ideas for different kinds of mechanics within video games, or different ways of presenting a story and so on. The discussions on AI, though it may not be related to games, expanded my point of view on the ethics of the advancement of artificial intelligence and also expanded my own knowledge on the subject which has raised a number of themes I found to be intriguing such how society will adapt and change to incorporate AI such as androids and so forth in the future, and how rights and ethics would work, etcetera etcetera.

During the discussions and work process I have noted a number of flaws in my methods of work and have begun to develop a number of different methods to replace these. One being that I will allot myself an hour or so a day to drop everything and get on with my coursework, as life the past four months has been the definition of hectic. I need to improve upon my ability to micro-manage situations, as well as improve upon my ability to articulate a point further, because I feel that it is evident that whilst the questions posed in these essays are answers, they can be very short, some being only two hundred and fifty words at most. The necessity of micro-management is a major topic I have focused on when reflecting upon this module, something that until now has been somewhat uncommon in my life. I feel however that as I work, the more I will learn how to overcome these problems and discover new ways of dealing with them and overcoming adversities.

All in all this module was beneficial to me as a sense of inspiration and influence. I took from a number of these lectures numerous interesting points that I have in my own time researched and learned more about in order to better understand the circumstances behind them, for example the ethics of Artificial Intelligence advancement and so forth, and it has opened by eyes to a number of practices that whilst beneficial to me a year or two ago, need to be adapted or changed to better suit my situation at University.

Bernard Marr. (SEP 21, 2017). 28 Best Quotes About Artificial Intelligence. Available: https://www.forbes.com/sites/neustar/2017/09/21/attackers-are-thinking-about-your-application-layer-security-are-you/#4f797c0b4066. Last accessed 7/12/17.

Copyright

Copyright has been an immensely beneficial piece of legislature that has protected and promoted the personal rights of innovations for the last few centuries, allowing individuals to own the rights to their own products, instead of those rights falling under the absolute control of a ruling monarch or class. Copyright has allowed individuals to build themselves up from nothing, opening the gates to a higher level of living, instead of that level being restricted to those individuals born into it. It also, as mentioned before, has promoted the innovation by decreeing that said innovations will not be taken from the innovator, but will be theirs for either their life, or a certain period of time.

Copyright has had a number of setbacks however, as individuals have found numerous loopholes through the legislature, allowing them to begin and continue using dirty business practices in order to take control of certain copyrighted pieces of work and take them as their own through law, as well as attempt to claim the copyright for a number of trivial things for example the FineBrothers from the website Youtube attempted to copyright the word “React” in order to protect their own video format in the early months of 2016. I think it’s impossible to stop these kind of practices in their entirety without contradicting the legislature itself, thus is has become just another fact of life that individuals need to be careful when it comes to copyright and copyright law.

When it comes to making something original,I mentioned in my Avant Garde piece that everything comes from something and nothing comes from nothing; it is difficult to make something truly unique in its own right, however I believe it is possible to make something different, in a sense. If copyright law had been developed to be more stringent, that only the unique and completely different would be allowed through, the world would be a very different place. Ideas have to come from somewhere, whether they’re from a book, a piece of art or a movie, to penalise an individual for that is wrong in my eyes. So in my eyes, in the strictest sense of the term, no it is not possible to make something truly new in terms of the games industry of other types of media.

Chris Foxx. (1 February 2016). Fine Brothers spark fury with YouTube trademark attempt. Available: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-35459805. Last accessed 7/12/17.

Artificial Intelligence

I believe that AI Developers uphold the human brain as a standard for AI based on two factors; one that we are the smartest thing we have even encountered thus far, and two logic can only take you so far. Adaptable AI may be used in numerous different fields to expand the horizon of humanity which it itself can adapt to numerous different situations on the go. An AI capable of thought on a level with the Human brain would be able to perform numerous tasks simultaneously whilst also being able to adapt to certain situations, giving it an increased edge over the single minded AI dedicated to a single task. Though this would also run the risk of coming with the flaws of humanity, I personally believe that it is these flaws that have allowed us to come as far as we have – our ability to fail, learn and make better.

I believe the scare and fear mongering behind the “Skynet” AI is unfounded, to an extent. Though the possibilities of a rampant AI may be possible, it is likely they will be extremely slim. The individuals making these AI are smart people. However, there would be a number of founded drawbacks from the implementation of “Strong” AI in our society. Two examples being that AI are able to be hacked (however hard) which poses a serious risk depending on the AI’s placement and function. The other being a serious unemployment problem as “Strong” AI make for a disposable workforce, forcing large swaths of people into unemployment.

Human – Computer Interaction

“Human–computer interaction researches the design and use of computer technology, focused on the interfaces between people and computers.”

Though the Witcher games are considered to be among the best in terms of their story and later on their gameplay, Witcher has suffered from a number of ups and downs during its long run. Witcher 2 was renowned for its terrible UI for the PC, with CD Projekt Red developing the UI specifically for Xbox and not for PC’s or other gaming devices. The UI was clunky, awkward and just down right terrible. The same could be said for the first Witcher game as well, which suffered from some of the same problems. The UI suffered from a number of problems, mostly due to its poor inventory and other aspects attached to that, leading to an awkward process to access certain parts of the game which were supposed to be used on the fly.

The ability to use the computers and more so the internet has opened mankind up to an unlimited, digitalized Library of Alexandria. With such a wide array of information at our fingertips, technology is already augmenting humanity not in a physical way, but also psychologically – which has it’s pros and cons. Humanity now is smarter than it has ever been, but due to our reliance on technology certain social changes have occurred, especially over the last two decades. Though we are connected through the power of technology, we have also become disconnected from each other physically in some places.

It is possible that in the future this may be built upon and expanded, or perhaps not. It may be possible that we are able to link our own minds to the digital plane in some kind of pseudo-digital world similar to the Matrix, or that we ourselves shed our corporeal form for that of an android, or even a server network.

Wikipedia. (). Human Computer Interaction. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human%E2%80%93computer_interaction. Last accessed 7/12/17.

The History of Indie

The term “Indie” within the game’s industry isn’t a modern concept. Indie developers have existed since the early 80’s in a number of different forms. To be an Indie Developer, the developers themselves need to be independent of any kind of publisher, self publishing their own content. In terms of Indie being a modern concept, I personally believe a distinction can be made between the Indie developers of the 80’s and 90’s, compared to Indie developers from the early 2000’s to now based upon changes in the industry witnessed within that time span.

The term Indie has become far from meaningless. Despite the fact that there are numerous AAA developers in the game’s industry as of today, the Indie scene is still strong and thriving, and from my own personal observation has only grown in strength with easy access to once privileged pieces of software and hardware that make creating a game much more of an easy feat. Anyone can make a game with the free industry standard software now available, compared to the 80’s and 90’s when to be a games designer you needed a number of degrees and qualifications in order to enter into the industry.

So in conclusion no, I don’t believe the term “Indie” has become meaningless, if anything it is among the last bastions of the Gaming Industries beating heart, which as of late has been drowned in poor buisness practices and scandals by a number of AAA companies and corporations.

Oddtales. (). The Last Night. Available: http://oddtales.net. Last accessed 7/12/17

Interactive Narrative

The Witcher Sage is a series renowned for intricate and in depth story telling which changes depending on the stance or action of the player in certain scenarios. These attributes; the actions and effects are key components to interactive narrative within video games. However, the term can be much broader, broad enough to encompass any video game with semblance of a story line, for the simple fact of the player playing is an interaction within the universe the story is taking place. Taletale games are considered to be among the vanguard of the interactive narrative genre due to the focus on player choices and the effects they have upon the game’s narrative, taking the course of the story in completely different direction.

Personally I believe that interactive narrative still has a big place within the games industry. It is a brilliant and sometimes astonishing way to have an individual interact and engage with a narrative on a personal level, different from that of written narrative, television or cinema. Though this may not be a celebrated reason for the interactive narrative genre, the stories and worlds they create enable individuals to escape the monotony of life for a brief few hours, taking them from their sofa in rainy Southampton into the war torn regions of the Witcher fighting all sorts of monsters, or into the depths of space saving the galaxy in games such as Mass Effect or Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic.

Avant Garde

The term avant garde means in the literal sense; “new and experimental ideas and methods in art, music, or literature.” In short, something ahead of its time. In the sense of games design, avant garde could possible be used to describe a game’s art style, mechanics or all round presentation. Two good examples of “avant-garde” in video games would be The Last Night and Ashen. These two games are considered to be ahead of their time based upon their presentation and art style as well as game play mechanics, vanguarding a number of gameplay or aesthetic choices which have since been used to inspire a number of other similar games.

Personally, I believe that the ability to be truly “unique” within the games industry is impossible. To be truly unique within the world itself is a challenging task, for everything comes from something and nothing comes from nothing. So it may be possible to be so out there to truly be   “avant garde”, but in my experience everything can be traced back to somewhere, especially within games design; either it be a previous games that has influenced the mechanics of your own, or a piece of media or literature that has influenced the aesthetic style or the nature and themes of the story you are trying to tell.

Oddtales. (). The Last Night. Available: http://oddtales.net. Last accessed 7/12/17.

Aurora44. (). Ashen. Available: http://www.ashen-game.com/. Last accessed 7/12/17.