Over the past several weeks I have been reporting on various different subjects. The brief was to write a 500 word essay on each subject alongside appropriate sources and research. The first thing I do when exploring the area of interest is take extensive notes in the lecture. I write down core names, companies, locations and other important details. I tend not to write down what was on the slide as it is readily available on Blackboard. The other thing I do is write a list of questions I want to ask. I either ask these in the lecture or search online for them. I try to use a focusing research style where I start on something as broad as Wikipedia and then pull key words from that site. I then google those terms and narrow down my research until I find that I am close to researching something else. I then stop and reflect on what I read. The only thing I wished I had done from the beginning is referencing my sources correctly. By the time I was told the correct way I had already completed most of the essays. Next time I will do that from the very beginning.

I found the areas that interested me most was the lecture on AI and HCI. I particularly enjoyed the level of psychology and the “human element” of both of them. During my research I discovered that AI is more to do with people than computers, which was a revelation to me and as soon as I started thinking of it in that way I found it easier to understand why people are working so hard to create AI’s. I also loved the fact that HCI and AI pair extremely well and I would have loved a question pair combining the two. I really respond to the human elements in things which is why I also enjoyed learning about The Bauhaus. I appreciated the way that artists, craftsmen and designers were pulled together and revolutionised the way we see modern design. I struggled a little with pulling my research into my own words. As I read something that somebody else already wrote it felt a little like I was rewriting what was already said. I tried instead to research first and then type. Once I had finished typing I would re-read the essay whilst reading the research and checked my facts. For every single essay I used OneNote and it was unbelievably useful. The ability to just drag and drop Links, Videos and research into one document is amazing.  I think next time I will use a Dictaphone to record audio notes as these can be placed in OneNote.

Overall I enjoyed most of the modules, I feel that I need to practise Harvard referencing a bit more and I also need to build a list of reliable online sources for information. I think my strengths have been my research, when I get a lead on a subject I find it very easy to follow up on it and learn more information.

Sources

https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/book/gamification-at-work-designing-engaging-business-software/chapter-11-58-curated-list-of-research-techniques

AI or (Artificial Intelligence) according to techopedia is defined thusly:

“Artificial intelligence (AI) is an area of computer science that emphasizes the creation of intelligent machines that work and react like humans. Some of the activities computers with artificial intelligence are designed for include:

• Speech recognition
• Learning
• Planning
• Problem solving”

Human beings often have a hard time imagining something they have never seen/heard before. When we are introduced to a new situation we often rely upon a previous experience to help us understand what is currently happening. I believe this is why people prefer to use “human” like AI rather than Logic based AI. This isn’t to say that I think people incapable of logic but more that as a society we rely on what we can understand easily rather than the logical thinking. People design AI with human tendencies because it is the easiest for us to understand, not only this, it is also easier for us as we know and understand the perspective of a human being.  When people think about AI they often think about “Hal” or “Skynet” and the fact of the matter is that this isn’t possible with our current technology and way of thinking. AI is currently incapable of being nothing more than a very clever illusion of persona or rational thought. Ai is very good for monitoring tasks and doing mundane jobs that a person might find boring/challenging ( such as overlook the digital ecosystem of a game.)

AI is often represented in mass media as something that is potentially dangerous and scary. Nearly every article I read after googling the term “Artificial Intelligence” showed results of how “deadly” AI will become in the future. People are often unaware that as impressive as AI is, it is not sentient and capable of free will. AI is not able to decide what it wants to do. The most important aspect when designing AI is the intent behind the design, as this intent will shape the decisions of the AI.  If mankind where to ever achieve true “strong” AI I think it would probably take the form of cybernetic engineering and body- computer integration. I think that we will probably end up augmenting ourselves to the point that “AI” and Intelligence would be one and the same. I think the consequence of humanity achieving a true AI would be the eventual destruction of humanity, either through annihilation or assimilation. Thankfully I do not believe that true AI is possible. I think that people are very good at anthropomorphising technology and applying more credit to a program that could be very simple. People are often a little disillusioned when they find out how AI actually works.

http://www.commitstrip.com/en/2017/06/07/ai-inside/

Sources

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/logic-ai/

http://people.eecs.berkeley.edu/~russell/intro.html

https://www.techopedia.com/definition/190/artificial-intelligence-ai

The indie scene is hardly a new thing. In fact the Indie scene was prevalent and thriving during the early 80’s. When games where being designed for early computers they were often simple games created by individuals at home. This is because there were hardly any game developing companies at the time and people were beginning to experiment and have fun with new technology.

They were distributed through magazines and “micro fairs” which were essentially trading fairs for designers to meet their player base and sell their games directly.
Shops never sold games at the time. You could either mail-order them programme them yourself or buy the tapes from the developers.

At the beginning of the 80’s there was an emergence of DIY attitude within society and people were experimenting with creating their own things. People were experimenting with home computing and the simplicity of the script language at the time meant that game development was quite accessible.

Jeff Minter is an Indie developer who started creating independent games commercially in 1981. He created games such “Attack of the Mutant Camels” and “Hover Bovver.” He has recently been working Polybius a shooting/ racing game that was released on Playstation in 2017. In 2014 he was working on something he called the “minotaur project” in which he would design games for IOS but in an old console style. This project unfortunately was an overall net loss but led Minter to the creation of Polybius.

Indie is far from new it would be fairer to say that it was the ignition for video games and due to online gaming markets that opened the accessibility for developers, is only recently making a comeback.

The development of mobile phone apps and online software such as steam has meant that Indie developers have a better chance at competing with large scale game companies. In recent years there has been a huge increase in the number of available indie games on the market. I think that the term Indie has become partially meaningless as it no longer applies to any game that is created independently. Indie has also become a style, a label.

I do not think Indie is completely meaningless as the term still applies to games that are independently created. On the other hand Indie is often a trendy term used by indie developers to help aid sales. Mainstream games often try to mimic indie game style to cash in on the indie movement. I also think that due to mass influx of Indie games on the market in such a short amount of time has created varied meanings of the word Indie. It can be a style, a descriptor or literally a buzzword used to get people excited.

Sources

http://tig.wikia.com/wiki/History_of_Independent_Games

http://www.minotaurproject.co.uk/frontpage.php

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=jeff+minter&rlz=1C1CHBD_en-GBGB771GB771&oq=jeff+minter&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.1536j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Game Concepts and narratives are often used in everyday life. Some of the best would be in Ice breakers and training for new jobs placements. Our brains are great at learning guidelines and rules if presented to us in the medium of a game.

I used to work in Waitrose and when training we often had pick your own adventure style training sessions. We were presented a situation and asked to respond appropriately. This was a great way to learn the policies and procedures of the company without any boring talks or meetings. The interaction was key in this instance. The use of games in this way also meant that people who are easily distracted or have a hard time reading and absorbing a lot of information could learn these rules quickly and easily.

Games are often used to assist in the forming of a group. When people are presented with a fun challenge they tend to bond together quickly and have fun. This means that they can each show their skills in a “safe” game environment with no consequence for failure.
With the invention of social media the gamification of the world became easier. Things like the Fitbit introduce a competitive, level based game into people lives and helps to motivate them to work out more to beat their friend’s score. This is known as Behavioural gamification, when a game is created with the intent to change people’s behaviour, another example of this is Pokémon GO which aimed to get people walking. Even in an app such as “Waze” (a popular social media sat nav) there is a level system and notification system. It actively rewards drivers for being part of the community and driving safely.

Games are not only used to entertain but also to recruit people. The U.S. Army has been using a “Virtual Army Experience” to facilitate the recruitment of new soldiers. Application forms now often feature multiple choice questions so that people can feel as though they are in a situation whilst answering.

Gamification is also used to facilitate change in the world. In 2009 a game was released by the University of Washington called “FoldIt.” This was an online puzzle game involving protein folding and uses a puzzle type interface to allow people from all over the world to manipulate and figure out various protein structures. Due to people competing with each other and a massive 240,000 player base the solution of the structure for M-PMV (Mason-Pfizer monkey virus: an AIDS causing virus) was found in 8 days. The game utilized people’s puzzle solving skills and did something in 8 days that scientists had been trying for 15 years.

In conclusion I feel that game concepts and interactive narratives are now a key part of modern learning styles and for a good reason. Games are an intuitive and fun way of learning new information and skills. They are also extremely important in a social aspect. They are used to get people to socialise and make daunting tasks seem more manageable.

Sources

http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.701.4161&rep=rep1&type=pdf

Top 10 Social Gamification Examples that will Literally Save the World

Click to access gamification.pdf