What do you see as the positives and negatives around copyright?

At this stage, the UK’s current copyright law is The Copyright Protection Act 1988 and it “allows the copyright owner to protect against others copying or reproducing their work.” (Copyright Licensing Agency, 2017). One of the biggest benefits of this is the idea of “Automatic Copyright” where anything published is instantly protected by copyright. This, however, creates a problem. Where everything is copyrighted, it makes it very difficult for anyone to create original work, or to avoid infringing on the copyright act when making something that they thought was their own. Another downside of this law is seeking the permission of the copyright holder to gain their permission for use. It can be very hard to find the copyright holder and could cost a lot of money. They might even say no, to which you have then spent a lot of time and money on something for no reward.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Copyright.svg

Another negative could be that it “can be expensive for the owner to enforce” (Schnotz, 2017). Say, for example, the owner’s work has been copied by a large business with a lot of money. They could find it difficult to take on such a company where they can spend a lot of money on lawyers to fight their case. An individual might not have this option and just have to accept what has happened. 

Is it possible to make anything new? 

Unfortunately, in today’s society, I don’t believe that it is possible for someone to create something new. What I mean by this is, I don’t feel that it’s possible to create something original as we are constantly being influenced by others work without even realising it. In video games,

However, in video games, it can be a little easier. Creating these games requires a large amount of programming, and the benefit of this is, there are lots of different ways to program a game. Different languages, different functions that do the same thing. It’s this code and the artwork that creates the “new game”. A great example of this is Flappy Bird. A game that exploded on the app market in 2013. With such a simple game, it was so easy for other developers to create “clones” of these games, without infringing on the copyright of the actual game. Just a simple search on the Google Play Store reveals many flappy bird clones: Blue Flying Bird, Happy Bird Pro, Flappy Bird.

Screenshot of Google Play Store after searching “Flappy bird”

With all work, it is hard to create something that is uninfluenced by anything. Although I don’t have a problem with this. I feel that it is good to be influenced by someone else’s work as it shows admiration. Act’s like the Creative Commons are brilliant for this as they allow for work to be used and adapted to create something new. Not only that, but it often supported by the original owner and they endorse the use of their work to create something they wouldn’t have thought of.

References

Copyright Licensing Agency. (2017). What is Copyright? | Copyright Licensing Agency. [online] Available at: https://www.cla.co.uk/what-is-copyright.

Schnotz, W. (2017). Pros & Cons of Copyright Laws. [online] Yourbusiness.azcentral.com. Available at: https://yourbusiness.azcentral.com/pros-cons-copyright-laws-5170.html.

Useful Links

https://play.google.com/store/apps/collection/search_results_cluster_apps?clp=ggENCgtmbGFwcHkgYmlyZA%3D%3D:S:ANO1ljKrca4

Behavioural modelling is an important part of NPC development for games. Should emotive modelling be part of that development?

Non-Player-Character development in a video game is vital for making a video game look and feel realistic and it’s down to how the NPC is designed that makes or breaks the game. Behavioural modelling is a research in “generating models of player behaviour and exploiting the models in actual play” (Bakkes, Spronck and van Lankveld, 2012). The idea of this Behavioural Modelling is paramount into making a realistic AI controlled NPC inside a video game. However, this part of the games design process only really focuses on the behaviour side of the NPC’s. In order for a really, in-depth non-player-character, emotive modelling is definitely something that should be considered, at least in my opinion. This would then let us change the emotions of the NPC’s and have their emotions affect the gameplay of the character.

Consider your favourite video game. If it contains AI-controlled agents how individualistic are they and their behaviours, and, how might you set about improving them?

I think that the Sims franchise is one that focuses a lot on the AI in the game, as this is to make the life simulator feel realistic. The most recent edition of the game, The Sims 4, introduces an “emotion” system that changes the sims mood, interactions and behaviour based on how they are feeling. From my own experiments, I’ve noticed that when the sim is sad, the sims walking becomes a lot more ‘sluggish’ and their face emotions are a lot more upset. I think that this works well in a game like The Sims as this really does make the player feel as if the actions they have, affected the sims on a much more personal level.

http://www.carls-sims-4-guide.com/gamepacks/parenthood/

The autonomy of the sims can be adjusted in the settings, however, if turned to the max, you can simply watch the sims do their own thing and live their life as if they were in control themselves. I feel as though this is an excellent way of demonstrating the AI in this game. For example, the sim understands it’s needs and will act upon them in a sensible way. If the sim was hungry, they’d get food from the fridge and if there is no food in the fridge, they’d make some – something that us humans do every day. We don’t just make food when we already have some to eat.

http://www.carls-sims-4-guide.com/tutorials/sims.php

I also feel as though each sim is very individual. Yes, at their core, each sim needs to eat, sleep, socialise etc, but their traits affect this. A vegetarian sim isn’t going to go and eat a meat dish on their own, that is up to the player to decide, and a sim with a musical mind would pick up a guitar and practice. I believe that all these mechanics create a realistic AI character and there isn’t much that I could say that needs to be improved. I could still say that the emotions of the sim still don’t really make a huge difference in the overall experience so that is something that could be worked on. What I mean by this is that The emotions of the sim are very basic (happy, sad, angry, worried) but these are only the top level emotions of a character and to make a character seem even more realistic, we could look into deeper feelings like loneliness and depression or fear as these could really create a fully realistic AI human inside a video game.

Bibliography

Bakkes, S., Spronck, P. and van Lankveld, G. (2012). Player behavioural modelling for video games.

Useful Links

https://www.ea.com/en-gb/games/the-sims/the-sims-4/pc/features/play-with-life

Example of a key concept of HCI, reflecting on the Human, Computer and the Interaction.

In the most basic form, human-computer interaction is the way humans use different devices to interact with a computer. This could be as simple as pressing a button on a washing machine or clicking something on a computer screen with a mouse. So if we break this concept down into its 3 core elements, the Human is using multiple senses before even interacting with the mouse. For example, the human can see which button to press, as well as hear the button being pressed and of course, feel the button being pressed. The mouse has been designed in such a way, however, that we don’t need to look at the mouse to click it as it has been designed for us to naturally rest our fingers over the buttons.

There are many other interactive devices that are used to control the computer, some of which can make the computer more accessible. Speech recognition can help computer users with restricted arm movement as they can speak to the computer to control the computer.

Discuss the relationship between this and Games Design

When we talk about HCI in games design, it can open up lots more possibilities for the player to interact with the computer. In a simple way, the player could use a controller to move their character. However, with the advancement of technology, we have been introduced into concepts such as augmented reality and virtual reality.

Virtual reality creates a whole new way of interacting with the computer that would completely immerse the player in the game they are playing. This comes with its problems, however, as the developers would have to break the norm and create an efficient and easy to understand UI and controls so that the player won’t have to break the immersion of the game. If the player doesn’t understand how they are supposed to navigate a UI or control the character, they would just simply not play the game, or at least opt for a Non-VR experience where the controls are set out in a (mostly) comfortable and efficient way.

Playstation VR headset, Controllers, Camera

In a virtual reality game, the player would wear a headset and often have controllers in their hands. The player can move their head to see around the game’s environment and use the controllers to interact with the game. The controllers often support motion control as well, creating an even more immersive experience for the player. The player still presses buttons on these controllers for interacting with objects in the game, but the main control of the game is done via motion controls from the controllers and the head movement.

Behavioral modelling is an important part of NPC development for games. Should emotive modelling be part of that development?

At the moment emotive modeling is still in an experimental stage and I think that it can be improved with time because at the moment some games use it to communicate emotions to the user, but the emotive modelling isn’t perfect yet, in games such as undertale the characters seem to have emotions that change due to your actions, for instance killing one of characters brother leads them to try and kill you near the end of the game making it a lot harder to complete the game this makes the player aware that they have made the NPC annoyed and that they are trying to avenge their brother which is pretty human like.

Consider your favorite video game. If it contains AI controlled agents how individualistic are they and there behaviors, and, how might you set about improving them?

GTA V will be my example for this and I believe that they NPC’s react in different ways in different situations, for instance the public will run away if you pull out a gun where as people in cars will drive away or may try and run you over, in the same instance police officers will start to shoot at you, another example would be that if you try to steal from a shop in GTA V some of the shop keepers will actually pull out guns others will give you the money I find that interesting, essentially each NPC has there own reaction in different scenarios depending on who they are this makes the game quite realistic and the NPC’s very individualistic, There aren’t many things to improve with the GTA V AI although sometimes the reactions of citizens makes no sense, for instance sometimes you will fire a gun and people will run towards you instead of running away which makes no sense.

Select one or two examples to discuss the future of human-computer interaction.

One example of human computer interaction would be the phone, over the years phones have become thinner and bigger, to fit the hand of the consumer, the whole point of HCI is so that the computer is intractable and therefore needs to be usable and simple for the user to understand, it should also be obvious what thing does what in a sense because usability is much more important than the design of the product. I think as the years go on the phone will become subject to more and more changes to make it more usable and easier to hold, although most phone in the past couple years have been almost the same, for instance the Iphone 6 and 7 are basically the same but the 7 has no headphone jack which just makes the product harder to use because you need to have apple earphones to use it, just like you need an apple charger making apple more money, whether or not phones are going in the correct direction is up to the consumer but I thing Samsung are sticking to the basic phone and improving it in a better way.

Discuss the application of user research methods in games design. Reflect upon the role of the games designer in this context. Can we anticipate player behavior?

We can anticipate player behavior, this can be seen in a lot of FPS games and in GTA where if the user is pointing the general direction of an enemy the the guns sight auto locks onto the enemy making it a lot easier to aim at them, there is also cases of this in the witcher 3 where if you are riding a horse it will stay on track as long as you move forward, which is not the case in most games where you would just go off track if you didn’t pay attention to the game, which in a way makes the game less enjoyable in my opinion because things like fast travel and auto travel just make it so that the player cant explore, but instead is just taken from mission to mission without actually being able to emerge themselves in the world that the creators of the game put time into developing, overall i believe we can anticipate player behavior but some times its better to just let the player be.

Choose one of the indie designers / developers and outline why there work and approach is of interest to you.

The indie designer I have chosen is Toby Fox for his work on Undertale, he stood out to me because he created the entire game alone along with a full sound track and graphics, although the graphics in the game aren’t the best for a game that came out in 2015, the whole game was made in the game engine “Game maker: Studio” and is available on multiple platforms including PS4, PS Vita and PC. I found it really interesting that he wanted to develop a role playing game that was different to the standard RPG that he said he found boring, he wanted likable and interesting characters and that “utilizes the medium as a storytelling device … instead of having the story and game play abstractions be completely separate”. Another thing that I like about Toby is that he decided to work on his game independently to avoid relying on others, this may have been the reason that the game took 2.7 years to create but I respect him for making the entire game independently. He even said that if he where to have an entire art team the character design would stay the same because he found that “there’s a psychological thread that says audiences become more attached to characters drawn simply rather than in detail” which I found very interesting.

(Toby Fox in top pic)

What do you think could be one of the most exciting indie projects that are in development?

One of the most exciting indie projects in development for me is probably TUNIC which is supposed to be released in 2018, not much about the game is known at the moment but after watching some clips of the game and an interview with the developer Andrew Shouldice, I am excited to play the game when it is released, it is a gorgeous Zelda type adventure game with the main character being a fox, There is only one trailer from E3 last year and the graphics look stunning, the game play smooth and the mechanics of the character seem to be fast and smooth from the trailer, although some games like No mans sky have made up things about there games at E3 and other game events so its best to not get your hopes too high. Essentially the game is about a small fox in a big world who is exploring the wilderness, discovering spooky ruins and fighting creatures from long ago, its soon to be released on most platforms such as PS4 XBOX ONE and PC.

As a student that has come straight from college these essay like blog tasks were honestly rather mundane to write. although i enjoyed the lectures and i do genuinely have an interest in the topics i didn’t feel like any of the questions really stood out as something i was instantly excited to go off and research. i found myself looking at the questions asking myself which ones i could write the quickest and with the least amount of required references. i also initially thought that the 500 word limit might be an issue but i found myself running out of interesting things to say on the questions bar giving an opinion that i’m not sure where  it originated from, and without a ‘credible source’ i felt like i almost wasn’t allowed to say it.

during my process i took notes during the lecture (and proceeded to completely ignore them when actually writing the posts). i also took my time management very (not at all) seriously ensuring i completed all of the tasks in reasonable time (2 hours before the deadline). I made good use (none at all) of the resources available to me in the library and also made use of the recorded sessions to give myself a reminder of the details of the lecture (i actually did this one)

the subjects that i found most interesting were AI and HCI. the lectures re-enforced my existing understanding  of the subjects and gave me a new way to look at them and more resources to learn about them.  something i researched more in my own time was HCI for disabled gamers. i was already familiar with the charity special effect who create custom control systems for disabled gamers and I spent a good amount of time pursuing this interest (admittedly to the detriment of my sleep). 

I found the referencing seriously confusing at times and i’m almost certain i’ve done it wrong however i am happy to blame the fact that we were only told how to go about it a few weeks before the deadline and that gave us very little time to go back and add or adapt it.

I am going to be honest and say i didn’t enjoy this project however i do respect that it is something to get us to show our understanding and it is important for us to know how to go about writing in an essay format. I can’t say i made a great effort on these but i’m fairly sure of my understanding of the topics. if i were to repeat the task i would like to spend more time talking with the lecturers and finding where they got the information for the lectures they provided. i think if i were to do that i would have a considerable amount more to talk about and with that more to research and find interest in.

A) what do you see as the positive and negatives around copyright?

Copyright encourages and discourages people from making new work.  It would be impossible not to appreciate others work and be inspired by it, in a world where people can sometimes make the most enjoyable things; like music. The copyright law makes sure that work isn’t stolen or used in ways the creator did not want. Copyright does however have an expiration date of 70 years for music, film and art, or 50 for sound recordings. This is great for original creators as they can own it for most of their lifetime, and also gain whatever profit comes from it. The copyright law also applies to businesses and companies that hire talent or are in the creative business. Workers in these businesses feel safe to produce work as it is under a well-known label that would fight for the ownership of property.

On the other hand, inspiration from other artists should not make people copy an art style, but help them to find their own. This is why copyright is important. Without copyright work can be stole, claimed and profited from. Many frauds have done this to work mainly in music and art, but there are other instances like personal photos and fake profiles which can be very dangerous. Even distorting and changing an image would be classified as illegal under the copyright law.

Unfortunately, as electronics evolve it is harder and harder to depict these copyright laws and even harder to claim rights. Recently, the media on the internet has been reviewed and many think that certain websites should be pay-to-see, as profits are being lost. As this may be good for certain businesses I think it will stop that freedom of what you can view on the internet.

B) is it possible to make anything new?

With all the changing technology it is most definitely possible to make new things. even using old technology or materials there are so many avenues to explore. Buildings, people, architecture , history and so much more. As it is getting harder to create original ideas I feel like people should take extra care regarding the copyright of their creations, or be willing to let them fly around the world wide web.

If character work was influenced by a certain person is it copyright? Is it sharing their personal identity by using their behaviour, looks or personality? Mythical creatures have became one of the best examples of how something can influence a whole world in which other stories, artworks and perspectives are made. Dungeons and dragons, being an imagination based game allowed other games to make up their own characters and landscapes from what was being described,

I think that all work can be used as influence and inspiration as long as no original copy is used, changed or sold under different circumstances. Creators that don’t allow others to expand on their ideas are limiting the creative industry for selfish purposes.

sources:

smallbusniess.chron.com

www.crosswalk.com/blogs

What do you see as the positives and negatives around copyright?:
I see the protection of your own creations as a positive of copyright. As a game developer, knowing that all of my assets are safe, ensures that I can do what I want with them. I don’t want someone ripping a mesh from my game and using it in their own for free, without anything being done about it.
Something that I am seeing a lot lately, especially in the world of video games is law suits. Big companies suing smaller ones for names, people suing company’s for compensations due to their game affecting them, company’s suing cheaters, etc. To me, it seems that they are just doing it as a money grab. They seem to try and find any excuse to sue someone just to get money.

Is it possible to make anything new?:
Yes it is.
In video game terms, I don’t think a yes or no answer will suffice.
Every now and then there comes a great game; ‘Bioshock’, ‘Witcher’, ‘Dark Souls’. But only one of them is unique. In that example it is ‘Dark Souls’. Yes it’s an action RPG, but they have taken that and made it unique by adding a classic arcade twist to it, where when you die, you restart. A simply twist, but that is all it takes to make that game unique and loveable.
I do not think that there is ways to make game mechanics that are truly original and never done before these days. Everything has been done. But, I feel that making a unique game is not unheard of these days, as my above example shows; taking a standard game and adding your own twist to it. Or, merging two games together.
“I really wanted to create a narrative-led game that mixes elements of open-world adventure with point-and-click titles.” (Hartup, 2017) This is exactly what I am talking about, merging genres together, to create new genres. It creates great results!
It only seems to be indie developers that are trying this method though. I rarely seems amazed by big company produced games, as they are always the same rubbish copied and pasted every year to drag in more wallets to keep their companies a-float. I think it the bigger companies put their time and money into making games that were more unique it would change up the current market. It would force other developers to do it too, producing more fun and different games for use to play.

Bibliography:
Hartup, A. (2017). Zelda meets Twin Peaks in… Falling Sky, the game you’ve never heard of, made by one person, and up for one of gaming’s top awards. [online] gamesradar. Available at: http://www.gamesradar.com/zelda-meets-twin-peaks-in-falling-sky-the-game-youve-never-heard-of-made-by-one-person-and-up-for-one-of-gamings-top-awards/ [Accessed 6 Dec. 2017].

Some definitions state that AI is when a system thinks/acts like a human and other definitions state that it is when a system thinks/acts rationally. Why do you suppose AI developers wish to hold up human intelligence as a standard rather than pure logic?:
I think they do this because we are the “smartest” species we know. Nothing on the planet can compete with our intelligence, so comparing something that we are trying to make intelligent is the easiest comparison we can do.
I think it also has this competition sort of component to it. This competition revolves around whoever can program an artificial intelligence that can mimic human intelligence the best. And that’s all.
In terms of video games, I think this has its place. Especially for characters in games that are human. So giving them an AI that one could compare to an actual human seems logical. But, for other NPC’s in games, I don’t think this is the best. For example an animal or alien. For the animal the AI should just act in a highly logical way, as they do in real life, but we shouldn’t be able to perceive it as smart or stupid in the game, we should be able to compare it to an animal.
Now the alien; this is something that I think could act in either a smart way, or a logical way similar to the animal AI. This is because it is something that has no real comparison in the real world, therefore can act in the game however the developer wants.

A lot of people are scared by the prospective of AI. What do you think would be the ramifications of us achieving true “strong” AI?:
Personally I think those people are overreacting. The whole “AI’s are gonna take over the world” thing is stupid and has no research/proof backing it. Humans will always be smarter than AI’s, end of.
However, I think that in time, a long time, there could be a sort of… freedom to how an AI could work. For example, it would be able to actually communicate to humans, rather than being programmed to say things. This would be something that would really advance media such as games and movies. If the NPC you were talking to in a game, was actually talking to you, in its own words. That would be like entering a new world.
So far, these are all positive things. There would definitely be negative effects from this type of advancement. The programming time, especially to implement into a game, would probably be ridiculous thus making the development process of games take even longer.
The AI’s could eventually be changed to be used with things such as windows, it already has Cortana who likes to annoy you every update, but imagine if Cortana could actually talk herself, and you couldn’t just simply turn her off. She is the only way to use the computer.
“Unfortunately, there will always be limits of AI, which is why Grobman states that human-machine teams will be key to solving increasingly complex cybersecurity challenges” (Kh, 2017)
It is already being implemented into security at an early state like this. But image a future where someone could hack into the AI of a bank, then they gain full control of the bank. It could make cyber terrorists, criminals, etc operate more frequently and with more ease.

Bibliography:
Kh, R. (2017). How AI is the Future of Cybersecurity. [online] Infosecurity Magazine. Available at: https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/next-gen-infosec/ai-future-cybersecurity/ [Accessed 6 Dec. 2017].