The HTI2 journey has been an eye-opening journey that has taught me many lessons. It has also been a journey that was tumultuous, confusing and sometimes frustrating.
The journey was interesting for me because HTI2, like HTI1, explored many philosophical topics that were of benefit to me as a game designer. The exploration of these topics has opened my eyes to many issues about the outside world and about myself that I would not have known otherwise. The HTI2 journey has also forced me to think about and understand many issues—most notably creative thinking—that I would not have otherwise did on my own. Some of these issues have actually influenced my design philosophy on games and design and helped me make better designs, especially the thought provoking issues about creativity.
The frustration that I have faced on the journey was, for one, to the very open-ended nature of the lessons, as it has given me much difficulty when it came to completing my assignments. As the requirements were very open-ended, I had much difficulty in determining the scope of many assignments, worrying that too small a scope would compromise my grades, while too big a scope would stress me out. Assignments that were given out were also very large in scope—the creativity game and the novums were all works that needed a lot of effort and time if a quality piece of work was to come out of them. I would often find myself in frustration doing these assignments as I would be unable to make these works at the level of quality I envision them to be due to the sheer scope of these assignments. I have a little perfectionist streak in me in that I cannot tolerate work that falls below a certain quality, and yet HTI2 often forces me to hand in work which I consider subpar because of time constraints. HTI1 was a better experience for me simply because it requested work of smaller scope, allowing me to make sure that the works which I hand in are of a certain quality standard.
I believe that having assignments that are smaller in scope will allow for a better HTI2 experience not just for me, but for everyone. I often find that HTI2 is trying to achieve too much given the amount of time. Take, for instance, the cramping of the Creativity Game project and the Novums project all into one semester. If only one project was chosen as the assignment, with many checkpoints given to students across the semester, the final product would have been a much better one for everyone as we will be able to focus on them more.
I feel that there should also be a clearer HTI2 “plan”. The one that we have worked with this year was a little vague in terms of what content we were exploring at the moment.
That said, HTI2 was still a beneficial journey for me. The “softness” of it made me independent in terms of my own learning and planning, and the assignments have made me better in determining the suitable scope of my projects given a certain timeline.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Integral Theory
The Integral Theory is a very interesting approach of looking at human psychology. It breaks down human perception of the world into many different components and subcomponents, using a very methodical approach to study these different components. While I cannot fully grasp the Integral Theory, the rough idea I have of how it works resonates with my perception of the world.
At its very core, the Integral Theory posits that humans have different states of perceiving the world, and that certain experiences can change these states that they have. This accounts for why children have such a vastly different way of seeing the world from adults, and it accounts for the vastly different ways adults handle themselves. The Integral Theory can also be applied to specific subjects, exploring how people perceive these things in different levels of perception and thought.
It would be interesting to apply this theory to HTI2, and I believe successful application of this theory will make it clearer what can be done to make this module more effective as a whole. The problem, I feel, is which approach does the Integral Theory approach HTI2 from? We first need to find the root of all the branches of the topics that HTI2 explores. If there could be one word that represents HTI2, what would it be? This would be the word with which we should explore the Integral Theory with.
While my understanding of the Integral Theory is limited, I feel that this theory, if applied correctly, sheds light on many things psychological. It breaks things down to a very elementary level where we can see things very clearly.
At its very core, the Integral Theory posits that humans have different states of perceiving the world, and that certain experiences can change these states that they have. This accounts for why children have such a vastly different way of seeing the world from adults, and it accounts for the vastly different ways adults handle themselves. The Integral Theory can also be applied to specific subjects, exploring how people perceive these things in different levels of perception and thought.
It would be interesting to apply this theory to HTI2, and I believe successful application of this theory will make it clearer what can be done to make this module more effective as a whole. The problem, I feel, is which approach does the Integral Theory approach HTI2 from? We first need to find the root of all the branches of the topics that HTI2 explores. If there could be one word that represents HTI2, what would it be? This would be the word with which we should explore the Integral Theory with.
While my understanding of the Integral Theory is limited, I feel that this theory, if applied correctly, sheds light on many things psychological. It breaks things down to a very elementary level where we can see things very clearly.
Beauty and Aesthetics
The issue of beauty is a very interesting subject. Beauty is a word that we take for granted and use all too often. We know its meaning from a very young age, but when asked to define the qualities of beauty, many people have a difficult time doing so.
In my opinion, beauty is simply a word that exists because we are humans and have instincts. As living things wired a certain way due to evolution, we have been made to like certain things because these things would ensure our survival best. We are wired to go after certain people with qualities that we find “beautiful”, for example, because these are the qualities of healthy people who are most capable of reproducing.
I hold the belief that things we find beautiful adhere to something called the Golden Ratio. That is, they are consisted of proportions that adhere to the ratio of 1:1.618. A perfect human body, as illustrated by Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man, has many instances of the Golden Ratio, and humans with proportions close to Golden Ratios in their proportions are those that we find the most beautiful. This appreciation for the Golden Ratio extends to the things around us beyond humans. The plants that we find beautiful adhere to the Golden Ratio in certain of their proportions, and the gadgets around us that we find beautiful or pleasing to look at are mostly designed to adhere to the Golden Ratio in their proportions.
Culture also has a role to play in our determination of beauty. From young, we are exposed to many memes which determine our preferences in life. These different memes determine how we look at the world around us and perceive things. These different perceptions give rise to different views on what beauty is.
That said, I believe that there are things that humans find universally beautiful, as we are all still humans and are very similarly wired. The perfect or ideal human body, for example, is something that many humans find beautiful, and it is something that is often explored in art. We find human bodies beautiful because it is evolutionarily advantageous—humans are social creatures, and finding humans with ideal proportions is an evolutionary advantage because it helps us befriend the healthy and mate with the healthy to ensure that our lineage continues.
In my opinion, beauty is simply a word that exists because we are humans and have instincts. As living things wired a certain way due to evolution, we have been made to like certain things because these things would ensure our survival best. We are wired to go after certain people with qualities that we find “beautiful”, for example, because these are the qualities of healthy people who are most capable of reproducing.
I hold the belief that things we find beautiful adhere to something called the Golden Ratio. That is, they are consisted of proportions that adhere to the ratio of 1:1.618. A perfect human body, as illustrated by Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man, has many instances of the Golden Ratio, and humans with proportions close to Golden Ratios in their proportions are those that we find the most beautiful. This appreciation for the Golden Ratio extends to the things around us beyond humans. The plants that we find beautiful adhere to the Golden Ratio in certain of their proportions, and the gadgets around us that we find beautiful or pleasing to look at are mostly designed to adhere to the Golden Ratio in their proportions.
Culture also has a role to play in our determination of beauty. From young, we are exposed to many memes which determine our preferences in life. These different memes determine how we look at the world around us and perceive things. These different perceptions give rise to different views on what beauty is.
That said, I believe that there are things that humans find universally beautiful, as we are all still humans and are very similarly wired. The perfect or ideal human body, for example, is something that many humans find beautiful, and it is something that is often explored in art. We find human bodies beautiful because it is evolutionarily advantageous—humans are social creatures, and finding humans with ideal proportions is an evolutionary advantage because it helps us befriend the healthy and mate with the healthy to ensure that our lineage continues.
Pirate’s Dilemma
One of the most interesting contemporary issues today is the Pirate’s Dilemma, which is, simply put, an issue surrounding modern day piracy. Piracy is, simply put, an unauthorised use of a certain service or product whose legal rights belong to someone else. The most common form of piracy would be the unauthorised distribution of media online by pirates.
At first sight, piracy seems to be an issue with a very simple solution—dealing with the pirates. There are however, many underlying issues and repercussions surrounding it, as the world has actually run on piracy for ages and reaped benefits from it.
Piracy, while illegal and unethical, has actually been the vessel of innovation for many of today’s technologies. Apple’s iTunes, for example, was inspired by the previously pirate method of posting media online for download. Piracy shows us new ways of doing things—new shortcuts. It pioneers technologies that improve the modern world—technologies that might not have existed if piracy hadn’t existed.
Piracy also helps push development of technology that might have otherwise been halted by the sometimes ridiculous copyright laws of today. Human development has always been about people taking the innovation of others and making it better—something that copyright laws of today are severely prohibiting, as companies and manufacturers of top-end products today sign patents and request laws to provide them with the unique privilege to manufacture their products. Piracy, as it works outside the hands of the law, allows the continued development of this product.
Piracy also exposes people to forms of art and media who might not have used them otherwise. The high cost of some of these forms of media means that have it not been for piracy, most of these media will not have reached a significant amount of their audience. As much as piracy infringes on the rights of the creators of these media, they also help the media reach a very wide audience.
The Pirate’s Dilemma is an interesting issue that is very relevant, not only to game designers, but to innovators all around the world. As designers, we need to understand the influence of piracy and how to use their influences to our advantage.
At first sight, piracy seems to be an issue with a very simple solution—dealing with the pirates. There are however, many underlying issues and repercussions surrounding it, as the world has actually run on piracy for ages and reaped benefits from it.
Piracy, while illegal and unethical, has actually been the vessel of innovation for many of today’s technologies. Apple’s iTunes, for example, was inspired by the previously pirate method of posting media online for download. Piracy shows us new ways of doing things—new shortcuts. It pioneers technologies that improve the modern world—technologies that might not have existed if piracy hadn’t existed.
Piracy also helps push development of technology that might have otherwise been halted by the sometimes ridiculous copyright laws of today. Human development has always been about people taking the innovation of others and making it better—something that copyright laws of today are severely prohibiting, as companies and manufacturers of top-end products today sign patents and request laws to provide them with the unique privilege to manufacture their products. Piracy, as it works outside the hands of the law, allows the continued development of this product.
Piracy also exposes people to forms of art and media who might not have used them otherwise. The high cost of some of these forms of media means that have it not been for piracy, most of these media will not have reached a significant amount of their audience. As much as piracy infringes on the rights of the creators of these media, they also help the media reach a very wide audience.
The Pirate’s Dilemma is an interesting issue that is very relevant, not only to game designers, but to innovators all around the world. As designers, we need to understand the influence of piracy and how to use their influences to our advantage.
Freudian Theory
The Freudian theory is an interesting psychoanalytical theory that holds resonance to my observations of human behaviour and psychology.
In the simplest terms, the Freudian theory posits primarily that the human personality consists of three components—the id, the ego and the superego. A good imagery representation of these three components would be the frequent scenario in cartoons where a character has to make a moral decision and has a devilish and an angelic version of himself pop up on his shoulders, with both sides trying to influence his final decision. The devil side of the character always tries to persuade the character to make the decision based on his desires, representing the id, while the angel side always tries to persuade the character to make the decision based on what is morally right, representing the superego. The ego is represented by the character himself—the vessel of logical reasoning and connection to the world. I like to call the angel-devil scenario the devil-self-angel scenario.
The devil-self-angel scenario, while always presented in an extremely comical context, holds a lot of relevance to the decision-making process of a human. While most of us won’t admit, there is no denying that humans are constantly tempted by their desires and are allured by decisions that appeal to their desires. Then, there are the moments when we feel guilt for succumbing to our desires because they go against our morals. Our consciousness—our ego—is always following either the id or the superego.
The Freudian theory is useful to the game designer because it allows him to craft decisions in his games so that it is difficult for the player to decide one or the other at a glance. These kinds of decisions are meaningful because they are resonant of the decisions that we make in life everyday, and they have the capability to make the game more meaningful and deep for the player.
In the simplest terms, the Freudian theory posits primarily that the human personality consists of three components—the id, the ego and the superego. A good imagery representation of these three components would be the frequent scenario in cartoons where a character has to make a moral decision and has a devilish and an angelic version of himself pop up on his shoulders, with both sides trying to influence his final decision. The devil side of the character always tries to persuade the character to make the decision based on his desires, representing the id, while the angel side always tries to persuade the character to make the decision based on what is morally right, representing the superego. The ego is represented by the character himself—the vessel of logical reasoning and connection to the world. I like to call the angel-devil scenario the devil-self-angel scenario.
The devil-self-angel scenario, while always presented in an extremely comical context, holds a lot of relevance to the decision-making process of a human. While most of us won’t admit, there is no denying that humans are constantly tempted by their desires and are allured by decisions that appeal to their desires. Then, there are the moments when we feel guilt for succumbing to our desires because they go against our morals. Our consciousness—our ego—is always following either the id or the superego.
The Freudian theory is useful to the game designer because it allows him to craft decisions in his games so that it is difficult for the player to decide one or the other at a glance. These kinds of decisions are meaningful because they are resonant of the decisions that we make in life everyday, and they have the capability to make the game more meaningful and deep for the player.
The First Semester: A Super-entry
As I have written extensively on each of the issues explored on my blog in the first semester, this super-summary of first semester’s blog entry will touch on the topics explored in a very general and summarised way.
The topics that were explored in semester one could all be described in a very short phrase: exploring the abstractions of creativity. The topics that we’ve all explored, from semiotics to tetrads and psychology, were all topics that got us to explore the world of ideas, and how to dig deeper to get more ideas out of them.
Take semiotics for example, which taught about icons and symbols being representations of an idea. The lesson had us looking out for symbols in a different, more emotional way. Instead of interpreting symbols, semiotics taught us to feel the ideas associated with the symbol. It opened up a new way of thinking for me.
McLuhan’s Tetrads, to me, is an extension of what semiotics taught. While semiotics was about finding the idea, Tetrad taught about expanding the ideas. To me, tetrads and semiotics were two different topics that had similar methods of approach. Both were very abstract, and they had you thinking about things beyond the material in very similar ways.
Tetrads and semiotics were like preparation for our minds as we constantly learnt about how to further our bounds of creativity throughout the semester. They set the “mood” for our minds and allowed us to explore our creativity in the right mindset as creative methods were exposed to us later in the semester.
All in all, the first semester was a good ride in the realm of the abstract that exposed to me creative methods that I would otherwise have not learnt. It helped me break certain creative boundaries that will certainly help me as a game designer in the future.
The topics that were explored in semester one could all be described in a very short phrase: exploring the abstractions of creativity. The topics that we’ve all explored, from semiotics to tetrads and psychology, were all topics that got us to explore the world of ideas, and how to dig deeper to get more ideas out of them.
Take semiotics for example, which taught about icons and symbols being representations of an idea. The lesson had us looking out for symbols in a different, more emotional way. Instead of interpreting symbols, semiotics taught us to feel the ideas associated with the symbol. It opened up a new way of thinking for me.
McLuhan’s Tetrads, to me, is an extension of what semiotics taught. While semiotics was about finding the idea, Tetrad taught about expanding the ideas. To me, tetrads and semiotics were two different topics that had similar methods of approach. Both were very abstract, and they had you thinking about things beyond the material in very similar ways.
Tetrads and semiotics were like preparation for our minds as we constantly learnt about how to further our bounds of creativity throughout the semester. They set the “mood” for our minds and allowed us to explore our creativity in the right mindset as creative methods were exposed to us later in the semester.
All in all, the first semester was a good ride in the realm of the abstract that exposed to me creative methods that I would otherwise have not learnt. It helped me break certain creative boundaries that will certainly help me as a game designer in the future.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
A Status Update
In terms of work, the holidays were badly spent. Except for HTI, I did very little work for school. My portfolio was touched--I attempted many things, but few things concrete came out. Studio was not touched at all.
This slack that I had is now coming to haunt me. Now I have alot to catch up on studio and some more on portfolio. With an interim around the corner and a portfolio review at around the same time, I'm having serious problems keeping everything up in the air. Hopefully this will go well.
The other modules are relatively light at the moment. Although everything is going to ramp up very soon. 4 weeks. I will have to slog my heart out to keep my 4 GPA and get into GABMIT.
This slack that I had is now coming to haunt me. Now I have alot to catch up on studio and some more on portfolio. With an interim around the corner and a portfolio review at around the same time, I'm having serious problems keeping everything up in the air. Hopefully this will go well.
The other modules are relatively light at the moment. Although everything is going to ramp up very soon. 4 weeks. I will have to slog my heart out to keep my 4 GPA and get into GABMIT.
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