Semiotics and the World of Ideas

Go to the net and do some research on the Structuralists, and get familiar with some of the ideas they have expounded. How are these ideas useful to you as a game designer?

Structuralists, simply, are people who approach the study of human science by attempting to analyse a specific field of human life (e.g. mythology, linguistics) as a complex system of interrelated parts.

As a designer, I think that the structuralist way of looking at the world has provided me with valuable insight as it reveals to me another paradigm with which to look at the world at. Understanding how to see the world from different viewpoints helps me to reach a greater understanding of human culture as a whole, which is always beneficial to me as a games designer, seeing that an integral part of games designing is creating new experiences for the users.

I do think, however, that the structuralist's way of thinking can be detrimental to creativity in certain instances, because structuralism seems to me as though it has an unhealthy obsession with finding patterns in things. Some aspects of humanity can never be quantified--at least not by humans themselves--and this is what structuralists seem to be trying very hard to do (in my opinion).

Compare the idea of an idea, from a "normal" point of view, as opposed to the idea of an idea, according to Semiotics.

In society, an idea is often met with positivity. Ideas are associated with intellect and creativity, and people who put out ideas on a regular basis are usually seen as more capable than their more mellow peers. We forget that the idea can be preceded by the word "bad". That being said, my idea of an idea, expressed in as layman a way as possible, is this: a conception of an something based on prior understanding of the subject or subjects at hand. The semiotic take of an idea is probably not very much different; from my understanding, their take on it is that an idea is something that can be signified by signs (i.e. expressed in language, pictorials, etc.)

How are metaphors useful to your work? What are some metaphors that you are familiar with, know of, or use, in your daily life? Illustrate 3 metaphors in your Blog Journal.

Metaphors are useful in helping us imply certain ideas or invoke certain imagery in the minds of people who are playing my games. The human mind is something that enjoys inserting its own inputs into the things it perceives. In the case of games, having metaphors in a game causes the human mind to have more of an attachment to the game, as giving out messages in metaphorical form forces the mind to "fill in the blanks", making it feel a sense of belonging to the game. Using metaphors to give out messages also gives more depth and intrigue to the messages being sent out.

Metaphors also pervade our society--it is almost universally accepted, for example, that roses represent love and passion; that lions represent pride and strength; and that monkeys represent mischief.

On paper, conceptualise an Idea Map to map out the scope and limit of your own knowledge, not just of play/gaming, but of the larger known world of ideas. What are the Peaks and Valleys in your Idea World? What are the Swamps of uncertainties and Stormy seas of the unknown? Explore this world and journal your thoughts on this journey.

Upon drafting out an idea map, I've realised that the scope of my knowledge of this world can be categorised into three groups: knowledge of social issues and workings, conventional science and awareness of spirituality. I'll expound on each of these.

Knowledge of social issues and workings basically encompasses what its name implies--how well versed one is when it comes to interacting and dealing with people, and how much one knows about the events happening around us, both locally and globally. I like to think that when it comes to interacting with people, I'm quite aware of the various subtleties behind human communication, like the little nuances of body language. I can be, on many instances, aware of what people are thinking when they are communicating with me, though I have to admit that when it comes to dealing with difficult people and situations, I am lacking. I am also pretty oblivious to worldly events, except the most significant ones, like the recent swine flu affair.

Knowledge of conventional science is basically the understanding of how our world works--physics, chemistry and biology. Out of all of the conventional sciences, I am most fluent with physics, having a rather clear understanding of the ideas behind Newtonian mechanics, Albert Einstein's relativity, and a little bit of quantum mechanics. My scope of knowledge for chemistry isn't as advanced, though I do possess understanding of basic chemical methods and how they work. I have to say though, my grasp of the ideas of convential science does not go deep--for most cases, I only know their concepts, and am unable to apply their formulae to derive answers (except for Newtonian mechanics).

Awareness of spirituality refers to how much understanding one possesses of the world's variety of religions, and why people seek them so. The reason why I titled this category "awareness of spirituality" instead of simply "understading of religions" is because religions all offer pretty much the same thing--a source of happiness that is independent of the happenings of our world; something which everyone needs. I have explored this aspect of life quite abit and learnt much about religion as a result. While I do not claim to know very much about religions, I can safely say that most of the mainstream religions in the world point towards the same thing in different ways; and what is this thing that they point to, you ask? It points to achieving a state of mind that can be at peace regardless of what the everchanging wolrd around us brings.