Read this article
In his work, In the Beginning was the Command Line, Neil Stephenson sought to critique the world of operating systems in the world around him. With the seemingly exponential speed with which the operating systems had evolved after the article’s publication in 1999, another writer and programmer, Garrett Birkel, produced an annotated version in 2004. Birkel left the main text unchanged but produced notes to give updated information. For his contribution Birkel sought to clarify or built upon a number of the metaphors that Stephenson had utilized. Birkel also uses the opportunity to disagree with Stephenson and takes Stephenson to task for assumptions that smell of bias. One major theme of Stephenson’s article is concerned with giving a brief personal history of operating systems. He relates his high school experiences working on a teletype, a device that connected to a computer via a phone line. From there the computer technology evolved to incorporate monitors that support Graphical User Interfaces (or GUIs.) He relates the importance of this change by emphasizing the shift from command driven navigation to users relying on seemingly inane computer icons to navigate programs. Stephenson goes on shares his positive and negative personal experiences with a variety of computers and operating systems. It is in this context that he devotes special attention to the issues surrounding the various operating systems that computer users have to choose from. He paints Microsoft as being on the beginning of a death march, due to its “bug” filled software releases and its business model centering on selling intangible products (Microsoft’s operating systems) that are comparable to those that are offered online for free. Stephenson uses his critique of Microsoft to espouse the benefits of the Free Software operating system Linux. Stephenson considers Linux superior in terms of its power, malleability to knowledgeable users, and the community of Linux users working openly for a common good. As Stephenson continues he writes broadly about the nature of operating systems and the pro and cons they hold over their users.
The importance of Stephenson’s essay lies in his use of a variety of metaphors to make complex ideas accessible. Though according to Birkel the metaphors can be ill fitting, Stephenson is able to examine the issues surrounding operating systems, particularly how consumers view operating systems in the “Car Lots” metaphor. The importance of Stephenson’s article is also shown by his ability to ask the right questions. For example he examines why the general population tends to pay for Microsoft’s while there are free alternatives that are widely available. He does not simply accept Microsoft’s position in the P.C. market as something to be passively accepted by P.C. users, but encourages his readers to explore a variety of operating systems to find what will be beneficial to them. He utilizes his knowledge and experience gained from years of working on and around computers to cause his readers to ask meaningful questions about how they relate to their operating systems. It is these questions that may lead users to take a more active role in how they approach their computers and perhaps choose an operating system that leads them down a more difficult path that ultimately yields greater freedoms. In addition Birkel’s contributions in the form of his annotated version cannot be over looked. By updating the piece Birkel didn’t simply maintain its accuracy but demonstrated a sometimes insightful differing opinion, continuing Stephenson’s example of thinking critically about the pros and cons of the various operating systems. In the end it is Birkel who emphasizes most clearly the importance of valuing a computer and the time spent working on it through the filter of, “Its (the operating systems) ability to help me get my work done.” The article also serves as an important role in its function as a brief history of computer interfaces and how they are in a continual state of change. This history also allows for those that have little familiarity with the various operating systems to have a better understanding of computer subcultures they may have never learned about otherwise.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Friday, February 19, 2010
Pay No Attention to the Gamer Behind the Curtain
Bissell, Tom. “The Grammar of Fun.” The New Yorker. Condé Nast Digital,
Nov 2008. Web. 16 Feb. 2010.
Read this article
In Tom Bissell’s The Grammar of Fun, the reader is given an inside look at the inner workings of a videogame company as well as a profile of one of the most recognizable figures in modern gaming. In November 2008 Bissell was given the opportunity to spend time in the office of Epic Games prior to the release of their highly anticipated sequel to Gears of War. The original game had been both a critical and commercial success for the team at Epic, selling over five million copies. Bissell captures the commercial success in the beginning of the article. On standing in Epic’s parking lot, he writes, “Ten feet away was a red Hummer H3. Nearby was a Lotus Elise, and next to it a pumpkin-orange Porsche.” The atmosphere at Epic is unlike what one would expect from a multi-million dollar company, what Bissell calls, “…a kind of low-key egalitarianism.” None of the corporate staples such as assigned parking spaces or fancy corner offices are present. Near the center of this unorthodox business is the main creative director for Epic games, Cliff Bleszinski, or CliffyB, as he is affectionately known in the realms of gamers and videogame journalists. Bleszinski is one of the few recognizable figures in the world of game design and Bissell takes his readers back to Bleszinski’s early life to reveal how he became a game designer. Bleszinski was what his mother called a “unique child…the most difficult, but he was difficult because he was the most inquisitive.” Had it not been for the death of his father at age 15, Bleszinski may have taken another path in life. Bleszinski says, “If he (his father) hadn’t passed, he probably would have made me go to Northeastern and become an engineer.” In the following years Bleszinski developed the skills to make rudimentary video games and submitted them to videogame companies. As a teen Bleszinski’s talent was recognized by Tim Sweeney, Epic’s C.E.O. Sweeney hired Bleszinski to review games and suggest improvements. It was this early job experience that gave Bleszinski the creative know-how to push the design of Gears of War and its successor to have an almost universal appeal among gamers.
Tom Bissell goes where few writers have gone. While movies and other entertainment media have their pop-culture figures, those that create videogames are to a large degree behind the scenes. Bissell addresses this point, writing, “Despite the rapid growth of the video-game industry—last year, sales were higher than either box-office receipts or DVD sales—designers are largely invisible within the wider culture.” As videogames are gaining a larger presence in American culture, it would only make sense that a game designer, such as Cliff Bleszinski, would eventually become a public figure. Also by focusing on Bleszinski, one of gaming’s most visible and talented designers, Bissell helps even non-gamers appreciate the level of care that good game design requires. An example of this care is found in Bleszinski’s concern that the story he was telling in Gears of War may have been overshadowed by the action-filled gameplay. Bleszinski says, “There’s a sublevel to Gears that so many people missed out on because it’s such a big testosterone-filled chainsaw-fest. Marcus Fenix goes back to his childhood home in the game.” Bissell also displays the shift of how videogames had been designed in the past and how game design is approached today, by contrasting 1983’s Super Mario Bros. with 2006’s Gears of War. In Super Mario Bros. gamers were presented with a surreal world and had to rely on nonsensical gameplay mechanics (such using mushrooms to get larger, breaking bricks with the character’s head) to progress. By contrast Gears of War presented gamers with a narrative told through a fully realized world and engaging gameplay. In The Grammar of Fun, Bissell gives readers the opportunity to become familiar with the environments and people behind videogames. By giving his readers a better understanding of a form of technology that is slowly becoming more engrained in America’s culture, Bissell removed some of the mystic that surrounds videogame development. In writing seriously about game development Bissell has documented the evolution of (to use a highly subjective term) fun.
Nov 2008. Web. 16 Feb. 2010.
Read this article
In Tom Bissell’s The Grammar of Fun, the reader is given an inside look at the inner workings of a videogame company as well as a profile of one of the most recognizable figures in modern gaming. In November 2008 Bissell was given the opportunity to spend time in the office of Epic Games prior to the release of their highly anticipated sequel to Gears of War. The original game had been both a critical and commercial success for the team at Epic, selling over five million copies. Bissell captures the commercial success in the beginning of the article. On standing in Epic’s parking lot, he writes, “Ten feet away was a red Hummer H3. Nearby was a Lotus Elise, and next to it a pumpkin-orange Porsche.” The atmosphere at Epic is unlike what one would expect from a multi-million dollar company, what Bissell calls, “…a kind of low-key egalitarianism.” None of the corporate staples such as assigned parking spaces or fancy corner offices are present. Near the center of this unorthodox business is the main creative director for Epic games, Cliff Bleszinski, or CliffyB, as he is affectionately known in the realms of gamers and videogame journalists. Bleszinski is one of the few recognizable figures in the world of game design and Bissell takes his readers back to Bleszinski’s early life to reveal how he became a game designer. Bleszinski was what his mother called a “unique child…the most difficult, but he was difficult because he was the most inquisitive.” Had it not been for the death of his father at age 15, Bleszinski may have taken another path in life. Bleszinski says, “If he (his father) hadn’t passed, he probably would have made me go to Northeastern and become an engineer.” In the following years Bleszinski developed the skills to make rudimentary video games and submitted them to videogame companies. As a teen Bleszinski’s talent was recognized by Tim Sweeney, Epic’s C.E.O. Sweeney hired Bleszinski to review games and suggest improvements. It was this early job experience that gave Bleszinski the creative know-how to push the design of Gears of War and its successor to have an almost universal appeal among gamers.
Tom Bissell goes where few writers have gone. While movies and other entertainment media have their pop-culture figures, those that create videogames are to a large degree behind the scenes. Bissell addresses this point, writing, “Despite the rapid growth of the video-game industry—last year, sales were higher than either box-office receipts or DVD sales—designers are largely invisible within the wider culture.” As videogames are gaining a larger presence in American culture, it would only make sense that a game designer, such as Cliff Bleszinski, would eventually become a public figure. Also by focusing on Bleszinski, one of gaming’s most visible and talented designers, Bissell helps even non-gamers appreciate the level of care that good game design requires. An example of this care is found in Bleszinski’s concern that the story he was telling in Gears of War may have been overshadowed by the action-filled gameplay. Bleszinski says, “There’s a sublevel to Gears that so many people missed out on because it’s such a big testosterone-filled chainsaw-fest. Marcus Fenix goes back to his childhood home in the game.” Bissell also displays the shift of how videogames had been designed in the past and how game design is approached today, by contrasting 1983’s Super Mario Bros. with 2006’s Gears of War. In Super Mario Bros. gamers were presented with a surreal world and had to rely on nonsensical gameplay mechanics (such using mushrooms to get larger, breaking bricks with the character’s head) to progress. By contrast Gears of War presented gamers with a narrative told through a fully realized world and engaging gameplay. In The Grammar of Fun, Bissell gives readers the opportunity to become familiar with the environments and people behind videogames. By giving his readers a better understanding of a form of technology that is slowly becoming more engrained in America’s culture, Bissell removed some of the mystic that surrounds videogame development. In writing seriously about game development Bissell has documented the evolution of (to use a highly subjective term) fun.
Friday, February 5, 2010
To Heal Press Start
Halpern, Sue. "Virtual Iraq." The New Yorker. Condé Nast Digital,
May 2008. Web. 2 Feb. 2010.
Read this article
In the article Virtual Iraq Sue Halpern has taken a look inside an emerging type of immersion therapy. Halpern begins by telling the story of a solder she calls Travis. As a solder Travis had faced numerous traumas such as moving dead bodies to find a place to sleep, experiencing the constant threat of improvised explosive devices, and witnessing the death of a close comrade. After finishing two tours in Iraq, Travis returns home and begins to suffer from post traumatic stress disorder. Halpern relates how Travis was plagued by unnatural fears, “I’d have my wife drive me if I had to go off the base. A few times, I thought I saw a mortar in the road and reached for the steering wheel. I was always on alert, ready for anything to happen at any time.” As a result of his P.T.S.D. Travis was referred to the Virtual Iraq program. Virtual Iraq is a program that emulates the sites, sounds, and smells, of Iraq. By utilizing a combination of video goggles and a head set a patient can be put onto a street corner. A therapist can also introduce various civilians and events (i.e. car bombs exploding, helicopters flying over, and insurgents) thereby adding to the authenticity of the street corner. Virtual Iraq allows the patient to able to confront his fears in a safe environment. Halpern takes the time to show that while this present technology may be impressive, it has been around albeit in a more rudimentary form since the late nineties. What had began as a generic simulation of riding in a helicopter for Vietnam Veterans now has the potential to recreate scenarios that can be tailored to the real life experiences of modern solders. Halpern also takes a peek behind the curtain to reveal Albert Rizzo, the man who invented Virtual Iraq. Rizzo, a clinical psychologist, has created a variety of simulations for various mental conditions. Rizzo goes as far as to claim, “The last one hundred years, we’ve studied psychology in the real world. In the next hundred, we’re going to study it in the virtual world.” Though the claim may sound lofty, it has worked for Travis. By the end of the article Travis is mostly free of his P.T.S.D. Travis remarks, “You never really get rid of P.T.S.D., but you learn to live with it."
Sue Halpern has drawn attention to an important intersection of culture and technology. Halpern has demonstrated in her piece that by utilizing both technology and psychoanalysis many solders are able to receive help they would not have received otherwise. Halpert included the real life example of Travis and how he was crippled by P.T.S.D. Travis was given the option of meeting with a military psychologist or enrolling in a clinical trial that utilizes Virtual Iraq. Halpern clearly conveys one of the main factors in the decision: while there would be no penalty for seeing the psychologist, it would go on Travis’ military record. By emphasizing the fact that the record would follow him, Halpern not only conveys Travis’s hesitancy to see psychologist, but also the potential that many others in the military may not seek help. To some solders the allure of a “playing a videogame” may be stronger than the fear associated with sitting down and being open with a psychologist. Halpern says of Travis choosing Virtual Iraq, “Telling his buddies that he was going off to do V.R. was a lot easier than telling them he was seeing a shrink.” By being given the choice to use Virtual Iraq, Travis is able to fully embrace a form of therapy that has little if any social stigma associated with it, while still receiving the benefits of facing P.T.S.D. head on. Beyond the choice that Travis is faced with Halpern also deliberately shows the various stages of Travis’ progression, this conveys the effectiveness of the Virtual Iraq program in a way that statistics alone could not. The article and Halpern embrace the positive nature of the Virtual Iraq program as a means to reach out to solders. In fact one of the only negative elements in the article is the example of why Virtual Iraq is necessary, Americas past failure to aid veterans of Viet Nam. By utilizing the Virtual Iraq the solders that suffer from P.T.S.D. will be given the tools to disassociate their trauma from everyday life, something Viet Nam vets didn’t have available. With America fighting wars on multiple fronts it is important that today’s veterans are given every opportunity to regain a sense of normal.
May 2008. Web. 2 Feb. 2010.
Read this article
In the article Virtual Iraq Sue Halpern has taken a look inside an emerging type of immersion therapy. Halpern begins by telling the story of a solder she calls Travis. As a solder Travis had faced numerous traumas such as moving dead bodies to find a place to sleep, experiencing the constant threat of improvised explosive devices, and witnessing the death of a close comrade. After finishing two tours in Iraq, Travis returns home and begins to suffer from post traumatic stress disorder. Halpern relates how Travis was plagued by unnatural fears, “I’d have my wife drive me if I had to go off the base. A few times, I thought I saw a mortar in the road and reached for the steering wheel. I was always on alert, ready for anything to happen at any time.” As a result of his P.T.S.D. Travis was referred to the Virtual Iraq program. Virtual Iraq is a program that emulates the sites, sounds, and smells, of Iraq. By utilizing a combination of video goggles and a head set a patient can be put onto a street corner. A therapist can also introduce various civilians and events (i.e. car bombs exploding, helicopters flying over, and insurgents) thereby adding to the authenticity of the street corner. Virtual Iraq allows the patient to able to confront his fears in a safe environment. Halpern takes the time to show that while this present technology may be impressive, it has been around albeit in a more rudimentary form since the late nineties. What had began as a generic simulation of riding in a helicopter for Vietnam Veterans now has the potential to recreate scenarios that can be tailored to the real life experiences of modern solders. Halpern also takes a peek behind the curtain to reveal Albert Rizzo, the man who invented Virtual Iraq. Rizzo, a clinical psychologist, has created a variety of simulations for various mental conditions. Rizzo goes as far as to claim, “The last one hundred years, we’ve studied psychology in the real world. In the next hundred, we’re going to study it in the virtual world.” Though the claim may sound lofty, it has worked for Travis. By the end of the article Travis is mostly free of his P.T.S.D. Travis remarks, “You never really get rid of P.T.S.D., but you learn to live with it."
Sue Halpern has drawn attention to an important intersection of culture and technology. Halpern has demonstrated in her piece that by utilizing both technology and psychoanalysis many solders are able to receive help they would not have received otherwise. Halpert included the real life example of Travis and how he was crippled by P.T.S.D. Travis was given the option of meeting with a military psychologist or enrolling in a clinical trial that utilizes Virtual Iraq. Halpern clearly conveys one of the main factors in the decision: while there would be no penalty for seeing the psychologist, it would go on Travis’ military record. By emphasizing the fact that the record would follow him, Halpern not only conveys Travis’s hesitancy to see psychologist, but also the potential that many others in the military may not seek help. To some solders the allure of a “playing a videogame” may be stronger than the fear associated with sitting down and being open with a psychologist. Halpern says of Travis choosing Virtual Iraq, “Telling his buddies that he was going off to do V.R. was a lot easier than telling them he was seeing a shrink.” By being given the choice to use Virtual Iraq, Travis is able to fully embrace a form of therapy that has little if any social stigma associated with it, while still receiving the benefits of facing P.T.S.D. head on. Beyond the choice that Travis is faced with Halpern also deliberately shows the various stages of Travis’ progression, this conveys the effectiveness of the Virtual Iraq program in a way that statistics alone could not. The article and Halpern embrace the positive nature of the Virtual Iraq program as a means to reach out to solders. In fact one of the only negative elements in the article is the example of why Virtual Iraq is necessary, Americas past failure to aid veterans of Viet Nam. By utilizing the Virtual Iraq the solders that suffer from P.T.S.D. will be given the tools to disassociate their trauma from everyday life, something Viet Nam vets didn’t have available. With America fighting wars on multiple fronts it is important that today’s veterans are given every opportunity to regain a sense of normal.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)