Can you tell I am being sarcastic, Milo?

I thought a little more about Milo from the Project Natal.

In my previous posting I started thinking about whether it is possible to have a real, bonding relationship with the virtual chracter, Milo, who is nothing more than the graphical representation of Artificial Intelligence.

It would all depend on how detailed and developed the technology could get. The question is, would Milo get intelligent enough to recognize if I were being sarcastic or genuine in my interaction with him?

There are certain coding and de-coding mechanisms at work when humans communicate with each other. I believe the trick is to have the Artificial Intelligence differentiate between sarcasm and genuine interaction, having the sensors read into the cues that are transmitted in words and non-verbals. So far, human brain is the only intelligence that can do this (actually, not all human intelligences). But this technology is indeed promising that the virtual character can engage in a realistic interaction with an individual.

Great expectations from the Project Natal XBox 360

Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3 ) is a massive annual gathering for any and every kind of interactive entertainment.

This would be my pilgrimage.

In the 2009 E3, Microsoft XBox360 announced a new gaming technology that is one step above Nintendo's Wii. Very soon, we will not have to use controllers to play, exercise, connect, shop, watch... The new XBox360 technology has object, voice, face and motion recognition.

This video is a demonstration of what can be done with it. Even watching it is exciting!

I will be discussing details of this technology here for a while...

Movies on Computer Games

Watching movies is one of the best things to do during a dissertation break. I am even more delighted when movies incorporate video games into its content.

Many many years ago, I watched Brainscan (1994). The movie is about a teenager playing a video game that goes real and bad. Even back then it made me think about the distinction between reality and virtuality. I also thought commanding your computer with your voice was very neat.

Yesterday, my sister recommended me a Belgium movie, BenX. She watched it from Netflix. It seems to have a much more humanistic perspective on video games. It focuses on the relationship between an authistic teenager and role-playing games. Watching it is on my list of things to do.

Another movie is on theaters now: Gamer. I am not very sure about that one. It does not have very good reviews, but out of curiosity and at a moment of weakness, I may watch it too.

Ads in games

More on this Mc Donald's Ad

More on this Intel Ad

I came across with an interesting article from Technology Review. It says that advertisements are more memorable when they are placed in a violent game, compared to the non-violent version of the same game.

It is rather possible that the ads are more memorable because the players are exposed to the content with evoked feelings, and more importantly, with high levels of adrenaline. The players are biologically more open to all senses at those times.

The article does not focus much on the reasons why those ads are memorable, though. Rather it points out a dilemma about whether the companies should make a decision to place their ads on violent or non-violent ads.

It is indeed a big and somewhat ethical dilemma. If the companies will prefer to place their ads in violent games, it means that that genre is the one that will get supported more so than the non-violent games. This, in return will surely have an impact on the supply-demand dynamics of the game genres.

Capturing the game screen

I am trying to figure out a way to capture the players' game screen for my dissertation. The traditional method is to have them play the game and locate a video camera over their shoulders. However, this is not the most ideal, since the presence of the camera might affect their playing and the quality of the screen recording will not be as high.

I came across with an article on a usability testing program called VULab. It looks very neat, where you create a pre test, allow people to play with a website and give them a post-test. Unfortunately, when I have created a demo experiment, it did not save the screen for me :(

A friend of mine recommended me Adobe Captivate 4. Just like creating a demo, I can make the gamers record their game with that program.

Still searching for the best way to capture their game screens...

Choosing my dissertation topic - Earthquake Communication

I have spent quite a lot of time tring to decide what I will do for my dissertation. It is not easy if you are interested in too many things. I have decided on:

Earthquake Communication with Computer Games

Current science and technology can not specify when an earthquake will occur. The individuals who are susceptible to earthquakes live with this unpredictable risk. Coming from Istanbul and having gone through a major one, this topic touches my heart.

My concern is that because this is a major life and death issue, which you have very little control over, you do not want to think about it all the time. My question is, how can we make this a topic that is no longer scary but something fun and something you can have mastery over.

My answer was computer games!

Benefits of choosing this project:
-It addresses the question of “how can we transmit a message the best way with a computer game?” which is the main question that I want to pursue in my academic career.
-I am excited about this project on the personal level due to experiencing a series of bad risk communications in Turkey.
-It will contribute to risk communication studies (which I became familiar with at Maastricht University while completing my Masters thesis) as well as computer game studies (which I studied at Purdue).
-It can be the first step of a research agenda which has practical and consequential implications.
-It will potentially benefit projects that entail creation of an earthquake prevention and management game.
-The study can be repeated with different cultures and contexts.

The Faces of Social Psychology

When I tell people that I am working on computer games, every once in a while, someone would ask me: “My son is a game addict, what shall I do?” From their perspective, playing computer games is a dangerous behavior that isolates their sons from their family and peers and other social interactions. Some of the media effects studies support the parents’ concerns that gaming could be highly addictive[1].

However, parents and some times the players use the word "addicted" for "extreme enjoyment". The question is why are their sons so attracted to playing computer games? Why are their kids playing so intensely, for so long, forgetting about everything and everyone else in the world?

From a macro-social perspective, with House’s approach on psychological sociology, urbanization could be a reason for this addiction. Are those kids allowed to play outside? Do they discover the neighborhood with other kids? Can they safely use the urban space to play? Are the game addiction rates in the rural areas as high as in the urban areas? How does the macro-social process of urbanization affect the availability of safe play spaces? With that perspective, Henry Jenkins[2] argues that computer games have been the new means of discovering the space and it is the new backyard that is safe to play without parents intervention.

From a psychological social psychology perspective, the problem of excessive game play would be examined by looking at the kids’ attitudes toward the games they play along with the satisfaction they get from playing the game. Current media studies through the uses and gratifications theory support that there are different motives to play computer games[3]. Some kids play games to isolate themselves, while others play to socialize – since they play with other friends online or with others in the same room. With that perspective, since we can determine the reason, it is easier to determine "what to do" to solve the kids' "addiction" problem.

For me, from either of the perspectives, the computer game serves a purpose for the kid. It becomes a safe space THEY choose to explore, conquer and then throw into trash. It gratifies a need to consume a space with or without other real people of their choosing.


[1] Sparks, G. G. (2006). Media effects research. (2nd edition). Canada: Thomson Wadsworth.
[2] Jenkins, H. (nd.) Complete Freedom Of Movement: Vıdeo Games As Gendered Play Spaces. Retrieved on Aug, 29, 2008 from http://web.mit.edu/cms/People/henry3/pub/complete.html
[3] Lucas, K., Sherry, J. L. (2004). Sex Differences in Video Game Play: A Communication-Based Explanation. Communication Research, 31 (499). Retrieved on Jan 15, 2007 from http://crx.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/31/5/499