Test post from iphone

The iphone has a lot of apps. This one for instance.

Post-christmas present.

Blogrolls are interesting, even when they are not valuable.

And, who knows, they may be valuable, since value is most often an unpredictable consequence of action.   You then have to equate action with browser clicking, of course.  But close enough.

I earlier posted some New Orleansy blogrolling.

Here’s your post-Christmas stocking stuffer:  Top 100 Anthropology Blogs.

This is not annoying.

Just found this:  koolwire.  Very useful.  Therefore, use it.

***

Update (jan13/09):  also https://online.primopdf.com/Default.aspx.

And check this too: http://www.cloudprint.net/help.shtml.

This is annoying.

Open Office writer has no good way of handling the Garamond typeface.  At least as far as I can tell.  The best explanation/workaround of the problem appears to be here.  While I find this annoying (I have drafted most of a large manuscript in Garamond because I like the way it looks that way), I also recognize it as the inevitable and ineradicable sort of peccadillo that will eventually destroy the greedy, anonymous, self-serving blob of mass society.

So you take the good with the bad, I guess.

***

Also, whatever happened to Harlan Ellison?  Because that’s annoying too.

I think the internetz happened.  Back in the days, if anyone in particular seemed webby ready, I would have chosen Harlan.  But  Harlan cast his lot with the closed-source ideals of the ticktockmen:  pay me now or pay me later.

And so we slink from all those dangerous visions to myopic squinting at the fine print of the contract.

The Aubade.

Compare and contrast.

The Scream.

Aubade.

The Love We Had.

buffy sad moments.

Twilight Princess.

CoH/V archive.

Twixt’s Big Book of Doggerel

or

STOOPIDS gide2rv

1.
If u have me inside a forum
Without much rulez and no decorum
You can baitch and moan and swill
And let ur visa pay the bill

If I have you inside a zone
Guided by the rulez alone
Then u are quik to dance and phase
And pay the price the piper pays

Someday soon mebbe tomorrow
U bite that bite too big to swallow
And then who sez wat u have done
To all those other silent ones?

So lie and lol and play for free
Face to face anonymously

2.
Who dis Neeto wats his name?
Does he even play the game?
Does he have a dom or not?
Does he scratch ur palm a lot?
Does he cry and baitch and moan
When Twixt and heroes win the zone?
Romper bomper stomper boo
Neeto keeno icky poo.

3.

Denial = Believing it’s not always you.

4.
liars liars pants on fires
dont believe them if you do
they will just say pwns on u
if u kill them they will say
never happened anyway
if you give them little hope
they just gonna whine and mope
and talk their talk bout lol and phase
and coat their hands with mayonnaise
and ask their buddies pat their backs
with lies and giggles bout boy sects
that meet each week to jump and vent
bout wat they shouldve but they didn’t

5.
the fax

If I were to tell you why
You think I want your toon to die
It wouldn’t be to save your life
Or make that death a sacrifice

If I were to tell you when
You think I want a game to win
You wouldn’t recognize those times
When all ur urs are all my imes

And if I were to kill you (as I often do)
You prolly think it isn’t happening to you
So this is the problem facing both of us:
I can tell you what to do, but not so that you must

You’ll still be there respawning
Long after you have died
You’ll wake up dull and yawning
Beneath the sheets and hide
from all those baddy bad guys
and thoughts inside your head
That twist and twixt and twizzle

Omg, ur ded.

6.
If you cant remember
Or just cant confess
Bout wen u were defeated
Then the answers prolly yes

But that kill list is long
And alotta bother
Much easer just say no
to you and to ur mother

7.
If you could fight and I could flee
Then Id get help and make it three
Then youd complain bout wat I’d done
And go and get your permadom

Then I would jump and you would phase
and you would jump and I would phase
and I would jump and you would phase
and you would jump and I would phase

And devs would think they should fix that
With loots and suits and big nerf bats
But wat I did is wat you’d done
And if I didn’t, youda won.

So hold me scold me tell me lies
Mes me rez me supersize
But if I jump then I must wanna
And if I got phase then Im gonna

The devs can take my jump away
Can take my speed, tp, and play
But here I root and stand amazed
That they don’t also take ur phase.

8.
O wad some Power the giftie give us
To see ourselves as others see us!

But wen we look externally
It’s often only self we see

And why I think what others do
May be more me than it is u.

So take great care not to mislead
the thought of playing from the deed.

9.
I have noticed that Johnny Merc is a positive guy.

He is positive about things.
He is positive about things happening sooner.
He is positive about things happening later.

He is positive about being positive.
He is positive about little baby jesus.

And, you know what,
if there were a negative somewhere
Johnny Merc would be positive about it
because I have noticed
he is a positive guy.

10.
Supper villins wit blank chex
Sneakin round the Internetz
Trollin spammin wheelin dealin
Looking for that lovin feelin

Jumping off high chairs with capes
Bedsheets, throw rugs, thick red drapes
Got their names from comic books
Wham Bam Pow Kerblam Gadzooks!

They had a dog, its name was dog
They had a rock, they named it frog
They had a fish, but didn’t feed it
So it died (they didn’t need it)

Its stoopid boy and the supper villins!
Hangin out in rv chillin
Lookin for that lovin feelin
Finding only supper villins.

11.
Stoopid is as stoopid does
wat never is never was

Can you help me cross the street
Said a man I chanced to meet
Yes, indeed, I can, I said
I have a game designer’s head

Here are some rules for you
That will tell you what to do:
You go down to the bus depot
And buy a ticket to buffalo…

But the man interrrupted, kinda rude
And said, Im not in a buffalo mood
And that will take me far away
From wat I want to cross today

Well in buffalo, you take a cab, u see
And return to here in time for tea
And just to sweeten up the deal
You get a half-priced happy meal

I don’t drink tea,
I don’t eat meet
Said the man, kinda sweet
I only want to cross the street

I know you do and I’m for you
But listen here, you old dear
There is no up with which Im fed
I have a game designer’s head

So lets have fun and try things tryable
And make all things equally viable
Hmm, said the man, and hmm again
And hmm again, and just exactly then

The light turned green,
He crossed the street and left unseen

But that’s okay, cause lights turn red
And I have a game designer’s head.

Its run, its gun, its almost serious
Its high, its low, its sometimes devious
Its down, its up with which Im fed
I have a game designer’s head.

Im bugged, Im drugged, Im darn mysterious
If you were Rome, Id be Tiberious
Im down, Im up with wat Im fed
I have a game designer’s head

12.

Get moar phase.
Play moo three.
Scratch ur hed.
Destiny.

13.

in olden days the dinosaurs
roared and played inside great warz
then along came i13
and things got very pliocene

14.

This is borked
because you see
the catching is not the thing
the thing is chasing
endlessly.

15.

This and that, that and this
Kiss of death, death of kiss
When its over, then you quit
That was then, this is it.

16.
Got those purples all enhanced
See right through those stealthed pissants
Head shot ice tanks, stun the doms
Nudge the catgurls, poke the moms
But somethings wrong and should be fixed
And if you guess, youre guessing Twixt

Bonuses for acc and dam
Binds for casting endless spam
Buds with Katies, hi-speed lans
Extra ‘counts in case of bans
But something somewhere is amiss
And if you guess, youre guessing Twixt

Got the badges, got the ‘clades
Got third party software aides
Nubbies lootboys posse peeps
Heavy duty ‘xploits and cheats
But when you play, youre playing pissed
And if you guess, youre guessing Twixt

Feels like puckers with no kisses
When you fuxors with wats Twixt’s.

17.

Treasures found and wages earned
Will never pay for lessons learned.

Final class instructions.

CMMNA100 11am rm403

1.  Due: Book review of Postman/Amusing Ourselves to Death.  Place these in my box in the cmmn office.

2.  The third exam will be held in rm 403 on Tuesday, Dec 9, 11:30-1:30.

3.  The study guide for the third exam is now posted online — in the online schedule.  This study guide is similar to what I posted online for the first exam.  The bulk of the third exam will consist of 8-10 multiple choice questions drawn from each of the following chapters:  Chapter 6 (sound recording); Chapter 7 (motion pictures); Chapter 8 (radio); Chapter 9 (television); Chapter 14 (entertainment); Chapter 15 (mass media research).  These are the chapters covered in the online study guide.

4.  As always, students can contact me by email or through my blog with questions.

CMMNA400 2pm, rm403

CMMNA400 3:30pm rm403

1.  The third exam is posted online in the online schedule.  The due date is Dec 9, Tuesday, 2pm.  I will be in my office on that date, at that time.  No late papers accepted.  Papers can be turned in early by leaving them in my box in the cmmn office.

2.  As always, students can contact me by email or through my blog with questions.

Note to self.

Spend more class time discussing the implications of IRBs as regards research ethics.

Do IRBs function to control funds or protect publics?

The Twixt example is probably not central in this regard since it seems exempt solely on the basis of game framework boundaries and/or a game company’s own mechanisms of insuring voluntary participation.  However, the issue of not identifying participants remains (e. g., should in-game names be changed regardless of player wishes?).   And these “game framework boundaries” very likely involve shades of gray.

More probing examples, however, include Black Like Me and Barbara Ehrenreich, as mentioned here…

Participant-observation may be dying at the hands of philistine IRBs, but CCTV observation of both public and semi-private spaces is constandy expanding. Homeland security agencies are assembling vast unregulated databases of identifiable and sensitive information. Journalists regularly use deception in pursuit of stories, whether of celebrity trivia or serious wrongdoing. A good example, cited in Professor Feeley’s address, is the work of Barbara Ehrenreich, whose recent books, Nickel and Dimed (2001) and Bait and Switch (2005), made the New York Times Bestsellers list for their explorations of the conditions of low-wage employment and of redundant middle-managers, respectively. However, both depend on covert research, where Ehrenreich faked CVs and references to conceal her identity as a journalist and social investigator. They are widely assigned to undergraduates in the United States and held up as examples of the sort of interesting books that social scientists ought to write-but neither could receive IRB approval. IRB regulation has become a smokescreen behind which our rivals in social investigation and commentary can proceed unchecked, while those of us whose practice is disciplined by a professional ethic and a regulative ideal of truth-telling are handicapped in our access to the public realm. By picking on a politically weak group-academics-it appears that concern is expressed for citizens’ rights, while security and corporate interests can range unchecked.

“Turn off the oxygen . . .” Law & Society Review,  Dec 2007 by Dingwall, Robert

See also here.

Train keeps a’rollin, all night long.

The CoH/V forums continue to be fertile ground for investigating the mmo mob mentality and, as I called it earlier, the future of the doom. Here, for instance, is another good example.

I don’t share much about my profession on these boards and I am alot more vocal in other aspects, however, I feel the need to respond here.

I am a Sociologist at a major research university (R01) in the southeast United States

Ethnomethodology usually needs IRB approval, especially if you negatively interact with anyone with the purpose of studying a reaction.

Even if he, somehow, did not obtain informed consent from his interactants, he needed to debrief them in order to make sure their were no psychological damages (caused from stress, anger, or any other negative emotionality).

Furthermore, several major areas of sociology were not discussed in reference to perception and interaction. There was nothing on cultural or gendered behavior, no reference to symbolic interactionism (essential in understanding any micro level interaction), and nothing on past behavioral mechanics in video game research (see the journal of CyberPsychology and Behavior).

The lit review is something I would expect from my freshman sociology undergrads, and the conceptualization had a very weak theoretical orientation.

Furthermore, there were no citations or references to major peer reviewed journals, including the top journal for his line of work, CyberPsychology and Behavior.

I think this was more a “personal experiment” than a research experiment. I can say with 100% certainty, that the manuscript attached to this topic would never get through the peer-review process. I am curious how the proposal got through IRB approval, if he even submitted it.

The above is a message that has been left in the CoH/V online game forum by “Johnny Mercone” concerning, I believe, the Twixt paper here. I have no idea who Johnny Mercone is, but Johnny would like you to believe he is a professional “Sociologist.” I don’t think so. Here’s why:

Johnny oddly prefers a capitalized version of “sociologist.” He seems to prefer comma splices. He prefers to write “a lot” as “alot.” He believes that being at a “major research university (R01)” is persuasive in this instance. (He likewise believes CyberPsychology and Behavior is a “top” journal.) He uses words like “ethnomethodology” and “interactants” in a very awkward and stilted way. He fails to distinguish between “their” and “there.” He hyphenates “peer-review” in some places, but not in others. And, most tellingly, he assumes way, way too much. He is unaware that The [Player] Conference, where the Twixt paper was first delivered, is peer-reviewed. He is unaware of my debriefing attempts. And, in fact, his critique does not concern the content of the Twixt paper at all, but, only peripherally, its form.

Now, at this point I have to ask myself this: If I were critiquing a scholarly paper -– even if it were only purportedly a scholarly paper -– would I do as Johnny Mercone has done? That is, would I critique it both anonymously and publicly? Would I critique it anonymously and publicly in an online gaming forum? Would I critique it illiterately? Would I critique its form without reference to its content? The answer to these questions -– and many others similar -– is “no.” In fact, *any* professional scholar would clearly -– I have no doubt -– answer these questions “no.” So, obviously, Johnny Mercone is no professional scholar.

But do those in an online gaming forum know this? I doubt it.

So what to do? Should I, as a professional scholar, rise up against the Johnny Mercone’s of the world and defend scholarship? Should I, as author of the Twixt paper, attempt to defend Twixt and Twixt’s behavior and the conclusions I draw from Twixt’s behavior from all possible illiterate and unruly uprisings in online gaming forums?

Alas and obviously, I cannot.

Look at this very message you are reading now, for instance. It is twice as long, I judge, (and perhaps ten times as literate) as Johnny Mercone’s original.

But the mob mentality -– the zerg — you see, doesn’t have to win. It only has to diminish. It only has to slowly and repetitively and irresistibly tire and bleed its victims over time. For, in this bleeding, it recruits and feeds and grows larger.

Without rules -– of game, of facts, of what is true and what is false, of what is real and what isn’t -– there is no winner. There cannot be.

So, welcome to the virtual world. Johnny Mercone sez hai.

The future of the doom.

Here’s an abridged form of something I posted earlier and elsewhere:

As a general rule, in a game, fun comes from playing that game. “Playing” the game would then normally mean learning and following the game rules, playing to achieve the game goals – stuff like that. So, for instance, if you intend to play chess and you find your “fun” in stacking chess pieces in little towers, your fun would not normally take precedence over the fun of your opponent the chessmaster who plays chess by the rules of chess in order to achieve the goals of chess as those goals are defined in the rules of chess. That is, you would be asked either to play by the rules or take your tower stacking elsewhere.

MMOs seem to have become increasingly less games and increasingly more social media, where the game rules, if there are any at all, are determined by the players rather than by the game designers.

In such a context, MMO players are not really playing any “game” at all. They are not playing by any particular set of rules; they are not trying to achieve any objective or common (or even very difficult) set of goals. They are simply demonstrating their ability to have “their way” in the absence of rules.

In this absence of rules, game designers are increasingly giving up their responsibility to create an interesting, fair, and balanced game. Maybe they just don’t think they can do it.  Maybe, at some deep philosophical level, they just don’t care about objective game rules — maybe they don’t even believe such things exist. I dunno.

For whatever reason, game designers seem most concerned (consciously or unconsciously or whatever) about creating an environment in which social groups can impose their social rules over the rules of some other social group. And, at that point, there is no longer a game, there is instead politics.

It’s much like the earlier chess example, I think. If enough players want to stack chess pieces on a chess board and give themselves rewards for doing so, then that becomes more important than the rules of chess — and not just more important than the rules of chess but more important than the rules of GAMES as a whole. These players just want to be able to do what they want to do, without any real regard to what anybody or anything – including game rules – wants or expects them to do. And so, if the “game” designers can give them a “game” environment that sort of looks like a game, and sort of looks like achievement within a game, and has awards and badges and pretty colors thrown in, then all the better. That will be considered fun.

Of course, in order for all this to work, not only do the game rules have to be deprioritized, but so too must the players who play by those game rules be deprioritized, marginalized, and, if at all possible, eliminated.

And it’s not so much fun to be eliminated.

***

But that was earlier, and I can say a little more now.

I also think that MMO players are taking their penchants for making the “game” world whatever benefits them the most into the real world.  The same tactics and techniques that allow them to bully their teammates and their guild-mates (or, even moreso, their non-teammates and non-guild-mates) are being applied in other circumstances.  The tendency to zerg, for instance, regardless of any formal embellishments such as proper spelling, or proper logic, or THE FACTS, seems to be the MMO players’ bullying method of least effort expended and most benefit gained.

I turn your attention, for instance, to these two threads in the fading but still not disappeared CoH/V forums; and I claim, once more, that hell hath no fury like social mavens scorned.

1. dealing with “bullies”

2. dealing with “farm killers”