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Wednesday, February 11th, 2009
| Time |
Event |
| 10:34a |
Study: Can Games Improve Workplace Collaboration? Play games, work harder, work harder, play games, sounds like the dream job, right? That's what an intrepid National Science Foundation grant and some researchers at the University of California, Irvine are hoping to determine. With a substantial $3 million in funding, UC Irvine plans to study "how emerging forms of communication, including multiplayer computer games and online virtual worlds such as World of Warcraft ( Buy wow gold ) and Second Life can help organizations collaborate and compete more effectively in the global marketplace." "Many technologies have come out of computer-based games, and their concepts appear to have real potential," said Richard N. Taylor, director of UCI's Institute for Software Research, which is conducting the three-year study. "This grant will determine how emerging technologies can be used or modified to support serious group work." Virtual worlds are increasingly popular, while businesses are decentralizing, necessitating better "long-distance, collaborative communication methods," according to UCI. The solution? Innovate with existing social technology, say plugging real-world engineering specs into Second Life for developing and testing personal rapid transit systems. Sound like pie in the sky? Maybe not. In fact the researchers are working with multiple organizations, from aerospace and telecommunications to transportation and electronics industries. "Advanced information and communication technologies can lead to breakthroughs in productivity and boost morale, but they can also be problematic and unsuccessful, leading to wasted investments," said Walt Scacchi, senior research scientist and project leader. "One goal of this research is to understand the conditions that lead to failure or success." Back in 2007, I wrote about a Toronto-based software firm called ExperiencePoint, a company that builds Sims-style applications for businesses, which allow employees to "role-play" business ideas they might otherwise be too shy to in real-life meetings. In December, we published a story entitled "Does Gaming at Work Improve Productivity?" wherein Christopher Null ticked off the various ways in which games from America's Army to Forza 2 have been used as recruiting, teaching, and corporate "relaxation" tools. And just last week, PC World's Darren Gladstone wrote "Play Games With Your Resume," a column marrying real-world performance profiles, e.g. "team player," "problem-solver," etc. to video gaming analogues. "Life is a game, boy," wrote J.D. Salinger in The Catcher in the Rye. "Life is a game that one plays according to the rules." Or to bend and break them, any chance we get. | | 10:35a |
Show yourself some love For many, Valentine's Day will bring jewelry or a power tool. At the very least, a card or a stuffed hedgehog holding a heart that says "Be Mine" will show up sometime, a reminder that somebody cares enough to pay attention to the hype that says they'd better pay attention. Whether they want to or not. Whether they're happy in their relationship or not. Whether they, themselves, remember their sweetheart or not.
For others, the day is a reminder that this year will be yet another spent in the company of one very special, dependable, reasonably good-looking and really quite cool person with great taste: themselves.
It's not so bad to be single, though it's not so much fun to be reminded constantly of your unpaired status through the hearts and flowers and cards and chocolates that dominate the landscape. Still, there are reasons to celebrate singlehood, and we're here to remind you that being by yourself does, at the very least, put you in good company.
Here are 10 more reasons to be glad you're by yourself: 1. The invitations you receive are because you're you, not because you're so-and-so's S.O., or because the party-giver has a crush on your man. Your name is your own, and no effort need be put forth toward mashing together some Brangelina-type moniker. That kind of stuff often backfires, anyway: Blair and Bob (whoever they are) really resent being called "Blob."
Your spare time is your spare time. Spend it with Ben & Jerry, your pillow, a night's marathon of taped Dr. Phil, re-reading an old Harlequin or hours of World of Warcraft. Nobody's around to judge; nobody's calling to find out how you're doing or what you're up to. Saving the world is always an option, but if the couch beckons tonight, there's nobody to tell you it's time to work out.
Your money is your own. Spending $120 on face cream or chrome polish for your Harley isn't going to raise anybody's eyebrows or ruin anyone else's plans. You earned it, so you spend it. Or save it -- another plus: Nobody's going to spend your money out from under you, either.
Introspection has one focus: you. Not you in relationship to somebody else, and not you in terms of how somebody else thinks you should be. You're alone, and whether it's by choice or by luck (good or bad), you've got time to think about the one person who matters.
Your dog can sleep on the bed. Face it: There's always one person in every couple who thinks dogs belong on the floor -- if only those people would find each other to sleep with, the rest of us could sleep with our dogs. And dogs, though they may snore and smell and chase rabbits in their dreams, never ever complain about morning breath.
There's no need to dress up, tuck in, wash carefully or smile when you don't want to. After a long day at work, you're home and all bets -- and belts -- are off. The stomach relaxes, the hair droops, the toenails get cut. Wear what you find on the floor, as long as it's comfortable. Who's going to know?
Plans are constantly in flux -- if that's the way you want it. He took the day off, so the trip to the aquarium is not an option. It's a plan, worked out and agreed upon and subject to change only under threat of breakup. Which, when you think about it, might be worth considering.
Nobody's going to buy you roses when you've always loved tulips. You've mentioned your aversion to roses dozens of times, but once you're a couple the listening stops, and roses it is. Roses are easy.
You're not about to get dumped. Think about it.
Finally, there's this piece of wisdom that turns up on blogs and T-shirts and bumper-stickers wherever single people can be found: It's better to be alone than to wish you were. | | 10:36a |
Powering up the boomkin There are three primary classes of characters that participate in raids in "World of Warcraft" -- tanks, which hold the focus of trash mobs and bosses; damage-per-second, or dps, characters, which provide the firepower to bring down bad guys; and healers, who are responsible for keeping tanks and the dps classes alive. My primary character, Treebrother, is a balance druid, which is usually called a Moonkin or Boomkin, which is a dps build. Over the last week, I've been looking for ways to increase his damage output during raids. Treebrother does great when there are trash mobs that can be killed using area-of-effect, or aoe, damage spells. The hurricane and starfall spells really help there, and I'm usually near the top of overall damage when there are plenty of aoe mobs. But I've been trying to boost my single-target damage, which is the primary way to kill bosses and all other non-aoe mobs. The problem is that moonkin really aren't meant to be massive damage outputters on single targets, unlike fury warriors, feral druids, rogues, mages and death knights, to name a few. Moonkin have traditionally been what's referred to as "raid utility" characters. Yes, balance druids are primarily a damage class, but they also provide a couple of buffs to the raid which help to boost other players' damage. Moonkin also can serve as backup healers, and have a battle resurrection which often comes in handy. But I want to generate more damage! So in the last week I've been tweaking my gear, enchants and buff foods. Because I already have a high degree of spell power and decent hit rating (though I need to get that higher), I've primarily been boosting my haste rating, which allows me to cast spells more quickly. So far, it's been showing some benefit, though I won't know for sure until after this next week of raiding. Plus, I'm still short on a few needed items that only drop from certain bosses, and don't drop on a regular basis, that I'm hoping to get in the next week or two. Until then, I just need to sit back and hope that Blizzard, which makes "World of Warcraft," will for some obscure reason decide to seriously boost boomkin damage. It would be nice, for once, to be considered one of the "overpowered" classes. | | 10:37a |
Correction Because of editing errors, a video games column on Saturday about a legal dispute between Blizzard Entertainment, the creator of the World of Warcraft game, and the makers of a “bot” program called Glider that plays the game automatically, gave an incomplete quotation from a lawyer representing Glider’s creator, Michael Donnelly, and misattributed a statement about his approach to the case. The lawyer, Lance C. Venable, was quoted as saying that he recognized that his client was “a pretty unsympathetic character.” The full quotation from Mr. Venable was: “My client is a pretty unsympathetic character. If you look at this case from the very narrow lens of it being a case of Blizzard versus a botter, I completely understand why people are sympathetic to Blizzard’s position.” In addition, while Mr. Venable compared the case to hypothetical examples in other industries, it is the view of the writer of the column — not Mr. Venable — that as the case nears the appeals process, “it’s his job to make the most dire slippery-slope argument possible.” And a picture caption, using information from Blizzard, misstated the name of the character from the game that was shown. It is the Lich King — not Frostmourne, the name of the sword he was shown carrying. | | 10:38a |
Will Star Trek Online trump WoW? Latest race-creating demo from Comic Con prompts Klingon hype The latest news on the Star Trek Online MMO due from Atari-owned Cryptic Studios later this year is that players will be able to create an entire race, going by the latest demos of the game given at Comic Con in New York. Attendees at Comic Con were able to see the Star Trek Online Alien Creator in action, while developer Cryptic said of the feature: "There are literally thousands of combinations available in the alien creator, which will offer an unprecedented level of customization options." The hype surrounding the game and the excitement of Trekkies worldwide about being able to finally live their Klingon dreams is to be expected. But might Star Trek Online finally be the online game to knock Blizzard's mighty World of Warcraft ( Buy wow gold ) off its MMO-throne? Why did Uhuru cry? "The crossover between Star Trek fans and MMO gamers is obvious, but the same could be said about Star Wars and Lord of the Rings - two massive licenses whose MMOs failed to knock World of Warcraft from the top spot," opines PC Zone's Deputy Editor, Steve Hogarty. "Star Trek's certainly a huge name, and it'll make for an interesting MMO at the very least, but the fanbase is massively discerning and just as likely to crucify the game as adore it," adds Hogarty. "Anyway, without Shatner on board it's dead in the water..." Star Trek Online has an official website here and is being developed for home console and PC, with the game set to take place after the events of the latest TV series. Players will be able to command their own Starfleet or Klingon ship. |
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