Before our class on Thursday, Feb. 11, copy-and-paste your planning memo into a comment made to this blog post. Remember to save a copy of your memo in your own files, too. Contact me by email or stop by my office N520Â if you need to discuss ideas.
3 thoughts on “Project 1, Planning Memo”
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To: Professor Ellis
From: Christopher Navarrete
Date: 2/8/2016
Re: Project 1 Planning
Since the creation of the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), video games were believed to be toys meant to be played by children. However as the video game industry grew, so did its audience. Games were not only being marketed to young children, but young adults. As a result, extremely violent video games such as Mortal Kombat were created. Mortal Kombat, a fighting game inspired by the movie bloodsport,was released and placed in arcades in 1992. However what attracted audiences was not it’s gameplay, but its blood and gore. Mortal Kombat featured a secret finishing move that gave players the ability to decapitate and burn opponents alive among others. Because arcades usually don’t have any age restrictions, parents and the media reacted negatively to this as they believed Mortal Kombat’s violence would cause children to behave as such. This backlash would ultimately influence the creation of the The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), an organization that “assigns ratings for video games and apps so parents can make informed choices. The ESRB rating system encompasses guidance about age-appropriateness, content, and interactive elements.” (ESRB).
Microtransaction usually refers to downloadable content (DLC) in video games that users can purchase with real money.The price of DLC varies as it ranges from a dollar to perhaps a hundred dollars. The power to choose what can be labeled as DLC is often misused as companies are able to freely remove “content from the original game only to sell it back later as downloadable content you have to pay for” (Smith) without much repercussions. This type of business practice is especially evident in Electronic Arts as it is seen in a numerous amounts of their games, including their latest, Star Wars Battlefront. Before the full version of Star Wars Battlefront was released, a fifty dollar season pass (a pre-purchased DLC pack that releases content at given times) was announced and available to be purchased. Gamers were enraged at this as the price of the season pass was about that of a new video game. Many also complained that the original release of Star Wars Battlefront was severely lacking in terms of content, content that this season pass seems to contain. Capcom also took advantage of customers using this practice, however they used a different method, albeit unsuccessfully. In Street Fighter X Tekken, Capcom locked away completed DLC on the disk with a simple code. Computer savvy customers quickly realized this and modded the game in a way so that the locked DLC can be played without purchase. They would quickly share this mod throughout various websites and cause Capcom financial issues as well as major fan backlash that took years to overcome.
The first paragraph discusses the well known origins of extreme violence in video games. The full essay will go in depth and examine the debate of how violence in video games contribute to violence among children from an objective point of view. I believe this topic would translate well to other forms of media as I have seen multiple individuals debate this throughout the years in an entertaining manner. However as of right now I do not have an idea on how it would appear, but I believe an idea will develop soon. The second paragraph goes on to talk about the issue of microtransactions; companies abuse this business tactic multiple ways as described in the paragraph. If I were to choose this topic, I believe it would be difficult to create several projects, mainly the video and photo. However, I believe a podcast would work the best as it would be informative and relatable to the audience. The audience would most likely be those who have been affected by the actions of companies that abuse DLC. News websites such as CNN, BBC, Fox, and the official ESRB website will be used as credible sources for this essay on both topics; if possible, I will add my own knowledge to it as well (which is what I mostly did in the two previous paragraphs).
To: Professor Ellis
From: Rownak Choudhury
Date: 02/04/2016
Re: Project 1, Planning
Memorization and Preparation Related to Lucid Dreaming:
Dreams, in general, are a huge part of our lives, yet we dismiss them from our minds as being too abstract. I am interested in learning more about the way that they affect our lives on a daily basis as well as raising more awareness in other people’s minds regarding their importance. There is much to learn from that and share.
The Need to have Intermediate Computer Skills by all People Today:
The need to have intermediate computer skills for people involved in any career field today is of an urgent matter. With our growing reliance on the technology around us, it is essential to be armed with an intermediate knowledge of computers. Most computer-related technologies today are designed in a way which would allow for one system to interact with another. Having working-knowledge of one system will ease the transition into using another. This seems like a credible project to do at this level in my career at City Tech using it to present myself to future employers.
Reason for Choice of Topic:
After leaving class on Thursday Feb 4th, 2016, I changed my mind about creating my project on animal cruelty. Even though that is a topic I am passionate about, I realize it is a topic that I can also pursue in a class dealing more with humanities and such. Memorization and preparation for life in relation to lucid dreaming, however, seems like a topic which would have extensive research related to it. It is also science-related while feeding my interests. However, in order to challenge myself and become more familiar with a topic which is closer to the career goals I can see myself taking part in, I will conduct my project on the need for all people to have intermediate-level computer skills today.
To: Jason W. Ellis
From: George Gordon
Date: February 4, 2016
Subject: Project 1, Planning
Topic 1: The YouTube Content ID Program is flawed. In order to protect copyright and trademark laws, this system allows companies to take down videos that are infringing on their products or is done through an automated process. However, this system is being exploited and being used to take down videos with either false claims or for troll purposes. This issue has been around for years now and virtually is nothing being done to help these creators and their content.
Topic 2: The video game market has slowly been changing over the years. Today, games have adopted season passes, in which, for an additional 20-60 dollars, you can get all the upcoming downloadable content (DLC), usually at a reduced price. Now these sound great in theory, the consumer can purchase the DLC at a cheaper price and the developer/publisher can get money while working on said content. However, most season passes are merely a cash grab. Games like Evolve and Star Wars Battlefront are full triple A titles that are released unfinished or with missing content to be sold as a separate season pass. Other companies like Warner Brothers have made season passes and shown no content to justify its price and in the end, the content is easily not worth the asking price, instead, they capitalize on the day 1 purchasers or bundle the season pass with their “collectors/deluxe” editions.
My Choice: For the think piece, I have decided to work on the YouTube issue. I’ve been noticing this issue cropping up with channels I frequent and throughout YouTube as of late. Many of these channels are helpless or have no idea what to do to counter these copyright claims and YouTube has been ignoring their complaints as they have posted no means to contact YouTube directly aside from automated messages or generic forms. While the season pass issue is potentially harming the industry, combating it would be simple, as a community we need to stop supporting it, just like how we got rid of online passes. However, I believe that content creators on YouTube need all the help they can get.