Month: March 2020

Hello, dear students!

All I’ll ask you to do is fill out the questionnaire on the following link (this will help you in a future writing assignment): https://forms.gle/vUqpQbtXAY47g21a8 

If you haven’t read my earlier post (which has a lot of important information–and the new deadline for the U2 Writing Assignment) please review it: https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/pennereng1121spring2020d474tuth/2020/03/28/eng1121-schedule-change-please-read-carefully/

That’s all! Be safe & well!

Hello, dear students!

Some (or all) of you may know about the email the chancellor of CUNY sent out late Wednesday afternoon. The email instructed all CUNY schools to have another recess from instruction in order to distribute laptops and other devices to students. (You’ll remember an email I sent about this earlier.) I’m going to honor the chancellor’s announcement with some slight changes for ENG1121 ONLY.

Please READ THIS CAREFULLY:

From March 27 to April 1, there are to be NO assignments or exams. This is to give time for those who don’t have computer or internet access to receive the devices or access.

Before the chancellor made this announcement, I had a due date of 11:59 PM on Thursday (3/26) for peer reviews to be completed. Most of you have completed this assignment. If you are one of those students who responded to my earlier email and haven’t been able to complete this task because of a lack of a computer or internet access, please email me.

That also changes a significant due date for your final draft of the Unit 2 Writing Assignment, which was going to be Tuesday, March 31.

The NEW due date for the Unit 2 Writing Assignment will be 11:59 PM (that’s just before midnight) on Thursday, April 2. 

I will be instructing you how to turn in your final draft in a later post! 

The “recalibration” period covers one class next week (Tuesday, March 31), but since the class is going to be about reflection, I feel that we don’t have to “skip” it. I will be posting on Tuesday but you will not asked to do anything to receive participation points!

That said, please review the post, since it will help you with a future assignment.

I will maintain the office hours for this class on Tuesday and Thursday (2:30-4:00 pm). Email me with questions or if you’d like to do a hangout session!

Once again, if you are having issues, reach out to me at my City Tech email or my gmail account for this class: tuesthurseng1121@gmail.com. We’ll work through it.

Be safe and well this weekend!

Hello, dear students!

You’ve been working hard, so Thursday’s class is very simple:

Go to OpenLab and download the PowerPoint PDF Titled “ENG1121 3.26.20 Class Session” and study its contents.

Review your U2 Writing Assignment and check for clarity, grammar, and mechanics (issues that I cover in the PowerPoint). If you have a family member who’s a picky reader, ask them to look at it as well!

If you have questions, I’ll be available during our office hours (2:30-4:00 pm on Thursday).

How will you earn participation points?

Email me at tuesthurseng1121@gmail.com one paragraph that you proofread and corrected–both the before and after.

Homework?

Continue working on Second Draft, which is due on 3/31* (Tuesday).

*This date may change, but continue working towards this deadline!

Be safe and well!

Timothy Capicotto 3/20/20

Unit 2 Assignment: Analysis

Introduction

2142 words

For my unit 2 project, I chose video games. Video games have been a significant part of my life for better or for worse, for more than three quarters of my life. In this project I will do a general analysis on video games which will tell the history of video games, their impact, notable members in the Video Game industry and the goals and rules of them among other things. In my Focused analysis I will be talking about the social aspects of video games, notably the online multiplayer community, especially my favorite game from this genre, Team Fortress 2.

History and Social Impact

Video games didn’t always have a significant impact on society. Their rise in popularity started in the late 70s to early 80s with companies like Atari, Magnavox, and Commodore. Video games have caused entire companies like Atari to crash in the early 80s due to the implementation of quantity over quality in the early 80s and in turn gave way for companies like Nintendo to pick up the pieces and rebuild the Video Game industry anew. Video Games continue to maintain relevance in the present day society. Video Games will most likely always be an important part in human culture. In a study conducted recently more than 40% of the people surveyed said that video games provide emotional relief. Also mentioned in the survey, many people have made friendships through playing games or talking about them. This survey shows that the societal impact of video games is that of a past-time or form of escapism from the hum-drum of everyday life and its drag on the psyche as well as something of a social network in itselg. I can say without a doubt from personal experience that playing video games is a great portal for relaxation, escapism and emotional relief, perhaps too great of a portal sometimes. The history of video games began earlier than one might expect. As a matter of fact, Video games have started as early as 1952 when British Professor, A.S. Douglas created OXO for his dissertation at Cambridge University. OXO is another name for Tic-Tac-Toe. In 1962 Steve Russel created a game called “SpaceWar!” for the PDP-1, which was a cutting edge computer at the time commonly used in universities at the time. SpaceWar! Was the first game that could be played on multiple platforms at once, making it the first multi-peripheral multiplayer game. The First commercially available video game system started its life in the year 1967 as a prototype created by Saunders Associates Inc., a company lead by Ralph Baer. The title of this prototype device is the “Brown Box”. Ralph Baer licensed this console to the company Magnavox, which sold the device as the Magnavox Odyssey, which was released in the year 1972, as such, Ralph Baer is referred to as the “Father of Video Games”. As mentioned previously, the Video Game market crashed in 1983 due to oversaturation from multiple competitors. In 1985 Nintendo, which was originally a Japanese playing card company that started in 1889, helped revitalize the video game industry and also regulated third party games to help prevent the crash of 1983. Nintendo created some of the most iconic series, such as Mario, Legend of Zelda and Pokemon. The video game industry has quite a few notable names like Shigeru Miyamoto, one of the higher-ups at Nintendo, Markus Notch, the creator of the phenomenon, MineCraft, Gabe Newell, co-founder of Valve, the company that developed my favorite game, Team Fortress 2 and my favorite online game service, Steam, which is a digital store and social network all rolled into one.

Discourse Community

Video games have many different discourse communities tied to them, as different games are designed to cater to different audiences, for example Sonic is designed to cater to literal neanderthals with it’s simplistic uninvolved playstyle of charging into stages nigh invulnerable, but I digress. The most common discourse community tied to video games is the gaming community as a whole. I’d say in order to be a part of the gaming community you’d have to at least have one console and have played a game on it recently. Us “gamers” typically communicate using abbreviated lingo, especially in multiplayer games, for example, AFK stands for Away from keyboard, meaning the player is occupied with something else and BRB which stands for be right back. In order to join the Gaming community you’d need to play a game and form opinions on it and you’d need to still be a little young at heart.

Rules and Message

In the incredibly diverse genre that is Video Games, there is no strict set of rules as a whole. Certain sub genres of video games have different rules. For example, First Person Shooters must have the player seeing the world directly through the eyes of their character. Sandbox games don’t have any strict rules or story, they give the player the tools to make their own worlds and stories. Platform games test the player’s skill on a 2D and sometimes 3D plane with floating platforms to jump between, like mario. Some games have messages behind them, but not all games do. A great example of a game with an interesting deep message behind it is Ratchet and Clank, a 2002 Playstation 2 game about a feline alien of the Lombax species, Ratchet and his robot, Clank, who travel the galaxy collecting weapons and upgrades. In Ratchet and Clank, the main antagonist is the evil leader of a corporation called Megacorp, Chairman Drek. Drek’s homeworld was extremely polluted due to excessive industrial work, leading him to destroy planets and taking their pieces to build a new one. The message of this game is an anti-corporate greed message. Another game series with an actually surprisingly deep message is my favorite 2D platforming game series, Megaman. Mega Man is a series about a robot boy named “Rock” who offers himself to be turned into the fighting robot, Mega Man, to fight powerful robots who have been granted sentience and as such have risen up against their masters. Mega Man’s messages, intentional or not is one warning of the dangers of artificial intelligence. Another really good example of a game with a message is Undertale. In Undertale you play as a human child lost in the underground world populated by monsters who act and think like people . In undertale you “fight” these monsters but the game gives you alternative ways of finishing the fight via pacifism and rewards you with a better ending if you take the “Pacifist Route”. UnderTale preaches a message of acceptance and pacifism, telling it’s viewers that violence isn’t always necessary. However, a game doesn’t need a deep message to be a great game, for example, Team Fortress 2, which is a game about 2 teams of mercenaries fighting each other with nonsensical weapons and crude M rated humor has no deep message, but still captivates countless players to this day despite being a 13 year old multiplayer game. Another game without a message is Minecraft, Minecraft has no ulterior message and despite this, it has sold millions of units due to its captivating gameplay.

Focused Analysis

For my focused Analysis I will be going in-depth about one of my favorite games of all time, Team Fortress 2. In this analysis I will be talking about my history the premises, concepts, rules, and the history of the game itself.

History of Team Fortress 2

The first Team Fortress game was a modification of a First Person Arena Shooter game called quake released in the year 1996 created by Robin Walker and John Cook. This mod was remade in the year 1999 on the GoldSource engine after Walker and Cook were hired by Valve, creator of the GoldSource engine. Team Fortress 2 in its final release is completely different from the original concepts proposed, after all the game was in development for almost 9 years. In the beginning, Team Fortress 2 was supposed to be more gritty, taking on a more modern military combat and significantly less cartoony feel compared to the final version. In the 2000s, Team Fortress 2 was delayed as Valve would be moving from GoldSource, to the Source engine, an engine made from scratch rather than a modified version of Quake’s engine. After the announcement of the delay, Valve went silent for some time until 2006 at EA’s press conference where they had shown the trailer, as it was to be shipped with the EA published Orange Box, a collection of newly released Valve Games. This trailer showed the Team Fortress 2 we know today, complete with a more animated art-style and 9 distinct playable characters called classes, The Scout, Pyro and Soldier making up the offense classes, Engineer, Heavy and Demoman making up the Defense, and Medic, Sniper and Spy composing the Support classes. These 9 classes were also in the original Team Fortress but weren’t as distinct in height and body type. Since then, Team Fortress has received many content updates bringing about many new weapons and other things I’ll mention later.

Team Fortress 2 and its Intended Audience

On the ESRB ranking system for games, Team Fortress 2 scores an M for Mature. Despite it’s animated appearance, the game features blood, exploding body parts (also known as gibbing due to the meaty giblets that rain down), alcohol usage, and foul language among other things. Examples of crude humor in Team Fortress 2 include Jarate, which is an item for sniper that is essentially a jar filled with his urine that he can throw on enemies to deal extra damage with every subsequent attack for a short period of time, and the scout who upon dominating (killing a player 5 times without being killed by them) someone playing as heavy, will sometimes make a remark about him being a “Fat Bald Bastard”. Despite the game being rated mature, myself and many others have played it at a very young age, I started at 12 years old but occasionally you see kids even younger playing, which people used to insultingly call squeakers for their high pitch voices.

The many Concepts and Terms of Team Fortress 2

In the year 2007 Team Fortress 2 was very basic, with only 6 maps(areas in which you play the game), these are 2Fort, Granary, GravelPit, Well, Hydro and DustBowl as well as no weapons besides the stock ones. As the game received updates it gained new weapons for players to use Starting with the Gold Rush update way back in 2008 which gave some classes 3 new weapons as well as new maps. In 2009 the game received a new concept in the form of cosmetic items, typically called hats. Hats are items that players can use and trade or even purchase with real world currency to make their character stand out more. In 2012 my favorite game mode was released, Mann VS. Machine, a game mode in which you and 6 other players fight hordes of mechanical copies of the 9 classes while trying to prevent them from delivering a bomb to your base, in the event that a robot brings the bomb to base and detonates it you have to restart the wave, there is a version of Mann VS. Machine where you pay for a ticket and have a chance of winning special items at the end of a set of missions which is called a tour. The core concept of Team Fortress 2 is similar to its precursors, 2 teams of RED and BLUE (stylized as BLU) fight each other in an array of game modes while completing certain objectives. Among these game modes is the most popular, CTF (Capture the flag) in which players try to take the enemy team’s flag which is in this case a briefcase with top secret documents and run it back to their base without getting killed. In some scenarios on 2Fort, players will ignore capturing the flag and turn the map into an endless deathmatch until someone takes the flag back to base 3 times winning the round much to everyone’s dismay. Team Fortress 2 unlike it’s precursors also has a story, told through webcomics and computer animated videos using the game’s engine to introduce them. The first of the “Meet The Team” videos was for Heavy, big, burly minigun wielding man from the Soviet Union.

The Impact Of Team Fortress 2

Team Fortress 2 has undoubtedly had a significant impact on me over the years. I’ve managed to rack up around 3,381 total hours playing this masterpiece of a game on steam, and that number won’t stop growing anytime soon. Team Fortress 2’s development may have stagnated a little since 2017 but that doesn’t stop people from having fun and taking part in the community. The Team Fortress 2 community is very lively, skilled creators design and upload weapons, cosmetics and even maps to the Steam Workshop, where if Valve likes them enough and they get enough support, the items have a chance of making it into the game! There have been entire updates based around user created content, like the most recent major update in October 2017, Jungle Inferno which brought about over 40 new cosmetic items made by the community and 5 new maps made by the community. The community of this game has no set age, TF2 fans can be young or old and still have a great time with the game, lending to its great design and world of characters both unique in design and personality. Since Valve just finished working on releasing a new game, Half-Life: Alyx, it’s possible the game will soon receive more content, which makes me excited to see where valve will take this old dog of a game in the new decade.

Citations

1. History.com Editors. “Video Game History.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 1 Sept. 2017, www.history.com/topics/inventions/history-of-video-games.
2. Anderton, Kevin. “The Impact Of Gaming: A Benefit To Society [Infographic].” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 25 June 2018, www.forbes.com/sites/kevinanderton/2018/06/25/the-impact-of-gaming-a-benefit-to-society-infographic/#1a4cd3e7269d.
3. Lenhart, Amanda. “Video Games, Teen Boys and Building Social Skills and Friendships.” Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech, Pew Research Center, 31 Dec. 2019, www.pewresearch.org/internet/2015/08/06/chapter-3-video-games-are-key-elements-in-friendships-for-many-boys/.
4. Bowen, Lisa. Monitor on Psychology, American Psychological Association, Feb. 2014AD, www.apa.org/monitor/2014/02/video-game.
5. “Ratchet & Clank (2002 Video Game).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 22 Mar. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratchet_&_Clank_(2002_video_game).
6. “Team Fortress 2.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 11 Mar. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Team_Fortress_2.

 

Kafai Lee

Prof. Penner 

ENG 1121

Word Count: 1155

 

Having friends is the reason why I go to school everyday because without them, I don’t think anybody would go to school. Everyone hates anything related to school because of how much work it takes or mainly the fact that everyone has to wake up early for it. If I were to ask anyone in this world, their response would be that they got bullied or hated doing the excruciating work. Not only that but the horrible teachers that we suffer with how bad their way of teaching is and the strict deadlines. The only good thing that comes out of school are friends and maybe a degree, everything else is just torture. Starting school was a nightmare because there was nobody you knew and that made it awkward and scary. That first experience is the worst because you have to talk to people you do not know. 

Being in a friend group is important because that’s who the people you associate with. That shows where you belong on the status of the school. There is always a hierarchy and wherever you are determines how you will survive school. Having access to a popular group let’s you have connections to parties. Some people have a gift and they fit in like a puzzle piece but there are others that are just socially awkward and shy to even approach someone. Friends are the reason many enjoy school because it is a place where everyone suffers together. And nothing feels better than knowing you and your best friend failed a test together. The main reason why I go to school is because of the friends that joke around during class but mostly because it is the law.

One of the discourse communities that I am in would be the gaming one that I would game all day and night on the weekends and after class. My group doesn’t consist of many people but we like it like that. Fewer people make it better to game with because of the inside jokes we talk about and the memes we send each other. The whole point of the community is gaming together and making fun of each other. We would spend hours just playing the same game numerous amounts of time until we get better at the game. The goal of games would be to be the best or just enjoy and laugh with the friends you play it. We spent our childhood playing games together just to escape reality because all of us are lazy so we don’t get much work done.

Communication is important when playing games that require teamwork, so we use a program called Discord which allows us to talk to each other and share memes and videos. On Discord, we usually would ping each other on the messages when we aren’t busy with work or ignoring responsibilities and hop into the game. All you could hear would be yelling and laughing from the call because of the topics we talk about and the jokes we make. It would consist of late nights gaming and playing music in the background while tabbing out of the game for homework when we died in the game. 

The games we play range from a bunch we decided to try out that are free and some games that are paid. There aren’t a lot of good games out these days which affect our variety and choices we get to choose from. The categories that we play are shooters, role-playing games, massive multiplayer battle arenas, and many more. Starting off, there are two games we usually always play which are Rainbow Six Siege and League of Legends. We do not play any other games because those are the types of games that could be rinsed and repeated thousands of times. Truthfully, it does get boring playing the same old game numerous amounts of times so we switch. As a group, we always decide what game to play and agree to buy it if all of us like it. That’s where the problem usually occurs because there is that one person who never likes the game so we never end up buying it or playing it. Sometimes we would look at a game and buy it but end up wasting money because the game wasn’t as good as we thought it was.

When we invite each other to a game, we always have an excuse where we have essays and large amounts of homework. Ironically after that, we immediately say we are going online to play. If the homework is due tomorrow, everyone in the group would tell you to do it tomorrow as a joke. Sadly, the reality is that we actually do that sometimes because we usually do finish the work by the due date. There are times where it would be late and everyone is about to sleep, there would be that one person that would say that sleep is for the weak. That would be the trigger for us to play more because we aren’t the type of people that would let each other down, especially during our funeral. 

When people usually join our group, it rarely happens but when you do, there are requirements that we do not speak of. If you would want to stay, then you must be good at playing the game we play and have fun by messing around with each other. We usually argue and bully each other as a joke in game by shooting each other or just pushing each other off. We would trap each other or set up traps and wait for each other to activate them. My group is the type of people who would always joke with each other and have a silent fight on whose better or laughing at each other when we mess up when playing the game. You would have to be a person to take a joke and tell jokes because nobody in the group likes someone that is too sensitive or triggered on a specific topic. 

Meeting mutual friends of mine in school helped me make new friends online because of their friends. That is how I ended up meeting a lot of the people in the group today. Before all of that, we haven’t even met each other up before but we do know we could. All of us would slowly get to know each other online but we have never met in person. Most of us would stay indoors but once in a while we did go outside and eat together and hangout. All of us would travel around New York and try something we haven’t done such as food or places we have never gone to. My discourse community has variety because we do not only do one thing so we do not get bored of doing the same thing constantly. 

 

Hello, dear students!

First of all, I hope everyone is taking care of themselves (both physically and emotionally). If you are feeling stressed out by these new challenges, know that you’re not alone–not that this improves the situation in the slightest, but sometimes it’s good to know that many, if not all, of us aren’t in an Instagram kind of mood. To be honest, I huddled in bed waaaay past my alarm this morning. The thought of getting up filled me with dread and a fervent wish for a magic potion to leap forward several months.

Second, since I’ve never taught an online course before, this will be new territory for me, so if you have taken online courses before, be warned that the class will not be as fancy and shiny as your previous online courses.  Also, since not all of us are computer savvy and/or have a computer/tablet/internet/tons of cell data at our disposal, I’m keeping the format as simple as possible.

For an explanation of homework and how the class will be run, keep on reading!

Here are the 3/19/20 Homework Assignments:

1. If you haven’t already, go to this link (https://forms.gle/8q8n8UFS5yYgzvAB9) and type in your five sources (minimum) within 24 hours after our scheduled class meeting (3/19, Thursday at 2:30 PM). Remember, you don’t have to use the sources you post if something better comes along! This is just to make sure you’re on track.
2. Continue working on Unit 2 Writing Assignment. The Rough Draft is due on 3/24. I’ll be in touch about how we’ll run the Peer Reviews of the Rough Drafts soon.
3. On the OpenLab “files” site, I’ve uploaded a version of the PowerPoint presentation (in a pdf file) I would’ve used had we met in person. Please review it and answer the questions on the second slide (titled “Steps 3 & 4: General Analysis & Focused Analysis”) via email. Email the answer to this address: tuesthurseng1121@gmail.com. Be sure to send it within 24 hours after our class meeting (Thursday at 2:30 PM). More on the new email address is below. 
4. Following the second slide, I’ve listed the most common MLA in-text citation methods and how to format the Works Cited page. Please review these carefully. If you’re still unsure about citations or the Works Cited page after a lot of research, contact me.
5. Post on this website a paragraph or two of how you are dealing with the current situation. The title is up to you. You can make it private (so just you and I can see it) if you’d like. Answer one (or all) of these questions, and feel free to discuss something beyond these questions:
   1. How are you doing physically/mentally/emotionally?
   2. What is surprising about how you or others are reacting?
   3. What have you had to do because of/in spite of what’s going on?

This doesn’t have a due date. This is a way for you to connect with your peers and me in a personal way. I’m planning on posting something soon.

So, how’s this class going to run? Here’s a few constants on the class format:

1. A few students have asked if we are going to use Blackboard or Zoom for this class. I’m not planning to use either right now. That may change, but I’ll let you know far in advance via email. Instead, I’ll send you the day’s topic through PowerPoint presentations that I’ll give you a link for and/or questions through this website, which means we won’t “meet” online at a specific time. That said, you can meet with me over Google hangouts or a phone call during office hours or other times (if the office hour doesn’t work for you). Be sure to ask your other professors (if they haven’t contacted you yet) how their classes will be run.
2. A new syllabus schedule has been posted on the “files” section of the OpenLab profile page. Deadlines have been changed. How I will be awarding some grades have changed and are listed at the end of the new schedule–particularly the “participation” points–so be sure to read the entire document.
3. You will be responsible for all homework mentioned on the syllabus and on this website. Email questions about either the syllabus or homework, but try to find the answer through research first.
4. Each “class” will have an online post like this on our usual class days. I plan on posting the message before our scheduled days/time. Make it a habit to check the website by that time on our usual class days.
5. Each web post will have a discussion question that you will need to respond to within 24 hours after the post order to earn your “participation” points. Sometimes it will be a question that will require an email response, sometimes it’ll be an answer you can simply post as a comment on this website.
6. I will still be holding “office hours.” My office hours for this class will be Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2:30-4:00 PM. I’ll be available during these times via email, Google hangout, or cell phone. If you have questions that can be answered briefly (for example, if a source is acceptable), email me at this address: tuesthurseng1121@gmail.com. I’ll try to answer those within the office hour or very soon after. If you need to talk about something in depth (for example, a further explanation of a topic or a review of a writing assignment), we can do a Google hangout session. If you don’t have access or technology fails us, we can arrange an old-fashioned phone call.
7. You’ll note that the above email address is different from my City Tech address. This is my way of keeping each of my three City Tech classes separate, since you’ll need to send me various items throughout the semester. I’ll still be checking my City Tech email, of course, but this means I’ll be able to keep everything organized!

This is a lot of information to  digest, which is why I’m posting this early. If you have questions or trouble connecting to any of the content I’ve linked, please comment on this site–others might have the same questions or problems–I’ll respond/correct as soon as possible. (If you comment late at night, know that I probably won’t respond immediately! LOL.)

Be safe and well during this time!

Click on the link and enter your five sources by 3/19, using the CRAAP test on the Research Sources Worksheet: https://forms.gle/hD9ExVHJ2mUt2EFEA

Click on the link and write about one of the lines/paragraphs that interested, confused, or annoyed you in “Navigating This Perfect Storm”: https://forms.gle/ki4Msj56egYMnkgo9 

Name: Fabienne Joinvil Continue reading “Discourse Community of Fabienne Joinvil”