Disposable Mentality Needs Re-Design
Posted: May 19, 2013 Filed under: Video Games | Tags: complex, design, first, fps, games, idea, industry, integration, military, multimedia, person, real, rts, shooter, simulator, time, video, videogames Leave a commentMichael Ciaglo and Dave Philipps recently published an amazing story, Disposable: Surge in discharges includes wounded soldiers, for the Colorado Springs Gazette. Amazing multimedia integration, heart-wrenching story, thorough documentation—just fantastic.
Reading the story got be thinking about videogame design—what would a FPS look like that begins with the IED blast, then tries to reintegrate a soldier (un/successfully) into society? Real people are being forced through this experience by the thousands; maybe a game could provide for a more comprehensive facilitation in terms of both societal reintegration (for military) and cultural reconstitution (for non-military).
It could be a FPS and RTS integrated system in which a player has the opportunity to analyze and affect the social and legal systems in place that create barriers to re-entry. The player should also have the ability to manipulate time—move forward and backwards—in order to experiment with different solutions and mechanisms.
Remembering David
Posted: May 6, 2013 Filed under: Life | Tags: baker, community, david, games, libraries, memorial, memoriam, memories, oregon, play, science, think, think.play, university, video, videogames 1 CommentIn his passing I have been asked by people who didn’t know David to explain who he was, but I don’t know how to talk about someone whose impact on my life was multiplicitous. Our relationship wasn’t of one variety or another; the experience was more like a jam session. We shared a wavelength. Simply put, David was someone who’s principals and guidance affected what I think about, and how I think and move about the world.
I’ve been writing a lot since I found out. For someone who doesn’t write often, the process has been very therapeutic. Maybe it’s ironic that I’m sharing some of my grief, but I think you should know why I am so sad, and why I will be grieving this loss for a very long time—for no other reason than to iterate the impact of a single person’s life. I think there are take-aways from that.
