Games

The first games I played were embedded in the quest for the action games, kind of a shoot-'em-up type. The first (robotube) was frustrating because my shots weren't going where I wanted them to. The second (Asteroid)was more challenging to me. It took me a bit to figure out how to move my ship before I died, but once I did, I wanted to play again to try and beat my score. I didn't want to give up quite so easily as I did on the first game. Another frustrating thing about the first game is that I couldn't start a new game after I lost so I couldn't learn from my mistakes and do better.

Next set: Other Games. I played poker (which was embedded) and then I played Tiny Explorers. Poker seemed kind of mindless. I can see that being a game done in the background while listening to the teacher lecture. On a plus note, it can teach how to be careful with money. Tiny Explorerers is a quick thinking logic game where the user guides robot explorers safely to the exit. I say quick thinking because you have a time limit to get the robots to safety, and as you progress through the levels, the time limit remains the same but there are new obstacles to get around with each level. I rather enjoyed playing it, because it forced me to think on my feet to save the exploring robots. The benefits of such logic-building experience should be obvious

Round 3: Narrative Games. The first thing I want to say is that the game of Zork is incredibly frustrating to me. I struggled to find the right combinations and commands. However, my mastermind gaming quality grants me a measure of stubbornness that keeps me telling myself "I will beat this. I will not be defeated by a story!" Eventually, my frustration gets the better of me and I gave up trying to figure out the correct commands to yield results. On the other side, I can see the appeal this game has. It was fun (at first) to try and figure out the sequence of commands that would make the game progress. However, I found the lack of graphics to  be a little disappointing. Part of the frustration came when Zork didn't do what I told him to. Flip side, it's a good exercise of the imagination.

Sim games: These can be fun. My frustration with the embedded game is that I could not figure out how to bring in revenue to increase my budget. Without that budget it was difficult to progress in the game. Without progress, it was nigh impossible to keep my interest in the game. That is all I have to say about that.

Other 2: Puzzle games: This is my niche. This is where I thrive. Tetris is awesome. It's just so fun to watch the lines disappear, especially when you complete three or four or even five at a time. It's gratifying, to say the least. However, that was nothing compared to the mental challenge of Construction Fall. I reveled each time I completed a level (even though I had to restart the level multiple times). The appeal is that it encourages creative experimentation, which can be useful in real life. And quite fun. Experimentation is part of success, which for me is the thrill of it. That is all.

Narrative 2: Peasant's Quest. I think the challenges/mini games are too difficult.  I spent quite a bit of time trying to get a bow from the archers but never succeeded in getting three bull's-eyes.  According to the walk-through I was using, acquiring the bow is essential for progress, so it's understandable how I can get frustrated. I have discovered that for narrative games, results and progress are what keep my interest. Without them, patience wanes,

Action 2:Zulu the elf was the example I provided. It was a fun little game where the elf gets chased by baddies and has to clear the obstacles. As you progress the levels get harder. For the other game, I looked for a mario game online (the embedded flash game wasn't working). That was a flashback to my childhood, where I could spend hours playing mario and trying to rescue the princess. (Well, I actually played other games, but I still spent hours on them). I have found that the best value for these games is as a stress-reliever. Sometimes you just need to jump on the baddies, or spit fire at them, to help you relax or unwind after a long day. It can be quite therapeutic as well.

Sim 2: Kingdom Rush is a fun little defense strategy game. The goal is to keep the villains away from your town by strategically placing different types of defense towers on the road. This game basically teaches you how to best use your assets on a limited budget and a time constraint. Kind of like some real life situations. I think real time strategy games are the most useful of the simulation games because you deal with factors from reality, like a budget and time. Depending on the game, it might also be useful in teaching historical concepts (I'm sure you could write a campaign for World of Warcraft, for example, that would reenact exactly how World War I got started). The creative teacher can figure out how to incorporate the simulation games into their lesson somehow. That is all.

Other Games 3: Line Rider. This game has potential for the sadistic person. I kept drawing loopdeloops hoping the rider was talented enough to perform according to my mental image. Much to the enjoyment of my sadistic side, it didn't quite work out. Depending on how well I drew it, sometimes he couldn't get up the curve and just kept sliding. Another time I did it well enough that he actually made it through the loopdeloop and kept on doing the same one. Eventually, he fell off his bike but kept going around and around. I can definitely see the appeal this game has, especially for teenagers. It is a source of humor to watch the rider fail a course. On the plus side, it can be a good tool to practice your art skills. Mine are seriously lacking, but it's more fun for me to watch the rider fail.

Action 3: First person Shooter: So I played Call of Duty for the first time on this one. I got annoyed with the inaccuracies of the map and where it showed my opponents in relation to me. I guess I focused more on the map and less on my surroundings and consequently I kept dying. However, compared with Doom, Call of Duty was infinitely more fun. I had more space to move and more controls to move with (I could run and jump and aim) in CoD but with Doom, I could barely figure out how to move and shoot anything in my way. With practice, I think Call of Duty would be fun, but it would be harder to put the fun in Doom.

Narrative 3: Zelda is by far my favorite kind of narrative game. It has what the other two have combined into one game. There is plenty of space to explore and it gives you hints if you're heading the wrong direction. It still has challenges but sometimes you can avoid cutting your way through to where you need to go, thus saving time and life. Best part? If you die, you can pick up more or less where you left off instead of having to start from the beginning. The game progresses by achieving objectives, and you can't move onto the next objective until you have completed the prior one. This would be a fun way to teach following progressive instructions (like if you wanted to build something). Now, speaking more from a child's viewpoint, it's a lot of fun to imagine you actually are Link trying to rescue Princess Zelda on this glorious quest. Instead of simply controlling the character, you essentially use your imagination to become the character (except when you die. Then it's ok to be the controller). That is all.

Action 4 Fighting Games: This is in my opinion one of the most pointless genre of games. I couldn't even figure out what buttons cause which effects, so consequently I lost most of my fights. I think the ones I did win were merely by luck. I can't even see how Street Fighter would be a good stress reliever. On the contrary, I think it would add stress and frustration to a novice (such as myself). Only with a lot of time consuming practice (which I don't have the patience for with this kind of game) can this type of game be fun for me.

Action 5 Driving: The Shut up and Drive game was a little too fiendish for me. Mainly because the controls wouldn't respond how they were supposed to. And then it seemed that no matter how many cars I overtook, I was still in 10th place. I thought your ranking was supposed to go up as you passed cars? It didn't seem to matter how many cars passed me either, I was permanently in 10th place. However, my example game Crazy Taxi, was a fun driving game. I started playing and thought to myself, "I want to ride in that taxi". Well, who wouldn't want to ride in a taxi that can jump over other cars? This is a good game for hand/eye coordination because if you jump too late you crash into the car in front of you and you have to slow down and try it again. That is all.

Forums

Because I am an avid Doctor Who fan (also known as whovians), I decided to look at a Doctor Who Forum. The one I joined has a subtitle of "Theories even more insane than what's actually happening". That should give you a sense of how... interesting... it is.

A lot of it is people presenting personal theories as to what will happen next, or what has happened, in the "who-niverse" concerning plot twists and character revelations. I guess that places it in the category of self-promotion. Because they are personal theories there is also a bit of controversy. In this case I am using the word controversy to mean that the theories don't always agree. But that's okay because the theorists don't seem to care.

On that note, there doesn't seem to be a lot of policing. A lot of shooting down theories (mainly people going back and rewatching and observing more carefully past episodes) and a lot of counter-theorizing, but like I said, no one seems to care. To me, it's just personal speculation about what may or may not happen in the series.

The other forum I looked at is Gilmore Girls. My wife likes that show, although I don't watch it. (That's Ok, though, because she doesn't watch Doctor Who). I just scratched the surface of the Gilmore Girls Forum, but it has a lot of similarities to the Doctor Who forum. They both have episode-specific subforums and most of the users have profile pictures that have something to do with their respective shows. One thing I did notice is that the Gilmore Girls forum seems to be a bit more organized and Doctor Who is just chaotic with the amount of replies and threads that it has.

So, that's a relatively comparative something-or-other on forums.