ninurria

Attack! I yelled as we were thrust yet again into another battle against the dreaded Kolbolds. With a moment of pause at hand, we took a rest at the shrine to heal and replenish our war torn bodies. It was then when I began to learn a little bit more about the human paladin whom I had met a mere hour ago, and completed nearly all my quests within the beginning sequence of Dungeons and Dragons Online.

This Paladin, or Pally, was a very interesting and unique player who I got to know better through running several other dungeons/instances and interviewing him while we played. The Pally is from Cairns, Australia located in the state of Queensland; a coastal city on the North East side of the continent bordering the Great Barrier Reef. He is in high school an upperclassman, and is currently in the fourth term of this school year, which began on October 5, and ends December 11[1]. Upon discovering the nationality of my interviewee I immediately began discussing my experiences with soccer or football for the Aussies. For him, football is a national pastime and nothing would be greater for him or his country if Australia could make it to the world cup finals. I discussed several other leagues I knew in Europe and we named key star players sharing stories from games we had seen, or played. He was surprised that an American knew so much about international soccer, although I do admit that my knowledge of Australian soccer players was a bit lacking. He told me that his favorite player on the current Australian National team was Tim Cahill who also plays for the English club Everton. Along with football he enjoys other sports such as Rugby, but enjoys soccer more because he plays on a competitive team. Undoubtedly other interests of his include several popular video and computer game titles. We discussed our shared experience on WOW or World of Warcraft and the differences between the two games. In his opinion, while Dungeon and Dragons is a raw instance and quest game, WOW allows for more exploration with a more engaging game engine allowing for easier game play. He discussed however some of the other perks in DOD such as multi-classing and the online Store in which you can buy gear or experience to boost your character outside of game play. Personally, we disagreed on the aspect of store points but were able to see why both systems can be helpful. He had also played other Massively Multiplayer Online games such as Warhammer and Star Wars the Old Republic.

Being from the city of Cairns and right next to one of the greatest natural wonders of the world much of Pally’s time is not spent on the computer but rather in the ocean. He enjoys going to the beach, and hanging out with friends just like any other teenager searching for his niche in the world. He told me of the beautiful water and reefs he has been around all his life. I asked him why he had been on so recently if he did spend much of his time at the beach, and he explained the current situation. He warned me that if I was to ever travel to Cairns and swim at this time of the year it could be deadly. From October till May box jellyfish migrate through the city’s coastal waters. He told me that the potency of one jellyfish’s sting contains enough poison to kill three adults. Certainly something to keep in mind and a very hand tip! He expressed to me his taste in music and told me about QMusic[2] a company dedicated to providing Queensland with events and concerts that promote Australian artists.

From here I tried to redirect his attention to issues of more political and socioeconomic relevance, and ask questions regarding Australia’s outlook towards the online gaming community. Overall, he told me that the freedom of speech and thriving economy of Australia allows for the online gaming community to slowly grow with new and exciting games as it does in America. He explained from his knowledge no laws or regulations are placed against the internet, or games allowed to be played by Australian citizens. However, upon further research it seems there has been legislation and growing support for internet censorship within the Australian government[3]. When I asked him if he regularly played in internet ‘cafes’ or similar venues he said not normally but enjoys playing online with friends that he has in real life. Similar to many players he began playing at first with friends in his home town and then expanded on his own to other games and genres. The first MMORPG he can remember playing, or of the sort is an older Java game called RuneScape[4]. This game was free as DDO is, and it allowed him to communicate, compete, and have fun with his friends after school.

He had many motivations to play but clearly the catalyst was his first introduction into RuneScape. This free-to-play game allowed him to understand and uncover the world of MMO’s and basic ranking systems[5]. This allowed for an easy switch for him when introduced to new versions of MMO’s and eventually the WOW engine. The main reason for his switch to DDO was the simple fact that he was ‘burnt out.’ The same repetitive actions, and similar questing bored him, and he needed a change in game. He had heard of DDO and made the switch. His friends and he soon became very intrigued in the multiclass system and idea of being the first wave of characters to reach the maximum level cap of 20. This of course did not deter him from experimenting with other characters, or alternates to his main, in which I met him in the beginning city of Korthos Island. He is in a very active guild on a different server, but enjoys the escape of leaving his guild mates and soloing or meeting random people to group up with. When I asked him how often he played weekly he described to me the situation of a struggling high school student having to cut back on play time to catch up on school work and the constant internal battle of whether to study for an hour or go on a raid. He did enunciate as he has gotten older his game play time has been cut back, due to other extracurricular activities. This finding is particularly interesting as it goes against the results shown in “Who plays, how much, and why?” which states that older players are playing at higher rates than younger people who are “thought to have more free time.[6]” This particular case may be a bit skewed, from my own personal experience the pre-college work at the end of my high school career took away a lot of ‘free’ time.

When I further endeavored into the idea of transnational play and the fact that we both were from different countries he seemed somewhat unsure of what I meant. He told me since he was little and his first days on RuneScape he remembers playing with Dutch, Russian, and other foreign players, whom were all for the most part very helpful. It seems that he has been immersed into transnational play since he was young, and enjoys the idea of others from across the globe interacting and communicating with one another to benefit each other. I asked him had he ever encountered any rude or offensive behavior from foreign players and his reply was “Yes of course I have! But the truth of the matter was that it has nothing to do with where the person was from, because no matter what their will always be ---holes trying to ruin your day.” He further explained how several of his better friends online and in his guild are players from other countries. He told me that without several of them key facets of his guild wouldn’t work or even function. There is one issue in which he thought would be hard to factor and that was communication between players speaking different languages. He noticed that for several games he was locked into English speaking only servers; however, in other games such as RuneScape, he could enter into a Dutch, or Aussie world and expect any player to speak a multitude of languages. Many players on the Aussie world would speak Dutch to him and he was unable to understand them. This communication gap is a valid problem and should be addressed as games begin to incorporate a plethora of languages across the globe.

This is a screenshot of the final quest we played together in front of the Lighthouse in Stormreach Harbor. This is my rouge dwarf Kiefing Ghost on the Khyber server. I couldn’t figure out how to turn of the HUD.

                The “trialling” or testing was done in three secondary schools, among 50 Grade 9 students participated. The students went through “two distinct fieldwork tasks” in which they used a Nokia6600 in order to task to play against the other member of the pair of the selected students who were going to play that day. The overall purpose for this study was to advance the development of educational and social play within the world of modern technology. The Games-to-Teach Research Team at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology suggested that games in this context should be designed by identifying “that information should be used to address complex problems in simulated environments and that choices and consequences should be provided in these simulated worlds.” The collaboration between these students truly helped them learn not only in the educational world but social situations as well.

Collaborative handheld gaming in education

In both games the idea of questing, and interaction with NPC’s is essential. Although Free Realms allows you to specialize in almost any quality, with no specific class, DDO assigns a class most players try and specialize in; however, similar to the mass specialization of FR, DDO allows players to level up in multiple classes allowing for them to specialize in several different areas and creating a more complex and definitive game world. In both games rewards are earned from NPC’s and quest must be turned into them once finished.

Concerning the chat log, I realized that the censorship within FR is substantial. No number characters are allowed nor spelling the number out as a word. You are unable to copy text from the chat window in FR, possibly preventing the entry of younger kids into an inappropriate website or allowing a virus or hack to occur. The FR world is very protective of their young audience as they should be; many legal issues come into affect with young kids playing with older players. In WOW I know there is a censor in which you can block all the content deemed inappropriate or offensive to players. This sort of parental control, although it is not, we be a good addition allowing those older players to speak more clearly, not worrying about whether or not a simple word will be censored because within it is an offensive term. Clearly, many players would try and go around this system by no telling their parents or figuring out how to change the settings, but if an age limit were set say 18 or older, then maybe more free speech would be allowed.

The first game I want to talk about is an outdoor game and sort of extraordinarily different kind of game, log rolling.  This game involves the aspects of survival but also looks at certain aspects not described in the chapter. The kinesthetic element of balance is a key factor that is absent and can be seen in other relatively new games such as the Wii Fit. Although survival isn’t a key element of the Wii Fit, it certainly challenges with its grueling physical challenges.

An interesting computer game to look at is World of Warcraft. This game poses four different dynamics, trading, destruction, building, and collection. These four different dynamics create a complex game that is very player centered and friendly. The player is able to create and expand their character as they see fit. The ranking system alone seems to be never endless as Blizzard continues to expand upon itself with never ending sequels.

When looking at many never ending titles of First Person Shooters (FPS), you can see the similar survival and destruction dynamics. However, in certain titles you are able to play online with a ranking system, such as Halo, Gears of War, and Call of Duty. These systems have certain achievements in which you can level or rank up faster. This collection aspect is to a different degree with these multiplayer online games. Within you can see territorial acquisition in games such as King of the Hill, Annex, or Capture the Flag.

Clearly the dynamics within these games are what a player needs to understand and uncover when entering into a new game. With this knowledge the gamer can unlock the secrets of the game and ultimately master the strategy involved in even the simplest of games.

Over the weekend I indulged into the world of the Wii and explored the several different titles my suitemate has to offer. The main game we played was Super Mario Strikers: Charged. This game consists of the basic Super Mario series of characters from The Mario Bros. to DK, Bowser, and Peach. The overall game play is pretty simple and mainly ‘nunchuk’ joystick use for movement, as supposed to actual movement of the Wii remote with some other Wii games. The Wii remote was used to hit other players and knock them over, with a simple flick of your wrist you could slam your opponent into the wall. This game was overall a good game to pass time but boring at others. The ease of the game makes the game boring after lots of play but still fun for an every now and then play.

I myself own a Wii and have played several Wii games on the console. One of the more difficult games that I have experienced on the Wii is Zelda: Twilight Princess. This game requires a high level of skill in the gamer’s ability to move the Wii remote. The user interface is such that when you swing your Wii remote you swing Link’s, the main character’s, sword. If you hold Z on the Wii remote you can use one of his secondary weapons such as the bow or boomerang, and while holding Z you have to aim with your Wii remote by pointing at the screen. This in itself is very hard to do because while you are holding Z, Link is left vulnerable to attacks by the NPCs and other elements; and, when entered into this interface you may not be able find the Wii remote on the screen or improperly synced with the Wii’s sensor. I believe that the Wii remote is the most difficult remote to use in the industry today, due to its design and interface.

Another few games more focused on Wii remote movement interface, would be Wii Sports the Original version that comes with the Wii purchase and Wii Sports Resort. Both of these games focus on sports with the original containing tennis, bowling, golf, baseball, and boxing. The new Resort version has all these games but several more including table tennis, sky diving, wakeboarding, and a 3-point contest. The new version gives you advice on how to use your Wii remote while in game, for instance during the 3-point contest competition it advises you to shoot like you’re ringing a bell at the top of your shot. At the moment it may seem that this wouldn’t help at all or even make sense, but in reality the advice left by the game designers truly helps.

One important factor focused on by Nintendo is creating a system that is easily accessible to young player, and casual gamers. As seen by the change in game factors and in the newer version of Wii Sports giving players advice. This is true to in other games too such as Super Smash Bros. and the future game Super Mario Bros. for Wii. In both adventure modes gamers will be able to skip through parts they are unable to beat, a “demo mode”, in which the game beats that part for you. I disagree with this but it will help invite younger and inexperienced gamers to play the Wii.

The first website I visited was Kotaku, the Gamer's Guide. This website is a great source to learn about new and upcoming games and find out detailed information into the development, and what gameplay will look like. This site I think can really help to introduce new games and find out what the gaming community thinks about new games and old ones. One story in particular I found amusing and interesting at the same time was the story over Paul McCartney and Ringo Star over the Beatles Rock Band. When at the E3 opening for the game they acted as "they couldn't give a shit." This true or not brings a diverse angle towards the gaming community. With the different points of view represented from around the world on this website it can really help expand our views of gaming.

The next website I visited was MMORPG.com. The first thing I noticed about this site is that it will come in handy with the Dungeons and Dragons Online unlimited question and answer. This site is solely dedicated to the games of MMORPG, and many of the title are foreign to me. There are a multitude of tabs in this website that are great resources for these games. The reviews alone will help in judging the standard of quality this gaming community takes towards its games. The blogging and videos can be great resources to help with quests and becoming a better and more knowledgeable player. The true secret to many MMORPG games is experience within the gaming world. When you understand all aspects of the game you can truly become one of the strongest characters, and this site will definitely get you started.

The last site I visited had a very intriguing concept Gamer Widow. A Gamer Widower "is a term for those who have a relationship with an Addicted Gamer (one who plays video games to excess, be it on a console or on the computer) who pays more attention to the video game than to their partner….thereby making their partner a ‘gamer widow’ (female) or ‘gamer widower’ (male). In general we say ‘gamer widow’ and encompass both male and female community members." This concept in general seems a bit absurd but also true. This is for those who are truly addicted to video games to come and talk to fellow members. Although it may seem like a joke they even have a blog called the Rehab Room where you can help quell your addiction. People with real stories can help teach us the reality of a true gaming addiction and maybe even help us start one before it starts or get over a current one.

Southpark: Make Love, Not Warcraft

Time – 0:00     In the beginning of the episode, Stan displays a sense of technocracy while explaining to his Dad, Randy Marsh, the complexities of his online gaming activities. Randy asks his son to go out and “socialize” with his friends; however, Stan already online with his friends, was talking using a program called “teamspeak” in this episode very similar to Ventrillo the real life program. The idea that Stan could be talking to hundreds of people at once, from his home computer, is unreal to Randy who Stan labels as an “R-Tard.” The problem of technocracy can be seen by Stan’s conversation with his Dad by mocking him for not understanding the complexities of online gaming.

Time 1:00/3:29           This is the first introduction of the Southpark described stereotypical Technocrat/Hacker. This character is super powerful in the WOW game, but in real life is depicted as a fat, lazy slob who drinks Rockstar, his gamer fuel, and plays a video game day and night. This ultimate gamer is described by Stan as “one tough badass” when in reality he is a loser who plays WOW all day. This idea that online you can become someone else, and live an almost completely different life is one that is shared by many online fanatics; although body weight index and personal hygiene is hopefully better. The way the ultimate gamer “hacks” WOW and is able to kill other players is through endless playing every hour of every day. This idea can be seen as a “hack” in a positive light and addiction in a negative. This “gamer” can be seen as a black-hat hacker for defying the rules of WOW and Blizzard.

Time 3:56        This scene depicts Randy, who has just joined the gaming world, displaying what many feel when online using a computer that they are able to live more exciting and fulfilling lives. Randy mocks his boss as Stan did to him when questioned on whether or not he was playing a computer game. He says he is playing with “real” people, and uses the computer game as an escape from his boring life as a geologist. With this it can be seen through the hacker ethic that people are able to use “computers to change their life for the better.” (Levy 45).

Time 9:47        In this clip Cartman sways his friends into his scheme to win back WOW from the evil “hacker” who has just killed almost every player in the game. In order to do so, the boys need to stay away from the “ultimate gamer” so they aren’t killed, yet they need to level up in order to compete. His ultimate plan is to login to a low level forest, and “kill boars.” Although this may seem dumb to many, and monotonous, the boys can gain low levels of experience by quickly killing many boars at once. Cartman has even figured out the number they need to level up to compete with the hacker. This plan of hiding in the forest from the “gamer” is the ultimate hack upon the gamer. With this plan the boys are able to bypass the quests involved in Warcraft many would use to level up, and simply kill boars 100% of the time, a hack by Cartman on this game design of WOW.

Time 12:34      This clip describes the ultimate hack by Blizzard on their own game. A sword created not intended to be wielded by any player “The Sword of 1000 Truths.” This sword is contained on a 1GB flash drive and with its amazing power the Boys with their awesome level increases may have a slim chance of beating the ultimate gamer.

Time 16:53      Stan’s mother Sharon, is here described as the typical parent who believes that WOW is stupid, and he is wasting his life. This is a view taken by many people who do not understand the power of the computer its ability as a networking device. The Blizzard staff is in dire need to login to WOW and give the “sword” to the boys. However, as they both do not have accounts, because “they have lives” they must entrust the sword to Randy, a noob, or low level inexperienced player. Both of the staff members do not believe they should entrust this weapon to a noob; however, with no other hacking option in site, they must find a computer and download the “sword” in order for Randy to trade with the boys.

Time 19:12      With the “sword” downloaded and Randy running to Stan’s help all seems to be playing out well. Randy shows that he is still the noob, unable to trade the sword and lagging the time needed for Stan in battle. As Randy dies dramatically, the boys and everyone begin to celebrate with the destruction of the evil “hacker.” However, also with his death the boys are brought back to the real world from which they had withdrawn from for so long. Asking what are we going to do now? And Cartman simple reply, “Now we can finally play the game.” As they have become what they so deeply wanted to kill, Southpark cannot help but show the abysmal life some have playing online video games. Although these are many hilarious stereotypes taken with Southpark, many things can be seen to hold true in the hacking/online gaming community. From Cartman’s strategy to over through the “badass” WOW player, and Blizzard’s creation of the “ultimate weapon” the hacking scheme created in all computer activity can be seen. With the power in the graphics within WOW, we can see how through several generations of fumbling with code, the “computer can create art and beauty” (Levy 43). Clearly Southpark took an extreme approach to the online world, hackers, nerds, and gamers; however, showing that hackers “should not be judged on appearance,” but on what they give back to the community, after all the boys were the heroes at the end of the show (Levy 43).

Works Cited

Levy, Steven. Hackers: Heroes of the Computer. New York: Penguin, 1984.

Episode Hyperlink:
www.southparkstudios.com/episodes/103797

As I scrolled through the vast libraries of Scratch’s galleries and projects, I began to realize the great intricacies that can be created with this simple program. I realize as a first time user I have barely “scratched” the surface of this program, and hopefully soon I will be able to find a good use for this program developer. As I searched I found several different projects interesting, even if I didn’t exactly understand what was happening. An interesting group of projects I found was developed by students, like us, of Northwestern.

http://scratch.mit.edu/galleries/view/29705, this is the URL to their project page. They have a diverse list of scratch programs, from a Windows Vista emulator, http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/pndo1/328783, to “Farm Wars”, http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/syrup/328768, and even possibly the greatest game ever created for the Nintendo64 system, a Super Smash Bros. remake in “Scratch” format: http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/sunny98/326221 . This diversity shown in this group of projects, shows the diversity we can have when we create our own projects. Although some may I bit lower quality, we do have to remember what editor they were working with, and realize that “Scratch” can only do so many things, and is limited to within its own commands and devices.

             Recently Blackberry came out with a new phone to compete with Apple’s rising star the iPhone. This phone is called the Blackberry Storm, and this guide will help any owner of the Storm become better acquainted with all of its marvelous new features. I am one of these new users, and I like many other Storm users love the high resolution LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) screen that it comes with plus the 8 GB (Gigabyte) card which allows you to store tons of movies and media on your phone. Although these effects are cool, it does seem somewhat of a hindrance, not being able to put your iTunes files, or videos onto your Storm, as you could easily on your iPhone. This guide was created to help owners of the Storm convert any media file of their choice, and put it onto their phone, including files downloaded from iTunes.

            The first step to this process is making sure you have the correct equipment. First of all, you will need a Micro SD Card Reader, which basically means you need an adapter that you will be able to plug your Storm’s memory card into the computer you has your media. These are not very hard to find, in fact, in many newer models of computers they come factory installed. If your computer does not have one, you can buy several versions that can adapt to USB ports, and that aren’t too expensive. Here is a good website to look at for buying adapters. The next thing to do is download the software that you need in order to convert these files. Don’t worry; this software is free and reliable to an extent. The program is called SUPER © and is able to convert any media file into a smaller format that the Storm is able to download and play. There are several websites to go to that you can find this free download: http://www.erightsoft.net/S6Kg1.html , however, this one is the most reliable, and easiest to understand. Scroll to the very bottom of the page, and click the link to execute SUPER setup file and save the binary setup file to an easily accessible location, such as your desktop. Click on the setup after its done downloading and finish the setup for SUPER. After it has finished downloading the fun begins.

            Power off your phone first of all, and then take the back off. If you do not know how to do this at the bottom on the sides are two sliding clasps, slide them up towards the earpiece, and the back should release off. (In reference section attached picture of the slides to help, Figure 1.) Once the cover is off, the next step is to remove the SanDisk 8GB memory card. This is located, when the phone is screen down, on the bottom right side of the phone just below the battery, and you should just be able to read SanDis until the k is cutoff. (Picture Guide Attached Below, Figure 2.) Now gently slide out your Micro memory card towards the mouthpiece, making sure to be careful with it because it is very fragile. After this is done insert your memory card into your card reader, and check to see if your computer is reading it. To do this click on the start menu, in windows XP, or the windows button in Vista, and go to “computer” or “my computer.” In this menu you should see your hard disk drives, and devices with removable storage, this is the index you want to look in and see your card reader, and your SD 8GB memory card. If for some reason you cannot find your memory card, check to see if you Card Reader is in lock mode, this will stop all data flow if it is locked, this is a common user error that actually happened to me. After you have found your memory card and know your card reader is working you are ready to begin converting media files.

            In order to do this you first need to decide what files you will be converting. Arrange your media in an easy to access manner, movies or media files such as your favorite TV show, or episode of LOST could all be placed in a new “files to convert” folder making it easier when it is actually time to select and find these files. In order for SUPER to work it needs all the addresses of the files you have stored on your computer, and their file format. To run SUPER on your computer, for Vista, make sure you right click the open icon, and choose “Run as administrator.” Due to Vista’s setup it your computer may or may not crash depending on whether or not you are the administrator. Once you have the program SUPER open you can input the conversion outputs for your media files. Screenshots are provided in the reference section. The first is of a source output 16:9 (Figure 3) meaning that if it were a movie, it would be widescreen. For this type use the described screen shot, and the file should convert to an output size that can be formatted for the Storm. If however, the source output is 4:3 (Figure 4) meaning it looks like a square video, use those described screen shot settings. Both of these shots should be compatible for all media files, as long as you input the correct format of media file it is you are trying to convert.

            After you have setup SUPER’s conversions make sure to change the location you wish to save the converted file. The default is [C:\Program Files\eRightSoft\SUPER\OutPut] but this is not easy to access so create one of your own where it is easier for you to locate these newly converted files.  An easy way to access this location change is while SUPER is open pressing crtl+t, and the window should pop up to change the location of your converted files. After this is done, you need to select all the files you will be changing, in order to do this press crtl+a, and check the boxes of the files you want to convert, according to the output settings you inputted in SUPER. Next click "Encode (Active Files)" this may take awhile to do, but once it is done, you should have perfect mp4 files that are able to be played onto you Storm.

            Finally once all this is complete, you need to copy these newly encoded files to your Storm’s memory card. Simply go your Micro SD Card in your “computer” and copy the files in the \BlackBerry\videos directory of your Micro SD card. Before removing your SD card make sure that it is done copying, and then slide it back into your Storm. Turn on your phone and go to the “Media” application, and under “Videos” should be you new full length movies that you are able to view on your new awesome Storm. Remember that you only have an 8GB card which stores about 1,500 images, or 18 hours of video or 2,000 songs in MP3 format with an average length of 4 minutes (Crecente). Although space is limited, the amazing screen graphics and decent quality sound that you will now be able to display on you Storm, will have your iPhone friends wanting their money back.

Reference/Picture Guide Section

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Widescreen or Output Source 16:9

Figure 4

Square Screen or Output Source 4:3

The Passively Multiplayer Online Game or (PMOG) is not like any other traditional multiplayer game. This game exemplifies it’s own name, the “passivity” that can be used to play is exactly the way I decided I would play the game. I began with an approach of just browsing the web, playing with the buttons, and hoping to somehow level up. The dynamics of this game are very simple, create a mission, portal, or plant a  mine etc., and you level up or gain Data Points (DP). As you level up it is easier for you to get DP faster and therefore by special items such as mines, portals, crates, and st. nicks. With this continuation you replant your mines, set up new portals, or St. Nick people who are a little to mine happy, and the process repeats with the levels and the addition of more DP points.

                Underlying all these activities you are able to accomplish to gain DP and level, is the fact that other players must interact with what you placed online. A very simple strategy would be to place several portals, mines, or other items on frequently visited websites such as Google. However, as I learned quickly, other players do not appreciate mines on Google, and will St. Nick you until you stop planting them. Location is key in this game, in order to have a frequented mission or portal and to rank up faster.

                A key aspect of this game that makes it somewhat, playable, is it’s passivity in general. The game in itself it not very engaging, you can be watching TV, listening to music, or doing homework, and still be online and playing. The concept of this is astonishing because it allows for people at work play, and looks busy at the same time. This game is very attracting to me when I am bored and don’t want to play the same old video games I always have. I enjoy leveling up and searching the World Wide Web, and discovering pages and issues I did not know existed. A very beneficial point to this program would be the player created missions. These allow for people to visit others website they deemed important, informative, or enjoyable. In fact, I have found websites for things I never knew existed. I have learned new things about old topics, such as WWII, and the German side of the Battle of the Bulge. This website allows for people across the world to formulate creative ways to inform the rest of us, on what is really going on there, and what is of interest to others around the world. Truly, this is a great invention and game to play because of it’s accessibility and passivity. Without this, the game would become less of an informative work, and more of another boring dull ranking system, with RPG side effects. The ease of use and spread of information between players, allows for a more interactive yet less intense experience that the user is able to enjoy without the fear of either, losing rank, or seeing that always feared Game Over screen.

When I first started with the Mindjet Manager I really didn’t know what to expect, so I just dove in. I took the quick start tutorial and realized quickly that MindManager mapping was “a powerful technique for quickly generating, capturing, and organizing ideas, tasks, and activities.” It can be used for organizing business meetings with the greatest of detail and creating easily readable flow charts so people can follow along and not get lost in the presentation. The powerful tools of text editing in Word, are also apply to the Mindjet Manager. This program allows for all variations of colors, fonts, and sizes of text. It also has probably the best invention for Word, which was spell check. This program’s quite accessible with the interactive tutorial in the beginning you are able to become very familiar with the software in a short amount of time, this was a good marketing technique. The ease and familiarity of this program to those of Word’s and Excel’s Vista editions make this a very comparable program that would be very easy for anyone familiar with these programs to switch into. Overall, this is a solid business program that can be used efficiently, to display and organize an agenda and plan for thousands of types of meetings.

Fading Genius

            Jonathan James is sixteen years old. He is staring at a monitor, and delving deeper and deeper into the unknown. He is searching for anything, anything he has not seen before, he’s an explorer. Discovering the secrets of the world, he is breaking the law.

            Jonathan James was one of the greatest hackers the world has ever seen. Unfortunately, we are unable to see what he might have accomplished, due to his untimely passing on May 18, 2008 at the age of twenty-four. He at the age of sixteen was able to do what many “black-hat” hackers can only dream of, and hack into the U.S. Department of Defense (Defense Threat Reduction Agency) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administrations’ computers. Jonathan began his computer programming career at the early age of fourteen. He began first in UNIX, learning computer coding, and eventually dived into C programming a year later. Even with this minuscule amount of knowledge in computer programming, James was still able to hack into what should have been secure computer databases. This in itself is astonishing, when looking at the pure natural genius James had as a computer programmer. When asked in an interview why computer hacking becomes such an obsession, he stated that “Well, it's power at your fingertips. You can control all these computers from the government, from the military, from large corporations. And if you know what you're doing, you can travel through the internet at your will, with no restrictions. That's power; it's a power trip” (Anonymous 1).

            James found many other resources besides the classes he took in computer science, he also relied heavily on books and the hacker community around him. Jonathan elicited several of Levy’s “hacker ethic” qualities. He displays Levy’s “Hands On!” approach when by diving into the world of computers and with the belief “that essential lessons can be learned about the systems-about the world-from taking things apart, seeing how they work, and using this knowledge to create new and even more interesting things”(Levy 40).  James proves this “hacker ethic” when he explains that “by reading, by talking to people, and by spending so much time on the computer, learning how it works, learning the source code and the programs and the commands,” this is how he learned the basics of his skills. Now, in order to excel, he did what was emphasized in the “Hacker Manifesto”, and reached out to the “free information” on the internet, and the hacker community, as also mentioned by Levy, “all information should be free”(Levy 40). This drive of a young man to discover, and venture into the unknown, describes the passion needed by a young hacker of the future.

            Although Jonathan James was described as a “black-hat” hacker for his crimes, this is not a proper label for him. James did, under the terms of the United States government, break the law, but he did not morally nor physically harm the government. Basically, this means he did not feel bad for his actions because he was just looking around, “checking out the hardware.” James states the reason for him even to want to begin and hack into the government’s computers’ was the need of a challenge. It was fun for him, a game.  When asked on whether or not James thought his acts were mischievous he said, “Not at all. “Well, first of all, I was just looking around, playing around. What was fun for me was a challenge to see what I could pull off”(Anonymous 10). However, James realized that there are other hackers out there that are able to damage “corporate web sites, government web sites, and change [them]”(Anonymous 10). Unlike himself he said “that's closer to what you're talking about-- that's mischievous. But I didn't do stuff like that.” James realized the true “hacker ethic” at a very young age. He understood the availability of free information, but also how not to abuse this power. 

            Surprisingly enough, James was able to access the governments’ computers’ not only one time but several, showing the inferiority of the government’s actual defense programs/firewalls. James described how and with time he was able to find “soft spots” in the programming and get in through their firewalls. James was able to download a backdoor into the Department of Defense’s (DTRA) program and intercept over 3,300 highly classified messages. He also downloaded a C program for the “International Space Station” that had to do with “Environmental Control,” the program was estimated at over $1.7 million. James stated “The code itself was crappy . . . certainly not worth $1.7 million like they claimed. The only reason I was downloading the source code in the first place was because I was studying C programming. And what better way to learn than reading software written by the government?” (Anonymous 12). This in all honesty, makes complete sense; and, the fact alone that James would call a $1.7 million coded program as “crap” certainly not worth that much is hilarious. This truly shows the innocence that James took towards this, and almost superiority he felt over the government’s inferior coding. However, this stand point did not come unjustified; James even tried to help the government fix their own problems. He said that when the FBI and NASA officials came to his house it “was a total shock to me. Sometimes I would get kicked off a computer, and I'd figure, "’Oh, great, the admin figured something was up and re-installed the software, added a little security, and forgot about it, because they don't care that I'm here. They just fix it and move on,’ …. And they didn't care”(Anonymous 14). This seemed “reasonable” to James, however he even began to send in emails to the “system administrators” and tell them that their systems’ were “vulnerable” and even describe “how to break in, and how to fix the problems.” Yet, they still never followed his advice. “Three weeks later” he would try again and still “have access to their computers.”

            Jonathan Joseph James was a young and great mind, who died at the prime of his life. He had the potential to accomplish and create some great things in the computing world. James did what many could only dream of at the age of sixteen, and he only did it for fun! He displayed the greatest of hacking ethics, by diving into the computing world, playing with programs and learning the language. He even showed great morale by being able to withstand the temptation of accessing top secret information, or releasing government secrets. He was able to have the power “at his fingertips” but use it wisely, and for the purpose of learning. The only reason he downloaded the supposed $1.7 million program, was to study the C programming language of the government. He even stated that the system they used was “crappy,” and at the age of sixteen states that now he “understands why there are failures in the government.” The simple fact was that the government did not create adequate security measures. Jonathan was simply an explorer and he took the loop holes they gave him. Even after several notifications the government still did not fix the problems, and yet James was still charged when the Federal Bureau of Investigation and NASA showed up at his house. They charged him with 6-months house arrest and probation, in which he could not touch computers. James broke his probation and severed six months in jail. James’s sentence seems fairly harsh for a minor of only sixteen; however, if he had been an adult he could have been sentenced to almost 10 years in jail for what he had done. This young man who died at such a young age could have achieved so much for the technological world, and yet so little is known about him. He even changed the nation for the better. His hacking ability positively affected the U.S. government; his ability opened the eyes of many individuals of the government about the flaws in their computer systems, and in turn, helped them understand they need better security systems.

Never has the world seen a greater natural genius of the keyboard and code than Jonathan Joseph James, and it is a sad sight to see but I think his obituary says it best:

“JAMES, JONATHAN JOSEPH, 24, born December 12, 1983, passed away unexpectedly in his Pinecrest home Sunday, May 18, 2008. A Beth Am graduate, class of 1995, Jonathan will be remembered by friends and family as an exceptionally intelligent young man who never did anything by the book. A computer genius by all definitions of the term, he routinely astounded friends, family, and governments with his accomplishments. He will be sorely missed by his surviving brother, father, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, and many, many friends.”

    Jonathan Joseph James

Obituary Link:

http://www.legacy.com/Herald/DeathNotices.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonID=110095968

James’s Hacker Community:

http://www.attrition.org/mirror/attrition/1999/05/02/www.bellsouth.com/hack5.html

James’s Interview With PBS:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/hackers/interviews/anon.html

Other Resources:

http://www.itpro.co.uk/603831/ten-of-the-most-infamous-black-hat-hackers/2

http://www.itsecurity.com/features/top-10-famous-hackers-042407/

http://www.petratum.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=391

In the 1960s the age of computers was just beginning. Technological revolutions were occurring across the aspect of science, and communications, and with this came the profit of big business. IBM, the International Business Machines Corp., was the leader in this revolution however they were also seen as the straight laced, suit and tie business man. This appearance as the “man” made IBM and it’s standardized computing systems was very limited in releasing it’s technological ideas, or computing services.

Young minds wanting to explore and create with these new machines were limited to their use, because of their expensive price and cost to use. This limited where IBM and these new computers could be used, there were no home computers. Students wanting to learn were restricted to time limits in which they could use these new machines, and only those enrolled in the particular institutions could use these computers. The lack of distribution, and the want of the “countercultured” 1960s youth to expand and create their own computers is what began the technological revolution against the technocracy of IBM, and the business world.

This expanse of this movement against those who would restrict and limit the expansion of a “spokes on a wheel” approach to computer programming, is what would cause the eventual creation of the first PC, personal computer. The technocracy created by IBM’s business perspective to computing and it’s advancement was that of one which limited the creativity of all users. The business model inhibited the creation process and this restriction of mind, thought, and power, into the young hackers of the world, is what spurred the original fight against technocracy.

The counterculture that spurred in the 1960s is normally looked upon as the drugs, sex, and rock n’ roll of that time; from the fan of Ken Kesey and his followers, to the disapproval by many of the Vietnam war, the youth of the 60’s was changing the face of the world forever. Although these events may be seen as highlights, a major point to look at was definitely the “hacker revolution” spurred by the technocracy of big business, in particular IBM. The technological and sociological advances during this time liberated the minds of many and helped in part to enhance the creativity of the youth. From Jobs, to Gates the minds of computers grew during this period and proved that with a little ingenuity and hands-on approach to computing, anything is possible. Even surpassing the suit and tie, close cut, diploma wielding, IBM computer scientist.