The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien

     The Hero's adventure is one of various treacherous trials and tribulations and our Hero Bilbo creates a very great example of what a great hero's journey is like. 

     Considering what his life was like before he embarked on his journey, seeing Bilbo become what even he thought he couldn't become was incredibly gratifying. In my view, I've always seen dwarves as hardened tiny adult humans who take on various hobbies like blacksmithing and armor crafting. This took my on a journey through not only Bilbo's experiences, but through my own ideas of how much a dwarf can be.

     Bilbo seems to have somewhat "awakened," for lack of a better term, into what I previously considered to be the dwarven culture, particularly in reference to his encounter with the beloved Gollum. Not only did I feel that this encounter was terrifying, as the idea of being eaten alive does not bode well with me, or anyone else that I know for that matter, but it also showed me that dwarves are much more than meets the eye in terms of cunning. In such a short span of time, I was able to witness an experience that would change anyone for a lifetime, let alone Bilbo. Although this isn't the most treacherous part of his journey, I considered it to be a very important one. Not only because of the rapid character development, but because of how Bilbo was related to the issue at hand: He was all alone, having stumbled upon a ring, and came across a creature who saw him as a meal. Unlike having the issue of a dragon burning down the whole town, immediately effecting those around you, seeing a single character, our hero, go through a dilemma that would yield long term consequences is an interesting concept to consider. Without Bilbo, from his meeting with Gollum and onward, the other dwarves that would have needed him may not have succeeded in their quest. Seeing one small event, Bilbo accidentally stumbling upon the ring, ripple into a butterfly effect of results I feel is important within a story. It makes everything that happens onward feel like it happened for a reason, which solidifies the world that these events take place in. 

Women and Witches: Aunt Maria

     

     The subject of power in our western culture is generally one discussed based upon who has or will have the power. Aunt Maria has risen many of the questions I have about the way society generally thinks of power and how they might react to the way the Witches in this story use it.

     The older women, most of which are witches in this book, are placed in some high position of power, which is a huge contrast to what is seen in our culture. These witches are depicted as women who are very manipulative and can quickly lose their temper and misuse their power based on emotional impulse alone. I do believe that this depiction of women in power is somewhat present in our culture today, as many people see women as "over-emotional," although this is not necessarily the case.

    The book is interesting in that it places our protagonists in the world without power and gives our antagonist most of the power that creates the conflicts presented to us in the book. I enjoyed seeing Chris get the best of someone with more power than he has and witnessing her go quite a bit over the line, turning him into a wolf. This event in the book is particularly interesting because I got to witness someone with pretty much no power rise into power for a brief moment before he was rapidly dropped back down. The feeling of seeing the "little guy" become more powerful than the "bully" is a satisfying mechanism, and I believe this book pulled implemented that trope into the story pretty well.

     

The New Weird: Monster Island

    Weird is defined by many as a very subjective term. It is also defined as a word that describes things that are not "normal". Some people may find the actors who perform in circuses weird, while others may find those who enjoy black licorice weird. I do believe there is a definition for weird that is only defined by the culture that is using the term. 

      Monster Island begins in a way that sets the book up to be more horrific than it really is. There's fog, there's a ship, and there are very few people. Once these character's arrive at New York City, a lot of the structural integrity of this story begins to collapse, at least in my eyes.

     The most weird discovery that is made in the story is that the zombies that are placed into this book's world are sentient and members of a cult in New York City. I've grown up with the idea that a zombie is someone who is not sentient and has only one goal in mind: eat the brains of any human that crosses your path and spread the virus. I consider myself to have quite an open mind, but giving a zombie sentience is quite weird to me. This takes away from what is supposed to make a zombie horrifying. Even if they do still pursue the goal of devouring any living human, the element of sentience simply makes them feel like plain humans who's skin has decayed a little bit. In Western culture, this is a bizarre way of portraying zombies.

     

     

Japanese Horror: The Story of Mimi-Nashi-Hoichi

     Japanese Horror is a genre of horror I've been interested in, but haven't taken much time to look into. For the week of Japanese Horror, I read 'The Story of Mimi Nashi Hoichi." I found this story to catch my eye quickly because I wanted to know how Hoichi lost his ears (mimi). I personally find stories that involve body dismemberment quite interesting. I consider sight, along with hearing, to be the most powerful senses in terms of fear. Once I found out that Hoichi is a blind man, I knew he'd be placed into a very difficult situation.

     Many questions began to arise when a "man" came to Hoichi's door in the middle of the night to retrieve Hoichi and have him play music for the "lord". Who is this lord? How does this man know of Hoichi? Why does this man want Hoichi specifically? Too many questions arose in such a short time, which made this situation seem much more horrific, despite it seeming to be a completely harmless confrontation. Once Hoichi played for man and his lord, among some other people, I truly believed everything was all right.

     Then my gut sank. Once the Priest revealed that it was not a man that was fetching Hoichi, but rather the dead beckoning unto him, I was left for a loop. The sudden connection of their intentions, which were to eventually tear Hoichi into pieces, as well as the events that hard perspired up to that point left me not only disturbed, but very curious as to what would happen next.

     Knowing this information, I eagerly waited alongside Hoichi for the next knock to come. Once the "man" brought himself to the Hoichi's residence again, I began to feel uncomfortable. Hoichi was familiar with what he was dealing with, but not entirely certain. The priest had covered him in markings to protect him from these evil spirits, which basically made Hoichi invisible to the dead. However, he forgot to cover his ears and once the spirits came into the house, they noticed Hoichi wasn't there but spotted ears that they decided to take, ripping them from Hoichi's head. Their strength as well as their intelligence was truly horrifying to experience.

     What I found interesting about Hoichi's predicament was that, unlike horror in the West, I didn't know exactly what Hoichi was up against until it was almost too late. In many of the Western Horror stories, the threat is almost always clear early on in the story. Introducing the threat later on in the story I find to be much more effective because it leaves room for the story to unfold or reveal very interesting details of the story. Great horror, in my opinion, is much like a puzzle. It's nice to be able to put it together along the way. But, it becomes much more satisfying when a large piece of the puzzle that was once missing is then found and placed to complete the picture. Many Western Horror pieces lack giving their audience the "Oh, so that's what was really happening!" that can make something that seemed entirely mundane seem absolutely terrifying. 

B.F. Skinner, Game Rewards, and the Game Major

B.F. Skinner - haciendapub.com

Burrhus Frederic Skinner (B.F. Skinner) is a man who studied behavioral psychology at Harvard University and crafted many experiments to discover how operant conditioning functions. One of these experiments involved the Operant Conditioning Chamber, that of which many people know of as animal test; Rats were placed in a box and performed certain tasks. Each task would either have a negative or positive consequence and the rat's resulting behavior would be recorded. Within these various studies that Skinner conducted, he found that operant condition changes the behavior of how one reacts to an event over time. For example, if someone gets an F in school and is punished (sent to their room, grounded, etc.), they are more likely to attempt not to get an F to prevent the punishment. On the other hand, if a someone gets an A in school and they are rewarded for doing so (given money, new electronics, etc.), they are more likely to attempt getting more A's. 

These Principals are seen in our every day lives. They are also a driving mechanic behind a lot of the things we do. We eat to avoid the consequence of dying; We exercise to avoid becoming unhealthy; We work to gain money. Operant Conditioning is also seen in many games. In Adventure Games, you learn to explore because finding extra items can make the adventure easier and more fun. In Fighting Games, you learn combos to make winning easier. In almost every game, you learn to avoid taking damage so you do not die and have to start over. Many of the games that have and will fail are due to there being a lack of reward or accomplishment given to the player(s). 

     Because I am currently studying games what makes a game good and/or bad, many questions are surfacing on the subject of game making. How can I tell if my game is good? How can I tell if it's bad? How do I make a good game? A lot of these questions are currently being explored as I continue to draft a few ideas for a Print-N-Play game, and eventually a full-on board game. In many successful board games, like Chess, Monopoly, or even Checkers, each play session always contains something gratifying about forming the strategy used to defeat the opponent(s). I'm currently hoping to be able to extract many more examples of successful games and incorporate them into my own creation in a short game that is both unique and creative. 

Simple Game Idea Concepts

     

Different icons (for classes, items, etc.) that could be on the cards the players manipulate     

     1. Temperature Control - Ice has to lower in-game temp while fire has to raise it, both to a specific standpoint - Brawl-based

     2. Cyber Security-type game - Virus (offense) must break through the firewall (defense)

     3. Card-based charades (with drawing, maybe?)
   
     4. Fencing card game - Rock-paper-scissors-esque

     5. Class-based race to finish line

     6. Fly and Venus fly trap - Fly must find food without being caught by the venus fly trap (choosing specific tiles to land on, those of which could be food or the venus fly trap?)

     7. Pen vs. Sword duel - Somewhat class based-like?

     8. MOBA styled game with 4 different classes - destroy enemy castle

     9. First to 5 points win mechanic - Gold mining or finding a specific item, maybe

     10. Control the map mechanic - Each player has a certain amount of resources they must use to control as much as the map as they can over their opponent
   
     11. Escape the map - Similar to those 'choose your own adventure' books but with cards

     12. Spartans vs. Knights - Medieval times vs. greek olympic competition
 
     13. Catch the Killer - Players draw a card, one person gets the "killer" card, and everyone must find out who did it.

     14. Destroy the Hivemind - One player controls a swarm of mobs while the other(s) gather materials to take them down. HP based

     15. Class based brawling

     16. Build 'em up game - Create different objects using different parts. Point based game.

     17. Capture the Opponent - Both players play gang leaders and are attempting to capture each other

     18. Players determine objects of the game with a given criteria (balancing rules)

     19. No lights out - Maze-styled game with a grid that can trigger events

     20. Prepare for the invasion - Players gather resources to ward off oncoming enemies

My Favorite Game Trailer - Monster Hunter Generations

Monster Hunter Generations - Opening Cinematic

Definitely among one of my most favorite game trailers for one of my favorite game franchises: Monster Hunter by Capcom.