WEBVTT 00:00:00.040 --> 00:00:02.470 The following content is provided under a Creative 00:00:02.470 --> 00:00:03.890 Commons license. 00:00:03.890 --> 00:00:06.920 Your support will help MIT OpenCourseWare continue to 00:00:06.920 --> 00:00:10.570 offer high quality educational resources for free. 00:00:10.570 --> 00:00:13.470 To make a donation or view additional materials from 00:00:13.470 --> 00:00:17.400 hundreds of MIT courses, visit MIT OpenCourseWare at 00:00:17.400 --> 00:00:18.650 ocw.mit.edu. 00:00:20.790 --> 00:00:24.290 Some content in this audio is not covered under a Creative 00:00:24.290 --> 00:00:25.785 Commons license. 00:00:25.785 --> 00:00:29.790 For more information, see the course materials on the MIT 00:00:29.790 --> 00:00:32.729 OpenCourseWare website. 00:00:32.729 --> 00:00:35.594 TA: A bunch of puzzles. 00:00:35.594 --> 00:00:37.954 AUDIENCE: The first one's easy, and then everything 00:00:37.954 --> 00:00:41.270 after that is such a scam. 00:00:41.270 --> 00:00:44.820 TA: Is it like a series, or is it just one book? 00:00:44.820 --> 00:00:47.056 AUDIENCE: I don't know. 00:00:47.056 --> 00:00:48.790 I found it. 00:00:48.790 --> 00:00:50.870 [LAUGHTER] 00:00:50.870 --> 00:00:53.460 AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE] 00:00:53.460 --> 00:00:56.736 Everyone's looking at him and they're like, you can do a 00:00:56.736 --> 00:00:59.116 practice leg in a one-person [UNINTELLIGIBLE PHRASE]. 00:00:59.116 --> 00:01:02.620 We'll just give you any puzzle that gets progressively more 00:01:02.620 --> 00:01:03.870 impossible. 00:01:07.230 --> 00:01:09.110 TA: Actually, I want to throw out one suggestion. 00:01:09.110 --> 00:01:12.400 If anybody's having trouble thinking about what to put up 00:01:12.400 --> 00:01:15.600 for a program post, and you haven't been able to keep up 00:01:15.600 --> 00:01:17.780 with your program posts, one thing that you might want to 00:01:17.780 --> 00:01:20.375 attempt is just a quick postmortem on 00:01:20.375 --> 00:01:21.200 the previous project. 00:01:21.200 --> 00:01:27.012 What went right, what you would rather have gone right, 00:01:27.012 --> 00:01:30.770 what went wrong, and just a couple of other points. 00:01:30.770 --> 00:01:36.250 Just sort of a reflection, just thinking about what you 00:01:36.250 --> 00:01:39.280 might want to try to change or what you want to make sure 00:01:39.280 --> 00:01:42.280 that you keep doing for the next project. 00:01:42.280 --> 00:01:44.080 That's just a good idea. 00:01:44.080 --> 00:01:47.580 So if you could do that next week. 00:01:47.580 --> 00:01:51.717 It will be done today, so after this week's program 00:01:51.717 --> 00:01:53.945 post, you might want to try to do the exercise. 00:01:58.410 --> 00:02:01.205 PROFESSOR: So today, well first of all I want to say if 00:02:01.205 --> 00:02:04.414 you can't see the screen, you might want to position 00:02:04.414 --> 00:02:07.114 yourself so that you can, because most of everything is 00:02:07.114 --> 00:02:10.070 going to be up here for today. 00:02:10.070 --> 00:02:15.780 So I don't know if, for those of you who have taken or are 00:02:15.780 --> 00:02:20.206 taking video game studies, how much you're going into this. 00:02:20.206 --> 00:02:22.940 But some of today's talk is definitely going to be more on 00:02:22.940 --> 00:02:26.850 the video games studies theoretical side. 00:02:26.850 --> 00:02:28.810 And we're not actually requiring you to implement 00:02:28.810 --> 00:02:30.530 this stuff, so a lot what we are going to be talking about 00:02:30.530 --> 00:02:33.830 today is rhetoric and meaning and how that relates to 00:02:33.830 --> 00:02:35.750 simulation. 00:02:35.750 --> 00:02:37.985 If you're not conscious of this, or you don't put this in 00:02:37.985 --> 00:02:39.020 your game, that's fine. 00:02:39.020 --> 00:02:41.310 This is just something that I think is really interesting, 00:02:41.310 --> 00:02:42.960 and I hope you guys will as well. 00:02:45.970 --> 00:02:51.570 So, first of all, I want to talk about what simulation 00:02:51.570 --> 00:02:54.880 means, and it would help if I did this correctly. 00:03:03.628 --> 00:03:04.114 There we go. 00:03:04.114 --> 00:03:06.560 OK. 00:03:06.560 --> 00:03:10.360 So, Gonzalo Frasca says, to simulate is to model a source 00:03:10.360 --> 00:03:13.370 system or different system which maintains for someone 00:03:13.370 --> 00:03:17.280 some of the behaviors of the original system. 00:03:17.280 --> 00:03:19.970 And so to me, this definition is really important for a 00:03:19.970 --> 00:03:21.900 couple of reasons. 00:03:21.900 --> 00:03:25.150 First of all, he puts source in parentheses. 00:03:25.150 --> 00:03:28.715 For him and in his writing, he doesn't necessarily think you 00:03:28.715 --> 00:03:31.549 need one, which is a whole other argument all together. 00:03:31.549 --> 00:03:33.691 I want to point out that all of this will assume that there 00:03:33.691 --> 00:03:37.430 is a star system and that the design is consciousness. 00:03:37.430 --> 00:03:40.648 That's part of the board game assignment, to make a game 00:03:40.648 --> 00:03:42.640 based on a real world system. 00:03:42.640 --> 00:03:46.960 But this technician has a lot of space in it. 00:03:46.960 --> 00:03:50.381 It maintains for somebody some of the behaviors. 00:03:50.381 --> 00:03:54.160 It's intentionally very loose. 00:03:54.160 --> 00:03:58.430 And this'll come into to play shortly, because a big part we 00:03:58.430 --> 00:04:00.560 are going to talk about today is the relationship with 00:04:00.560 --> 00:04:05.560 subjectivity and simulation, which I hope you guys saw a 00:04:05.560 --> 00:04:08.140 little bit of in the reading for today. 00:04:10.920 --> 00:04:14.805 So to give a more rigorous definition, this is a model 00:04:14.805 --> 00:04:18.410 taken from an extremely dry textbook called Theory of 00:04:18.410 --> 00:04:21.260 Modeling and Simulation. 00:04:21.260 --> 00:04:22.915 Zeigler and all have [UNINTELLIGIBLE] of what it 00:04:22.915 --> 00:04:24.350 offers, and basically they present a 00:04:24.350 --> 00:04:25.960 simulation that's like this. 00:04:25.960 --> 00:04:30.820 So the idea is, you have a star system that exists within 00:04:30.820 --> 00:04:32.460 the experimental frame. 00:04:32.460 --> 00:04:36.160 This frame refers to, these are the conditions under which 00:04:36.160 --> 00:04:38.250 we are interested in the star system. 00:04:38.250 --> 00:04:38.580 Right? 00:04:38.580 --> 00:04:42.720 So if you want to make a game, say about life at MIT, there's 00:04:42.720 --> 00:04:44.335 some things you are going to include, some things you're 00:04:44.335 --> 00:04:45.250 going to exclude, right? 00:04:45.250 --> 00:04:48.184 You probably don't care about the effect of the moon's 00:04:48.184 --> 00:04:51.420 gravity on the campus, for example. 00:04:51.420 --> 00:04:53.280 And so then there's the modelling relation. 00:04:53.280 --> 00:04:56.365 So we observed the star system under certain conditions, and 00:04:56.365 --> 00:04:59.955 then we focused on the elements that are important to 00:04:59.955 --> 00:05:02.630 us, and from that we construct the model. 00:05:02.630 --> 00:05:06.680 And you notice, here they distinguish between a 00:05:06.680 --> 00:05:09.850 simulator and a model, which is not something that I think 00:05:09.850 --> 00:05:12.540 we do necessarily. 00:05:12.540 --> 00:05:15.500 Because we tend to think that simulations are complex 00:05:15.500 --> 00:05:19.560 technological software entities. 00:05:19.560 --> 00:05:25.430 So separating this indicates that multiple 00:05:25.430 --> 00:05:27.380 things can be a simulator. 00:05:27.380 --> 00:05:31.330 For example, in terms of games, you can 00:05:31.330 --> 00:05:32.395 have a board game. 00:05:32.395 --> 00:05:33.085 You can have a video game. 00:05:33.085 --> 00:05:34.950 And these could be based on the same model, or they could 00:05:34.950 --> 00:05:38.510 be derived from the same system, but the simulator 00:05:38.510 --> 00:05:41.380 exactly can be a couple of different things. 00:05:41.380 --> 00:05:44.320 And so this is a sort of technical way 00:05:44.320 --> 00:05:46.840 of looking at it. 00:05:46.840 --> 00:05:50.070 What I want to talk about specifically is what I refer 00:05:50.070 --> 00:05:52.870 to in my writing as a simulation gap. 00:05:52.870 --> 00:05:55.522 And this is another way of looking at the elements in a 00:05:55.522 --> 00:05:57.000 simulation. 00:05:57.000 --> 00:06:00.150 So, major components such as star system, the simulation, 00:06:00.150 --> 00:06:04.850 the user, and I have all of these super intuitive arrows. 00:06:04.850 --> 00:06:06.070 So we'll go through them quickly. 00:06:06.070 --> 00:06:08.210 So the arrow at A, this is kind of 00:06:08.210 --> 00:06:09.700 the abstraction process. 00:06:09.700 --> 00:06:13.030 We are looking at a star system we're considering, 00:06:13.030 --> 00:06:15.620 presumably within some sort of experimental frame that we 00:06:15.620 --> 00:06:16.470 care about. 00:06:16.470 --> 00:06:18.870 And then from that we derive behaviors and rules for what 00:06:18.870 --> 00:06:22.880 we want to implement into the simulation. 00:06:22.880 --> 00:06:25.320 So the arrow with B represents the user. 00:06:25.320 --> 00:06:26.240 So this might be me. 00:06:26.240 --> 00:06:28.015 And this is me interacting with the game. 00:06:28.015 --> 00:06:30.190 This is me playing with it, seeing how the simulation 00:06:30.190 --> 00:06:33.050 works, watching it run. 00:06:33.050 --> 00:06:39.860 But then, importantly, there's also arrow C my recognition 00:06:39.860 --> 00:06:42.120 that it's based on something. 00:06:42.120 --> 00:06:45.776 If you can't tell that simulation has a star system, 00:06:45.776 --> 00:06:49.040 you're going to think of it very differently than if you 00:06:49.040 --> 00:06:51.520 know where that star system is. 00:06:51.520 --> 00:06:55.420 And so D, then, is the proverbial simulation gap. 00:06:55.420 --> 00:06:59.950 And this is the space in between all of them. 00:06:59.950 --> 00:07:04.120 And this is a model of how users, in working with a 00:07:04.120 --> 00:07:06.680 simulation, can create a subjective 00:07:06.680 --> 00:07:07.570 interpretation of it. 00:07:07.570 --> 00:07:09.090 They assign values to it. 00:07:09.090 --> 00:07:12.750 They look at are there value judgments in the game. 00:07:12.750 --> 00:07:15.355 They may consider various parts of the game to have 00:07:15.355 --> 00:07:18.080 certain meaning or express certain ideas. 00:07:18.080 --> 00:07:20.900 And this arises from understanding the difference 00:07:20.900 --> 00:07:25.020 between the star system and the simulation. 00:07:25.020 --> 00:07:28.820 I wasn't able to compress the quote down into a slide, but 00:07:28.820 --> 00:07:33.150 Ian Bogost said that the simulation gap is kind of-- 00:07:33.150 --> 00:07:36.349 a user's interpretation of a simulation converges-- all 00:07:36.349 --> 00:07:39.120 right, let's see if I can get this right. 00:07:39.120 --> 00:07:40.805 It's horribly wordy in the book. 00:07:40.805 --> 00:07:44.120 But he's basically saying your interpretation is based on 00:07:44.120 --> 00:07:47.920 what the simulation includes as much as what it excludes. 00:07:47.920 --> 00:07:50.920 We look at these design decisions as having meaning. 00:07:54.010 --> 00:07:57.750 And so we saw this in the star article. 00:07:57.750 --> 00:07:59.220 I'm sorry, this picture is lo-res, 00:07:59.220 --> 00:08:03.180 but the game is lo-res. 00:08:03.180 --> 00:08:04.220 I don't know if you remember this. 00:08:04.220 --> 00:08:08.600 There's this key point in the article for today when 00:08:08.600 --> 00:08:12.070 [? Star ?] is talking about discussing SimCity 2000 with 00:08:12.070 --> 00:08:13.400 his daughter. 00:08:13.400 --> 00:08:18.800 And if you remember, he and his daughter react differently 00:08:18.800 --> 00:08:24.150 to the game's exclusion of mixed-use field. 00:08:24.150 --> 00:08:26.070 Actually, I probably want to check. 00:08:26.070 --> 00:08:27.480 Has anyone not played SimCity? 00:08:27.480 --> 00:08:29.340 Any of the versions? 00:08:29.340 --> 00:08:30.450 No experience? 00:08:30.450 --> 00:08:30.980 OK. 00:08:30.980 --> 00:08:34.070 So SimCity basically is a-- 00:08:34.070 --> 00:08:35.380 he's called it a software toy. 00:08:35.380 --> 00:08:36.770 It's a simulation of a city. 00:08:36.770 --> 00:08:37.630 That's the name. 00:08:37.630 --> 00:08:42.230 And the idea is you start with an empty space, and are trying 00:08:42.230 --> 00:08:43.460 to build it up into a burgeoning 00:08:43.460 --> 00:08:45.230 metropolis, or whatever. 00:08:45.230 --> 00:08:46.765 One of the defining features of the games 00:08:46.765 --> 00:08:47.630 is it's very open. 00:08:47.630 --> 00:08:49.240 There's no real set goals. 00:08:49.240 --> 00:08:52.190 And this is primarily done through zoning. 00:08:52.190 --> 00:08:55.940 And zoning is designating land for specific uses. 00:08:55.940 --> 00:08:59.520 So the main zones in the game, and in actual urban planning 00:08:59.520 --> 00:09:02.290 are residential, commercial, and industrial. 00:09:02.290 --> 00:09:05.130 So to mark a segment of land as residential means, this 00:09:05.130 --> 00:09:09.834 land is approved for building housing, basically apartments, 00:09:09.834 --> 00:09:11.670 houses, etc. 00:09:11.670 --> 00:09:15.790 Commercial zones are things like commerce, offices, 00:09:15.790 --> 00:09:18.540 retailers, those kind of things, whereas industry is 00:09:18.540 --> 00:09:21.450 manufacturing, mostly. 00:09:21.450 --> 00:09:23.940 And so in the game, you can basically say this chunk of 00:09:23.940 --> 00:09:25.340 land is for this use. 00:09:25.340 --> 00:09:28.470 But in reality, it's usually not that cut and dry. 00:09:28.470 --> 00:09:32.110 And so mixed-use development is a particular kind of zoning 00:09:32.110 --> 00:09:34.345 where you're saying this land can be used for multiple 00:09:34.345 --> 00:09:35.470 things at the same time. 00:09:35.470 --> 00:09:37.430 And you see this a lot, actually, in Boston, 00:09:37.430 --> 00:09:41.180 especially down Newbury Street, Back Bay, where the 00:09:41.180 --> 00:09:43.410 ground levels of these apartment buildings are 00:09:43.410 --> 00:09:45.030 restaurants or stores. 00:09:45.030 --> 00:09:47.597 And then there's space to let apartments 00:09:47.597 --> 00:09:48.940 built right above them. 00:09:48.940 --> 00:09:51.170 And that's not possible in any SimCity. 00:09:51.170 --> 00:09:55.130 And so to get back to the article then, the author is 00:09:55.130 --> 00:09:57.810 saying that he thinks the simulation is prejudiced 00:09:57.810 --> 00:09:58.800 against this kind. 00:09:58.800 --> 00:10:02.623 It's against having this kind of zoning because the game 00:10:02.623 --> 00:10:03.920 just leaves it out. 00:10:03.920 --> 00:10:07.740 Whereas his daughter says, well this 00:10:07.740 --> 00:10:09.530 is just how it works. 00:10:09.530 --> 00:10:12.600 So for the two of them, they both interpret this exclusion 00:10:12.600 --> 00:10:12.950 differently. 00:10:12.950 --> 00:10:16.120 The daughter thinks, well, OK, this is just how the game is. 00:10:16.120 --> 00:10:17.960 It's not important. 00:10:17.960 --> 00:10:19.570 And again the author says well this is 00:10:19.570 --> 00:10:22.450 actually a political decision. 00:10:22.450 --> 00:10:25.360 So if any of you are familiar with the game, can you think 00:10:25.360 --> 00:10:26.650 of other games that are examples 00:10:26.650 --> 00:10:28.680 of politics in SimCity? 00:10:28.680 --> 00:10:31.405 It's written about a fair amount, actually. 00:10:31.405 --> 00:10:34.375 AUDIENCE: There's the energy scope, where you can choose 00:10:34.375 --> 00:10:37.345 between coal or nuclear and whatnot. 00:10:37.345 --> 00:10:39.325 I think when you do get to the [UNINTELLIGIBLE PHRASE]. 00:10:44.503 --> 00:10:44.996 PROFESSOR: Yeah. 00:10:44.996 --> 00:10:46.968 They had their own agendas, certainly. 00:10:46.968 --> 00:10:48.940 AUDIENCE: Well, it's not only that. 00:10:48.940 --> 00:10:52.884 I think it's cheaper to build a hydroelectric plant than it 00:10:52.884 --> 00:10:53.870 is to build a nuclear plant. 00:10:53.870 --> 00:10:55.842 Because the material cost of building it 00:10:55.842 --> 00:10:58.307 in SimCity is cheaper. 00:10:58.307 --> 00:10:59.786 PROFESSOR: That's certainly part of it. 00:10:59.786 --> 00:11:02.744 Although it's interesting to know that in the game, I think 00:11:02.744 --> 00:11:05.702 part of that is that the hydro plants don't generate as much, 00:11:05.702 --> 00:11:07.181 so you need a lot of them. 00:11:07.181 --> 00:11:07.674 AUDIENCE: Maybe. 00:11:07.674 --> 00:11:09.646 I haven't played in a long time. 00:11:09.646 --> 00:11:10.139 PROFESSOR: Yes. 00:11:10.139 --> 00:11:13.140 I think they took the hydro plants out in 2000. 00:11:13.140 --> 00:11:16.360 AUDIENCE: Oftentimes it's a lot of rules, anyways. 00:11:16.360 --> 00:11:20.465 It was often to your interest to build industrial zones near 00:11:20.465 --> 00:11:23.360 a border of your city, so that your city wouldn't 00:11:23.360 --> 00:11:24.340 be polluted as much. 00:11:24.340 --> 00:11:26.649 [UNINTELLIGIBLE PHRASE]. 00:11:26.649 --> 00:11:27.102 PROFESSOR: Yeah. 00:11:27.102 --> 00:11:29.890 And it's a result of the pollution model. 00:11:29.890 --> 00:11:33.150 The industrial zones pollute in a circle, so if you pollute 00:11:33.150 --> 00:11:36.862 on the edge of the map, half that circle is non-existent. 00:11:36.862 --> 00:11:39.190 But there's a question. 00:11:39.190 --> 00:11:42.200 Is the simulation arguing that you should send your pollution 00:11:42.200 --> 00:11:44.640 to other cities, or is it just a result of how it works? 00:11:48.996 --> 00:11:49.480 Jason? 00:11:49.480 --> 00:11:51.715 AUDIENCE: The decision on how to follow things like how 00:11:51.715 --> 00:11:54.590 taxes affect group rates, and how 00:11:54.590 --> 00:11:57.160 different sections interact. 00:11:57.160 --> 00:12:00.230 All those types of things definitely have models from 00:12:00.230 --> 00:12:03.830 what they come from, which have certain slightly bigger 00:12:03.830 --> 00:12:05.080 political slants to them. 00:12:09.248 --> 00:12:10.706 AUDIENCE: I was just wondering. 00:12:10.706 --> 00:12:13.136 I think the difference in how the father and the daughter 00:12:13.136 --> 00:12:16.052 viewed the system is that the father already had a 00:12:16.052 --> 00:12:18.160 preconception of what the city should be like. 00:12:18.160 --> 00:12:21.075 But the kid wouldn't necessarily know because they 00:12:21.075 --> 00:12:22.450 haven't been exposed to all of this. 00:12:22.450 --> 00:12:24.250 So to them, it's like oh, OK, this is how it works. 00:12:24.250 --> 00:12:27.894 But the father knows that there are other things in the 00:12:27.894 --> 00:12:30.680 model system as opposed to the simulation. 00:12:30.680 --> 00:12:31.090 PROFESSOR: Yeah. 00:12:31.090 --> 00:12:35.078 And that's, again, emphasizing the fact that the user has 00:12:35.078 --> 00:12:36.569 their own subjectivity. 00:12:36.569 --> 00:12:39.551 Different people are going to assign different values to 00:12:39.551 --> 00:12:40.545 these things. 00:12:40.545 --> 00:12:44.024 AUDIENCE: Mass transit in SimCity is universally 00:12:44.024 --> 00:12:46.509 considered to be a part of the [UNINTELLIGIBLE PHRASE]. 00:12:56.946 --> 00:12:58.934 AUDIENCE: In some games they'll complain about the 00:12:58.934 --> 00:13:01.419 lack of roads, but they don't do anything about it. 00:13:01.419 --> 00:13:03.904 They keep moving in. 00:13:03.904 --> 00:13:05.892 AUDIENCE: How are they moving in? 00:13:12.880 --> 00:13:13.160 PROFESSOR: Yeah. 00:13:13.160 --> 00:13:14.860 And actually, in the first one, you 00:13:14.860 --> 00:13:16.430 could just have trains. 00:13:16.430 --> 00:13:18.390 You could just have rail lines, and there weren't even 00:13:18.390 --> 00:13:20.065 train stations. 00:13:20.065 --> 00:13:22.110 Everything was built up against the tracks. 00:13:22.110 --> 00:13:24.692 Which in reality, I've lived next to the 00:13:24.692 --> 00:13:25.614 commuter rail lines. 00:13:25.614 --> 00:13:27.915 It's not pleasant. 00:13:27.915 --> 00:13:30.802 AUDIENCE: In come cities, a significant portion of the 00:13:30.802 --> 00:13:34.310 population does make do with only public transport, and you 00:13:34.310 --> 00:13:35.702 can get a taxi. 00:13:41.180 --> 00:13:42.200 PROFESSOR: Just one final point. 00:13:42.200 --> 00:13:44.510 It's a very small detail, but a lot of the games will let 00:13:44.510 --> 00:13:49.090 you declare your city a nuclear-free zone, which just 00:13:49.090 --> 00:13:52.590 basically means you can't build a nuclear power plant. 00:13:52.590 --> 00:13:54.550 But that stimulates growth. 00:13:54.550 --> 00:13:57.490 People want to move there more because there's no nuclear 00:13:57.490 --> 00:13:58.970 power plants. 00:13:58.970 --> 00:14:03.260 So I want to go through a few more really short examples. 00:14:03.260 --> 00:14:06.830 Civilization Revolution is more like a stripped down 00:14:06.830 --> 00:14:08.210 Civilization. 00:14:08.210 --> 00:14:11.550 Is anyone familiar with this version? 00:14:11.550 --> 00:14:14.210 Now, specifically are you familiar with the DS version? 00:14:14.210 --> 00:14:17.680 That's the only one I've played that's actually based 00:14:17.680 --> 00:14:19.122 in [INAUDIBLE]. 00:14:19.122 --> 00:14:20.700 AUDIENCE: It's on iPhone, too. 00:14:20.700 --> 00:14:22.460 PROFESSOR: Oh yeah, it's probably the same 00:14:22.460 --> 00:14:24.080 thing on the iPhone. 00:14:24.080 --> 00:14:26.940 So I've noticed, having played this game a lot, in the game, 00:14:26.940 --> 00:14:28.290 they have all these different civilizations, and all 00:14:28.290 --> 00:14:30.685 represented by a famous leader. 00:14:30.685 --> 00:14:34.315 So the Indians are lead by Gandhi for however many 00:14:34.315 --> 00:14:36.303 thousands of years the game goes on. 00:14:36.303 --> 00:14:40.110 And I've noticed that Gandhi is incredibly aggressive. 00:14:40.110 --> 00:14:43.371 Almost to the point where he declares war on someone. 00:14:43.371 --> 00:14:45.319 He will stay at war the whole time. 00:14:45.319 --> 00:14:46.780 I usually end up back again, honestly. 00:14:50.200 --> 00:14:52.410 And you can try to make peace, and they'll never do it. 00:14:52.410 --> 00:14:53.780 They'll say, oh yeah, we'll be friends. 00:14:53.780 --> 00:14:57.730 And then three turns later, they're declaring war. 00:14:57.730 --> 00:15:00.410 But on the other hand, Alexander the Great, who 00:15:00.410 --> 00:15:02.750 conquered much of Greece and Macedonia, and was very 00:15:02.750 --> 00:15:04.880 expansionist, is a total pacifist. 00:15:04.880 --> 00:15:05.800 He'll never fight you. 00:15:05.800 --> 00:15:07.850 He never wants to declare war. 00:15:07.850 --> 00:15:10.200 And not only that, but he never expands. 00:15:10.200 --> 00:15:13.005 They almost always just have their one city, and they never 00:15:13.005 --> 00:15:15.038 try to grow and spread, which is totally not 00:15:15.038 --> 00:15:17.440 what the Greeks did. 00:15:17.440 --> 00:15:18.612 So there's this question here. 00:15:18.612 --> 00:15:22.260 Is this the result, then, of bias in the simulation? 00:15:22.260 --> 00:15:27.214 Do the designers just think, is it bad history? 00:15:27.214 --> 00:15:29.470 AUDIENCE: I think that's backwards. 00:15:29.470 --> 00:15:30.752 Wrong pointer. 00:15:30.752 --> 00:15:33.110 AUDIENCE: That might be it, because in, for example, 00:15:33.110 --> 00:15:36.560 Civilization 4, and I think 5, they have the same characters, 00:15:36.560 --> 00:15:41.920 where if you're being India, your player can be Gandhian. 00:15:41.920 --> 00:15:44.810 He's pacifistic in that. 00:15:44.810 --> 00:15:47.740 And I'm pretty sure Alexander the Great is probably also 00:15:47.740 --> 00:15:48.190 expansionist. 00:15:48.190 --> 00:15:50.900 I'm not sure why they did that in this version. 00:15:50.900 --> 00:15:52.854 PROFESSOR: Maybe they messed up. 00:15:52.854 --> 00:15:57.060 AUDIENCE: Gandhi, in number 5, is still really aggressive. 00:15:57.060 --> 00:16:01.660 AUDIENCE: Maybe they just thought it was funny. 00:16:01.660 --> 00:16:03.660 AUDIENCE: Maybe they like irony. 00:16:03.660 --> 00:16:06.170 PROFESSOR: I actually have my own theory on this. 00:16:06.170 --> 00:16:08.880 Part of the game is your civilization has a certain 00:16:08.880 --> 00:16:11.526 government, and governments get different benefits. 00:16:11.526 --> 00:16:12.910 Actually, [UNINTELLIGIBLE] 00:16:12.910 --> 00:16:15.730 benefit in this game. 00:16:15.730 --> 00:16:18.220 Indians start with fundamentalism, which gives 00:16:18.220 --> 00:16:20.240 you a bonus to attack. 00:16:20.240 --> 00:16:22.740 Whereas the Greeks start with a democracy, and then a 00:16:22.740 --> 00:16:25.120 democracy that people won't declare war in. 00:16:25.120 --> 00:16:28.160 So there's this kind of weird, and my theory is that Indians 00:16:28.160 --> 00:16:30.960 always attack you because they always have an attack bonus. 00:16:30.960 --> 00:16:32.180 And the Greeks never attack you 00:16:32.180 --> 00:16:34.420 because they're a democracy. 00:16:34.420 --> 00:16:39.090 As we know, democracies aren't necessarily pacifistic. 00:16:39.090 --> 00:16:41.880 And again this is my thinking on it. 00:16:41.880 --> 00:16:45.694 This understanding the rules of the system, and then I kind 00:16:45.694 --> 00:16:47.340 of infer this AI behavior based on that. 00:16:47.340 --> 00:16:49.380 But again, this is my position. 00:16:49.380 --> 00:16:52.305 It's easy to find people complaining about historical 00:16:52.305 --> 00:16:53.760 inaccuracies in Civilization. 00:16:53.760 --> 00:16:56.190 There's always this question. 00:16:56.190 --> 00:16:57.740 Is it part of the system? 00:16:57.740 --> 00:16:59.880 Is the system just behaving in a certain way because of 00:16:59.880 --> 00:17:00.810 certain properties? 00:17:00.810 --> 00:17:04.170 Is there another intent there? 00:17:04.170 --> 00:17:06.940 We can infer all these different meanings from what 00:17:06.940 --> 00:17:11.260 the simulation includes and what it excludes. 00:17:11.260 --> 00:17:15.619 So I want to ask, has anyone not played September 12? 00:17:15.619 --> 00:17:17.910 Can I get a volunteer to play? 00:17:17.910 --> 00:17:20.918 AUDIENCE: Go for it, Jeremy. 00:17:20.918 --> 00:17:22.394 PROFESSOR: Do you want to play? 00:17:32.750 --> 00:17:34.948 So you can control with the mouse. 00:17:37.882 --> 00:17:39.838 Can everyone read this OK? 00:17:39.838 --> 00:17:41.305 Should I read it. 00:17:41.305 --> 00:17:42.772 It's not a game. 00:17:42.772 --> 00:17:43.750 You can't win or lose. 00:17:43.750 --> 00:17:44.728 It's a simulation. 00:17:44.728 --> 00:17:45.706 It has no ending. 00:17:45.706 --> 00:17:46.195 It's already begun. 00:17:46.195 --> 00:17:47.173 And here it goes. 00:17:47.173 --> 00:17:48.640 So, all you can do is-- 00:17:48.640 --> 00:17:49.890 [INTERPOSING VOICES] 00:17:54.019 --> 00:17:57.798 PROFESSOR: So do you see what's happening to the people 00:17:57.798 --> 00:18:02.244 that you just hit with this? 00:18:02.244 --> 00:18:15.582 [VIDEO GAME SOUNDS] 00:18:15.582 --> 00:18:17.558 [UNINTELLIGIBLE] --turn into errors. 00:18:21.550 --> 00:18:23.330 PROFESSOR: You can read in the intro screen that this is 00:18:23.330 --> 00:18:25.480 meant to be a simulation of the United 00:18:25.480 --> 00:18:34.914 States' response to 9/11. 00:18:34.914 --> 00:18:35.400 AUDIENCE: There's a puppy! 00:18:35.400 --> 00:18:38.458 PROFESSOR: Do you think you're making things better? 00:18:38.458 --> 00:18:43.710 [PLAYING VIDEO GAME] 00:18:43.710 --> 00:18:44.960 [INTERPOSING VOICES] 00:18:49.820 --> 00:18:51.157 AUDIENCE: -- just to kill the puppy? 00:18:58.312 --> 00:19:00.630 AUDIENCE: That is one crazy dog. 00:19:00.630 --> 00:19:01.320 AUDIENCE: What the heck? 00:19:01.320 --> 00:19:03.080 PROFESSOR: Do you notice anything about when you 00:19:03.080 --> 00:19:04.330 [UNINTELLIGIBLE]? 00:19:07.950 --> 00:19:09.200 Anything unusual? 00:19:17.210 --> 00:19:20.946 So apparently as soon as you click, there is a delay. 00:19:20.946 --> 00:19:23.310 You can never specifically target. 00:19:23.310 --> 00:19:27.075 Even if you say, I want to get these terrorists, the delay 00:19:27.075 --> 00:19:30.294 means the odds are you're not going to. 00:19:30.294 --> 00:19:31.544 Because they're going to move away. 00:19:39.042 --> 00:19:41.472 AUDIENCE: Did you bomb the other terrorists? 00:19:41.472 --> 00:19:41.958 AUDIENCE: No. 00:19:41.958 --> 00:19:45.664 If you kill a terrorist, you don't bomb more terrorists. 00:19:45.664 --> 00:19:46.914 AUDIENCE: Oh really? 00:19:51.170 --> 00:19:52.800 AUDIENCE: Leopard terrorists. 00:19:52.800 --> 00:19:56.285 AUDIENCE: Ooh, it's a kid. 00:19:56.285 --> 00:19:58.217 AUDIENCE: It's a kid terrorist? 00:20:01.580 --> 00:20:03.020 AUDIENCE: You shouldn't have brought adult terrorists. 00:20:06.380 --> 00:20:07.950 AUDIENCE: Great strategy. 00:20:07.950 --> 00:20:12.025 If you turn all of the regular civilians into terrorists, 00:20:12.025 --> 00:20:13.909 then you can just kill everyone. 00:20:13.909 --> 00:20:16.990 [LAUGHTER] 00:20:16.990 --> 00:20:20.630 AUDIENCE: I think they also come in from the side there. 00:20:20.630 --> 00:20:22.590 AUDIENCE: Well you've got to kill them faster. 00:20:27.000 --> 00:20:29.820 AUDIENCE: Last night, someone figured out that if you camped 00:20:29.820 --> 00:20:32.180 out in the corner, eventually one would wander into the 00:20:32.180 --> 00:20:34.310 corner without any [UNINTELLIGIBLE] on it and you 00:20:34.310 --> 00:20:36.140 completely could probably kill only terrorists 00:20:36.140 --> 00:20:37.595 in the entire game. 00:20:40.505 --> 00:20:43.900 AUDIENCE: That's boring. 00:20:43.900 --> 00:20:45.820 AUDIENCE: How about just kill everyone, become terrorists 00:20:45.820 --> 00:20:47.470 and then chase them. 00:20:47.470 --> 00:20:49.525 PROFESSOR: So I want to say that this game has received a 00:20:49.525 --> 00:20:50.870 lot of criticism. 00:20:50.870 --> 00:20:53.620 So this is actually Gonzalo Frasca's game, if you still 00:20:53.620 --> 00:20:56.800 remember the quote from the beginning. 00:20:56.800 --> 00:20:58.940 Notable designer Greg Costikyan has really 00:20:58.940 --> 00:21:00.670 criticized this, saying this is really harsh. 00:21:00.670 --> 00:21:03.090 How can you call this a simulation. 00:21:03.090 --> 00:21:04.010 This is so insensitive. 00:21:04.010 --> 00:21:08.115 And you notice that this game leaves out a lot of the 00:21:08.115 --> 00:21:11.380 aspects of terrorism and how peaceful interactions work. 00:21:11.380 --> 00:21:16.030 You don't see 9/11 happening here. 00:21:16.030 --> 00:21:19.030 It really simplifies the act of what makes 00:21:19.030 --> 00:21:21.565 someone become a terrorist. 00:21:21.565 --> 00:21:24.962 You don't have all of the other pressures in the region, 00:21:24.962 --> 00:21:26.826 all of the other countries' influences. 00:21:26.826 --> 00:21:30.100 It's very stripped down. 00:21:30.100 --> 00:21:33.570 And I think Frasca talked about part of the point here 00:21:33.570 --> 00:21:34.630 is that it's ignoring so much. 00:21:34.630 --> 00:21:36.600 Because that seems to be the way that the US 00:21:36.600 --> 00:21:38.140 government has responded. 00:21:38.140 --> 00:21:41.200 It's like this happened, and now we're just going to start 00:21:41.200 --> 00:21:42.710 bombing them. 00:21:42.710 --> 00:21:47.760 And so this is a really great example of how what has been 00:21:47.760 --> 00:21:50.600 stripped out and what's been left in really creates a 00:21:50.600 --> 00:21:51.295 strong statement. 00:21:51.295 --> 00:21:55.110 And you can interpret it in a lot of different ways. 00:21:55.110 --> 00:21:57.760 I personally think that what he's going for is this idea 00:21:57.760 --> 00:22:01.922 that the rhetoric surrounding the War on Terror and the 00:22:01.922 --> 00:22:05.550 political actions are ignoring a lot of factors, including 00:22:05.550 --> 00:22:08.080 our own role in the region of attack. 00:22:08.080 --> 00:22:13.020 But anyways, I don't mean to turn this into a subplot. 00:22:13.020 --> 00:22:15.330 Does anyone else have any other observations or anything 00:22:15.330 --> 00:22:18.809 to say about it? 00:22:18.809 --> 00:22:22.288 AUDIENCE: I know that, as a result of this, or inspired by 00:22:22.288 --> 00:22:24.773 this, there is a great [UNINTELLIGIBLE] article. 00:22:24.773 --> 00:22:27.750 That tells us we can expect a new mother of all bombs 00:22:27.750 --> 00:22:32.280 developed generates 10,000 terrorists with every blast. 00:22:37.520 --> 00:22:40.405 PROFESSOR: So another example, has anyone not played Every 00:22:40.405 --> 00:22:42.120 Day the Same Dream? 00:22:45.070 --> 00:22:46.990 Does anyone want to play? 00:22:46.990 --> 00:22:47.937 AUDIENCE: I'll try. 00:22:47.937 --> 00:22:49.187 PROFESSOR: OK. 00:23:01.573 --> 00:23:02.547 AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE] 00:23:02.547 --> 00:23:05.400 Gandhi is not part of the system. 00:23:05.400 --> 00:23:07.086 Gandhi is just not like a player, he's 00:23:07.086 --> 00:23:07.736 not part the system. 00:23:07.736 --> 00:23:09.480 PROFESSOR: In Civilization? 00:23:09.480 --> 00:23:10.988 Well, the AI controls him. 00:23:14.690 --> 00:23:17.136 AUDIENCE: There was some music. 00:23:17.136 --> 00:24:12.543 [MUSIC PLAYING] 00:24:12.543 --> 00:24:14.040 AUDIENCE: Did you hit a car? 00:24:24.020 --> 00:24:28.012 AUDIENCE: Aw, you can't jump? 00:24:28.012 --> 00:24:45.170 [LAUGHTER] 00:24:45.170 --> 00:24:46.420 AUDIENCE: [UNINTELLIGIBLE] a cubicle! 00:25:03.430 --> 00:25:05.084 AUDIENCE: What is the biggest cubicle in this room? 00:25:12.042 --> 00:25:13.533 AUDIENCE: Computer science. 00:25:13.533 --> 00:25:14.783 Software. 00:25:19.497 --> 00:25:20.365 AUDIENCE: I get it. 00:25:20.365 --> 00:25:21.615 Anything more to it? 00:25:24.386 --> 00:25:26.370 AUDIENCE: You probably won't have enough time to do 00:25:26.370 --> 00:25:27.620 everything. 00:25:41.156 --> 00:25:42.400 AUDIENCE: Keep going forward. 00:25:42.400 --> 00:25:44.390 You can just keep going forward. 00:25:47.130 --> 00:25:48.576 AUDIENCE: Oh, you [INAUDIBLE]. 00:25:55.548 --> 00:25:56.798 AUDIENCE: Oh my god! 00:26:02.348 --> 00:26:03.598 AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE] 00:26:05.827 --> 00:26:06.821 Go left, go left. 00:26:06.821 --> 00:26:08.071 AUDIENCE: Left, left? 00:26:26.660 --> 00:26:27.910 AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE] spent a day. 00:26:30.874 --> 00:26:32.593 AUDIENCE: You guys don't usually spend a day with a 00:26:32.593 --> 00:26:34.157 homeless guy in the graveyard? 00:26:34.157 --> 00:26:34.885 AUDIENCE: Why wouldn't you? 00:26:34.885 --> 00:26:35.983 It's cool. 00:26:35.983 --> 00:26:37.400 AUDIENCE: Don't get dressed. 00:26:37.400 --> 00:26:39.060 AUDIENCE: Next time don't put your clothes on. 00:26:45.456 --> 00:26:47.424 AUDIENCE: I'm going to get dressed like a homeless guy. 00:27:00.250 --> 00:27:01.500 AUDIENCE: Wow! 00:27:04.630 --> 00:27:08.380 AUDIENCE: OK, do I crash the car, or do I-- 00:27:08.380 --> 00:27:11.980 AUDIENCE: Dude, get out of the car. 00:27:11.980 --> 00:27:13.128 AUDIENCE: Let's power through it. 00:27:13.128 --> 00:27:14.622 Just get out of the car. 00:27:20.100 --> 00:27:21.096 Just get out. 00:27:21.096 --> 00:27:24.084 Go left. 00:27:24.084 --> 00:27:25.080 AUDIENCE: See that guy. 00:27:25.080 --> 00:27:27.570 He abandoned his car. 00:27:27.570 --> 00:27:28.580 AUDIENCE: Oh, a cow. 00:27:28.580 --> 00:27:29.830 Sweet. 00:27:51.073 --> 00:27:51.566 AUDIENCE: I can't? 00:27:51.566 --> 00:27:52.552 Aww. 00:27:52.552 --> 00:27:56.496 AUDIENCE: Hold up traffic, [? Kev. ?] 00:27:56.496 --> 00:27:57.000 Aw. 00:27:57.000 --> 00:27:58.300 Leaf is gone. 00:27:58.300 --> 00:27:59.650 AUDIENCE: I want to see what my boss is going to say. 00:27:59.650 --> 00:28:00.900 [UNINTELLIGIBLE]. 00:28:00.900 --> 00:28:02.460 What? 00:28:02.460 --> 00:28:03.930 AUDIENCE: You can't go left. 00:28:03.930 --> 00:28:05.400 AUDIENCE: You can't go left? 00:28:05.400 --> 00:28:06.380 AUDIENCE: I think you can. 00:28:06.380 --> 00:28:07.360 I think there's a car there. 00:28:07.360 --> 00:28:09.810 [LAUGHTER] 00:28:09.810 --> 00:28:10.790 AUDIENCE: Car's are inside-- 00:28:10.790 --> 00:28:12.040 [INTERPOSING VOICES] 00:28:14.130 --> 00:28:15.240 AUDIENCE: You are late? 00:28:15.240 --> 00:28:18.300 He didn't notice I missed day of work? 00:28:18.300 --> 00:28:20.430 AUDIENCE: This is why you're late. 00:28:20.430 --> 00:28:21.730 AUDIENCE: The [? graphic's ?] going down. 00:28:21.730 --> 00:28:23.470 AUDIENCE: It's all your fault. 00:28:23.470 --> 00:28:23.760 AUDIENCE: Oh. 00:28:23.760 --> 00:28:26.292 I'm going to get fired because the company is going to go 00:28:26.292 --> 00:28:26.786 down the drain. 00:28:26.786 --> 00:28:27.774 In three days. 00:28:27.774 --> 00:28:29.750 AUDIENCE: Walk past your office. 00:28:29.750 --> 00:28:30.244 AUDIENCE: Hmm? 00:28:30.244 --> 00:28:31.726 PROFESSOR: Walk past your office. 00:28:31.726 --> 00:28:32.976 Or your cubicle, around it. 00:28:41.190 --> 00:28:43.050 The experience of the game is a little bit stronger when you 00:28:43.050 --> 00:28:45.026 don't have people talking. 00:28:45.026 --> 00:28:47.496 We don't have enough time [INAUDIBLE]. 00:28:59.352 --> 00:29:00.340 [LAUGHTER] 00:29:00.340 --> 00:29:01.328 AUDIENCE: Push it. 00:29:01.328 --> 00:29:02.316 AUDIENCE: Should I? 00:29:02.316 --> 00:29:02.810 AUDIENCE: Do it. 00:29:02.810 --> 00:29:04.292 AUDIENCE: Do it. 00:29:04.292 --> 00:29:06.268 AUDIENCE: All I see is [INAUDIBLE]. 00:29:09.232 --> 00:29:10.750 AUDIENCE: I told you I was going forward. 00:29:15.730 --> 00:29:16.726 AUDIENCE: What? 00:29:16.726 --> 00:29:18.718 AUDIENCE: It's Groundhog's Day. 00:29:18.718 --> 00:29:19.714 AUDIENCE: It is the Matrix. 00:29:19.714 --> 00:29:20.212 All right. 00:29:20.212 --> 00:29:23.698 We're going naked this time. 00:29:23.698 --> 00:29:25.690 AUDIENCE: You're still wearing underwear. 00:29:32.190 --> 00:29:33.000 There, I watched TV. 00:29:33.000 --> 00:29:35.268 Now we've got feeling this [UNINTELLIGIBLE]? 00:29:35.268 --> 00:29:36.518 I guess not. 00:29:54.154 --> 00:29:56.142 AUDIENCE: Did this skip, too? 00:29:56.142 --> 00:29:57.633 AUDIENCE: Yeah, because we-- 00:29:57.633 --> 00:30:00.615 [INTERPOSING VOICES] 00:30:00.615 --> 00:30:03.100 AUDIENCE: Everything different you do is another step. 00:30:03.100 --> 00:30:05.088 AUDIENCE: So this is the last step then. 00:30:08.567 --> 00:30:09.064 AUDIENCE: Naked. 00:30:09.064 --> 00:30:10.058 Naked. 00:30:10.058 --> 00:30:12.922 AUDIENCE: HIt a car. 00:30:12.922 --> 00:30:14.866 AUDIENCE: I can't. 00:30:14.866 --> 00:30:17.296 AUDIENCE: You can't hit it? 00:30:17.296 --> 00:30:19.726 AUDIENCE: I'm jamming it. 00:30:19.726 --> 00:30:23.614 AUDIENCE: Are the cars the same everyday? 00:30:23.614 --> 00:30:25.590 PROFESSOR: And the leap was something, too. 00:30:29.558 --> 00:30:35.510 [LAUGHTER] 00:30:35.510 --> 00:30:37.494 AUDIENCE: Now what? 00:30:37.494 --> 00:30:41.462 AUDIENCE: I assume you have to go past your office again. 00:30:41.462 --> 00:30:43.611 But you're going to want to get dressed, or you're going 00:30:43.611 --> 00:30:45.680 to get fired again. 00:30:45.680 --> 00:30:46.710 AUDIENCE: No, he won't. 00:30:46.710 --> 00:30:49.100 AUDIENCE: No, I won't. 00:30:49.100 --> 00:30:51.270 AUDIENCE: Oh, right. 00:30:51.270 --> 00:30:52.520 AUDIENCE: [UNINTELLIGIBLE] left me. 00:30:57.280 --> 00:30:58.550 AUDIENCE: You keep on reminding me, 00:30:58.550 --> 00:30:59.800 because I had a job. 00:31:02.471 --> 00:31:03.417 AUDIENCE: Where are you going? 00:31:03.417 --> 00:31:04.840 You're fired. 00:31:04.840 --> 00:31:06.790 AUDIENCE: I'm going to go postal at work. 00:31:06.790 --> 00:31:07.610 Don't worry about it. 00:31:07.610 --> 00:31:08.860 AUDIENCE: He's going to kill himself. 00:31:11.830 --> 00:31:14.305 AUDIENCE: Am I doing the right thing here? 00:31:14.305 --> 00:31:15.790 AUDIENCE: Yeah. 00:31:15.790 --> 00:31:19.255 AUDIENCE: We're the homeless guys. 00:31:19.255 --> 00:31:20.505 AUDIENCE: It's Saturday! 00:31:24.205 --> 00:31:25.455 AUDIENCE: Good call. 00:31:35.590 --> 00:31:36.085 AUDIENCE: Yeah. 00:31:36.085 --> 00:31:37.075 He got fired, too. 00:31:37.075 --> 00:31:40.045 Ha ha. 00:31:40.045 --> 00:31:41.530 I can't crash cars now. 00:31:50.510 --> 00:31:52.474 Really not one's going out because day 6 is Saturday. 00:31:52.474 --> 00:31:53.965 So no one's going to work. 00:32:01.420 --> 00:32:03.408 AUDIENCE: Are we not supposed to get up yet? 00:32:06.910 --> 00:32:07.820 AUDIENCE: Oh, look. 00:32:07.820 --> 00:32:09.290 You have no cubicle anymore. 00:32:09.290 --> 00:32:10.540 AUDIENCE: You're retired. 00:32:14.090 --> 00:32:16.560 AUDIENCE: That would be funny. 00:32:16.560 --> 00:32:17.940 AUDIENCE: You finished the program. 00:32:17.940 --> 00:32:19.320 AUDIENCE: That's you. 00:32:19.320 --> 00:32:20.240 AUDIENCE: I don't know. 00:32:20.240 --> 00:32:21.170 Everyone else looks the same. 00:32:21.170 --> 00:32:22.420 AUDIENCE: Yeah, they all look the same. 00:32:29.380 --> 00:32:30.190 AUDIENCE: Deep. 00:32:30.190 --> 00:32:36.082 [LAUGHTER] 00:32:36.082 --> 00:32:38.560 AUDIENCE: It reminds me of that one game where you walk 00:32:38.560 --> 00:32:39.546 into a bar that's right across, and you 00:32:39.546 --> 00:32:42.450 can pick up a wife. 00:32:42.450 --> 00:32:43.130 AUDIENCE: Oh, Passage. 00:32:43.130 --> 00:32:44.490 That's a weird game. 00:32:44.490 --> 00:32:45.740 AUDIENCE: It reminds me of that game a lot. 00:33:03.130 --> 00:33:06.074 PROFESSOR: So there's a couple things that I want to say 00:33:06.074 --> 00:33:07.050 about this game. 00:33:07.050 --> 00:33:08.690 First of all, if you remember [? Prospect's ?] 00:33:08.690 --> 00:33:10.425 definition of a simulation, it's talking about 00:33:10.425 --> 00:33:12.990 the space in it. 00:33:12.990 --> 00:33:15.000 And I would consider this a simulation. 00:33:15.000 --> 00:33:16.300 This is based on a source system. 00:33:16.300 --> 00:33:20.764 But it's not the kind of number crunching CS thing that 00:33:20.764 --> 00:33:24.732 we associate with the word. 00:33:24.732 --> 00:33:27.880 For me, personally, I worked a pretty horrible dead-end 00:33:27.880 --> 00:33:31.910 cubicle job for about 18 months, before I came in here. 00:33:31.910 --> 00:33:33.980 For me, this game really resonates, because it really 00:33:33.980 --> 00:33:36.280 closely matches the experience. 00:33:36.280 --> 00:33:38.840 You're just doing the same thing every day, and any sort 00:33:38.840 --> 00:33:44.900 of deviation from the norm stands out. 00:33:44.900 --> 00:33:49.990 But in terms of exclusion inclusion, one of the 00:33:49.990 --> 00:33:51.660 interesting things about this game, [UNINTELLIGIBLE] 00:33:51.660 --> 00:33:52.090 makes its point. 00:33:52.090 --> 00:33:53.660 There is nothing else. 00:33:53.660 --> 00:33:55.320 It's all a workday. 00:33:55.320 --> 00:33:56.860 There is no weekend. 00:33:56.860 --> 00:34:01.950 There's no I got home and there's something different. 00:34:01.950 --> 00:34:05.790 And that's the limited agency in the game. 00:34:05.790 --> 00:34:11.200 By that I mean it can be easy to forget about, especially in 00:34:11.200 --> 00:34:13.639 a place like MIT, but a lot of people I know end up in these 00:34:13.639 --> 00:34:14.577 very dead-end jobs. 00:34:14.577 --> 00:34:19.094 This is a huge part of any major economy. 00:34:19.094 --> 00:34:21.046 There are people who just go to their 00:34:21.046 --> 00:34:22.860 cubicle day after day. 00:34:22.860 --> 00:34:24.710 When I was at that crap job, I knew people who had been there 00:34:24.710 --> 00:34:26.980 for 40 years. 00:34:26.980 --> 00:34:28.260 AUDIENCE: What kind of job was it? 00:34:28.260 --> 00:34:30.024 PROFESSOR: It was for a mutual fund 00:34:30.024 --> 00:34:31.920 subsidiary at Bank of America. 00:34:31.920 --> 00:34:34.764 Back in the financial district. 00:34:34.764 --> 00:34:37.100 I'm not sure if it would have been better for me to stay, 00:34:37.100 --> 00:34:40.588 given the whole, you know, we tanked the economy but we 00:34:40.588 --> 00:34:42.580 awarded ourselves billions of dollars. 00:34:42.580 --> 00:34:45.570 Maybe I should have stuck around. 00:34:45.570 --> 00:34:48.379 PROFESSOR: So it was a well-paid type of job. 00:34:48.379 --> 00:34:51.801 I mean, in this climate, it might have become well-paid. 00:34:51.801 --> 00:34:56.370 But it wasn't at the time. 00:34:56.370 --> 00:34:59.444 It was actually, a lot of what I did was trade corrections. 00:34:59.444 --> 00:35:01.834 This is kind of a tangent, but it drives me bonkers. 00:35:01.834 --> 00:35:04.343 Financial representatives and advisers make an obscene 00:35:04.343 --> 00:35:06.150 amount of money, yet most of them don't know the difference 00:35:06.150 --> 00:35:09.320 between dollars and shares in stock. 00:35:09.320 --> 00:35:13.240 And most of my job is correcting that for them. 00:35:13.240 --> 00:35:14.220 It's unbelievable. 00:35:14.220 --> 00:35:15.690 And it's no surprise to me that the thing 00:35:15.690 --> 00:35:17.290 is all fucked up. 00:35:17.290 --> 00:35:19.330 Anyway, so any other reactions to this game or 00:35:19.330 --> 00:35:22.978 thoughts about this game? 00:35:22.978 --> 00:35:25.880 AUDIENCE: The color [UNINTELLIGIBLE]. 00:35:25.880 --> 00:35:29.220 PROFESSOR: What do you mean color? 00:35:29.220 --> 00:35:30.470 AUDIENCE: [UNINTELLIGIBLE PHRASE] 00:35:35.940 --> 00:35:37.046 PROFESSOR: There's also nothing meaningful on the 00:35:37.046 --> 00:35:38.296 screen, right? 00:35:41.100 --> 00:35:43.980 AUDIENCE: There was some kind of static noise, right? 00:35:43.980 --> 00:35:46.390 But you turned it off? 00:35:46.390 --> 00:35:46.790 PROFESSOR: I think so. 00:35:46.790 --> 00:35:50.260 I forgot to close the September 12 window, so there 00:35:50.260 --> 00:35:51.510 was some noise from that. 00:35:54.140 --> 00:35:56.080 AUDIENCE: The use of color, just in general, was really 00:35:56.080 --> 00:35:57.540 interesting. 00:35:57.540 --> 00:36:01.040 In particular, the only thing at your work that is colorful 00:36:01.040 --> 00:36:04.800 is the plumbing stock sign, the exit sign which tells you 00:36:04.800 --> 00:36:06.050 where to go kill yourself. 00:36:10.710 --> 00:36:11.960 The leap is colorful. 00:36:14.500 --> 00:36:16.700 AUDIENCE: I think the cows. 00:36:16.700 --> 00:36:17.950 And the hobos. 00:36:22.320 --> 00:36:23.310 I think it's interesting. 00:36:23.310 --> 00:36:26.280 It's kind of from the heritage of the game Another World. 00:36:26.280 --> 00:36:30.848 Because sort of an early [UNINTELLIGIBLE] look at what 00:36:30.848 --> 00:36:32.820 it would be like to be a human transplant 00:36:32.820 --> 00:36:34.299 onto another planet. 00:36:34.299 --> 00:36:37.503 You know [UNINTELLIGIBLE] that, in the beginning your 00:36:37.503 --> 00:36:38.489 character is extremely vulnerable 00:36:38.489 --> 00:36:39.722 and slow and clumsy. 00:36:39.722 --> 00:36:42.680 And it uses the same control schemes on the same 00:36:42.680 --> 00:36:46.131 [UNINTELLIGIBLE] channel endings. 00:36:46.131 --> 00:36:50.075 And by the same token, you're playing an ordinary person. 00:36:50.075 --> 00:36:51.554 It's not the boss. 00:36:51.554 --> 00:36:52.540 Not this person coming in. 00:36:52.540 --> 00:36:54.512 And you don't go into a 00:36:54.512 --> 00:36:55.991 postal-style power trip, either. 00:37:01.470 --> 00:37:04.682 PROFESSOR: And so, I just wanted to say, I actually 00:37:04.682 --> 00:37:08.350 haven't seen the talk, but apparently, someone has argued 00:37:08.350 --> 00:37:09.800 that this game is just a critique of 00:37:09.800 --> 00:37:11.568 the art game movement. 00:37:11.568 --> 00:37:13.470 Right, that it's making fun of the whole 00:37:13.470 --> 00:37:14.750 pretentiousness of that. 00:37:14.750 --> 00:37:18.220 I don't really see that, but again, it's subjectivity. 00:37:18.220 --> 00:37:20.180 Like where does this actually go. 00:37:20.180 --> 00:37:22.140 AUDIENCE: Well, what do the creators say to that? 00:37:25.570 --> 00:37:27.366 AUDIENCE: You'll find that really creative people like 00:37:27.366 --> 00:37:29.490 that never want to talk about it. 00:37:29.490 --> 00:37:30.630 AUDIENCE: I thought there was an artist 00:37:30.630 --> 00:37:31.630 statement on the website. 00:37:31.630 --> 00:37:33.626 PROFESSOR: I'm sorry? 00:37:33.626 --> 00:37:35.123 PROFESSOR: I thought there was an artist 00:37:35.123 --> 00:37:36.620 statement for this somewhere. 00:37:36.620 --> 00:37:37.119 PROFESSOR: There could be. 00:37:37.119 --> 00:37:40.030 I honestly haven't looked it up. 00:37:40.030 --> 00:37:43.700 OK, so moving on. 00:37:43.700 --> 00:37:47.070 So anyway, good theory. 00:37:47.070 --> 00:37:49.865 If you have a theory about how things work, the best way to 00:37:49.865 --> 00:37:53.150 test it is to figure out what's a horrible example. 00:37:53.150 --> 00:37:55.100 So we've been talking about simulations and subjectivity, 00:37:55.100 --> 00:37:59.018 and saying, OK, how does this model explain the way meaning 00:37:59.018 --> 00:38:03.760 gets invented in a game and Mario is a really good example 00:38:03.760 --> 00:38:05.090 to throw with that. 00:38:07.754 --> 00:38:09.600 So what are some things that are abstracted into the 00:38:09.600 --> 00:38:10.010 simulation? 00:38:10.010 --> 00:38:11.090 Like what's here? 00:38:11.090 --> 00:38:13.350 What's not? 00:38:13.350 --> 00:38:14.010 AUDIENCE: It's physics. 00:38:14.010 --> 00:38:15.400 You can jump to the moon. 00:38:15.400 --> 00:38:19.250 AUDIENCE: You can move in mid-air. 00:38:19.250 --> 00:38:21.629 You can slam against extremely hard things and break them. 00:38:21.629 --> 00:38:23.625 AUDIENCE: [UNINTELLIGIBLE] things and kill them. 00:38:23.625 --> 00:38:27.120 Technically [INAUDIBLE]. 00:38:27.120 --> 00:38:30.730 AUDIENCE: You can punch hard things and breaking them. 00:38:30.730 --> 00:38:31.620 PROFESSOR: You can get bigger. 00:38:31.620 --> 00:38:33.490 You can shoot fire out of your hand. 00:38:33.490 --> 00:38:35.646 AUDIENCE: Still, the plumbers don't seem to 00:38:35.646 --> 00:38:39.074 really do any work. 00:38:39.074 --> 00:38:42.567 They do get out of fights and clean up coins here and there, 00:38:42.567 --> 00:38:47.560 so that technically counts as points. 00:38:47.560 --> 00:38:48.450 AUDIENCE: Why is it 00:38:48.450 --> 00:38:49.935 significant that he's a plumber? 00:38:49.935 --> 00:38:52.410 Is it so he can clean pipes? 00:38:52.410 --> 00:38:55.880 AUDIENCE:He was the one who [UNINTELLIGIBLE]. 00:38:55.880 --> 00:38:58.780 PROFESSOR: And this is the point. 00:38:58.780 --> 00:39:00.340 He's an Italian, and he's the plumber. 00:39:00.340 --> 00:39:02.710 So if you focus on him, what can we say 00:39:02.710 --> 00:39:04.350 this game is arguing? 00:39:04.350 --> 00:39:07.770 That Italian plumbers have hard heads? 00:39:07.770 --> 00:39:08.810 He doesn't even eat. 00:39:08.810 --> 00:39:10.200 Do they not need to eat? 00:39:10.200 --> 00:39:12.630 How do you--? 00:39:12.630 --> 00:39:14.230 AUDIENCE: He eats mushrooms. 00:39:14.230 --> 00:39:16.680 PROFESSOR: So to me, Mario is a really interesting example 00:39:16.680 --> 00:39:18.740 because we think of it as a simulation 00:39:18.740 --> 00:39:20.110 because it has physics. 00:39:20.110 --> 00:39:22.323 When it came out, it had the most advanced jumping physics 00:39:22.323 --> 00:39:23.573 ever designed. 00:39:25.400 --> 00:39:26.650 It's interesting. 00:39:28.660 --> 00:39:30.460 So there's a couple of things here. 00:39:30.460 --> 00:39:31.650 There's so many of the fantastical elements. 00:39:31.650 --> 00:39:32.560 Like walking mushrooms- 00:39:32.560 --> 00:39:33.070 AUDIENCE: He can jump like five times. 00:39:33.070 --> 00:39:35.120 PROFESSOR: -and flying turtles and stuff. 00:39:35.120 --> 00:39:35.280 Yeah. 00:39:35.280 --> 00:39:38.740 Just the way that he jumps. 00:39:38.740 --> 00:39:41.880 You also notice that unlike the other games, it's hard to 00:39:41.880 --> 00:39:44.820 find anything political in Mario. 00:39:44.820 --> 00:39:46.610 You could say he's hoarding money. 00:39:46.610 --> 00:39:49.550 Maybe he's a capitalist. 00:39:49.550 --> 00:39:51.780 AUDIENCE: There's this whole long essay 00:39:51.780 --> 00:39:53.730 about how he's a communist. 00:39:53.730 --> 00:39:54.796 PROFESSOR: Interesting. 00:39:54.796 --> 00:39:56.700 Could you post that on the forum? 00:39:56.700 --> 00:39:59.960 AUDIENCE: I will. 00:39:59.960 --> 00:40:01.420 PROFESSOR: One thing again, just [UNINTELLIGIBLE] to 00:40:01.420 --> 00:40:03.240 notice is it's gender politics. 00:40:03.240 --> 00:40:06.490 So the only female is the princess. 00:40:06.490 --> 00:40:07.426 And what does she do? 00:40:07.426 --> 00:40:08.362 She sits and waits. 00:40:08.362 --> 00:40:10.180 She has no agency, and it's all about the masculine. 00:40:10.180 --> 00:40:12.875 So you can have a feminist reading. 00:40:16.930 --> 00:40:18.180 AUDIENCE: Is Bowser masculine? 00:40:21.357 --> 00:40:22.740 PROFESSOR: That's an interesting question. 00:40:22.740 --> 00:40:26.130 Because it's also how much do you bring in other elements? 00:40:26.130 --> 00:40:28.412 Do you think about the cartoon when you think about this? 00:40:28.412 --> 00:40:29.864 Do you think about the other games? 00:40:29.864 --> 00:40:33.252 Do you just look at Mario as an isolated event? 00:40:33.252 --> 00:40:34.704 AUDIENCE: Peach kicks ass, man. 00:40:34.704 --> 00:40:36.640 AUDIENCE: That's true. 00:40:36.640 --> 00:40:37.890 AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE] 00:40:41.010 --> 00:40:43.952 AUDIENCE: Well there's the Super 00:40:43.952 --> 00:40:46.200 Princess Peach, actually. 00:40:46.200 --> 00:40:47.450 But her [UNINTELLIGIBLE PHRASE]. 00:40:52.950 --> 00:40:54.411 AUDIENCE: She gets very upset. 00:40:54.411 --> 00:40:55.661 She cries. 00:40:57.820 --> 00:40:59.070 AUDIENCE: [UNINTELLIGIBLE] 00:41:02.700 --> 00:41:04.846 AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE] competitive development. 00:41:04.846 --> 00:41:08.248 I think there's something you said about the idea that 00:41:08.248 --> 00:41:10.810 snappers-- is that a Braunembaun? 00:41:10.810 --> 00:41:11.420 AUDIENCE: It's Powell. 00:41:11.420 --> 00:41:12.326 AUDIENCE: Powell and 00:41:12.326 --> 00:41:13.960 Braunembaun are working together. 00:41:13.960 --> 00:41:16.150 Then [UNINTELLIGIBLE] 00:41:16.150 --> 00:41:22.190 but has Nintendo ever made a proper Peach game? 00:41:22.190 --> 00:41:24.515 I don't think so. 00:41:24.515 --> 00:41:27.425 PROFESSOR: Especially in the American Super Mario II, when 00:41:27.425 --> 00:41:28.480 you can control Peach. 00:41:28.480 --> 00:41:32.050 And she is popular because she floats. 00:41:32.050 --> 00:41:37.230 So I mean again, this is to say that this theory 00:41:37.230 --> 00:41:38.550 emphasizes subjectivity. 00:41:38.550 --> 00:41:41.410 There's just no lacking here that we would find meaningful 00:41:41.410 --> 00:41:45.518 or that we would actually pick apart. 00:41:45.518 --> 00:41:48.530 With that said, I certainly think it works, especially 00:41:48.530 --> 00:41:49.880 with more political games, games that 00:41:49.880 --> 00:41:52.750 have more of a message. 00:41:52.750 --> 00:41:54.610 And again, this is all stuff to think about. 00:41:54.610 --> 00:41:57.538 It's not something we're necessarily looking for. 00:41:57.538 --> 00:42:00.470 So anything else with [UNINTELLIGIBLE] in there? 00:42:00.470 --> 00:42:03.495 AUDIENCE: There's one probable reason why Mario's club-- 00:42:03.495 --> 00:42:07.083 actually the original pre-Super Mario Brothers where 00:42:07.083 --> 00:42:10.425 basically there is one screen, and all this bad stuff is 00:42:10.425 --> 00:42:11.910 coming out of pipes. 00:42:14.880 --> 00:42:18.345 And the idea is that you are trying to clear all the pipes 00:42:18.345 --> 00:42:20.820 of all the bad stuff. 00:42:20.820 --> 00:42:23.790 AUDIENCE: I never got that from it. 00:42:23.790 --> 00:42:26.290 AUDIENCE: The pipes are there. 00:42:26.290 --> 00:42:29.876 AUDIENCE: I guess in that case what you are asking what do I 00:42:29.876 --> 00:42:30.681 bring from outside. 00:42:30.681 --> 00:42:34.062 And I recall the typing from that being a big point of what 00:42:34.062 --> 00:42:35.312 [INAUDIBLE]. 00:42:39.860 --> 00:42:41.590 PROFESSOR: So it's like a Donkey Kong, Mario was 00:42:41.590 --> 00:42:42.823 actually originally a carpenter. 00:42:42.823 --> 00:42:46.070 And they retroactively changed him into a plumber because 00:42:46.070 --> 00:42:48.990 Mario Brothers, the original, was about plumbing. 00:42:48.990 --> 00:42:53.067 But they wanted to keep the character the same. 00:42:53.067 --> 00:42:55.869 AUDIENCE: Mario's in Donkey Kong? 00:42:55.869 --> 00:42:57.119 AUDIENCE: Yes. 00:43:01.340 --> 00:43:03.440 PROFESSOR: They retroactively changed his name and his 00:43:03.440 --> 00:43:04.690 profession. 00:43:07.864 --> 00:43:09.840 AUDIENCE: --Donkey Kong on Super Nintendo. 00:43:12.804 --> 00:43:14.286 PROFESSOR: So that's the example. 00:43:17.270 --> 00:43:19.144 Anyone not played this one? 00:43:19.144 --> 00:43:20.394 You want to give it a shot? 00:43:26.554 --> 00:43:27.048 AUDIENCE: Surprise. 00:43:27.048 --> 00:43:28.530 You have to play this game again. 00:43:31.494 --> 00:43:34.770 PROFESSOR: Do you want to shoot, Jeremy? 00:43:34.770 --> 00:43:36.630 AUDIENCE: I was actually just thinking of their Cooking Mama 00:43:36.630 --> 00:43:38.276 simulation that started this. 00:43:50.722 --> 00:43:53.157 PROFESSOR: Oh, gosh. 00:43:53.157 --> 00:43:55.910 Princess Pamela Andersen has been captured by evil Ronald 00:43:55.910 --> 00:43:58.590 McDonald, who plans on making her a part of his Unhappy 00:43:58.590 --> 00:44:00.910 Meals, along with the chickens who are tortured for 00:44:00.910 --> 00:44:02.164 McDonald's Restaurants. 00:44:02.164 --> 00:44:03.670 Help save the princess, blah blah blah. 00:44:03.670 --> 00:44:07.380 Arrow key is move, space bar to jump. 00:44:07.380 --> 00:44:09.274 To beat enemies, jumping on their heads. 00:44:09.274 --> 00:44:12.718 You can also hit the down arrow to do the proverbial 00:44:12.718 --> 00:44:13.968 heads thing. 00:44:16.162 --> 00:44:17.638 [LAUGHTER] 00:44:17.638 --> 00:44:18.130 AUDIENCE: Ah. 00:44:18.130 --> 00:44:19.380 Pamela Andersen. 00:44:22.558 --> 00:44:24.060 AUDIENCE: I thought they weren't nuggets. 00:44:24.060 --> 00:44:27.320 [MUSIC] 00:44:27.320 --> 00:44:29.836 [LAUGHTER] 00:44:29.836 --> 00:44:31.701 PROFESSOR: I want to thank all of you for being here for the 00:44:31.701 --> 00:44:33.365 opening of my new vegetarian restaurant, [UNINTELLIGIBLE]. 00:44:33.365 --> 00:44:34.363 Ronald McDonald-- 00:44:34.363 --> 00:44:39.353 Finally I've found the perfect toy for my next Unhappy Meal. 00:44:39.353 --> 00:44:40.603 [INAUDIBLE] 00:44:45.341 --> 00:44:47.337 Looks like we have to take the princess once again 00:44:47.337 --> 00:44:47.836 [UNINTELLIGIBLE]. 00:44:47.836 --> 00:44:49.086 Let's go. 00:44:53.830 --> 00:45:02.140 [LAUGHTER] 00:45:02.140 --> 00:45:03.390 AUDIENCE: Wow. 00:45:08.920 --> 00:45:10.545 PROFESSOR: Did you know McDonald's is one of the 00:45:10.545 --> 00:45:11.990 biggest sellers of chicken flesh? 00:45:11.990 --> 00:45:13.692 And they use an outdated method of slaughter that leads 00:45:13.692 --> 00:45:16.510 to extreme suffering for birds. 00:45:16.510 --> 00:45:18.040 AUDIENCE: So. 00:45:18.040 --> 00:45:19.290 Wow. 00:45:21.800 --> 00:45:25.014 It's not obvious at all that it's from PETA. 00:45:25.014 --> 00:45:27.370 PROFESSOR: You think it's from PETA? 00:45:27.370 --> 00:45:29.792 AUDIENCE: Yeah. 00:45:29.792 --> 00:45:31.042 AUDIENCE: Ooh, a kitten. 00:45:37.112 --> 00:45:38.576 They're cooking hamburgers. 00:45:38.576 --> 00:45:42.968 AUDIENCE: Are you getting any carnivorous responses? 00:45:42.968 --> 00:45:44.218 [INTERPOSING VOICES] 00:45:51.180 --> 00:45:53.361 AUDIENCE: I think Super Meat Boy is a response. 00:45:55.995 --> 00:45:57.245 AUDIENCE: You worried about [UNINTELLIGIBLE]? 00:46:11.100 --> 00:46:12.870 AUDIENCE: What was that, spinach? 00:46:12.870 --> 00:46:13.995 AUDIENCE: I like growth hormones as 00:46:13.995 --> 00:46:15.245 the reason for that. 00:46:28.520 --> 00:46:29.770 AUDIENCE: There it is. 00:46:33.556 --> 00:46:35.548 I don't know if this goes against one of 00:46:35.548 --> 00:46:37.540 PETA's earlier ads. 00:46:37.540 --> 00:46:40.235 It was a sticker that had a chick that looked like that 00:46:40.235 --> 00:46:42.592 and it said I'm not a nugget. 00:46:42.592 --> 00:46:45.900 This character's name is Nugget. 00:46:45.900 --> 00:46:47.635 PROFESSOR: There's also a KFC version of this. 00:46:47.635 --> 00:46:48.970 But I think this one has more. 00:46:59.178 --> 00:47:00.160 [INTERPOSING VOICES] 00:47:00.160 --> 00:47:02.124 AUDIENCE: Not really. 00:47:02.124 --> 00:47:03.374 [UNINTELLIGIBLE] 00:47:10.962 --> 00:47:12.926 PROFESSOR: You are the best Super Chicken Sisters player. 00:47:17.836 --> 00:47:19.590 OK. 00:47:19.590 --> 00:47:20.120 didn't 00:47:20.120 --> 00:47:21.220 AUDIENCE: Even the mustache odds. 00:47:21.220 --> 00:47:24.500 Wait, why is Wario a bad guy? 00:47:24.500 --> 00:47:28.460 AUDIENCE: What do they have against mustaches? 00:47:28.460 --> 00:47:29.450 PROFESSOR: OK, anyways. 00:47:29.450 --> 00:47:30.700 That goes on. 00:47:32.920 --> 00:47:37.610 So this game is really different than the other games 00:47:37.610 --> 00:47:38.912 we've looked at. 00:47:38.912 --> 00:47:41.690 Does anyone have a sense of that as well? 00:47:41.690 --> 00:47:44.985 AUDIENCE: Slightly political. 00:47:44.985 --> 00:47:46.780 AUDIENCE: Not subtle. 00:47:46.780 --> 00:47:49.250 AUDIENCE: For the most part it's just a re-skinning. 00:47:49.250 --> 00:47:54.270 And so we were discussing this in our other class, about Ian 00:47:54.270 --> 00:47:57.880 Bogost's perspective games. 00:47:57.880 --> 00:48:02.770 We looked at, what was it called, it was Space Invaders. 00:48:02.770 --> 00:48:03.920 PROFESSOR: Tax Invaders? 00:48:03.920 --> 00:48:04.960 AUDIENCE: No. 00:48:04.960 --> 00:48:06.420 It was a McCain ad. 00:48:06.420 --> 00:48:08.220 And it was about corporal spending. 00:48:08.220 --> 00:48:08.625 PROFESSOR: Oh yeah. 00:48:08.625 --> 00:48:09.770 I know of that one. 00:48:09.770 --> 00:48:10.030 AUDIENCE: [? CorpWars, ?] 00:48:10.030 --> 00:48:11.690 I think it was called. 00:48:11.690 --> 00:48:15.780 It's just a re-skinning, and so they are using the same 00:48:15.780 --> 00:48:21.280 metaphors to just get people to play it, and it's not 00:48:21.280 --> 00:48:25.915 really improving their point or it's not doing anything for 00:48:25.915 --> 00:48:26.750 their cause. 00:48:26.750 --> 00:48:29.140 AUDIENCE: The simulation of this game seems to not really 00:48:29.140 --> 00:48:32.060 apply to their point at all. 00:48:32.060 --> 00:48:33.672 You're really just playing Mario, and it 00:48:33.672 --> 00:48:34.470 happens to look different. 00:48:34.470 --> 00:48:38.200 As opposed to September 12, evolve where the actual 00:48:38.200 --> 00:48:40.551 simulation itself had meaning with what they 00:48:40.551 --> 00:48:43.988 were trying to say. 00:48:43.988 --> 00:48:44.970 AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]. 00:48:44.970 --> 00:48:47.882 The mechanics are having to do with the political point, or 00:48:47.882 --> 00:48:49.370 the narrative. 00:48:49.370 --> 00:48:55.390 AUDIENCE: This is a secondary critique of Mario. 00:48:55.390 --> 00:48:56.200 AUDIENCE: Yeah. 00:48:56.200 --> 00:48:59.160 What was up with that? 00:48:59.160 --> 00:49:00.680 AUDIENCE: I don't even know, what were they trying to say 00:49:00.680 --> 00:49:02.736 about Mario? 00:49:02.736 --> 00:49:06.130 AUDIENCE: They're kind of enunciating the fact that it's 00:49:06.130 --> 00:49:08.050 basically a Mario ripoff. 00:49:08.050 --> 00:49:09.490 Nintendo [UNINTELLIGIBLE]. 00:49:09.490 --> 00:49:12.586 Yes, we know it's a Mario ripoff, so we're going to tell 00:49:12.586 --> 00:49:15.180 you that we're aware of it. 00:49:15.180 --> 00:49:17.560 PROFESSOR: PETA also has an established problem with 00:49:17.560 --> 00:49:21.525 Nintendo, with their Cooking Mama re-skin. 00:49:25.197 --> 00:49:26.447 AUDIENCE: [UNINTELLIGIBLE] 00:49:29.109 --> 00:49:32.050 technically --although Nintendo has licenses. 00:49:32.050 --> 00:49:34.930 PROFESSOR: Well I guess Nintendo received the brunt of 00:49:34.930 --> 00:49:39.150 PETA's wrath, in that case anyways. 00:49:39.150 --> 00:49:40.400 AUDIENCE: What is Cooking Mama? 00:49:48.860 --> 00:49:53.870 AUDIENCE: It's a DS game that's about cooking. 00:49:53.870 --> 00:49:54.940 [UNINTELLIGIBLE] because they're working 00:49:54.940 --> 00:49:56.440 out vegetarian options. 00:49:59.940 --> 00:50:01.500 AUDIENCE: Wow. 00:50:01.500 --> 00:50:03.750 AUDIENCE: So they made another flash game similar to this one 00:50:03.750 --> 00:50:06.930 where Cooking Mama kills animals and the features are 00:50:06.930 --> 00:50:09.701 really bloody and slitting their throats and stuff. 00:50:09.701 --> 00:50:11.530 [LAUGHTER] 00:50:11.530 --> 00:50:14.617 AUDIENCE: Remember we played the video game yesterday in 00:50:14.617 --> 00:50:14.769 [UNINTELLIGIBLE] 00:50:14.769 --> 00:50:15.988 Video Game Studies? 00:50:15.988 --> 00:50:17.816 PROFESSOR: Was that a McDonald's video game? 00:50:17.816 --> 00:50:18.730 AUDIENCE: Yeah. 00:50:18.730 --> 00:50:20.400 It was at videogame.com. 00:50:20.400 --> 00:50:22.550 And that one is a simulation of running McDonald's. 00:50:22.550 --> 00:50:26.359 And it presents itself as serious, and at first, most of 00:50:26.359 --> 00:50:29.285 us in the class, as I was, thought it was produced at 00:50:29.285 --> 00:50:29.650 McDonald's. 00:50:29.650 --> 00:50:33.990 And as it goes on, you can manage the beef farms and the 00:50:33.990 --> 00:50:37.011 soy farms, and then your slaughterhouse, and then your 00:50:37.011 --> 00:50:39.185 stores, and then your corporate area. 00:50:39.185 --> 00:50:41.720 And at first it seems like, hey we're going to show you 00:50:41.720 --> 00:50:43.740 how the business at McDonald's works. 00:50:43.740 --> 00:50:45.960 And then you get this farm portion, and there's the 00:50:45.960 --> 00:50:47.390 option to use [UNINTELLIGIBLE] crops. 00:50:47.390 --> 00:50:48.220 And you think, oh I can do that. 00:50:48.220 --> 00:50:49.600 It's a trade off. 00:50:49.600 --> 00:50:52.070 Then you have to bribe the mayor so you can destroy his 00:50:52.070 --> 00:50:52.840 crops to put yours. 00:50:52.840 --> 00:50:54.500 And you're like, wait. 00:50:54.500 --> 00:50:56.120 Then you can choose to feed your cows sludge 00:50:56.120 --> 00:50:57.190 to make them fatter. 00:50:57.190 --> 00:51:00.105 There's all these little things that you can add on. 00:51:00.105 --> 00:51:02.080 You can bribe a climate expert to say that you're 00:51:02.080 --> 00:51:03.330 environmentally friendly. 00:51:06.280 --> 00:51:10.240 AUDIENCE: Are these bribes based on any fact? 00:51:10.240 --> 00:51:10.970 AUDIENCE: I don't know. 00:51:10.970 --> 00:51:12.150 It was a good game, too. 00:51:12.150 --> 00:51:15.308 We played it, and it was really challenging. 00:51:15.308 --> 00:51:17.723 AUDIENCE: [UNINTELLIGIBLE PHRASE] 00:51:17.723 --> 00:51:19.655 AUDIENCE: You know it's the same company. 00:51:19.655 --> 00:51:20.905 AUDIENCE: [UNINTELLIGIBLE] 00:51:24.002 --> 00:51:26.410 AUDIENCE: CNS 590, and apparently it's almost 00:51:26.410 --> 00:51:27.020 impossible. 00:51:27.020 --> 00:51:31.098 They do their own act as they corrupt everything. 00:51:31.098 --> 00:51:33.030 AUDIENCE: And that's advanced rhetoric, right? 00:51:33.030 --> 00:51:34.275 To be successful, you have to-- 00:51:34.275 --> 00:51:34.950 AUDIENCE: The guy next to me was playing all-natural 00:51:34.950 --> 00:51:36.170 organic without corrupting anyone. 00:51:36.170 --> 00:51:37.610 And he was-- 00:51:37.610 --> 00:51:39.302 he went to [UNINTELLIGIBLE]. 00:51:39.302 --> 00:51:39.776 AUDIENCE: Yeah. 00:51:39.776 --> 00:51:44.050 But at least learn the actions you're taking in the game. 00:51:44.050 --> 00:51:45.710 You're supposed to hear when you're walking past someone 00:51:45.710 --> 00:51:49.300 who just talked to you about how McDonald's sucks. 00:51:49.300 --> 00:51:50.660 AUDIENCE: That wasn't very effective. 00:51:50.660 --> 00:51:54.194 This was just like, oh, I'm hungry now. 00:51:54.194 --> 00:51:55.525 AUDIENCE: If it's the difference between a 00:51:55.525 --> 00:51:58.890 simulation and a game, this is really more of a game than a 00:51:58.890 --> 00:52:00.036 real simulation. 00:52:00.036 --> 00:52:03.733 In a real simulation, the mechanics have to relate to 00:52:03.733 --> 00:52:04.480 whatever it is. 00:52:04.480 --> 00:52:05.960 PROFESSOR: But again, who's to say? 00:52:05.960 --> 00:52:09.290 This isn't any more or less a simulation than Mario was. 00:52:09.290 --> 00:52:11.202 AUDIENCE: I don't think Mario is a simulation either. 00:52:15.040 --> 00:52:17.740 PROFESSOR: So that's exactly what it is. 00:52:17.740 --> 00:52:21.035 This game has a point to make, but it's doing so in a very 00:52:21.035 --> 00:52:22.040 narrative fictional way. 00:52:22.040 --> 00:52:24.860 It's not leveraging the simulation. 00:52:24.860 --> 00:52:26.340 And generally speaking, these games 00:52:26.340 --> 00:52:27.660 are just not as effective. 00:52:27.660 --> 00:52:29.540 And that's one of the cool things about simulations. 00:52:29.540 --> 00:52:30.796 You get to see how it works and experience 00:52:30.796 --> 00:52:32.660 things first hand. 00:52:32.660 --> 00:52:35.480 Whereas, is this any more or less effective than a pamphlet 00:52:35.480 --> 00:52:36.690 or a brochure? 00:52:36.690 --> 00:52:39.682 Maybe in terms of exposure. 00:52:39.682 --> 00:52:42.446 A lot of people can play this game, but it's not doing 00:52:42.446 --> 00:52:44.074 anything that any other type of media could do. 00:52:47.002 --> 00:52:48.466 And that's what I got. 00:52:52.240 --> 00:52:54.400 So we're going to do some of the brainstorm exercise again 00:52:54.400 --> 00:52:57.310 and talk about projects for the next assignment. 00:52:57.310 --> 00:52:59.492 Does anyone else have anything they want to add 00:52:59.492 --> 00:53:01.190 before we move on. 00:53:01.190 --> 00:53:03.130 AUDIENCE: There's a lot [UNINTELLIGIBLE] 00:53:03.130 --> 00:53:04.585 the issue of [UNINTELLIGIBLE] simulation. 00:53:04.585 --> 00:53:07.520 I mean we'll be playing games that are ostensibly 00:53:07.520 --> 00:53:10.948 simulations, or at least satires. 00:53:10.948 --> 00:53:12.936 AUDIENCE: Which are a different crunch. 00:53:12.936 --> 00:53:14.186 AUDIENCE: [UNINTELLIGIBLE PHRASE] 00:53:18.410 --> 00:53:20.892 And I want to point out -- 00:53:20.892 --> 00:53:22.860 back to one of the earlier points-- 00:53:22.860 --> 00:53:23.844 [INAUDIBLE] 00:53:23.844 --> 00:53:24.336 system. 00:53:24.336 --> 00:53:27.780 It doesn't necessarily-- 00:53:27.780 --> 00:53:29.748 it does make a game. 00:53:29.748 --> 00:53:32.044 [UNINTELLIGIBLE] system doesn't have to be a real 00:53:32.044 --> 00:53:32.700 world focus. 00:53:32.700 --> 00:53:35.160 It could be any system. 00:53:35.160 --> 00:53:38.112 [UNINTELLIGIBLE] 00:53:38.112 --> 00:53:43.530 They're all very much based on fictional systems. 00:53:43.530 --> 00:53:47.182 But Michael's game is particularly good, but they're 00:53:47.182 --> 00:53:49.174 trying to figure out what the system is in those storybooks. 00:53:49.174 --> 00:53:52.162 And make them, relevent for those players. 00:53:52.162 --> 00:53:53.412 [UNINTELLIGIBLE PHRASE]. 00:53:57.660 --> 00:54:01.448 AUDIENCE: So we can do fictional systems? 00:54:01.448 --> 00:54:04.436 PROFESSOR: Not for this particular one. 00:54:04.436 --> 00:54:06.428 Not for the assignment. 00:54:06.428 --> 00:54:07.922 [INAUDIBLE]. 00:54:07.922 --> 00:54:09.914 AUDIENCE: Does anyone know why they came out 00:54:09.914 --> 00:54:11.930 with Lego Star Wars? 00:54:11.930 --> 00:54:13.934 [UNINTELLIGIBLE] of the Lego games? 00:54:13.934 --> 00:54:15.886 AUDIENCE: Because they're awesome. 00:54:15.886 --> 00:54:17.838 AUDIENCE: It's a funny idea [UNINTELLIGIBLE]. 00:54:20.766 --> 00:54:22.880 PROFESSOR: But I think Lego was not doing very well until 00:54:22.880 --> 00:54:26.895 they got the Star Wars license to make actual Lego sets. 00:54:26.895 --> 00:54:28.145 And that was a big revenue [UNINTELLIGIBLE]. 00:54:30.960 --> 00:54:31.970 That was last year. 00:54:31.970 --> 00:54:35.670 If you have a toy store in Europe, it will be half Lego. 00:54:35.670 --> 00:54:38.630 I've had that experience of, wow, I remember when I wanted 00:54:38.630 --> 00:54:39.888 this when I was six. 00:54:39.888 --> 00:54:41.840 And you can't get it. 00:54:41.840 --> 00:54:46.720 Just everything that's sold in the US, legal basis kind of-- 00:54:46.720 --> 00:54:47.970 [INTERPOSING VOICES] 00:54:50.136 --> 00:54:52.820 AUDIENCE: It just seems so funny that they have Lego Star 00:54:52.820 --> 00:54:55.530 Wars video game. 00:54:55.530 --> 00:54:56.390 AUDIENCE: Well, there's also Lego Harry Potter. 00:54:56.390 --> 00:54:57.878 AUDIENCE: Well, they make Lego everything. 00:54:57.878 --> 00:54:59.874 They have Lego [UNINTELLIGIBLE]. 00:54:59.874 --> 00:55:01.371 AUDIENCE: Indiana Jones. 00:55:01.371 --> 00:55:02.621 [INTERPOSING VOICES] 00:55:05.363 --> 00:55:08.357 AUDIENCE: --Lego Star Wars. 00:55:08.357 --> 00:55:11.351 It's probably more on topic for stuff like video game 00:55:11.351 --> 00:55:15.010 studies, but it probably works well with a 00:55:15.010 --> 00:55:16.260 number of classes offered. 00:55:20.333 --> 00:55:22.828 that the video game-- 00:55:22.828 --> 00:55:24.078 [UNINTELLIGIBLE] 00:55:26.990 --> 00:55:28.507 It will talk about different licensing. 00:55:28.507 --> 00:55:31.489 We'll talk about different franchises and how we 00:55:31.489 --> 00:55:31.986 [INAUDIBLE]. 00:55:31.986 --> 00:55:43.085 So if you are interested there was another similar point that 00:55:43.085 --> 00:55:44.411 I wanted to make. 00:55:44.411 --> 00:55:45.830 Oh, all right, simulations. 00:55:45.830 --> 00:55:50.630 There's actually a games simulations class that's being 00:55:50.630 --> 00:55:54.822 offered in DUSP here. 00:55:54.822 --> 00:55:56.758 [UNINTELLIGIBLE] largely using simulations 00:55:56.758 --> 00:55:59.178 for educational games. 00:55:59.178 --> 00:56:01.620 You saw [INAUDIBLE]. 00:56:01.620 --> 00:56:03.200 It's a really, really good class. 00:56:03.200 --> 00:56:07.300 And he approaches it in a very similar way. 00:56:07.300 --> 00:56:08.740 For instance, let's look at a model. 00:56:08.740 --> 00:56:12.280 Let's look at those assumptions and what you're 00:56:12.280 --> 00:56:17.162 choosing to simulate, what you're choosing to leave out. 00:56:17.162 --> 00:56:20.620 And he'll get to things like game play, [INAUDIBLE]. 00:56:20.620 --> 00:56:23.748 He's pretty well equipped after taking this class to 00:56:23.748 --> 00:56:24.590 start thinking about those issues. 00:56:24.590 --> 00:56:26.080 But he looks a lot [UNINTELLIGIBLE]. 00:56:26.080 --> 00:56:29.482 How does someone constructing [UNINTELLIGIBLE] 00:56:29.482 --> 00:56:33.856 the basic first step of how to release simulation. 00:56:33.856 --> 00:56:35.106 [INAUDIBLE] 00:56:41.150 --> 00:56:43.630 PROFESSOR: That's for CNS 590 Education Exploration for 00:56:43.630 --> 00:56:45.504 Games and Simulations. 00:56:45.504 --> 00:56:47.860 AUDIENCE: It's multiple courses. 00:56:47.860 --> 00:56:48.660 PROFESSOR: Yeah. 00:56:48.660 --> 00:56:51.110 It's definitely crossed with 11. 00:56:51.110 --> 00:56:54.547 I think it's crossed with at least one other thing. 00:56:54.547 --> 00:56:55.797 AUDIENCE: CNS [UNINTELLIGIBLE]. 00:57:02.894 --> 00:57:04.367 TA: Actually we can [UNINTELLIGIBLE]. 00:57:09.770 --> 00:57:13.130 So this time I'm going to do it is a brainstorming 00:57:13.130 --> 00:57:15.020 similarly as last time. 00:57:15.020 --> 00:57:20.060 But instead of brainstorming the whole game ideas, which is 00:57:20.060 --> 00:57:24.960 what we did last time, I want people to pull out systems. 00:57:24.960 --> 00:57:29.370 Pull out the real world systems that you might want to 00:57:29.370 --> 00:57:30.370 write a game about. 00:57:30.370 --> 00:57:32.185 Because what if [UNINTELLIGIBLE] near the end 00:57:32.185 --> 00:57:36.160 up reciting two models, and one of the game play, it's 00:57:36.160 --> 00:57:38.780 probably going to be [UNINTELLIGIBLE] determined by 00:57:38.780 --> 00:57:40.220 who your teammates are. 00:57:40.220 --> 00:57:45.244 And who already has a team? 00:57:45.244 --> 00:57:46.670 AUDIENCE: We do. 00:57:46.670 --> 00:57:48.980 AUDIENCE: We had a different idea. 00:57:48.980 --> 00:57:51.850 AUDIENCE: I think I have an idea for us to do. 00:57:51.850 --> 00:57:53.030 AUDIENCE: It's possible. 00:57:53.030 --> 00:57:55.755 So I will recommend being friends with 00:57:55.755 --> 00:57:59.770 it and sharing it. 00:57:59.770 --> 00:58:01.680 You don't have to. 00:58:01.680 --> 00:58:04.760 But if you are going to hold back, try to contribute a 00:58:04.760 --> 00:58:07.984 couple of ideas [INAUDIBLE]. 00:58:07.984 --> 00:58:10.960 So, as you know [INAUDIBLE]. 00:58:10.960 --> 00:58:12.944 Anyone or any ideas? 00:58:12.944 --> 00:58:14.432 [UNINTELLIGIBLE] 00:58:14.432 --> 00:58:16.416 I'll start with Jeremy and then I'll 00:58:16.416 --> 00:58:17.408 work my way back again. 00:58:17.408 --> 00:58:19.392 AUDIENCE: [UNINTELLIGIBLE] 00:58:19.392 --> 00:58:20.880 trying to build a pyramid. 00:58:20.880 --> 00:58:22.864 AUDIENCE: OK, pyramid building. 00:58:26.360 --> 00:58:27.945 AUDIENCE: I told you the green one was good. 00:58:27.945 --> 00:58:29.719 AUDIENCE: That was a lot more than [INAUDIBLE] 00:58:32.713 --> 00:58:33.963 at MIT. 00:58:39.699 --> 00:58:43.691 AUDIENCE: Rennaisance Italian political machinations. 00:58:43.691 --> 00:58:45.510 AUDIENCE: OK. 00:58:45.510 --> 00:58:50.574 Renaissance Italian politics. 00:58:50.574 --> 00:58:53.430 OK. 00:58:53.430 --> 00:58:54.680 AUDIENCE: Your four years here at MIT. 00:58:59.310 --> 00:59:00.560 MIT undergrad. 00:59:03.870 --> 00:59:06.490 AUDIENCE: A real-time tower of defense, but let's say you're 00:59:06.490 --> 00:59:08.630 in a tower. 00:59:08.630 --> 00:59:12.645 Think of who saw Inglorious Basterds. 00:59:12.645 --> 00:59:14.520 I said think Inglorious Basterds. 00:59:14.520 --> 00:59:16.950 Remember the guy in the tower? 00:59:16.950 --> 00:59:18.200 Something like that. 00:59:23.210 --> 00:59:24.460 Sparking a siege or something. 00:59:27.540 --> 00:59:29.863 AUDIENCE: So American sniper or German plot base. 00:59:32.569 --> 00:59:34.010 AUDIENCE: Like tower of defense. 00:59:34.010 --> 00:59:35.670 Very similar, except you're not military. 00:59:39.890 --> 00:59:41.140 AUDIENCE: Running a marathon? 00:59:49.610 --> 00:59:50.860 AUDIENCE: National politics. 00:59:54.980 --> 00:59:56.230 AUDIENCE: From Las Vegas. 01:00:01.300 --> 01:00:02.550 AUDIENCE: What? 01:00:06.760 --> 01:00:08.260 AUDIENCE: Surviving the Department of Motor Vehicles. 01:00:13.180 --> 01:00:14.744 AUDIENCE: Middle School popularity contest. 01:00:18.210 --> 01:00:19.460 [INTERPOSING VOICES] 01:00:25.182 --> 01:00:27.174 AUDIENCE: I'm not supposed to make any jokes 01:00:27.174 --> 01:00:28.424 [UNINTELLIGIBLE]. 01:00:32.154 --> 01:00:34.146 AUDIENCE: Being a cook in a really busy restaurant. 01:00:42.250 --> 01:00:43.870 AUDIENCE: Making nuclear fusion work. 01:00:49.465 --> 01:00:52.650 Finding lab scale scientific endeavors. 01:00:52.650 --> 01:00:54.980 I'm thinking NASA. 01:00:54.980 --> 01:00:56.680 NASA planning. 01:00:56.680 --> 01:00:58.714 TA: NASA scale types. 01:01:04.460 --> 01:01:06.525 AUDIENCE: The immigration process to America. 01:01:16.220 --> 01:01:18.618 AUDIENCE: High school student body election or student 01:01:18.618 --> 01:01:19.868 government. 01:01:27.205 --> 01:01:29.670 AUDIENCE: Evolution. 01:01:29.670 --> 01:01:31.149 And also I give-- 01:01:31.149 --> 01:01:35.093 I know I love this idea-- ants trying to find their way home. 01:01:41.874 --> 01:01:43.365 AUDIENCE: Developing a music career. 01:01:51.330 --> 01:01:52.510 AUDIENCE: A career in academia. 01:01:52.510 --> 01:01:55.168 Also immune system. 01:01:55.168 --> 01:01:56.620 TA: Academia and immune system. 01:01:56.620 --> 01:01:57.870 I like that. 01:02:01.800 --> 01:02:03.760 AUDIENCE: Give myself a fever, ah! 01:02:09.150 --> 01:02:10.400 AUDIENCE: Auction house. 01:02:25.150 --> 01:02:26.400 AUDIENCE: Lost in Japan. 01:02:30.150 --> 01:02:31.400 [INTERPOSING VOICES] 01:02:31.400 --> 01:02:32.650 AUDIENCE: [UNINTELLIGIBLE] 01:02:42.030 --> 01:02:43.089 TA: Patrick. 01:02:43.089 --> 01:02:45.045 AUDIENCE: Making photos in a darkroom. 01:02:51.500 --> 01:02:52.750 AUDIENCE: Culturing bacteria. 01:02:56.720 --> 01:02:58.680 AUDIENCE: Transfat. 01:02:58.680 --> 01:03:00.910 AUDIENCE: Similar to the immigration to the US, 01:03:00.910 --> 01:03:06.980 crossing the Caribbean Sea in a boat or a raft. 01:03:06.980 --> 01:03:11.040 AUDIENCE: Or one, then the other. 01:03:11.040 --> 01:03:12.900 TA: How many r's in Caribbean? 01:03:12.900 --> 01:03:14.150 AUDIENCE: Two. 01:03:16.684 --> 01:03:18.130 AUDIENCE: I'm pretty sure it's one. 01:03:18.130 --> 01:03:24.010 AUDIENCE: I'm pretty sure it's two r's and two- let's see. 01:03:24.010 --> 01:03:24.350 Oh yeah. 01:03:24.350 --> 01:03:28.660 It's one r and two b's. 01:03:28.660 --> 01:03:29.616 Damn. 01:03:29.616 --> 01:03:30.866 AUDIENCE: Learning [INAUDIBLE]. 01:03:33.570 --> 01:03:37.305 AUDIENCE: Westward expansion of America. 01:03:37.305 --> 01:03:39.189 AUDIENCE: Westward expansion. 01:03:39.189 --> 01:03:40.602 AUDIENCE: Travelers to Oregon. 01:03:40.602 --> 01:03:46.106 [LAUGHTER] 01:03:46.106 --> 01:03:47.534 AUDIENCE: The Oregon Trail. 01:03:53.260 --> 01:03:55.090 AUDIENCE: Tech support. 01:03:55.090 --> 01:03:56.960 AUDIENCE: Ooh. 01:03:56.960 --> 01:03:58.860 You have committed suicide. 01:04:01.720 --> 01:04:03.370 AUDIENCE: Advertising executives at Apple. 01:04:09.152 --> 01:04:12.155 PROFESSOR: I read was this article about how Steve Jobs 01:04:12.155 --> 01:04:14.090 was [UNINTELLIGIBLE]. 01:04:14.090 --> 01:04:15.520 AUDIENCE: I'd think about a person's journey of 01:04:15.520 --> 01:04:17.860 understanding self. 01:04:17.860 --> 01:04:19.070 TA: Self discovery. 01:04:19.070 --> 01:04:23.180 AUDIENCE: Also a presidential election. 01:04:23.180 --> 01:04:24.650 TA: A presidential election. 01:04:32.010 --> 01:04:33.260 AUDIENCE: Shepherding. 01:04:35.210 --> 01:04:36.460 [INTERPOSING VOICES] 01:04:39.300 --> 01:04:40.230 AUDIENCE: Mechanics are kind of interesting 01:04:40.230 --> 01:04:41.480 when you look at them. 01:04:44.200 --> 01:04:47.364 AUDIENCE: Viking colony in the new world before they left. 01:04:52.850 --> 01:04:54.995 AUDIENCE: I don't know if you guys still have it, but I made 01:04:54.995 --> 01:04:56.245 a game [UNINTELLIGIBLE]. 01:04:58.895 --> 01:05:00.811 It's probably indoors somewhere. 01:05:04.468 --> 01:05:05.718 You stole my idea. 01:05:10.210 --> 01:05:12.470 TA: If two people have the same idea, maybe you could 01:05:12.470 --> 01:05:14.255 work on a team together. 01:05:14.255 --> 01:05:16.850 AUDIENCE: Making a movie. 01:05:16.850 --> 01:05:18.100 Like pre-production. 01:05:25.760 --> 01:05:27.245 AUDIENCE: Being a castaway. 01:05:31.600 --> 01:05:34.608 AUDIENCE: Running a religious industry. 01:05:34.608 --> 01:05:35.858 [INTERPOSING VOICES] 01:05:45.650 --> 01:05:46.900 AUDIENCE: Raising a kid? 01:05:51.150 --> 01:05:55.590 AUDIENCE: Right in the middle of that right now. 01:05:55.590 --> 01:05:57.880 AUDIENCE: Piracy without getting caught. 01:05:57.880 --> 01:06:00.826 AUDIENCE: As in high seas piracy? 01:06:00.826 --> 01:06:02.299 AUDIENCE: No. software piracy. 01:06:17.050 --> 01:06:18.300 AUDIENCE: Designing a board game. 01:06:22.552 --> 01:06:25.192 AUDIENCE: Brainstorming. 01:06:25.192 --> 01:06:26.442 AUDIENCE: Building a computer. 01:06:33.480 --> 01:06:34.840 AUDIENCE: Waking up. 01:06:34.840 --> 01:06:36.090 TA: Waking up. 01:06:41.340 --> 01:06:42.840 AUDIENCE: Acknowledging a [INAUDIBLE]. 01:06:48.240 --> 01:06:48.930 AUDIENCE: A couple. 01:06:48.930 --> 01:06:50.180 Imperialism. 01:06:52.330 --> 01:06:54.548 Well it's another religious one. 01:06:54.548 --> 01:06:56.943 Organizing a mass suicide. 01:06:56.943 --> 01:07:04.250 [LAUGHTER] 01:07:04.250 --> 01:07:06.640 AUDIENCE: Filing a divorce 01:07:06.640 --> 01:07:08.486 TA: I called finding a divorce. 01:07:08.486 --> 01:07:10.851 AUDIENCE: I said finding a horse. 01:07:10.851 --> 01:07:12.101 [INTERPOSING VOICES] 01:07:14.640 --> 01:07:15.890 AUDIENCE: Running away from the police. 01:07:25.320 --> 01:07:26.570 AUDIENCE: Crime scene investigation. 01:07:31.630 --> 01:07:32.880 AUDIENCE: Firefighting. 01:07:39.780 --> 01:07:42.766 AUDIENCE: Falling asleep. 01:07:42.766 --> 01:07:43.744 AUDIENCE: Waking up. 01:07:43.744 --> 01:07:44.994 Falling asleep. 01:07:50.590 --> 01:07:52.057 AUDIENCE: Organizing a heist. 01:07:54.991 --> 01:07:56.947 AUDIENCE: Running the Catholic Church. 01:08:03.920 --> 01:08:05.170 AUDIENCE: [UNINTELLIGIBLE PHRASE] 01:08:08.340 --> 01:08:09.080 AUDIENCE: Money laundering. 01:08:09.080 --> 01:08:10.330 Tax evasion. 01:08:14.000 --> 01:08:16.410 AUDIENCE: Mafia. 01:08:16.410 --> 01:08:17.490 TA: Is that the same idea? 01:08:17.490 --> 01:08:18.790 AUDIENCE: They could be two separate ideas. 01:08:18.790 --> 01:08:20.014 TA: They could be separate ideas. 01:08:20.014 --> 01:08:22.290 Tax evasion happens small scale and large scale. 01:08:24.970 --> 01:08:27.732 AUDIENCE: Picking up kids flying into a summer camp at 01:08:27.732 --> 01:08:31.398 the airport and not trying to lose them. 01:08:31.398 --> 01:08:32.892 TA: What? 01:08:32.892 --> 01:08:34.386 Not losing- 01:08:34.386 --> 01:08:36.378 AUDIENCE: Not losing arriving children. 01:08:44.863 --> 01:08:47.660 TA: I could see that would be at an airport 01:08:47.660 --> 01:08:50.100 meeting kids game. 01:08:50.100 --> 01:08:51.970 AUDIENCE: A gang or mafia organization. 01:08:51.970 --> 01:08:53.220 TA: Mafia organization. 01:08:59.689 --> 01:09:03.730 AUDIENCE: The spread of fire through different materials. 01:09:03.730 --> 01:09:06.029 TA: Fire spread. 01:09:06.029 --> 01:09:08.250 TA: Would probably work very well with the 01:09:08.250 --> 01:09:10.630 firefighting game. 01:09:10.630 --> 01:09:12.229 AUDIENCE: Carrying out a hit with a 01:09:12.229 --> 01:09:13.599 small team of assassins. 01:09:20.975 --> 01:09:24.310 Like you go into a hotel in Dubai or something. 01:09:24.310 --> 01:09:27.290 TA: This is the point of the game. 01:09:27.290 --> 01:09:27.689 AUDIENCE: Yeah. 01:09:27.689 --> 01:09:31.220 Or dot-com boom and bust. 01:09:31.220 --> 01:09:32.470 TA: Dot-com boom and bust. 01:09:39.180 --> 01:09:40.430 AUDIENCE: Rescuing Chilean miners. 01:09:47.330 --> 01:09:48.580 AUDIENCE: Running a city. 01:09:50.830 --> 01:09:52.083 AUDIENCE: We talked about [UNINTELLIGIBLE]. 01:09:56.030 --> 01:09:58.075 AUDIENCE: Putting on and taking off clothes. 01:09:58.075 --> 01:09:59.500 Or putting on clothes. 01:10:05.210 --> 01:10:07.400 AUDIENCE: I'm pretty sure there are games where you are 01:10:07.400 --> 01:10:09.360 taking off your clothes. 01:10:09.360 --> 01:10:10.610 [INTERPOSING VOICES] 01:10:27.540 --> 01:10:28.790 AUDIENCE: Hot sauce eating contest. 01:10:31.500 --> 01:10:34.640 AUDIENCE: Which is already a game. 01:10:34.640 --> 01:10:35.890 AUDIENCE: Well, sure. 01:10:40.540 --> 01:10:43.380 AUDIENCE: Start a company, or a Silicon Valley bubble. 01:10:43.380 --> 01:10:46.682 TA: So Silicon, dot-com boom and bust as well. 01:11:02.510 --> 01:11:03.760 AUDIENCE: Surviving a family reunion. 01:11:10.570 --> 01:11:12.180 AUDIENCE: Containing an oil spill. 01:11:18.170 --> 01:11:22.549 AUDIENCE: Making a [UNINTELLIGIBLE] lab. 01:11:22.549 --> 01:11:23.799 [INTERPOSING VOICES] 01:11:27.840 --> 01:11:28.460 AUDIENCE: Cooking's a game. 01:11:28.460 --> 01:11:29.710 There's flavors and such. 01:11:41.030 --> 01:11:42.715 AUDIENCE: Getting drunk, or trying not to. 01:11:56.270 --> 01:11:57.520 AUDIENCE: Make a [UNINTELLIGIBLE]. 01:12:10.020 --> 01:12:11.270 AUDIENCE: Nuclear proliferation. 01:12:19.830 --> 01:12:22.944 AUDIENCE: I mean, bomb making plus international diplomacy. 01:12:27.400 --> 01:12:29.210 AUDIENCE: Living alone on an island. 01:12:29.210 --> 01:12:31.280 TA: That's kind of like castaway as well. 01:12:31.280 --> 01:12:32.530 Yeah, so island. 01:12:37.849 --> 01:12:39.099 AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE] 01:12:54.620 --> 01:12:55.900 AUDIENCE: So bomb disarming. 01:12:55.900 --> 01:12:59.456 Also Congress and Supreme Court as 01:12:59.456 --> 01:13:01.981 two separate entities. 01:13:01.981 --> 01:13:04.370 TA: Sorry, you have to repeat that. 01:13:04.370 --> 01:13:05.510 What now? 01:13:05.510 --> 01:13:07.100 AUDIENCE: Bomb disarming. 01:13:07.100 --> 01:13:12.670 Congress and the Supreme Court as very separate ideas. 01:13:12.670 --> 01:13:14.080 TA: Oh. 01:13:14.080 --> 01:13:15.330 Congress. 01:13:20.714 --> 01:13:23.124 We've had very many presidents in the Congress 01:13:23.124 --> 01:13:25.052 Supreme Court area. 01:13:25.052 --> 01:13:26.016 Let's see. 01:13:26.016 --> 01:13:27.462 I lost track. 01:13:27.462 --> 01:13:28.426 Calvin. 01:13:28.426 --> 01:13:30.836 AUDIENCE: Surgery. 01:13:30.836 --> 01:13:33.240 AUDIENCE: Operation. 01:13:33.240 --> 01:13:36.712 AUDIENCE: Yeah, I love that game. 01:13:36.712 --> 01:13:39.192 AUDIENCE: Running and orphanage. 01:13:39.192 --> 01:13:41.176 AUDIENCE: If I might, running a charity. 01:13:50.104 --> 01:13:53.576 AUDIENCE: Creating and spreading [? means. ?] 01:13:53.576 --> 01:13:56.552 AUDIENCE: It'd be great if you could actually spread 01:13:56.552 --> 01:13:57.802 [INAUDIBLE]. 01:14:00.840 --> 01:14:04.405 AUDIENCE: Being a tourist in Amsterdam. 01:14:04.405 --> 01:14:05.391 TA: Very specific. 01:14:05.391 --> 01:14:06.377 OK. 01:14:06.377 --> 01:14:10.814 [LAUGHTER] 01:14:10.814 --> 01:14:15.251 AUDIENCE: Basic programs at MIT. 01:14:15.251 --> 01:14:16.501 AUDIENCE: That's worse. 01:14:20.190 --> 01:14:21.440 AUDIENCE: Playing games. 01:14:26.830 --> 01:14:28.460 AUDIENCE: Wait, how do you imagine that 01:14:28.460 --> 01:14:29.520 you're playing a game. 01:14:29.520 --> 01:14:31.416 And you play too many games. 01:14:31.416 --> 01:14:32.590 And you [UNINTELLIGIBLE]. 01:14:32.590 --> 01:14:33.840 [INTERPOSING VOICES] 01:14:44.084 --> 01:14:45.334 AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE] 01:14:50.580 --> 01:14:51.830 Being an IPS. 01:14:59.100 --> 01:15:00.350 AUDIENCE: Twitter. 01:15:07.300 --> 01:15:08.930 AUDIENCE: Being a pro gamer. 01:15:08.930 --> 01:15:10.536 TA: The pro gamer game. 01:15:14.650 --> 01:15:16.917 AUDIENCE: Managing traffic intersections. 01:15:16.917 --> 01:15:18.167 TA: Traffic intersections. 01:15:27.390 --> 01:15:30.428 AUDIENCE: Being a programmer. 01:15:30.428 --> 01:15:32.416 A software designer. 01:15:32.416 --> 01:15:34.901 TA: We have programmer and pro gamer. 01:15:34.901 --> 01:15:36.151 Two different things. 01:15:39.374 --> 01:15:41.859 AUDIENCE: Fishing. 01:15:41.859 --> 01:15:43.350 And losing weight. 01:15:52.830 --> 01:15:54.080 AUDIENCE: The historical whaling industry. 01:15:56.800 --> 01:15:59.080 AUDIENCE: It's not a current system, right? 01:16:04.360 --> 01:16:05.610 [INTERPOSING VOICES] 01:16:09.106 --> 01:16:10.356 AUDIENCE: Chastity and candle making. 01:16:13.646 --> 01:16:16.460 AUDIENCE: Unicorns. 01:16:16.460 --> 01:16:17.710 AUDIENCE: Wait, unicorns? 01:16:19.780 --> 01:16:22.095 AUDIENCE: Maybe we should combine that into medieval 01:16:22.095 --> 01:16:23.345 guild operations. 01:16:26.915 --> 01:16:28.186 AUDIENCE: Running railroads. 01:16:28.186 --> 01:16:29.436 TA: Railroads. 01:16:32.890 --> 01:16:34.140 AUDIENCE: Lumberjacking. 01:16:39.960 --> 01:16:41.210 AUDIENCE: Spelunking. 01:16:48.610 --> 01:16:49.990 AUDIENCE: Stock market speculation. 01:16:49.990 --> 01:16:51.020 TA: Stock market? 01:16:51.020 --> 01:16:52.924 Or speculation in particular. 01:16:58.590 --> 01:17:00.420 AUDIENCE: Salem witch trials. 01:17:00.420 --> 01:17:01.886 Or witch hunts in general. 01:17:01.886 --> 01:17:03.136 TA: Witch hunts. 01:17:10.176 --> 01:17:12.661 AUDIENCE: Unions. 01:17:12.661 --> 01:17:14.649 TA: I'm starting to think that [UNINTELLIGIBLE]. 01:17:22.104 --> 01:17:23.595 AUDIENCE: Building a house. 01:17:29.062 --> 01:17:30.955 AUDIENCE: FedEx. 01:17:30.955 --> 01:17:32.205 TA: FedEx. 01:17:36.795 --> 01:17:40.141 AUDIENCE: Spreading a mass hysteria. 01:17:40.141 --> 01:17:41.391 Like McCarthy style. 01:17:43.775 --> 01:17:45.230 TA: Also known as [INAUDIBLE]. 01:17:49.890 --> 01:17:52.780 AUDIENCE: Cold War spying and the internet. 01:17:52.780 --> 01:17:54.235 TA: Cold War espionage. 01:18:00.600 --> 01:18:02.560 And the internet. 01:18:15.480 --> 01:18:16.730 AUDIENCE: Communism. 01:18:28.130 --> 01:18:29.380 AUDIENCE: Computer virus. 01:18:48.408 --> 01:18:49.658 AUDIENCE: Hurricanes and oceans. 01:19:01.310 --> 01:19:02.720 AUDIENCE: Could you do something like astrology, 01:19:02.720 --> 01:19:05.000 which is not a real-world system, but is-- 01:19:05.000 --> 01:19:07.170 [INTERPOSING VOICES] 01:19:07.170 --> 01:19:07.506 TA: Yes. 01:19:07.506 --> 01:19:09.570 You can do astrology. 01:19:09.570 --> 01:19:10.840 AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE] 01:19:10.840 --> 01:19:12.300 virus. 01:19:12.300 --> 01:19:13.340 AUDIENCE: Yeah. 01:19:13.340 --> 01:19:16.120 But that would be more like a real virus. 01:19:19.390 --> 01:19:23.920 TA: I would suggest limiting yourselves to 01:19:23.920 --> 01:19:24.880 just the real world. 01:19:24.880 --> 01:19:27.910 I mean, coming up with things like zombie outbreaks, sure 01:19:27.910 --> 01:19:30.250 there is a system you can model. 01:19:30.250 --> 01:19:34.640 But if you're just trying to push on the edges of the 01:19:34.640 --> 01:19:38.570 constraints, then you're just trying to give yourself an 01:19:38.570 --> 01:19:39.290 easier time. 01:19:39.290 --> 01:19:43.133 And more often I see the results actually turn out to 01:19:43.133 --> 01:19:44.250 be less interesting because people are just 01:19:44.250 --> 01:19:45.910 going for the ideas. 01:19:45.910 --> 01:19:47.260 They just [UNINTELLIGIBLE] 01:19:47.260 --> 01:19:48.505 them really, really quickly. 01:19:48.505 --> 01:19:51.730 People aren't actually trying to work it. 01:19:51.730 --> 01:19:54.820 But that being said, even with a lot of the ideas up here, a 01:19:54.820 --> 01:19:59.180 lot of them have connections. 01:19:59.180 --> 01:20:01.896 Even there will be the obvious ones. 01:20:01.896 --> 01:20:04.884 Like oil spill containing and oil spill starting could 01:20:04.884 --> 01:20:06.520 practically be the same thing. 01:20:06.520 --> 01:20:12.210 Everything with the presidential election. 01:20:12.210 --> 01:20:14.150 Spreading mass hysteria [UNINTELLIGIBLE]. 01:20:18.310 --> 01:20:21.834 And these ideas are now up on the board. 01:20:21.834 --> 01:20:25.940 You have until the end of Friday, I guess. 01:20:25.940 --> 01:20:28.210 We don't really need to know until the 01:20:28.210 --> 01:20:29.500 beginning of next week. 01:20:29.500 --> 01:20:34.492 So actually by the end of Friday, you should know who is 01:20:34.492 --> 01:20:38.960 on your team and what project you're working on. 01:20:38.960 --> 01:20:42.580 Over the weekend, you know who's on your team. 01:20:42.580 --> 01:20:45.070 You know to email people on your team. 01:20:47.580 --> 01:20:49.440 And what idea you're starting with. 01:20:49.440 --> 01:20:52.510 Again, the idea can diverge a little bit, but I like the 01:20:52.510 --> 01:20:53.820 previous project. 01:20:53.820 --> 01:20:56.960 We do want you to keep with whatever you started with and 01:20:56.960 --> 01:20:58.100 use it as core system. 01:20:58.100 --> 01:21:00.400 You may choose presidential election. 01:21:00.400 --> 01:21:02.670 It may be something about winning votes. 01:21:02.670 --> 01:21:05.085 And then you decide no, you want to make a game of 01:21:05.085 --> 01:21:06.240 gerrymandering. 01:21:06.240 --> 01:21:07.580 That's fine. 01:21:07.580 --> 01:21:09.427 Because it's still keeping in with the 01:21:09.427 --> 01:21:11.200 same core of the system. 01:21:11.200 --> 01:21:14.016 But say oh, we want to do something about winning votes 01:21:14.016 --> 01:21:16.630 and then instead it became about religion or 01:21:16.630 --> 01:21:17.510 something like that. 01:21:17.510 --> 01:21:20.042 I could see how you got there, but that's not really keeping 01:21:20.042 --> 01:21:23.380 with the spirit at this particular time. 01:21:23.380 --> 01:21:26.558 So stick with the original core system that you're 01:21:26.558 --> 01:21:28.350 working with. 01:21:28.350 --> 01:21:29.990 And try to find the fun in it. 01:21:29.990 --> 01:21:32.520 Don't try to like, oh, this is a really dull simulator 01:21:32.520 --> 01:21:34.413 mechanic, but if we add a bunch of [UNINTELLIGIBLE] then 01:21:34.413 --> 01:21:35.260 it becomes funny. 01:21:35.260 --> 01:21:35.830 No. 01:21:35.830 --> 01:21:37.690 Try to find it fun in the original system. 01:21:37.690 --> 01:21:40.860 And if you can't try to pick apart the system and find the 01:21:40.860 --> 01:21:42.490 one component that is fun. 01:21:42.490 --> 01:21:46.605 So all of bomb making might not be so much fun as as 01:21:46.605 --> 01:21:47.170 [UNINTELLIGIBLE] 01:21:47.170 --> 01:21:47.740 the blood-- 01:21:47.740 --> 01:21:50.060 Yeah, that might be the fun part. 01:21:50.060 --> 01:21:53.350 The one part, I'll be, oops my hand slipped, and therefore I 01:21:53.350 --> 01:21:54.550 am now dead. 01:21:54.550 --> 01:21:56.950 That part might be actually kind of fun, as opposed to OK, 01:21:56.950 --> 01:21:58.390 now I need to figure out how to get [UNINTELLIGIBLE]. 01:22:02.710 --> 01:22:03.670 Cool. 01:22:03.670 --> 01:22:04.290 All these ideas are going to stay up on 01:22:04.290 --> 01:22:05.540 the board for a while.