Future Project Plans

I'm thinking for my final project of turning a part of my thesis into a video with audio recordings of my writing (findings) from the study. Video will definitely play a big part because when you're talking about a video game the terminology does not cross over to those who are not part of the community. With video some of the game mechanics will be involved, if nothing else, it'll be entertaining. My audience would be the general public (of academia?) My whole goal of writing my thesis was to show that playing an MMO to the best ability it was designed to be played is a lot harder than what it looks--there are literacies (gaming, platform, traditional, communication skills--typing, vent servers, in game emotes; slang/terminology specific to the game and in gaming) involved. Plus, it was/is an opening to the idea of RPGs being similar to or just being novels. Subject matter: um...MMOs, specifically FFXI (because it's the one I play and am "addicted" too)


I think my audience would expect a video that is well thought out as well as audio that can explain what is being seen on screen--why does that character have a tail, why is that group split up to where some people are further away and others are closer to whatever they are killing, etc) The audio will introduce and explain, the video will show as visual backup. (Go go frapps!) The only thing about the video is that it will be hard to see some of the smaller aspects that the gamer uses when playing. Menu buttons rarely stay on screen as players become used to their arrangement and can quickly go to them and use them faster than they can be read. Some things may show on screen, like macro rows, that the audio may not address. It will also be hard to show gameplay and player chat--you can really only focus on one when recording.

While I may have already done some alphabetic text (thesis) I need to go back through and pick out the ideas I'm wanting to the video to focus on. Like Poe said of short stories: it should be able to read and enjoyed in one sitting. So, I don't want an extremely long video. Long enough to serve it's purpose, short enough that peoples' mind nor bodies become numb. After choosing the ideas to focus on, I'll then gather the video showing those ideas--gotta dig out those old permission forms.

I'm composing as an individual/mini group. You see, even though I will be the "author" of the text, in an MMO to really gain the experience you need other players. They will be "authoring" as well, the chat on screen comes from our interaction. I'll also being doing this alone because as far as I'm aware no one else in class plays this game. Though it would be interesting to do a video over the different types of MMO and their shared literacies as well as some differences. And I'll always have my tech support (go go D)

I foresee my revision process as including some cursing, more cursing and chocolate. XD
I think editing the video after the intial one is made will be somewhat difficult. The problem will lie in the translation of the work that i see in my head versus what can be made to appear on screen (limiations of gameplay, permissions, time constraints, software constraints, etc)

I think I'm definitely stronger in my skills with alphabetic text; which is why I'm looking at pulling ideas and the script for my audio from what I have already written. I definitely want to improve on video literacies as well as making the audio to fit my video and ideas.

I'll most likely post this text on the interwebs. Go go file sharing sites!