Case Study - Farm Town

Basic Information

• What is Farm Town?
– Farm Town is a Flash-based browser multiplayer game.
• Who is the developer?
– It is developed by software company Slashkey.
• When was it released?
– Farm Town was released on February 1, 2009.
• How many people play this game?
– Until October 2009, there was near twenty million people playing Farm Town.
• How popular is?
– In June 2009, the game was added to the Facebook Application Directory.
– It is the fourth most popular game on Facebook.

Function

• Each user creates a virtual farm.
• The user then begins the basic activities of plowing, planting and harvesting crops.

• plowing, planting, harvesting and buying things can increase the empirical value.

• As the player accumulates empirical value and coins, they rise to higher levels which have more options, such as allowing to buy more land, improvements and buildings.
• Users can earn money from harvesting, and buy tools and animals to decorate their farm.

• The game developers periodically add new crops and items to purchase, keeping the game interesting.

The History of ‘Farm games’

• As same as others farm games, the players are encouraged to operate a farm (e.g. plowing, feeding animals), gain empirical value, and achieve the goal (the highest level).
• Those farm games had a long historical development, for example, the Nintendo company developed a series of farm games called ‘Harvest Moon’(牧場物語). Another example is the facebook’s game ‘Happy Farm’.

Features of farm town

1. Encouraging the users to ooperation with other players and make new friends.
• The game incites cooperation with other players and makes new friends.
• For example, it costs nothing to hire players to assist with plowing and harvesting;
• the farmer can gets a 25% bonus for hiring other players do the work.
• Players can also establish a buddy list which indicates when friends are online and chatting.

2. Encouraging the users to share with friends.
• the player is encouraged to invite at least five Facebook friends to play the game.
• Coins and experience are earned by visiting neighbors and helping them to work. For instance, friends can earn experience and coin from raking, weed and water their flowers, and by exchanging gifts of animals,flowers and trees.

Conclusion

• The players enjoy the fun of developing a virtual farm.
• Also, they can make new friends and encourage to learn the spirit of ‘sharing’.
• Therefore, I think it is no doubt that ‘Farm Town’ is a morally good game.
• It also slow that the mode of playing computer game is from individual to multiplayer games.

Discussion of four important games - should we consider these as works of art?

Discussion of four important games - should we consider these as works of art?

No. It is because I think this video just imitate the 'Super Mario' and lack of narrative elements and Creativity.

Also, it is quiet understand the meaning and what the artist really want to present. Maybe the artist want to make fun, but it doesn't mean that it is meaningful.

Also, in my opinion, the video lacks beauty and just showing clouds and blue background, and it is not an artwork.

Should governments have the right to ban certain games? Why or why not?

Should governments have the right to ban certain games? Why or why not?
Although Ithink those games bring disvantages, I think the government should not ban certain games.

It is because the people should have human right to play/develop the game, and I think the government have no permission to stop or avoid it. Also, it is so difficult to prove that playing video games is the main reason of causing violent crime (e.g. murdering), maybe it happens because of other reasons.

However, I think the government should set some limitations of playing certain games because it really affect the growth of children. For example, the government can set up the age limitation, to avoid the child play or be touch with those video games. To avoid the violate crime, the government also can have more promotion and education on public.

LEC9 Technologised Bodies

To what extent are we already experiencing a man -machine symbiosis that has turned us into cyborgs?

To a certain extent, we always use the machine in our daily life. For example, we use mobile phone to connect with others, use watch to check the time, use computer to calculate something....etc.
Ususally, some people who have health problem would have some operation to implant machine.
For example, the heart disease patients sometimes implant heart pacemakers to save their life. Some people who is hearing disorder would use audiphone to help them in daily life.

What are some pros and cons of becoming a cyborg?
Pros:
1. more convenient
2. strengthen our body
3. make our body more beautiful as our wish

Cons:
1.unnatural, against the natural law
2. may be harm for our body because our body cannot adopt it.

What do you think of Stelarc's work?
I think it is systematic, lifeless and electronic. It looks like a robotic system.

Identity

"Lau Mei Yee" - my real name.
"June" is the name for the foreigners and colleagues when they call me.
"Ar yee" is the name for the schoolmates and friends.
"Mei Yee" is the name for my parents and relatives.
"Alien Mei Yee" is the name when I use the ICQ messager, because there was a cartoon many years ago called "Alien Mei Yee" (in Chinese).

I have 4 email accounts, included yahoo, MSN, gmail, Lingnan university.
Also, I have facebook account.

My classmate: (Christine Yan)
Christine is a name used for work or studies. She said, 'It seems that it is more serious or more elegant.'
Cow is use for common, she would pefer my friends call her cow rather than Christine. It is more fun and friendly. It is very warm if her friends call her "cow cow".
Evil Cow is a name used for net name.Since she always treat other people so they give her the name.
Yan Ching In is her real name and this name is usually for her family used. They call her when she do something wrong,they would shout her name"Yan Ching In, come out and see what she did!!!!!"'

Christine has account of gmail,yahoo,facebook, forum, msn, and she uses 'yaninhk' as her internet name.
'yan106' is the username of her email and the username when she surf the forum.
Her username in Lingnan University is 'christineyan'.

Review--youtube

Quote 2“…Through their many activities – uploading, viewing, discussing, and collaborating—the YouTube community forms a network of creative practice. In his book on the social worlds of art, music and design, Howard Becker (1982) described this kind of formation as an ‘art world’—’the network of people whose cooperative activity, organised via their joint knowledge of conventional means of doing things, produces the kind of art works that art world is noted for’ (Becker, 1982: x). He argues that the construction and negotiation of aesthetic values and ‘proper’ techniques is not confined to academics or experts, but involves everyone who contributes to the process of cultural production, including audiences. Similarly, on YouTube, aesthetic values, cultural forms, and creative techniques are normalised via the collective activities and judgements of the entire social network—forming an informal and emergent (and by far from homogeneous) ‘art world’ that is specific to YouTube”.

I'm most agree with the quote 2.Actually, the youtube created a new form of sharing creative video, music and art. It is a cooperative activity, it does not need professional technique, it only needs the creativity of andiences. Andiences/people have a great platform to show their ideas by uploading videos.

Mark Napier - "shredder"

Source from
http://www.potatoland.org/shredder/shredder.html - Mark Napier - "shredder" (Accessed from Oct 14, 2009)