Harvard Referencing (20/3/2014)

* Having spell checked my work last week, this week I worked on Harvard Referencing and tidying up some of my previous blogs.

I also made sure to add the publisher names for each game I referenced in my Research Project as the lecturer recommended we do so.

Finally, I added the total word count (3,804) to the bottom of my research project (just before the Harvard Referencing) so as to clearly show what should be counted towards to my overall words.

* We were also reminded that we are marked on our research paper, but he will also look at our blog so as to see the process we went through, a 'safety net' if you will, but still only secondary.

Spell checking (13/3/2014)

* As I am basically done with my writing and waiting to spell check it, I decided to look over my work one more time to make sure I was A-ok with the overall research project.

I was also able to ask my lecturer if including headings was ok for an academic level, he said it was. After all, the first thing he does is read the introduction and then the conclusion before reading the rest, that way seeing if the student answered the questions they wanted to answer.

Advice from my lecturer on my introduction (6/3/2014)

* Today my lecturer looked over my introduction and gave me the following advice...

• If I am referring to a book or even website then say so since ‘Ondskapens filosofi’ [The Philosophy of Evil] (2010) by Lars Fr. H. Svendsen confused him. Thus I need to mention that it is a book. 
• Remove words like 'firstly' in order to make it sound more formal.
• Use Wikipedia references, not the sites themselves since those can be edited by anyone. 
• Don't use the 'Free Dictionary, use the Oxford one as it is more academic. 
• Mention the occupations of the people I quote from since these can add to their importance and relevance e.g. scientist, doctor, professor etc.

Overall, the lecturer is really interested it is so far and likes the Western (ideological) and Eastern (mythological) examples of good and evil I have used.

* I then went back over my previous posts from last term and year one in order to see if anything I had originally covered would be relevant to my project. Unfortunately I couldn't find anything relevant.

Next year's dissertation (27/2/2014)

* Today our lecture discussed the 3rd year dissertations that will apparently be due in by January 2015 which, considering when we come back from the summer holidays (end of September) isn't very long. Therefore, it is worth at least thinking about it in advance as it will need to be around 6000 words which is double our current project.

Asking the question, if the 3rd year dissertation has to be related to what we plan to do for our main project, the lecturer said it can, but we shouldn't completely focus on what we think we are going to do until we know clearly, otherwise it may be a waste of our time.

 
* I then carried on writing my research project for the rest of the session as the lecturer said he would check my introduction next week.

Creating an introduction (14/2/2014)

* Having been ill during the session itself, I worked today on making a practical opening for my research document as I was told that the lecturer wanted to look at it after reading week.

During my writing I was able to include a new beginning by using the article ‘Goodies and baddies: A tiny personʼs perspective of game characters’.

I was also able to add to the sections for 'Mario', 'Metal Gear Solid', 'Assassins Creed', 'The Walking Dead' and 'The Last of Us'.

Presenting new possible subjects (10/2/2014)

* When I shared my ideas with my lecturer, he said he was interested in the psychology one, but felt I needed to be clearer about it. Whereas, he loved the idea of the relationships' one as it was based on both physical and non physical relationships and could include many movie examples e.g. buddy cop movies.

He then recommended that I come up with clearer, to the point descriptions of what I might cover, then show him next session. Ok with this, I wrote the following, having done some extra research in order to make sure I had enough reference material for both.

* Relationships:
How have character relationships been portrayed in video games from past to present, and have they been portrayed positively or negatively?

• Amirkhani, J (2013) The Most Realistic Video Game Romances. Available at: http://www.complex.com/video-games/2013/02/25-of-the-most-realistic-video-game-romances/ (Accessed: 10/2/2014) Unknown (2014) LGBT theme in video games - Wikipedia. Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_themes_in_video_games (Accessed: 10/2/2014).
• Amini, T (2013) Saints Row Does Relationships Better Than Most Video Games. Available at: http://tay.kotaku.com/saints-row-iv-has-one-of-the-best-relationships-in-gami-1442430571/1442493914/@tinaamini (Accessed: 10/2/2014).
• gamesradar (2012) The 14 best videogame couples. Available at: http://www.gamesradar.com/the-14-best-videogame-couples/ (Accessed: 10/2/2014). 
• Leonhart, C (Unknown) Top 5 Most Enduring Relationships In Video Games. Available at: http://www.sticktwiddlers.com/2013/02/14/top-five-most-enduring-relationships-in-video-games/ (Accessed: 10/2/2014).
• Polanco, S (Unknown) 10 Video Game Relationships Actually Worth A Damn. Available at: http://whatculture.com/gaming/10-video-game-relationships-actually-worth-a-damn.php (Accessed: 10/2/2014).
• polishtheconsole (2011) Relationships in Video Games - Time to Evole. Available at: http://www.polishtheconsole.com/2011/09/15/relationships-video-games-time-evolve/ (Accessed: 10/2/2014). 
• Yee, N (2006) The Psychology of Massively Multi-User Online Role-Playing Games: Motivations, Emotional Investment, Relationships and Problematic Usage. Available at: http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus/archives/02_04/Yee_Book_Chapter.pdf (Accessed: 10/2/2014).

* Psychology:
How does using music, environments, imagery and characters represent or signify important aspects of a video game? And how have these things been represented from past to present?

• gameinformer (2012) Site. Available at: http://www.gameinformer.com/blogs/members/b/subsaint_blog/archive/2012/07/10/seeing-is-believing-video-game-symbolism-and-logos.aspx (Accessed: 10/2/2014). 
• Leibovitz, L (2013) Five Popular Video Games With Religious & Spiritual Meaning and Symbolism. Available at: http://terminalgamer.com/2013/12/23/five-popular-video-games-religious-spiritual-meanings-symbolism/ (Accessed: 10/2/2014).
• reddit (2012) What are some great examples of symbolism in video games? Available at: http://www.reddit.com/r/truegaming/comments/piwjv/what_are_some_great_examples_of_symbolism_in/ (Accessed: 10/2/2014).
• Wahlberg (2011) Symbolism in Gaming: An Exercise in Overthinking. Available at: http://www.giantbomb.com/profile/markwahlberg/blog/symbolism-in-gaming-an-exercise-in-overthinking/76029/ (Accessed: 10/2/2014).

* However, I have to admit that looking back over all the work I have done so far I feel that I may just want to stick with my previous research. After all, I am incredibly into the subject and the only thing stopping me is the articles I need to find to back up my work. It would also be a shame to waste what I have done already and although I like the idea of the two above subjects, I feel a stronger connection to the concept of good and evil in gaming.

Therefore, I will try and broaden my search for suitable articles by maybe looking up the same field of research in films and books as a contrast to games. I will also have another look in the college library for any materials I may have missed last time.  

Possible New Subject Areas for Context (9/2/2014)

Unable to find any articles relating to the original idea I had for my project, I decided to make a list to show my lecturer tomorrow in order to see if he felt any of them would make for good replacements.

Making sure that the following had available articles, I came up with the following possible ideas...

• Symbolism for narrative, characters and worlds in video games e.g. how do games reflect the inner most thoughts of the characters and the world around them? Titles I could use include ‘I have no mouth and I must scream’, ‘Persona 4’, ‘Eternal Sonata’, ‘Catherine’, ‘Heavy Rain’, ‘Spec Ops: The Line’ and possibly modern survival games which focus more on the player e.g. ‘The Walking Dead’ and maybe ‘The Last of Us’. Granted this could be quite nebulas / vague. 

• What is love? A look at video game character relationships (both romantic and just friends), and how they have changed over time. Are they realistic or forced? Do they work within the context of the genre they are from? Is it true love or just about sex? With this subject I can use research on gender, sexuality and relationships in gaming that I have found information on. 

• Fun in video games and recreating the joy you felt as a child. This could include research on the concept of play and I could use examples I remember from the past and recently that recreated the enjoyment that only video games can provide. Such examples may include ‘Mario’, the Lego games etc. 

• Continuing from the above example, I may wish to talk about how players represent themselves in games and whether or not they play as themselves or as another persona. Therefore, this could include reference to many RPG’s and both the game and previous research I have done for the pen and paper game ‘Dungeons and Dragons’. 

• Music used in video games in order to convey emotion and personalities. Although an interesting subject, I feel that my lack of musical knowledge would hinder this as well as a feeling that I wouldn’t have enough to write about.

• History and its accuracy in video games. How it has been represented over the years e.g. how has it been incorporated or adapted and does it work or not? Such examples could include ‘Assassin Creed’, ‘Call of Duty’ and the so called historical game that included giant enemy crabs. However, as above, I would need to do research into history which I enjoy, but would take up a lot of time.