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  1. <?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><?xml-stylesheet href="http://www.blogger.com/styles/atom.css" type="text/css"?><feed xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom' xmlns:openSearch='http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/' xmlns:blogger='http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008' xmlns:georss='http://www.georss.org/georss' xmlns:gd="http://schemas.google.com/g/2005" xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6573747374350566197</id><updated>2024-02-19T21:58:47.322-08:00</updated><title type='text'>ALMOSTmmm</title><subtitle type='html'></subtitle><link rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed' type='application/atom+xml' href='https://almostmmm.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='https://www.blogger.com/feeds/6573747374350566197/posts/default'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='https://almostmmm.blogspot.com/'/><link rel='hub' href='http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/'/><author><name>beam</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00286145161519355497</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><generator version='7.00' uri='http://www.blogger.com'>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>3</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>25</openSearch:itemsPerPage><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6573747374350566197.post-4401889043937340626</id><published>2022-02-19T22:38:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2022-02-19T22:38:21.923-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Don&#39;t Be a Bore - These &quot;Sins&quot; Will Ruin Your Stories!</title><content type='html'>&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp;At one time in the world&#39;s history story telling was integral to the survival of our earliest records. Before the proliferation of the written word, great story tellers and bards were responsible for documenting history with all its great accomplishments and stunning defeats. The times, they are a-changing.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Any major event these days is usually caught on film. The average person can afford to document their family history with inexpensive equipment.&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;https://gbcstories.com/&quot;&gt;https://gbcstories.com/&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;Online blogs have become the premiere story telling vehicles. Facebook and twitter statuses, now document everything from the completely inane, to major political events. In all of this &quot;new&quot; media, have people begun to lose their knack for story telling?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;There are few things worse than being stuck listening to a story from someone who can&#39;t tell it. It is an exercise in complete frustration. People need to get better! Avoiding a couple of common story telling mistakes can change you from a complete bore, into the life of the party.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;To me, the three story telling sins are as follows:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;1. Telling them too slowly: This is horrible. The worst part is once you are invested in listening to these people you know it is going to be a long story because they are telling it so slowly. Their voice is monotone and they drag out each thought until you are ready to choke them. If you are telling a story - get to the point as quickly as possible while retaining all pertinent info. At least pretend like your story is important and animate your speech a bit. A little enthusiasm won&#39;t kill you.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;2. Tangents: This is the worst. This will kill a story with a quickness. If you are telling a story about some intense showdown you had with a mugger...stick to that. A tangent about how you went out for ice cream, and they totally don&#39;t have that one ice cream you love, which is weird because it is like ALWAYS there! Did I mention the cashier looked just like Webster? It was uncanny, I was totally waiting for Mr. Kostoplous...Oh my god! What&#39;s his name again? What? Yeah thats it! OMG I can&#39;t believe I forgot that...OK where was I? At this point I don&#39;t know anymore and I certainly don&#39;t care. I am silently praying to all that is holy, you forget yourself and this farce comes to an end now. I might even jump in with my own Webster story because the thought of hearing your inane babble any longer makes me sick to my stomach. In conclusion...tangents are bad!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;3. The Bad Story Warning: If anyone ever starts their story out with these words: &quot;OK I suck at telling stories...&quot; then RUN. The fact is, if someone is saying that it is because their stories are bad. People have let them know by either telling them or walking out of a room. At one time in my life, I genuinely thought that I would punch someone square in the nose as soon as they said that. I think any legal ramifications I incurred would have been off set by the time saved not listening to them prattle on. I never acted on it but I thought about it. Don&#39;t set your self up for failure. Be confident!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I am not claiming to be a great story teller. I am not claiming that at all. I am however, a fan of a great story. I can say with 100% confidence that no story I have ever heard that was told too slowly, went off in tangents or was prefaced ay a bad story warning has been great. They haven&#39;t even been good. In fact any story that matches all three of those criteria have been some of the worst moments in my history of social interaction. If you suck at telling stories, and if you do you know it, your first step should be to eliminate the above &quot;sins&quot;. Try it for your next story and let me know how it works out for you. Just get to the point when you do!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Alternate History - What If&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Alternate history is about what would have if the events of the past had turned out completely differently. For instance, what if the Germans had won World War II; what if Bill Clinton had been impeached during his hearing; what if the Confederates had won the American Civil War; or what if the British had won the Falkland War.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;If we take alternate history, it assumes that things go the way as the actual history until a certain point, which is known as point of divergence. When this point is reached, the outcome of that particular event changes. In alternate history scenario, even small changes can have a profound effect because of the butterfly effect.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;There are many alternate history stories floating around but most of them concentrate on politics of the past. Here alternate history tries to reconstruct what would have happened if the world leaders of past had made different decisions or what would have happened if different events had happened because of chance.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Alternate history should not be taken lightly. Many experts say that considering different scenarios, historians can actually help explain history as it really is.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Many authors have taken help from alternate history and used it to write novels and short stories. Here, the authors have used alternate history as a means of entertaining their readers. However, when one reads stories entailing What if... and the plot deals with real historical story but with a different outcome, the stories gives us a new perspective to think about.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Some times, reading alternate history makes us grateful for what we have. Imagine if the Confederates had won the American Civil War, slavery would have still been rampant and we would not have been living in a free world. Or, if Hitler had managed to win World War II, the most unspeakable atrocities would have been taking place in Europe and rest of the world even today.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Putting &quot;Great&quot; Into Your Next Story&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;What do all children love from the time they understand what their parents are saying? It&#39;s a love that will never tire for the rest of their lives. And it&#39;s true for most or all of the earth&#39;s population.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;A good story! Everyone loves a good story. Just look and listen all around you...&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;We have 24 hours of story-telling on TV. Movies, syndicated shows from yesteryear, current shows, sitcoms, dramas, and news. Aside from hard facts, stories abound in the news. Books and magazines. Audio books that we listen to while driving!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do you have a proverbial &#39;Uncle Joe&#39; who tells great stories? I bet everyone knows at least one person who&#39;s a great storyteller. And notice the informal distinction we give these people. &#39;So and so&#39; is a great storyteller! It&#39;s an accolade, an informal honor.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Before written, recorded history there was oral history. Stories told by the elders. One of the greatest books written over 2000 years ago is full of parables. Stories with an important message.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;A good story has impact!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Imagine people&#39;s reactions if they were simply told to &#39;do good.&#39; Those two words would be forgotten in five minutes. But their hearts, minds, and imaginations are captured with a story about &#39;doing good.&#39;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Everyone loves a good story. And perhaps there isn&#39;t a better teacher of story on the planet than Robert McKee. He&#39;s universally regarded as the world&#39;s premier teacher of screenwriting.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Here&#39;s a little story for you...&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In his book &#39;Story,&#39; Robert McKee tells of his early days in Hollywood working as a reader. He analyzed screenplay submissions and gave his &#39;yes or no&#39; recommendation. He anecdotally tells of his experiences as a reader.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;After the first several hundred scripts, he felt he could produce an all-purpose script analysis. Here&#39;s what he had to say about his reading experience. It provides great insight into what NOT to do when crafting your next story.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot; Nice description, actable dialogue...all in all, a script of well-chosen words. The story, however, sucks. The first thirty pages crawl on a fat belly of exposition; the rest never get to their feet. The main plot, what there is of it, is riddled with convenient coincidence and weak motivation. No discernible protagonist. Unrelated tensions that could shape into subplots never do. Characters are never revealed to be more than they seem. Not a moment&#39;s insight into the inner lives of these people or their society. It&#39;s a lifeless collection of predictable, ill-told, and clichéd episodes that wander off into a pointless haze. PASS ON IT.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Pretty brutal, isn&#39;t it?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;But don&#39;t feel you need great literary talent to be a great storyteller. Surprisingly, or maybe not, frequently one has nothing to do with the other. And according to Mr. McKee, being able to tell a good story will usually win the day.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;But...he&#39;s quick to point out all of that isn&#39;t enough to create a good story.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;His personal lament concerns craft. In particular, how few seem to possess this craft. A good story is useless unless it&#39;s &quot;well told.&quot; And learning to tell a good story well is craft. Learning and mastering the principles of story composition will elevate your good story into a great story.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='https://almostmmm.blogspot.com/feeds/4401889043937340626/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://almostmmm.blogspot.com/2022/02/dont-be-bore-these-sins-will-ruin-your.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='https://www.blogger.com/feeds/6573747374350566197/posts/default/4401889043937340626'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='https://www.blogger.com/feeds/6573747374350566197/posts/default/4401889043937340626'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='https://almostmmm.blogspot.com/2022/02/dont-be-bore-these-sins-will-ruin-your.html' title='Don&#39;t Be a Bore - These &quot;Sins&quot; Will Ruin Your Stories!'/><author><name>beam</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00286145161519355497</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6573747374350566197.post-288361146763536620</id><published>2022-02-19T22:36:00.001-08:00</published><updated>2022-02-19T22:36:18.588-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Pamper Your Pet With Designer Pet Products</title><content type='html'>&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp;Pampering your dog never feels better without giving them plus-designer products. A fashionable designer product can be given to your dog as birthday product, as a Christmas gift, as a new year present or just because you felt like it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;There are many designer products available for your pet, and you could choose them from various categories depending on your need.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Designer Products and Their Uses&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;At present, a pet parent can find designer pet products for all categories for their pet. Here is a list some things that you can pick out for your pet:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Leashes&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Leashes are one of the most important products for any pet owner&#39;s use. A leash keeps your pet safe when they are taken out for a walk. Furthermore, the leash keeps the pet safe from running too far away and from injuries.&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;http://thecityloo.com/&quot;&gt;thecityloo.com/&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;A pet owner can buy designer jeweled leashes, or classy looking retractable leash or a fancy crystal beaded leash for their pet dog.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Toys&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Gone are the days when you could only find plastic toys for your dog. Toys keep your pets active, busy and save your household items from being destroyed by your pet army! One can buy designer plush toys, squeaky toys or soft toys for larger dogs. Along with this, the option of buying glowing pet toys is also open for pet owners, which glow up when pressed.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Collars&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you plan on pampering your pet dog with designer pet products, then collars will be the absolutely correct choice. Collars add beauty to the pet&#39;s personality and luxurious collars such as jeweled collars, shiny designer collars and festive season themed collars are a big hit with pets as well as pet owners!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Grooming and Beauty&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;It won&#39;t be fair for your pet if only you get to use the fancy products for your beauty and they don&#39;t. Thankfully, in today&#39;s time, there are many options for luxurious and high-end beauty products for your pets. From shampoos to eye pads and from automatic combs to breath fresheners, dogs have it all!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Clothing&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Worried about your pet looking too plain during a party? Well, do not fret anymore. There are various brands, stores, and websites which produce and offer custom made dresses and costumes for your pet. You could choose one for a specific theme or dress them up as per their genders with hats, vests, and suits. The choice is yours.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Additional Accessories&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Pampering your pet will be incomplete if you do not own other objects such as carriers, plush beds, designer apparel, designer food bowls and fancy treats for your dog. With the growing love for pets, you will never run out of high-end options for your dog&#39;s requirements.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;A happy and a healthy pet is a dream come true for all pet owners. Furthermore, the pet owners find it highly satisfying to pamper their pets. Pamper your pets with anything and everything, you will never run out of options to choose from.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Are Natural Pet Products Really Better For Pets?&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Natural pet products have started flooding the market. After the poisoned pet food incident a few years ago consumers started to really look at where their pets bedding, food, toys and other products were made and what was in them.&amp;nbsp; Natural and organic products became widely available for the first time.&amp;nbsp; Are natural products really better for your pet?&amp;nbsp; Yes, they are. Here&#39;s why:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Natural&amp;nbsp; products don&#39;t contain common allergens- Many pets are allergic to commonly used ingredients in pet food like wheat and wheat gluten, corn, and some types of rice.&amp;nbsp; Mass produced pet foods use the lowest possible grade of feed grain in their foods to keep costs down.&amp;nbsp; Natural foods usually contain organic brow rice or soy instead of cheap filler grains that cause skin conditions in millions of pets.&amp;nbsp; Whole grains are better for you, and better for your pets.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Natural pet foods use organic meat sources - Feeding your pets food made from chickens and cows that are fed growth hormones, antibiotics, and even pieces of other chickens and cows isn&#39;t healthy.&amp;nbsp; Natural pet foods use meat from only certified organic sources like free range chickens, hormone free beef, and fish.&amp;nbsp; Many natural pet foods also use alternative meat sources like venison or duck for pets that have developed allergies to commercial grade chicken and beef because of the hormones and other drugs that they are fed.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The creation of natural pet products can be documented - When you buy cheap, imported pet products brought in from other countries there is no way to verify where the product was made or what it contains. As the pet food poisoning scandal proved the only way to know for sure what is in your pet&#39;s products is to know the entire history of the product.&amp;nbsp; Often natural pet items are handmade or made in small batches. The materials are documented to be safe for pets so you can be sure your pet is not going to get sick from the materials used to make the product.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;3 Amazing Pet Products That Make Pet Ownership Easy&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Every pet owner wants to get the best things for his furry pal. But are there any best hacks that can take your pet ownership skills to the next level? With a wide array of pet products available in the market from apparels to grooming supplies, sanitation, feeding supplies, cleaning, pet techs and gadgets it sometimes becomes a difficult ask to select the best ones for your furry pal. With the advancement of technology, it has now become possible to make pet ownership easy.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Let us look at some of the products that will assist you in achieving this feat:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Automatic Feeders &amp;amp; Waterers&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;This product has been developed for the convenience of pet owners. Now you do not have to worry about feeding or watering your pet until and unless the stock is over in the storage area. There are a variety of DIY automatic feeders and waterers available in the market that can make your life easier. Normal bowls are now a thing of the past. Pet feeders and waterers that need you to only fill up the storage is a total fad. Now you do not have to put any reminders to feed your furry companion or water them. This will now be done by an automatic feeder. But to be safe, always keep a watch on the automatic waterers and feeders just in case a sneaky pal who might break into the storage bin. The automatic feeder aids your pet to eat at scheduled timings and prevent overeating. You can set the timer on a program timer present in the feeder or waterer. There are certain feeders that work by gravity.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Pet Monitor&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Pet monitors are similar to baby monitors. With the aid of this instrument, it is possible to speak, interact, view and listen to the pets from anywhere. The monitor contains inbuilt speakers and microphones that aids in communication from both sides. This can all be controlled through a smart-phone. It can rotate 340 degrees with up and down video motions. This feature makes it easier for you to place it at heights as well. It is also possible for you to capture pictures and videos from the mobile device paired with the monitor. The great thing about this device is that it is now possible for multiple users to connect to the pet monitor. They come in different colours too.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Pet Flap Doors&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Tired of opening the door repeatedly for your pooch? If yes; there is a solution for it. Thanks to pet flap doors it is now possible to stop moving even an itch. The great thing about these doors is that they can be installed to the existing doors. These doors are available in plastic, wood or any other material as preferred to you. They are generally made up of vinyl and certain flaps consist of a magnetic bar at the end that aids in secure closing of the pet door. These doors come in different sizes depending on how big is your pet. These doors make it easier for your pet to go to the balcony or garden area to conduct their business. The other great thing about this door is that you do not need to get back to the pet during your work timings to open the door for your pal.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='https://almostmmm.blogspot.com/feeds/288361146763536620/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://almostmmm.blogspot.com/2022/02/pamper-your-pet-with-designer-pet.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='https://www.blogger.com/feeds/6573747374350566197/posts/default/288361146763536620'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='https://www.blogger.com/feeds/6573747374350566197/posts/default/288361146763536620'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='https://almostmmm.blogspot.com/2022/02/pamper-your-pet-with-designer-pet.html' title='Pamper Your Pet With Designer Pet Products'/><author><name>beam</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00286145161519355497</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6573747374350566197.post-3079523583480753736</id><published>2022-02-18T06:26:00.002-08:00</published><updated>2022-02-18T06:26:21.182-08:00</updated><title type='text'>What Is a Game?</title><content type='html'>&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp; We probably all have a pretty good intuitive notion of what a game is. The general term &quot;game&quot; encompasses board games like chess and Monopoly, card games like poker and blackjack, casino games like roulette and slot machines, military war games, computer games, various kinds of play among children, and the list goes on. In academia we sometimes speak of game theory, in which multiple agents select strategies and tactics in order to maximize their gains within the framework of a well-defined set of game rules&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;https://totoscan.com/&quot;&gt;https://totoscan.com/&lt;/a&gt;. When used in the context of console or computer-based entertainment, the word &quot;game&quot; usually conjures images of a three-dimensional virtual world featuring a humanoid, animal or vehicle as the main character under player control. (Or for the old geezers among us, perhaps it brings to mind images of two-dimensional classics like Pong, Pac-Man, or Donkey Kong.) In his excellent book, A Theory of Fun for Game Design, Raph Koster defines a game to be an interactive experience that provides the player with an increasingly challenging sequence of patterns which he or she learns and eventually masters. Koster&#39;s asser-tion is that the activities of learning and mastering are at the heart of what we call &quot;fun,&quot; just as a joke becomes funny at the moment we &quot;get it&quot; by recognizing the pattern.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Video Games as Soft Real-Time Simulations&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Most two- and three-dimensional video games are examples of what computer scientists would call soft real-time interactive agent-based computer simulations. Let&#39;s break this phrase down in order to better understand what it means&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;https://ttattack.com/&quot;&gt;https://ttattack.com/&lt;/a&gt;. In most video games, some subset of the real world -or an imaginary world- is modeled mathematically so that it can be manipulated by a computer. The model is an approximation to and a simplification of reality (even if it&#39;s an imaginary reality), because it is clearly impractical to include every detail down to the level of atoms or quarks. Hence, the mathematical model is a simulation of the real or imagined game world. Approximation and simplification are two of the game developer&#39;s most powerful tools. When used skillfully, even a greatly simplified model can sometimes be almost indistinguishable from reality and a lot more fun.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;An agent-based simulation is one in which a number of distinct entities known as &quot;agents&quot; interact. This fits the description of most three-dimensional computer games very well, where the agents are vehicles, characters, fireballs, power dots and so on. Given the agent-based nature of most games, it should come as no surprise that most games nowadays are implemented in an object-oriented, or at least loosely object-based, programming language.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;All interactive video games are temporal simulations, meaning that the vir- tual game world model is dynamic-the state of the game world changes over time as the game&#39;s events and story unfold. A video game must also respond to unpredictable inputs from its human player(s)-thus interactive temporal simulations. Finally, most video games present their stories and respond to player input in real time, making them interactive real-time simulations.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;One notable exception is in the category of turn-based games like computerized chess or non-real-time strategy games. But even these types of games usually provide the user with some form of real-time graphical user interface.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;What Is a Game Engine?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The term &quot;game engine&quot; arose in the mid-1990s in reference to first-person shooter (FPS) games like the insanely popular Doom by id Software. Doom was architected with a reasonably well-defined separation between its core software components (such as the three-dimensional graphics rendering system, the collision detection system or the audio system) and the art assets, game worlds and rules of play that comprised the player&#39;s gaming experience. The value of this separation became evident as developers began licensing games and retooling them into new products by creating new art, world layouts, weapons, characters, vehicles and game rules with only minimal changes to the &quot;engine&quot; software. This marked the birth of the &quot;mod community&quot;-a group of individual gamers and small independent studios that built new games by modifying existing games, using free toolkits pro- vided by the original developers. Towards the end of the 1990s, some games like Quake III Arena and Unreal were designed with reuse and &quot;modding&quot; in mind. Engines were made highly customizable via scripting languages like id&#39;s Quake C, and engine licensing began to be a viable secondary revenue stream for the developers who created them. Today, game developers can license a game engine and reuse significant portions of its key software components in order to build games. While this practice still involves considerable investment in custom software engineering, it can be much more economical than developing all of the core engine components in-house. The line between a game and its engine is often blurry.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Some engines make a reasonably clear distinction, while others make almost no attempt to separate the two. In one game, the rendering code might &quot;know&quot; specifi-cally how to draw an orc. In another game, the rendering engine might provide general-purpose material and shading facilities, and &quot;orc-ness&quot; might be defined entirely in data. No studio makes a perfectly clear separation between the game and the engine, which is understandable considering that the definitions of these two components often shift as the game&#39;s design solidifies.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Arguably a data-driven architecture is what differentiates a game engine from a piece of software that is a game but not an engine. When a game contains hard-coded logic or game rules, or employs special-case code to render specific types of game objects, it becomes difficult or impossible to reuse that software to make a different game. We should probably reserve the term &quot;game engine&quot; for software that is extensible and can be used as the foundation for many different games without major modification.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Clearly this is not a black-and-white distinction. We can think of a gamut of reusability onto which every engine falls. One would think that a game engine could be something akin to Apple QuickTime or Microsoft Windows Media Player-a general-purpose piece of software capable of playing virtually any game content imaginable. However, this ideal has not yet been achieved (and may never be). Most game engines are carefully crafted and fine-tuned to run a particular game on a particular hardware platform. And even the most general-purpose multiplatform engines are really only suitable for building games in one particular genre, such as first-person shooters or racing games. It&#39;s safe to say that the more general-purpose a game engine or middleware component is, the less optimal it is for running a particular game on a particular platform.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;This phenomenon occurs because designing any efficient piece of software invariably entails making trade-offs, and those trade-offs are based on assumptions about how the software will be used and/or about the target hardware on which it will run. For example, a rendering engine that was designed to handle intimate indoor environments probably won&#39;t be very good at rendering vast outdoor environments. The indoor engine might use a binary space partitioning (BSP) tree or portal system to ensure that no geometry is drawn that is being occluded by walls or objects that are closer to the camera. The outdoor engine, on the other hand, might use a less-exact occlusion mechanism, or none at all, but it probably makes aggressive use of level-of-detail (LOD) techniques to ensure that distant objects are rendered with a minimum number of triangles, while using high-resolution triangle meshes for geome-try that is close to the camera.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The advent of ever-faster computer hardware and specialized graphics cards, along with ever-more-efficient rendering algorithms and data structures, is beginning to soften the differences between the graphics engines of different genres. It is now possible to use a first-person shooter engine to build a real-time strategy game, for example. However, the trade-off between generality and optimality still exists. A game can always be made more impressive by fine-tuning the engine to the specific requirements and constraints of a particular game and/or hardware platform.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Engine Differences Across Genres&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Game engines are typically somewhat genre specific. An engine designed for a two-person fighting game in a boxing ring will be very different from a massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) engine or a first-person shooter (FPS) engine or a real-time strategy (RTS) engine. However, there is also a great deal of overlap-all 3D games, regardless of genre, require some form of low-level user input from the joypad, keyboard and/or mouse, some form of 3D mesh rendering, some form of heads-up display (HUD) including text rendering in a variety of fonts, a powerful audio system, and the list goes on. So while the Unreal Engine, for example, was designed for first-person shooter games, it has been used successfully to construct games in a number of other genres as well, including simulator games, like Farming Simulator 15 ( FS 15 mods ) and the wildly popular third-person shooter franchise Gears of War by Epic Games and the smash hits Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham City by Rocksteady Studios.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;Wikipedia problem&quot; which means children turning to internet for readymade answers is the new age phenomenon baffling teachers and mentors globally. There are almost equal numbers of teachers who consider technology to be a solution as much as a problem. While a common belief is that technology is hindering the students&#39; capacity to think and analyze, there is also a strong opinion in favor of video games and digital gadgets&#39; ability to engage students and enhance learning by using more than one sensory stimulators. In spite of the growing concern about the students&#39; deteriorating attention spans, institutions are incorporating them in the process of classroom learning.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Children are inherently inquisitive creatures. They have a curiosity to discover new things and learn by way of discovering and experimenting even before they are subjected to methods of formal education such as reading or writing. Science is a discipline of experiments and discoveries. The National Science Education Standards emphasize that &quot;science education needs to give students three kinds of scientific skills and understandings. Students need to learn the principles and concepts of science, acquire the reasoning and procedural skills of scientists, and understand the nature of science as a particular form of human endeavor. Students therefore need to be able to devise and carry out investigations that test their ideas, and they need to understand why such investigations are uniquely powerful. Studies show that students are much more likely to understand and retain the concepts that they have learned this way &quot;. Hence, it becomes imperative to engage children in science education at an early stage.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Digital games are more capable to gain students&#39; interests and attention than other conventional means of imparting education in a classroom. However, some educationists also regard them as culprits of exponential decline in the attention span in children. The next sections in this article discuss the involvement of children in games in the tech age, types of games available in the market and the impact of digital gaming as learning aids in classrooms.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Gaming and the New Age Kids&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Digital technology has expanded the horizons of video gaming in the modern world. Kids are subjected to far more complex and challenging technological environment than their counterparts were from over half a century back. Involvement of kids in digital gaming is a result of many significant changes in the lifestyle and culture of the modern society. Easy accessibility of technology, dispensable income due to dual income families and lack of infrastructure for outdoor activities in many cities are some major contributors in making screen games an important part of the children&#39;s&#39; lives. A study by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2010) found that only 20 percent of the census blocks are within half a mile of a block boundary. Also, the effect of peer pressure cannot be undermined in these times of social networking.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The digital gaming market is one of the fastest growing segments of the global entertainment industry. US is witnessing unprecedented penetration of digital games amongst youngsters. In the US, 97% of the teens play some type of game on a regular basis. In India, the gaming market has grown manifold in the last few years. Hence, it is imperative that educationists are continuously contemplating the use of digital gaming as a learning tool in classrooms. Institutions are also employing innovative ways to leverage the digital advantage for enhancing the learning experience at schools.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;What are Digital Games?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;There is no concrete definition of games as it may vary with an individual&#39;s preference and profession. Games can be defined as a &quot;system in which players engage in artificial conflict, defined by rules, which result in a quantifiable outcome&quot;. Technology and digitization add new dimensions to games where simulations, interactivity, augmented reality, alternative reality, collective intelligence and sensory stimulators such as sound and visual effects. Digital games are also characterized by their portability and limitless accessibility.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Role-playing games, simulation games and puzzles are some of the most popular digital games. In role-playing games, the player enacts the role of a particular character in a virtual world moving from one level to the other based on the outcome of the earlier level. RPGs can be single player such as the dungeons and dragons from earlier days of gaming or multi-player games such as Diablo III, Xenoblade, Final Fantasy XIII-2 or Mass Effect 3. MMORPG or the Massive Multiple Online Role-Playing Games are an extension of the RPGs where large number of players interacts in an online virtual world. Simulation games create realistic situations in virtual worlds. The outcome will depend on the player&#39;s decision-making and responsiveness and will be closely similar to what may happen in a real world in the same situation. Widely used in training and analysis, simulation games are also popular due to their unpredictable and personalized outcomes. Flight Simulator X, Live for Speed (LFS) and Need for Speed have been extremely popular simulation games for a long time. Puzzles genre of digital games involves problem solving and analysis with varying degrees of difficulty depending on the nature of the game. Crosswords and treasure hunt games are basic forms of puzzle games in both physical and digital form.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;All types of digital games involve a social involvement of players. Some need collaborative efforts to play while others may be discussed or analyzed socially. In spite of some games being accused of outright violent visual effects, a well-designed game can accelerate the thinking process by motivating, engaging, involving creativity and developing a meta-game i.e., social interactions inspired and enhanced inside or outside the game. Incorporating digital gaming in the basic education framework can lead to augmented competitiveness and multi-dimensional growth in children.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Digital Games in Science Education - Why and Why Not?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The 21st century requires the mentors and the students to integrate technology into the curriculum. Though the ultimate goal is to benefit the students in terms of learning and experience, unsupervised, unorganized or irrelevant application can lead to complete failure or have negative effects. Some of the negative impacts of digital games in general and in context with the education are listed below:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Digital games have been facing constant rebuke for allegedly enhancing aggression amongst kids and developing a violent streak at an early stage. In a study by Anderson and Bushman (2001), Children involved in violent video games are more likely to have increased aggressive thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, and decreased prosocial helping. Use of weapons and being rewarded for being violent is a cause of widespread concern.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Digital games can be addictive for children and make them physically inactive. Digital games, other than social networking, are considered for reduced physical activity leading to obesity in kids and postural and skeletal disorders.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Addiction to games is also known to make kids socially secluded. Impulsive behavior, depression and increased anxiety levels are largely attributed to excessive gaming in children. Some studies also suggest that the children playing games are unable to concentrate for a long span and have reduced attention span.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Children are prone to absorbing socially unacceptable behavior through some digital games such as using profanities and ill-treating the fairer sex. Lack of adequate knowledge about screening the material available online is a growing concern amongst the parents.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Digital games are considered a hindrance to better performance in academics. Students are often found to skip homework to play games leading to deteriorated performance at school. However, despite their reputation as promoters of violence and mayhem, digital games have in fact been shown to help children learn skills, content, and vital &quot;21st-century&quot; skills. From digital games children can learn: content (from rich vocabulary to science to history), skills (from literacy to math to complex problem-solving), creation of artifacts (from videos to software code) and systems thinking (how changing one element affects relationships as a whole). Strong arguments in favor of using digital games as learning aids in secondary education are summarized below:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Digital games involve extreme hand-eye coordination and enhance motor and sensory skills. Sensory stimulation theory proposed by academician Laird (1985) validates that effective learning occurs when the senses are stimulated. While some studies show that digital gaming reduces attention span, there are strong evidences of improved concentration in short intervals of time. Digital games involve keeping an eye on every detail, follow the rules and respond proactively to the given situation. Complex digital games help is developing problem-solving and decision-making skills. Some games also involve logical analysis of the situation and pattern recognition and improve memorizing thus assisting in the cognitive process. Playing by the rules teaches children to accept and respect a certain level of discipline.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Multi-player digital games develop a sense of constructive competitive attitude. Collaborative games also improve team-building attitude. They develop time management skills in a team and train the players to cooperate for mutually desired goal. They teach the players to accept defeat as well as strive for better results. Digital games provide an avenue for hyperactive kids to direct the energy in a constructive system based game. They also provide an outlet to release aggression and frustration, thus helping in diffusing stress. Some games also involve physical activity such as Nintendo Wii boxing helping kids to engage mentally and physically with the kids. Complex digital games involve high level of multitasking thus improving brain&#39;s natural learning process. Brain based learning theory proposes that multi-tasking is an inherent activity of the brain and learning is enhanced by challenges at various levels. Digital games develop efficient situational analysis and strategy making in children. Since games have certain objectives at every level and a final objective of the game, it teaches players to devise short term and long-term strategies such as scoring points, retaining energy and reaching the ultimate goal of the game. Simulation games and the role-playing digital games help players gain expertise or learn by experiencing in replicas of real world situations. Experiential learning and action learning theories are based on the premise that individuals learn faster when they by experiencing and actually participating in action.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Games require the kind of thinking that we need in the 21st Century because they use actual learning as the basis for assessment. They test not only current knowledge and skills, but also preparation for future learning. They measure 21st century skills like collaboration, innovation, production, and design by tracking many different kinds of information about a student, over time.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='https://almostmmm.blogspot.com/feeds/3079523583480753736/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://almostmmm.blogspot.com/2022/02/what-is-game.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='https://www.blogger.com/feeds/6573747374350566197/posts/default/3079523583480753736'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='https://www.blogger.com/feeds/6573747374350566197/posts/default/3079523583480753736'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='https://almostmmm.blogspot.com/2022/02/what-is-game.html' title='What Is a Game?'/><author><name>beam</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00286145161519355497</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry></feed>

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