Sunday, February 28, 2010

GameLog 135 & 136

Football Manager 2010 (44h) - T.Bowes - FM 2010. Made the finals of the FA Trophy, but Rushden were far too strong. Scraped into the playoffs and emerged victorious to gain promotion. Really wanted that trophy before I went up, but I'll take the promotion instead of another 70 hours down in the Conference.

Civilization 4 (10h) - Another emporer attempt.

Trine (7h) - Finally finished a game! Delightful game overall, although I was a little dissappointed with the ending. Got some great audio of Cameron oing game review of it that I'll have to clean up and post.

Civilization Revolution (5h) - One-city challennge completed. Don't think there's any challlennge left in the game now.

Friday, February 26, 2010

R18 Submission

My submission for an R18+ Classification for Computer Games:

• Adults should not be prevented from playing R 18+ level computer games simply because they are unsuitable for minors

4) agree
According to the first principle that guides the Classification Board;
"a) adults should be able to read, hear and see what they want."
If we were to ignore this point or disagree to it, there would be no need for classification as everything would have to be at the lowest common denominator. My Little Ponies for everyone.

• The R 18+ classification category sends a clear, unambiguous message to parents that the game material is unsuitable for minors

5) strongly agree
R18+ has an established brand and sentiment that makes parents and prospective players take notice. This is in conflict with the mess of games clouding up the MA15+ bracket that other countries have divided into multiple categories.

• Consistent classification categories for films and computer games are easier to understand

4) agree
This a valuable goal to aim at, however education is paramount to understand the differences between active and passive entertainment.

• A new classification will supplement technological controls on minors’ access to age-inappropriate computer games

4) agree
Any clear indication of expected content allows parents and prospective players to make an informed decision prior to purchase. Technological controls are for the purpose of enforcing content separation on the same machine and are also welcomed by parents, but are ultimately only another support mechanism. The best way to control the content accessed by minors is to play alongside children or make games available only in family spaces such as the living room (of which 78% of families seem to be doing already).

• Comparable classification systems internationally have an adult rating for computer games - international parity is desirable

4) agree
We are the only country that has a classification system for games that doesn't support an adult bracket. Half of game classifications that have appeared as MA15+ in Australia have been rated higher overseas, giving a strong message that our system is not providing the service other countries are enjoying.

• Consumers access games which would be R 18+ illegally – it would be better if they were legally available with appropriate restrictions

1) strongly disagree
This is simply a poor point. Making the R18 bracket will satisfy those that ARE over 18 and accessing that content illegally, but dos nothing to plug the gap of minors accessing inappropriate games. In fact this would indicate that more work needs to be done on education and enforcement of games being refused classification, and provide adequate safety regarding R18+ games for use in the household. The legal restrictions surrounding current R18+ movies would be a firm step toward provding the level of seriousness that the community associates with accessing R18+ rated games.

• Computer games should be treated differently from films given the specific, negative effects of interactivity on players, particularly their participation in violent and aggressive content.

4) agree
As with movies, the classification system should take into account whether the participant can discern the difference between reality and the content presented. This point takes much more weight when engaged in active participation such as when playing games. Both of these categories can be brought into line under the same classification system by creating a new element to separately acknowledge how 'close' the game is to reality, or how difficult it is to discern between the game and reality. This would allow both cartoon violence to be more accurately rated as well as provide scope for involved thrillers with little to no objectionable content. It will also futureproof the rating system when 3D movies and future Virtual Reality environments become more commonplace.


• It would be difficult for parents to enforce age restrictions for computer games.

2) disagree
There are more controls in place (such as parental controls on all current consoles and operating systems) than there is with DVD viewing. Adding the level of restrictions associated with the R18+ band would make games more controllable than other forms of media.

• Minors would be more likely to be exposed to computer games that are unsuitable for them.

1) strongly disagree
At the moment there are MORE games available to minors than there are in other countries with a classification system. Adding this category will reduce the level of exposure to minors as the restrictions in place for R18+ content will bring people's perceptions of computer game content into line with other entertainment formats.

• An R 18+ for computer games would exacerbate problems associated with access to high level material in Indigenous communities and by other non English speaking people

4) agree
The classification system as a whole is built to allow parents and prospective players to make an informed decision prior to purchase. Education is needed for people unable to understand the rating system and its implications. If the R18+ system were introduced, this would allow yet another avenue to build an awareness campaign to address this issue surrounding the entire OFLC rating system.

• There is no demonstrated need to change existing restrictions.

1) strongly disagree
Other classification systems employed in different countries are able to provide more information to parents and prospective players as to the content of the game. As the gaming market matures there are more and more games being produced for niche markets. Without an adult category, the OFLC has no choice but to refuse more and more games, or have games shoehorned into the current system. If the OFLC rated games similarly to Europe, we would have had 44 games refused classification over the past year instead of 5. There would have been such an outcry that this issue would have been resolved years ago.



My additional comments:
Recent analysis of all MA15+ rated games since 2009 [1] indicate that approximately half of these games were rated for a higher age bracket in America, Europe, England and even New Zealand. This is a clear indication that other classification boards are utilising the R18+ band for current games other than those we are refusing classification. If we were to provide an R18+ classification, this would send a much clearer indication to parents and prospective players as to the content and maturity expected to play the game.

With 78% of households indicating that parents play alongside their children, I feel confident that parents have the desire and ability to monitor their children’s exposure to potential R18+ content through computer games as much as other media. A point of concern is Indigenous, Non-English speaking and immigrant families that may not understand the OFLC rating system as a whole. If the R18+ classification for games were to be implemented, the awareness and education campaign of this new classification can also double as awareness of the entire OFLC ratings surrounding adult content.

As with movies, the classification system should take into account whether the participant can discern the difference between reality and the content presented. This point takes much more weight when engaged in active participation such as when playing games. Both of these categories can be brought into line under the same classification system by creating a new element to separately acknowledge how 'close' the game is to reality, or how difficult it is to discern between the game and reality. This would allow cartoon or abstract violence to be more accurately rated as well as provide scope for engaging thrillers with little to no objectionable content. It will also futureproof the rating system when 3D movies and future Virtual Reality environments become more commonplace.

[1] Electronic Frontiers Australia: Classification board comparison

R18+ classification debate nearly over



Branching code could use a little optimisation, but the sentiment is right. Personally I'd hardly play any R18+ games, but the lack of a rating just forces more games down to the MA rating. This removes part of the point of ratings: to make consumers aware of what type of content is inside the game.

If the classification board had stuck to their guidelines we'd have ~10% of games RC'd, then this debate would have happened long ago.

Stand up lads, this is the debate you need to be in, or .. well .. Ponies.

CivRev - One city challenge

 


After dominating a deity level match through aggressive expansion, I thought it might be interesting to see if it's possible to do a one city challenge. The AI's managed to keep up with me for the early-mid game with a limited number of cities, so I thought it would be at least achievable up until that point.

Had a couple of false starts earlier through poor city positioning, and being too militarily aggressive. Once you take a city, there seems to be no way of razing / gifting / trading / abandoning the city, thus breaking the one-city challenge self imposed rules. Military is still useful to block AI expansion through Civ2-like choke point squatters and gaining early barbarian huts.

In this game I started with a seemingly average starting position as the Greeks. They have an initial courthouse which lends itself well to an early booming city. Starting position had whales and fish in reach, as well as a good mix of production and food. More water than I'd have liked, but it's essential to settle on the coast to get early scouting boats for claiming special goodyhuts.

Kept up to speed with the AIs to mid game with no real combat. Once again they stayed fairly passive allowing me to stock up on barbarians and goodyhuts. This map had 5 and I managed to grab all of them in the end.

Built an early colossus to keep ahead of the technology curve, but needed to get to navigation to utilise the whales. City was approaching 10 pop and had some interesting choices in mid game as to what building to eek out while I kept the seas churning up research.

Navigation finally arrived and with it a nice Greek bonus: +1 food per sea square. Happened to be the same turn as my harbour finished to give +2 food on sea as well as the trade. +30 food per turn and and additional population every 1-2 turns. I'm laughing. At least the AI noticed the massive change too and immediately started demanding tribute or face war. Everyone was far enough away to ignore their requests and eventually only the Spanish and Indians on the other side of the map launch an attack.

From that point on it was more or less game over. Within 10 turns I had tech down to 2-3 turns each and started pulling away from the pack. Scooped up the military ones early to give me the free units and concentrated on building any science or culture buildings. By the 1800's I had a 31 pop city and noticed it had maxxed out the size. Damn 5 bit values.

While my city stagnated at the top, India was going heavy culture and had overtaken me in the amount of great people. They had virtually no tech, so there didn't seem to be much chance they would grab another 5 wonders before the end of the game. I built out some gold oriented wonders just to keep them at bay. Combat was typically Battleships vs Sail or tanks on swordsmen, so I just kept up the choke points and teched hard to the end.

By the time my spaceship launched, India had a pair of cities over 20 and 7 others scattered around the map. Other Civs weren't particularly adventurous and there was possibly 1/3 of the map remaining unused by the time I landed on Alpha Centauri.




The score would certainly indicate that it's not the best way to play the game: almost 1/4 of the score from last time. Not sure whether I have the the time or desire to play through another full game, but at least this one was over in only 4 hours.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

GameLog 133 & 134

Almost a week late, but it was a pretty simple fortnight to remember. UnAngband comp kept me locked to one game.

UnAngband (60h) - Rerolled again and played a much cleaner game for competition 81. Dove straight to the towers because they offer a more compact, intense experience. With 'Santa' hitting above his weight I didn't even have to rely on summons that much. Did a big stint right before the Feb 10 cutoff, but the comp seemed to close early and I couldn't upload the last save. Still didn't get past BigAl's score, but had a much lower turncount.

Football Manager 2010 (10h) - T.Bowes - FM 2010. Big fight to get into the top 5 after concentrating on making the finals of the FA Trophy.

Friday, February 19, 2010

Bargara flooded

 


Been raining all day and I wasn't too surprised to see Hughes Road cut off. Went around to the Causeway and it, too, was over by a fair amount. still had some people attempt the crossing in 4WD's, but it would have been past the bottom of my car.

Headed back around to Seaview road, but it was cut off just after the railway tracks. Looked a little easier to get over than any other crossing so far, but there was still the back part of Watsons Road that I was worried about. Backtracked and eventually went over the Hummock to try Windemere road. I've seen it flooded before near the train crossing in large deluges, but this time it was pretty high.

Another backtrack across to Elliot Heads Rd and my last option of getting home. It was across Back Windemere Rd in a couple of spots, but you could at least see the bitumen through the water. One cooled the footwell, but nothing got in.

As a point of interest I headed back up Watson's road to se how it now handles the water as it used to be worse than Hughes road. It was still over, but having greater than 50 metres of width it looked easier to cross than Hughes road.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Mountaintop experiences - Transfiguration

Another sermon with little notice. Was happy with the first part, but hastily added some last minute changes to the end when I saw that we were going to sing Shine Jesus Shine.

Transfiguration.mp3



Luke 9:28-36 (New International Version)
The Transfiguration

About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem. Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. As the men were leaving Jesus, Peter said to him, "Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah." (He did not know what he was saying.)
While he was speaking, a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. A voice came from the cloud, saying, "This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him." When the voice had spoken, they found that Jesus was alone. The disciples kept this to themselves, and told no one at that time what they had seen.



Mountaintop experiences.

- Ben's trip to Nepal
- Everest base camp
- You'd be able to write a sermon on that
- "I didn't climb a mountain, just a very high valley"

- Personal experience
- Climb anything
- mango tree
- Left behind up the mulberry tree
- a challenge, sense of accomplishment
- Pimple rock
- See nothing but the sky around you

I saw a similar sight yesterday on TV. The camera showed a solitary man standing atop a mountain and as the camera swooped up and over his shoulder you could see the steepness of the mountain below. Looking straight out I'm sure you would have thought there was nothing under you. That must have been an exhilirating feeling. He was a snowboarder, and, with music raising, descended down to start the 44th winter olympics.

There will be others too, that will stand upon snowy mountaintops in the coming fortnight. If they looked out they, too, would surely feel like they are on top of the world, but they will be focused on climbing another mountain. A mountain of 3 steps, where the top step marks you the champion of the world. What a sense of achievement it would be to climb up onto the gold medal spot with the whole world watching. All that training and dedication, all for this one prize. The gold medal.

In our bible reading today we heard of 3 men, Peter James and John, who had a different mountaintop experience. They climbed a mountain with their friend to pray. While they were praying, their friend, Jesus, transformed into the brightest of white. Wow, that was unexpected. Totally Amazing, but totally not what they thought was going to happen. We read from verse 32:
Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. As the men were leaving Jesus, Peter said to him, "Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah." (He did not know what he was saying.)

Peter, the rock of the church, didn't know what to say.
In this mountaintop experience, the disciples did nothing apart from be there. No training required, no sense of personal achievement, but surely a better experience than even winning a gold medal. Jesus provided the miracle. Jesus did it all.

There was another mountaintop experience mentioned in the reading:
Two men, Moses and Elijah, 31appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem.

Jesus, alone again, will be lifted high on a hill. Not in glory, but humility. Arms outstretched and still forgiving while the the weight of the world's sin comes crashing down on him. No glory on that day, but in 3 days time he'll rise again in the most glorious miracle of all. Jesus alone sets us free from sin to spend eternity with him.

Where were we? Innocent Bystanders? Maybe not so innocent as our sin was part of his burden.

How can we respond to this miracle? John, who was there at the transfiguration, and had seen Jesus after he rose again, calls us to respond with love:

1 John 4:9-12 (New International Version)
This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.


We're asked to share God's love. Let God's love shine through us, as that brings about the completion God desires.

Verse 3 of Shine Jesus Shine:
As we gaze on your Kingly brightness,
So our faces display your likeness,
Ever changing from glory to glory,
may OUR lives tell YOUR story.

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Christmas like a child

This was the sermon for Christmas. Had printing issues on Christmas morning, so I had to use the iPhone to read my notes rather than get a recording.



How has your Christmas been?
- School Staff Choir
- Random caroling over the last week
- Carol of the birds, Silent night, Santa's coming to town
- Christmas decorations around the school. Everyone getting into the festive spirit.

Listening to Carols at home
- Third Day "Christmas Offerings"
- Third Day: 2 Grammy awards, 7 Dove awards, Best Band and Best Artist.
- Silent Night, O little town of Bethlehem, Angels we have heard on High.
- Christmas like a child.
- Standing out more and more.
Christmas like a child:
I want to feel Christmas, how it used to be
With all of its wonder falling on me
This season has felt so empty, oh for quite a while
I want to feel Christmas like a child

I want to see snowflakes fall to the ground
My brothers and sisters all gathered around
Singing "Away In A Manager" as we sit by the fire
I want to feel Christmas like a child

It's been so long now, I can't say
Just when I lost my way
But I'm going back to how it was
When this day meant everything
And we spent our time remembering
The baby Child born for us

It's all about Jesus, asleep in the straw
This infant, this King, this Savior for all

So I don't need bells to be ringing
'Cause I'll join with angels singing
Gloria
And I can feel Christmas like a child
I want to feel Christmas like a child...


One thing having kids has taught me is that Chrismas gets back its wonder. I can relate to the feeling of "the season feeling empty for quite a while" because there was a period between being a kid and then having kids of my own where Christmas seemed to lose it's .. christmassy wonder. In fact I think I could measure the falloff of Christmas with the falloff of presents. As a kid we'd have STACKS of presents. The tree would need to up on a table to get all the presents underneath. Christmas morning was great. We'd try to stay up on Christmas eve to see if we got to midnight, but we never made it, but one of us boys would wake up early and check the plastic stocking at the end of the bed and it would be full of little presents and chocolate. They'd wake all the rest of us up and from then on it was just presents, more presents and eating.
After church we'd have the Schulte family gathering with numbers up in the 50's. It was great, more presents, more eating. This steady wave of presents would come your way as more and more relatives arrived and doled out the shiny boxes.
At the start is seemed like everyone gave presents, but as the years went on and as we grew older, the cousins stopped giving presents, then the aunties & uncles, until it was really just mum and dad, and a few others. By this stage all 4 of us boys were teenagers and we started buying presents for each other too. I think that lent to christmas becoming more of a family thing. We kept it a family gathering though for quite a while. We'd all come back together for Christmas. It was only really after Matt and Greig were married and living up in Mackay when we started missing a family get together on Christmas istelf, but it's now become a week-long Christmas / new year thing.
Having kids though changed that a bit.
- Christmas morning
So Christmas like a child? Yeah that sounds pretty fun.

Verse 2:
I want to see snowflakes fall to the ground
My brothers and sisters all gathered around
Singing "Away In A Manager" as we sit by the fire
I want to feel Christmas like a child

- Doesn't snow here, but the sentiment feels the same.
- After singing the song through a couple of times, a thought came to me: Didn't Jesus say something like that? Come to me as a child?

Mark 10:13-16
Let the Children Come to Me
13 They were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. 14 But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. 15 Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” 16 And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them.


In many ways, our Christian journey can be like our experiences with Christmas. When you first know Jesus, really know Jesus, be born again in Jesus, the whole world changes and you get to see everything new again. But then over time, as Christmas, the fire fades. Everything starts to become comfortable again. Different, totally different, but comfortable. A gentle slide back to normality.
Where are you on the sliding scale of Christian maturity? I know I'm down the tail end. It's been a long time since I've had the wonderment of a child when reading the Bible.
By now the bridge of "Christmas like a child" rolls in and Third Day are singing:
Verse 3:
It's been so long now, I can't say
Just when I lost my way
But I'm going back to how it was
When this day meant everything
And we spent our time remembering
The baby Child born for us

By now I'm not thinking about Christmas, but my own Christian walk. The fire didn't die out, but it's not roaring like it used to.
These words seemed to ring true: "I don't know when my faith stopped burning brightly, but I know now, right now, it's not like it used to be."
I want to go back to how it was, how can I get back to how it was?

Verse 4 rolls along:
It's all about Jesus, asleep in the straw
This infant, this King, this Savior for all

By focusing in on Jesus we can get back the the heart of Christmas. Here is our present, this gift of love from God to us, parceled up in a manger.
You could say that it's all about presents. But we're not the ones giving, we're the ones receiving. God's present to us; his first born son. Today I got undies and a a stubby holder. I think God's present out-trumps that.
The great thing is he gave that same present to you, to everyone here. To the people next door. To the people in this street, this city, this nation. This world. We didn't ask for it, yet he gave. Some of us left our present unopened, yet still he gave. Some of of us threw the present away, yet still he gave. Some of us nailed our present to a tree. Yet still he gave.
Why? Why give gifts to people that would treat them that way?
We read from John to find out:
John 3:16
16"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

God sees the big picture, the end game. He knows that our time on earth here is a small part of the big picture. He wants us forever, and is prepared to give up his only Son for that opportunity. Wow, that's love. Bigtime love.
How do we respond to a present that big?

Verse 5:
So I don't need bells to be ringing
'Cause I'll join with angels singing
Gloria
And I can feel Christmas like a child



Closing Song:
Angels we have heard on high


Verse for Present:
This is a special gift that you can never see.
The reason it's so special is it's just for you from me.

Whenever you are lonely, or even feeling blue.
You only have to hold this gift and know I think of you.

You never can unwrap it, please leave the ribbon tied.
Just hold the box close to your heart, It's filled with love inside.

Thursday, February 04, 2010

Optic fibre glow

 
Interesting diffraction pattern coming from an exposed optic fibre port. Didn't notice it at the start, but it looks like you can see the 8 separate beams coming through, with the main light down the middle as scattered waves.

Still thinking about the ring pattern of the glow. The light should be of the same wavelength so there shouldn't be any interference. Might be just the difference between light bouncing off the top of the glass rather than the bottom when exiting. You would think that the scattered light would have travelled different distances within the core though, so their starting wave positions should be averaged out. That would lead to an averaged difference pattern too, which would mean a more or less constant light.
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CivRev Highscore

 Finally finished the CivRev game I started on the weekend and could have easily won it through the space race (3 components built), wealth (~30K in the bank), or culture (22 wonders / people). Played as a fairly average game so I doubt this is a world beating score, but it'll be my benchmark for later challenges.

Next time I might try a one-city challenge.

Monday, February 01, 2010

GameLog 131 & 132

UnAngband (40h) - Playing through competition 81. Made it out to level 25, but a mistake choosing a drain ability means I'm probably going to reroll. Might just see what's on top of the tower though ...

Civ Rev (10h) - Opened up another game of CivRev on the iPhone to while away some free time at Mum & Dad's. Almost won another game on deity. Just need to choose whether I want space race, culture or economic victory. Might see if I can get a mashup of screenshots to show how easy the game is.

Civ IV: BtS (5h) - Eventually fell to 4th in the tech race and fell off the grid when the AI's met up and traded out techs from under me.

Trine (3h) - Plays better at night. Captures the mood of the graphics better and is more visible.