pacerpaul
Columbus
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The Columbus Downtown Digital Arts Festival will be held on the main campus of the Columbus State Community College May 7 through 9, 2008. This event will feature presentations from gaming industry leaders. Check out the event Web site for more info.
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shmack
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Schedule of Events wrote SPECIAL EVENT: Virtual Army Experience (VAE). The VAE is an interactive exhibit based on the popular U.S. Army video game American’s Army in which participants, after a briefing and training session, will participate in a realistic simulation of a mission.* Wed-Friday; CSCC Parking Lot
* NOTE: Army recruiters will be present at this facility
i'm disgusted. digital "arts"? you are only kidding yourselves.
the current state of virtual programming as evidenced by the "arts" festival's emphasis on the military is utterly dispicable. i really despise how the military has co-opted virtual realities to train their personnel to be better killers. i hate how the largest virtual reality product is a recruiting tool for the u.s. army. and i fucking hate how gaming is reinforcing the glorification of violence.
virtual (alternate) realities are powerful tools when deployed in a playful fashion such as creating empathetic relationships outside of self. rather than killing, games can create connections and identification with people and animals (frogger) totally unlike ourselves.
it's really too bad you only have access to america's army panelists. you know why right? it's cuz they need more troops. what a shoddy cover for a glorified military recruiting festival. maybe if you get some EA, Rockstar, Blizzard/Vivendi people on your roster in the next three weeks, you'll have some semblance of non-biased festivity.
Guygore
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This is obviously a topic that will have a lot of various viewpoints and I certainly do not want to see this devolve into some flame war.
I am a panelist at the event which is intended to promote Columbus as a potential location for games design and development as well as digital arts and interactive media and stimulate interest by both industry and students. This is the second year and last years sessions were very different. I just wanted to point out that in addition the panelist from the Army (which may have introduced violence to video games/vr or may just be following a long running trend) there are people from both entertainment and education industries including EA, FreshGames, and I believe LucasArts. This is a positive event for Columbus and Columbus State students. That particular choice of panelist you may or may not agree with but please note that the sessions are balanced across multiple industries and not solely a promotion for the Army. The Army's choice to use a first person shooter (based on an existing game engine I believe) is certainly interesting when you look at marketing and recruitment tactics. All industries do it.
I suggest that you stop down and have an intelligent conversation with the panelist and see what led them to their choice or marketing tactics. Im sure that it will be an interesting and informative interaction.
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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shmack wrote i'm disgusted. digital "arts"? you are only kidding yourselves.
In all fairness, you're talking about one portion of their event.
shmack wrote i fucking hate how gaming is reinforcing the glorification of violence.
I agree. The glorification of violence should be reserved for TV shows, movies, and the news.
jpizzow
580 N. Park St.
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whoa, touchy subject for shmack. i think it's great for the city and the art's community. art isn't just throwing paint on a canvas. it comes in a thousand forms. i would like to see more digitalized art within our festivals, mix it up a little. i'd like to see more of gaming and film presence in this city. and by the way, i love gorry, violent video games. what do want me to play, pokemon.
shmack
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you are right. i'm sorry, my post was inflammatory. i shouldn't have extrapolated the agendas of two events to the entire festival. i have an engaged interest in the panels and will be able to make it to at least one. i think it's great that columbus state is organizing this event to promote interest from employers and to ignite a constructive career path for its students.
that said... (and since i'm in an analytical mood) from the description of the festival, it seemed like a neutral celebration and discussion of digital design. i click over to the schedule and find out that it's heavily skewed towards the military agenda. i felt baited & switched. the proportion of play (recruiting) time to constructive discussion panels is misleading. furthermore, the panelists from EA/Lucas/Fresh are not concretely identified, everything is just TBD. you can't deny that representation shapes opinion and i'm concerned that budding designers will be pigeonholed into the game that is heavily emphasized.
ehhh, but whatever, i'm over it. it's been a long time since i gave a crap about something superstructural. thanks for the rise. btw, yes, only pokemon, sonic, donkey kong, and frogger. oh, and snood. :twisted:
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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shmack wrote i think it's great that columbus state is organizing this event to promote interest from employers and to ignite a constructive career path for its students.
+1
I'm going to try to at least make it over to check out the art show while it's on display. Not sure if I can make it to any of the panels or not, but they all sound like they could be interesting.
Is this the first year this event has been going on? I've never heard of it before (and I went to CSCC a few years ago) and would love to see it grow into something huge.
Guygore
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This is the second year for this I believe. Its primarily organized by the department of Graphic Communications and Marketing and Interactive Multimedia Technology (this was your degree right Walker?) which is now in collaboration with Computer Programming Technology and is called Integrated Media and Technology (A+ if you followed all that). I was not able to make last years events but it was a big success for the students and the department.
The Integrated Media and Technology department has been doing a great job over the past 10 or so years (under various names) to try and offer practical experience and training for interactive media designers and developers. Its evolved greatly over the years and keeps getting better. Great staff and faculty and a great commitment to keeping up with the industry.
myliftkk
Columbus, OH
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Guygore wrote This is the second year for this I believe. Its primarily organized by the department of Graphic Communications and Marketing and Interactive Multimedia Technology (this was your degree right Walker?) which is now in collaboration with Computer Programming Technology and is called Integrated Media and Technology (A+ if you followed all that). I was not able to make last years events but it was a big success for the students and the department.The Integrated Media and Technology department has been doing a great job over the past 10 or so years (under various names) to try and offer practical experience and training for interactive media designers and developers. Its evolved greatly over the years and keeps getting better. Great staff and faculty and a great commitment to keeping up with the industry.
Will they be covering the tumultuous nature and pitfalls of the gaming industry as well? My co-workers uncle has been working in the industry for a couple decades and it's nothing else, if not, an extremely unsteady market for all but the best talent. After all, show these kids some assembler and the hours they'll pull as they pick a real launch date and the project goes over-budget (like all software projects do) and they'd probably not think so highly of it.
The VAE thing is disturbing because the festival is to celebrate digital arts, but yet even there recruiters are trying to find fertile ground and warm bodies to till. I wouldn't even hold AA up as some sort of gem in the digital simluation continuum. The college I went to has been creating military-used simluators for some time now and they're much more advanced than AA. We could debate the "artistic" merit of simulations mearly meant as a marketing/training tool. After all, when I finish a game of Starcraft, I don't find a recruiter waiting to enlist me into the battle for the universe.
It'd be more educational to put together a presentation highlighting some of the really ground-breaking games of the past 2 decades and how they pushed gaming into its current state through their design, gameplay, and art. Most kids who are interested in the field have no concept of the historical trends in gaming, which ones have succeeded, which have collapsed, and why.
pacerpaul
Columbus
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Walker wroteshmack wrote i think it's great that columbus state is organizing this event to promote interest from employers and to ignite a constructive career path for its students.+1
I'm going to try to at least make it over to check out the art show while it's on display. Not sure if I can make it to any of the panels or not, but they all sound like they could be interesting.
Is this the first year this event has been going on? I've never heard of it before (and I went to CSCC a few years ago) and would love to see it grow into something huge.
It is the second year. Just thought it might be of interest to some. No upset intended.
shmack
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up up up! just wanted to remind folks that this is happening this week.
PANEL DISCUSSIONSPanel #1: WORKING IN VIDEO GAMES INDUSTRY
Panelists representing various aspects of the game industry – development, production, art will be present to discuss career opportunities.
When:
Wednesday, May 7th
10:30 to 12:00; 1:00 to 2:30
Location:
Nestor Hall Auditorium
Panel #2: EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES IN GAMING
Panelists representing undergraduate and graduate programs in game design art, animation, etc. will be present to discuss opportunities for students at their institutions
When:
Thursday, May 8th
10:30 to 12:00; 1:00 to 2:30
Location:
Nestor Hall Auditorium
Panel #3: THE CONVERGENCE OF ART & TECHNOLOGY
Alternative perspectives from artists, designers, professionals, and scholars regarding the nature of game play and game aesthetics, as well as the way video games and gaming tactics have been used by artists and others in order to cast broader insight into video games' military roots and commercial applications.
When:
Thursday, May 8th
6:00pm - 7:30 pm
Location:
Nestor Hall Auditorium
ladyryokomuyo
Fiddler Green
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Wow...the timing for those panels aren't very conducive to people working full time.
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