I just found out there's a World Of WarCraft dating site, www.datecraft.com, where WoW gamers can meet other players for off-line amusements. The site's pretty new, still in beta, but already has quite a few users. User profiles tell their faction, race, level and in-game professions, as well as the usual location/job/maritial status info.

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The Life and Times of a Video Game Design Student is a new blog that I've started that revolves around my foray into the study of game planning and design.

From the About page:

This blog is a chronicle of the thoughts, ideas, and experiences of Andrea Rubenstein relating to her studies at HAL, a technical school in Japan. The articles here range from academic critiques to personal entries, including everything from her thoughts on the educational process to analyzing the aspects of the gaming industry that she is exposed to.

It won't really kick into gear until April, which is when school starts, but in the meantime I'm in the process of getting up articles about my experiences up to now.

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Due to recent experiences (and my waiting for the summer to be over so I can play Bioshock) , I would like to post a few rules in regards to pick up groups (PuGs) in WoW. Violation of any of these rules will result in immediate termination of my role in the group as well as my putting the offending player on my "to mock list" whereupon said player will be hazed at every opportunity.

1. Thou shalt play the class you indicated you would play.

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I've already talked about Chinese Heroes, a new videogame to teach ethics and values, but China's got a brand-new, free-to-download videogame called "The Incorruptible Warrior." In it, you play the only honest official in China. You level, gain gold and XP, work on your magic skills and improve your weaponry, and other typical RPG things, while you run around killing, maiming and torturing the corrupt officials. And their girlfriends. And kids.

I'm not sure how to class this game... Fantasy? Sim?

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Sitting on the plane traveling from Indianapolis to Los Angeles, I ponder the upcoming conference still named E3, but which will not be like any E3 that has come before it. My hopes and expectations are high, a far cry from where they were but months ago, when I had first received my invitation. At that time, I felt it might be too exclusive, too small, to have any real purpose. Since then, though, I've made more than two dozen appointments with publishing houses to see all they will show in Santa Monica.

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The July 2007 issue is out! The theme is "Inclusive Game Design", and we have some great stories in our new feature "gamer stories" relating to that.

We're currently looking for submissions for our August issue. Here's the call for submissions:

Submission deadline: July 20, 2007
Theme: The Social Gamer

Women gamers are often dismissed as “casual” or “just social” gamers, regardless of the hours they put into play or the attitude with which they approach their games. Of course, the reality is that the vast majority of games are social, in one way or another. Many require social interaction of some kind in order to be played at all, and even games which are designed exclusively for single players have their social components ? bragging about high scores, anyone?

What are some of the social communities and structures that surround games, both online and off, and how do they intersect and interact? What role do they play in the gaming experience? Is it important to have membership in more than one community? Are “special interest” communities necessary? How does one go about finding or creating a community for oneself? And where does the media specter of the “antisocial,” dangerous gamer fit in? If you’re fascinated by these questions, and others pertaining to the social aspects of games, this is the issue you’ve been waiting for.

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The June 2007 issue is out! The theme is "The Making of a Gamer", and we have some great stories in our new feature "gamer stories" relating to that.

We're currently looking for submissions for our July issue. Here's the call for submissions:

Submission deadline: June 20, 2007
Theme: Inclusive Game Design

We often talk about what developers can do to attract women and other groups outside of the target audience to games, or discuss how bad game design can foster an environment hostile to that goal, but the nuances behind inclusive game design (beyond “give me women heroes who aren’t defined primarily by their sexuality”) don’t get as much airtime as perhaps they should.

What are the fundamentals of inclusive game design? How far have we come, or not come, since the old days of gaming? Should we give companies allowances in terms of these fundamentals, based on potential increased costs and other factors that come with inclusive design? Where do lesser talked-about issues, such as accessibility for people with disabilities, fit in? What about the more complex issues associated with inclusive design, such as using an idealized society versus a flawed one, or giving everyone equal choices versus using a certain amount of difference to create a dialogue about equality? If you have something to say about how, when, and why to strive for inclusive game design, then please consider submitting your piece for this issue.

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The IRIS Network is a new gaming site focused on helping to give women in the community a bigger voice.

From the site news:

After yet another bout of the “where are all the women gamers?” on the internet gaming communities, The IRIS Network (TIN) was finally born. Though there are many individual women gamers who write about their experiences, and many sites for women who game to connect and play with each other, none of these sites are there for the express purpose of highlighting gamers (both in the industry and outside of it) and bringing women’s perspectives into the mainstream. Though it may be a lofty goal, that’s exactly what we here at The IRIS Network aim to do.

So, if you are a gamer, or just like games, and want to be part of it, go sign up for the forums. If you are a woman gamer who wants more exposure for her blog, go to the directory and check if your site is listed (if so, please flesh it out, if not please list it). If you're a writer (female or male) and are interested in submitting works for our gaming magazine, please visit Cerise and check out the submission guidelines.

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Are you interested in the world of games journalism? Have you ever read a review and thought 'gosh, I could write that so much better, the moron?' Now's your chance, as we are looking for volunteers who would like to contribute to Killer Betties, writing previews, reviews, conducting interviews and more. If you are interested, please email me at staci.k (at) killerbetties.com.

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I was 17 when I got my first full time job.
I was waitressing/bartending/room prepping at a relatively dodgey convention centre. Whose greatest claim to fame was, it was built next to the biggest man made lake in the North Island of this country.
(Whoop de doo)

The job was far from great.
I had the marvellous job of pouring other peoples drinks, relighting the candles on peoples tables. And scrubbing the vomit off the walls, after said people had drunk every drop of liquor they could get their hands on, and then thought how great an idea it would be to mince around the room like a contestant from Dancing with the stars.

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So everyone has heard about how E3 as we knew it in the past was gone. At first, I thought this was a great idea. E3 had become nothing more than a social event and an exercise in futility as we struggled to hear the 10 minutes of sound bytes we got when a new game was being demoed for us. For the rare, and lucky, appointment, we had a room set aside where it was only half as loud as the show floor, so we didn't have to scream at the top of our lungs standing only inches away from a person. Instead, we got to talk at a nominally loud voice sitting at a table next to the person talking. It was more an opportunity to get some face time, but with the sheer numbers of people shuffled through the demos, even that seemed unlikely to make any kind of impact.

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At the risk of provoking the ire of Miyamoto worshipers everywhere, before GDC I had only a vague idea who the guy was. My ignorance may surprise you considering that everyone who plays games (and I play many games. In fact I play so many, sometimes I play two at a time—one with each hand) knows of the Father of Modern Video Gaming. I have no good explanation for my philistinism unless it’s that I’d had no time to read the news because I was busy playing games. So it was that I went to GDC Thursday morning serenely naïve, with no idea that something, call it Fate, call it Destiny, had determined to bring Miyamoto and me together.

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As mentioned in my GDC Diary, I became aware of Sony's Phil Harrison (or at least put a face to the name) after watching that satirical "PS3 Song" video on YouTube. He seemed on the video not only to be clueless, but a bit of a stuffed shirt as well, the perfect target for console schismatics everywhere. I went to the keynote to check him out, to see if he really was as flat as an ironing board.

The start of the presentation wasn't promising. Phil manfully announced his intention to give the presentation via the user-friendly PS3 and accidentally gave the audience license to titter when said device was less than responsive. Then just like James Brown, the Hardest Working Man in Show Business, Phil issued a guttural "HEY!" and then collapsed on the stage until a group of horn players picked him up and wrapped a sequined cape around his shoulders. Ok--I made that last part up but my point is--Phil soldiered on, not wanting to disappoint the scads of Sony enthusiasts waiting to hear the Good Word.

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7:30 am – Starfish and Coffee
Having learned my lesson the day before, I took a scarf next morning on the bus so I could wear it western-outlaw style, pulled up over my mouth and nose to filter out the worst of the communal miasma. Thus outfitted, I felt comfortable enough to catch 40 winks on the ride down, in spite of the wall of humanity threatening to flatten me at every sudden stop. Having the GDC morning routine down, I breezed through the latte line without incident, inhaled a cake donut and skipped to the West hall to catch the LucasArts presentation.

9:00 am – Conference hop

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Day 1
7:30 am – Bus rides and coffee

This year's Game Developer's Conference was held in San Francisco which is good for me because I'm a local. No travel costs--whoooo! The day started with a bus ride downtown from my place in the Inner Sunset. Having ridden public transportation all the time when living in Chicago I should've been prepared for this, but since moving to the Bay Area I drive everywhere and had forgotten the distinct olfactory experiences found on a city bus. After a half hour of holding my breath, I burst out the back doors of the bus a couple blocks from the Moscone convention center with only one thing on my mind. NO, not games. Caffeine. There's usually free coffee for attendees at these convention dealies but if there's one thing I won't abide in the morning (or any other time) it's crappy coffee.

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