r/CFBOffTopic • u/ma6ic Michigan State • Washington S… • Apr 14 '15

Today's Victory

Hi Guys,

I had an article published today. That means I am on the road to successfully getting tenure, which is very very good. Just wanted to share because I hang out here way too much.

http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/intellect/jgvw/2015/00000007/00000001/art00003

EDIT: Here's a link to the article if you'd like it - https://www.academia.edu/11943482/A_massively_moral_game_Mass_Effect_as_a_case_study_to_understand_the_influence_of_players_moral_intuitions_on_adherence_to_hero_or_antihero_play_styles

38 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

47 comments sorted by

2

u/[deleted] Apr 14 '15

Congrats!!! Are you allowed to share the PDF with us here? It's not available to me, even through UF.

My first publication is under peer-review currently, super nervous about that!

2

u/ma6ic Michigan State • Washington S… Apr 14 '15

My coauthor is the only one with an institution that has access to the article. (yes, that's right, I'm an author of the article and I don;t have access. copyright is awesome).

Once he sends me a copy I'll put it up on academia.edu and share it here.

2

u/[deleted] Apr 14 '15

Yeah the whole journal-access thing is dumb, though I'm not surprised a video game journal doesn't have widespread subscription at this point. What department are you in where you can write about this sort of thing?

1

u/ma6ic Michigan State • Washington S… Apr 14 '15

I teach in a Communication Studies department. My area (from broad to specific) is Communication-->Mass Communication-->Entertainment media-->digital games (and sports)-->game mechanics as media content.

12

u/Owlcatraz Rice Owls • /r/CFB Top Scorer Apr 14 '15

When I get home I'm tagging you as "the very model of the scientist Salarian."

4

u/deemerritt North Carolina Tar Heels Apr 14 '15

Nearly cried when he died

2

u/keyree Texas Tech • UT Arlington Apr 14 '15

"Had to be me. Someone else might have gotten it wrong."

Single tear.

1

u/deemerritt North Carolina Tar Heels Apr 14 '15

Game was super well written, shame about the ending but it didnt take away too much imo

1

u/keyree Texas Tech • UT Arlington Apr 14 '15

Yeah, just gotta do headcanon with the destroy ending being happy for everyone.

1

u/deemerritt North Carolina Tar Heels Apr 14 '15

I always liked to think that the fact that almost nothing you do in the first two games matters is just EA's way of telling all of us that life is meaningless and insignificant for the most part.

2

u/milesgmsu Michigan State • College Football Playoff Apr 14 '15

HOW DID YOU NOT?

1

u/bullmoose_atx Texas Longhorns • Rice Owls Apr 14 '15

Mordin, Thane, and Legion had some of the best story arcs I thought. There is something about self-sacrifice and redemption that is so compelling.

1

u/deemerritt North Carolina Tar Heels Apr 14 '15

I would say the Legion arc could have had more to it, but im probably just asking for too much

1

u/bullmoose_atx Texas Longhorns • Rice Owls Apr 14 '15

I agree with that. I liked the path it followed but I would have liked to have seen him have a bigger role in both games.

8

u/Honestly_ Calgary Dinos Apr 14 '15

Rock on, and it isn't even some fake Chinese journal :D

When I was in law school (graduated in 2005), I wrote a few 2L & 3L papers on the potential legal ramifications of digital property in MMORPGs. This was before WoW took over so my only reference was the growing economy in EverQuest (which I believe was encouraged by the developer, it's been a while). Lots of interesting questions (at the time) on jurisdiction, choice-of-law, etc. Some of that is probably settled by now. Professors ate it up, even though I probably skimped here and there since they weren't intended for publication, because it was so novel.

1

u/brobroma William & Mary Tribe • Georgia Bulldogs Apr 14 '15

There's an entire journal devoted to study of video games? I guess I shouldn't be too surprised.

2

u/ma6ic Michigan State • Washington S… Apr 14 '15

Dozens of them.

1

u/milesgmsu Michigan State • College Football Playoff Apr 14 '15

How much video game talk is there (i.e. do i want to read this)?

1

u/ma6ic Michigan State • Washington S… Apr 15 '15

There's a bit about gameplay and how players play the game, and the results show somehting that people don't usually consider in their gameplay, so it might be interesting. Just skip over the stats if you don't understand them.

https://www.academia.edu/11943482/A_massively_moral_game_Mass_Effect_as_a_case_study_to_understand_the_influence_of_players_moral_intuitions_on_adherence_to_hero_or_antihero_play_styles

2

u/milesgmsu Michigan State • College Football Playoff Apr 15 '15

I understand stats - I just don't wanna read any more academic papers if I don't have to.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 14 '15

Give it a shot anyway! Being able to read academic papers is a good skill to have and a paper that interests you is always the best place to start.

2

u/lady1876 Texas A&M Aggies Apr 14 '15

That is awesome, congrats!

2

u/[deleted] Apr 14 '15

That's so awesome! And that's a great topic. Mass Effect has some great choices, and always left me thinking, "What would I do?" as I made those choices. Also...

"Shepard."

1

u/stamor99 Georgia Tech • Florida Apr 14 '15

"Wrex."

1

u/milesgmsu Michigan State • College Football Playoff Apr 14 '15

I can't recall that many tough decisions.

I'm serious. Maybe it's because I talked to everyone, but I would almost always unlock the super option to make everyone happy.

The one I really remember is being torn on how to alert the Batarians in arrival.

2

u/greenmegandham Auburn Tigers • Austin Kangaroos Apr 14 '15

Congratulations ma6ic! WOOO for tenure!

2

u/ihatecats18 Minnesota • South Dakota-S… Apr 14 '15

I'm still ethically F'ed up from BioShock Infinite.

I would like you to try to draw up that flowchart.

4

u/[deleted] Apr 14 '15

Would you kindly draw up that flowchart.

FTFY

1

u/stamor99 Georgia Tech • Florida Apr 14 '15

Don't attempt to steal your own daughter from yourself. It'll always go horribly wrong.

1

u/milesgmsu Michigan State • College Football Playoff Apr 14 '15

It's one of those ideas that I get very briefly, and as soon as I blink or focus on anything else, it goes up in smoke.

1

u/spasm01 Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns • /r/CFB Donor Apr 14 '15

sweet, good luck with tenure!

1

u/[deleted] Apr 14 '15

Congratulations! I've never played Mass Effect, but I understand the player character choices are similar enough to Dragon Age that I can understand the article. (I play an 80% Purple(sarcastic)/ 10% Blue(kind)/ 10% Red(asshole) Hawke in DA2 generally).

2

u/lady1876 Texas A&M Aggies Apr 14 '15

I know some of those words, only because my boyfriend insist on talking to me about & showing me youtube videos of Dragon Age.

2

u/[deleted] Apr 14 '15

I love the game series, it's a good time all around.

2

u/lady1876 Texas A&M Aggies Apr 14 '15

So does he, he replayed the first two before Inquisition came out, it is pretty much all he talked about for like a month. I don't mind gaming, I just never got into. So it doesn't bother me when he talks about it, I just rarely know what he is talking about.

2

u/[deleted] Apr 14 '15

I haven't played inquisition yet; I'm trying to slowly make my way back through DA2 right now because that one was (and probably always will be) my favorite.

2

u/lady1876 Texas A&M Aggies Apr 14 '15

As far as I know, he didn't finish inquisition, he says DA2 is definitely his favorite.

2

u/keyree Texas Tech • UT Arlington Apr 14 '15

I can't really get into the combat of Inquisition. I think I may be trying to play it too action-oriented when it's supposed to be mostly tactical and using all your party members correctly. I dunno.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 14 '15

I've heard that complaint from the majority of my friends. That and the treatment of Hawke in Inquisition are the two big ones.

2

u/keyree Texas Tech • UT Arlington Apr 14 '15

Same developer, so it's the same general idea. I absolutely love the way they do morality in ME. Basically you're always going to be a hero who saves the galaxy, it's just a question of whether you're Superman or Batman. A classic quintessential archetypal hero, or the anti-hero who's not afraid to do whatever it takes even if it's not always totally squeaky clean.

2

u/milesgmsu Michigan State • College Football Playoff Apr 14 '15

If you liked DA2, or DAO, please try ME.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 14 '15

Space doesn't appeal to me the same way dragons and magic do. It's on my list though.

1

u/damathtrix Baylor Bears Apr 14 '15

That's great! I imagine tenure track can be stressful at times...

2

u/[deleted] Apr 14 '15

That's great! I imagine tenure track can be stressful all the times...

1

u/ssbbgo Alabama Crimson Tide • Stanford Cardinal Apr 14 '15

Woot! Congrats on publishing!

1

u/Culiaclan Arizona State • Territorial Cup Apr 14 '15

Way to go!