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Category: David’s Posts
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Homestasking 2 Results
There were a bunch of you all tied at the top for most votes in Hometasking #2. Here are the results
Tied for first:
- George
- Jessica
- Kathy & Ruohan
- Alan
2nd: Keita
3rd: Sadie
Tied for 4th:
- Cherie
- Giovanni
- Kimberly
See all the scores and the overall progress on the leaderboard.
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This is not the apocalypse you were looking for
The essay “This Is Not the Apocalypse You Were Looking For: Pop culture has been inundated with catastrophe porn for decades. None of it has prepared us for our new reality” by Laurie Penny for Wired is probably the most beautiful piece of writing I’ve seen about the coronavirus pandemic. She begins by running through a list of games and other media that have served up catastrophe porn “somewhere between wish fulfillment and trauma rehearsal”: “I was expecting Half-Life. I was expecting World War Z. I’ve been dressing like I’m in The Matrix since 2003″ but this apocalypse is going differently than expected, “less Danny Boyle and more Douglas Adams.”
These two paragraphs really hit home for me:
The end of the world has never been quite so simple a mythos for women, likely because most of us know that when social structures crack and shatter, what happens isn’t an instant reversion to muscular state-of-naturism. What happens is that women and carers of all genders quietly exhaust themselves filling in the gaps, trying to save as many people as possible from physical and mental collapse. The people on the front line are not fighters. They are healers and carers. The very people whose work is rarely paid in proportion to its importance are the ones we really need when the dung hits the Dyson. Nurses, doctors, cleaners, drivers. Emotional and domestic labor have never been part of the grand story men have told themselves about the destiny of the species—not even when they imagine its grave.
[…]
My job will be the same as yours and everyone else’s: to be kind, to stay calm, and to take care of whoever happens to need taking care of in my immediate vicinity. We have been living for many, many years in what Gramsci called a time of monsters, where “the old is dying and the new cannot be born.” The new is now being induced in a hurry, because after this, nothing is going back to normal. It’s the end of the world as we know it, and everything does feel fine—not fine like chill, but fine like china, like glass, like thread. Everything feels so fine, and so fragile, and so shockingly worth saving.
It makes me think of Gris and some of the other games we’ve been playing this semester. I hope you find her essay illuminating.
Pathogen Resistance
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Students turn to Minecraft during the pandemic
Students created new “Minecraft” servers for their college community or took to social media to invite classmates back to dormant realms, where players can freely build ecosystems or battle foes. There, students — left without real-world classrooms, dorms, and dining halls to socialize in — are spending time together virtually.
“It’s a fun way to, at the very least, interact with each other,” said Ralph Drake, a junior visual media arts major at Emerson who launched the school’s “Minecraft” server on March 13. “It’s collaborative at a time when we are so separated.”
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Anyone playing Animal Crossing?
We got Animal Crossing for my partner’s Nintendo Switch a few days ago and the whole family has been taking turns building up our little island paradise since then. My younger daughter keeps pronouncing that it’s the best way to distract herself with being trapped in quarantine. I’m seeing a lot of friends on my social media feeds also obsessing about the game right now.
Are any of you playing? What are your thoughts on the game? Interested in looking at it for a podcast episode?
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Some game resources in time of physical distancing
Here’s some resources that might be useful for you as you think about your podcast episodes, or if you just want to play some games while you’re engaged in physical distancing.
- Yucata is a site that has a bunch of online versions of board games. (Two from that list that jump out at me are The Castles of Burgundy and Puerto Rico). Players have to register for a free account at Yucata and then invite friends to play with them online.
- Settlers of Catan (which Keita and Alan are covering in their next podcast episode) is available online, via a free app, in Steam, or in browser.
- Town of Salem, a version of Werewolf where townsfolk try to rid themselves of Mafia and Mafia try to kill off townsfolk who might stand in their way. Available in browser (requires Flash) or via Google Play or iOs apps.
- Airconsole is a site that allows you to play video games online using your phone as a controller. Cards Against Humanity is one of the free games available.
- Secret Hitler is available to play free online. Registration required.
- The card game Dominion — base game is free online, expansions available to buy. Registration required. 2-6 players. A deck-builder resource management card game.
- Shadowverse is a collectible card game sort of like Hearthstone. Available on mobile app or in browser.
- Lichess is one of the more highly rated chess clients.
- Zynga has a bunch of mobile games, including Words with Friends, which is a Scrabble emulator.
I’m pretty sure I’m forgetting links I had been meaning to include here, so I’ll update this post as I come across more.