Phum: Red Dead Redemption 2: More than a game Experience.

Summary

According to “Five things to know about Red Dead Redemption 2” by Zoe Kleinman, the installation of Red Dead Redemption requires 145G on the PlayStation 4 console and 120G for the personal computer (PC).  The causes that make this game this large are the world in the game, which is very natural and detailed. There are almost 200 species of wildlife in it. Also, every big chapter of the game’s storyline is very long, up to 8-10 hours per chapter, and this game has eight, along with a ton of side quests and activities that are waiting for the westerner to do. The team of developers took almost 6 years on the game, the company almost getting sued by developers and programmers after pushing them to work for 10 hours per day with no weekend in order to solve the glitches and the performance problem to put the game  on sale before Christmas.   

______________________ 

Red Dead Redemption 2: A more than a game Experience.

In the old-time for me, computer games had a really little disk usage; hence, it is just a mini-activity with 8-bit resolution and a short play-time. But now, as the development of the game industry goes, the space  usage of the game is bigger along with them. In the 90s, Bioshock required only 5GB of space for installation and rose  to  twice in Bioshock III Infinite, which is 12GB for installation, and these series are only the straight storytelling game.  For the notorious game named GTA IV, its requirement is 22 GB. Both series are the upgrades from the 8-bit to high-resolution with great performance graphic software (Which is now called a “Creation Platform”), and coming to the age of the biggest space usage game (As they claim) that burn your computer up to 120GB, it can be shown that the game industry in the past 10 years has  improved so fast as the higher requirement of your computer needs to upgrade.

   And why it is very big, let’s see on the developer. First, all of those in the Rockstar Company are working hard in merely six years, along with the working crunch on this project for getting this big project done. The rumor says that Rockstar got sued by the people who work under this project about the labor law that they got forced to work 10 hours for six days a week (which Rockstar themselves come out to prove that it is only the rumor). And by the hard work of all people, the game was finished in a playable state and ready to sell  before Christmas.

Red Dead Redemption 2  is an Open-World game that represents the life of the Western world in the early 20th century with full details inside the game. Think of the game that the AI inside it will dynamically drag you to have a shower or ask if you are fine outside the camp after you went out too long and did a lot of activity such as dueling or hunting. Speaking of the hunting, there are more than 150 species of wildlife along with humans that they have put into this virtual world with the life path of their own; the eagle will hunt the snake, the bison will live with the herd, labor goes to work in the morning and back to their camp in the night with the variety of activity that you as a player will feel really guilty to interrupt. 

For me, Red Dead Redemption 2 is the game that creates the brand new standard for every upcoming quality game that will be released, with the heart-touching story about the Gunslinger era that will come to the dead-end with a diversity of the society along with the activity that relates to that time to do inside the game. It’s not that weird that the history teacher brings this game as his social material.  

______________________ 

Question

Did the game can be one of the teaching material?______________________ 

Reference

• Kleinman, Z. (2018, October 22). Five things to know about Red Dead Redemption 2. BBC. https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-45940734 
• https://freegametips.com/red-dead-redemption-2-a-university-will-use-it-to-teach-history/
  

Emma: The New Way of Gossiping

Summary

According to “Chinese users flock to Clubhouse amid soaring popularity” by Mary-Ann Russon (2021), although Chinese people in the mainland are prohibited from discussing controversial  topics which are censored  by the Chinese government, they can freely do so by using Clubhouse. The mobile application allows thousands of  Chinese users of iphone to easily bypass China’s Great Firewall to arrange private audio chatrooms. As the app has been gaining popularity and many of the Chinese users started sharing what they have seen in the chartrooms on Twitter, it is likely that the Chinese government will limit access to Clubhouse in the future. Prior to its popularity among Chinese people, Clubhouse was launched in May 2020 and has been being used by many tech leaders in Silicon Valley and US celebrities for free of charge. However, the founders of Clubhouse has a plan for making money from the app.

______________________ 

Response

When I saw the news article, it reminded me of freedom of speech. I think everyone has the right to express their opinions. However, I am a bit confused about the principle in some situations. For example, I was taught at school to be careful of  what I said to other people, as that was considered as politeness. At school I learn many Thai proverbs about speaking and talking. Thai proverb such as ‘Kwan Par Sak’ helps me to avoid saying  something bluntly, because that can hurt my audiences’ feelings, or ‘Bpaak Bpraa-săi Nám-jai Chuêrd-kor’ helps me be sceptical about what people say to me, as they might not be honest and want to manipulate me. I think it is difficult to say or communicate something to other people, as there might be negative consequences caused by our words. 

Before reading this news article, I saw many news articles about censorship in China. As the advancement of information technology is increasing in the country, the government is trying to block the activities of its citizens. I remembered news that reported about using facial recognition to scan its citizens in the public areas. I don’t like it. I mean I would be unhappy if the Thai government does the same as the Chinese government does in China. I think it a bit violates  my privacy. I also recalled news that reported about the social credit score system in China. The government is monitoring all of the transactions of its citizens’ spending. In other words, they keep records of what each individual has bought so far and then they measure the credibility of those individuals by the behaviour on buying. For example, if a man has been buying a lot of video games, he would get a low credit score as his behaviour seems to be irresponsible. In contrast, if that man has been buying a lot of drypers, he would get a high credit score as his pattern of buying shows that he is responsible. I hope Thai government won’t do the same thing in Thailand.

______________________ 

Question

Do you think that people can express or speak freely?

______________________ 

Reference

• Russon, M. (2021, February 8). Chinese users flock to Clubhouse amid soaring popularity. BBC. https://www.bbc.com/news/business-55971009 

Earth: Do Streaming Algorithms Negatively Impact on Film?

Summary

Director Martin Scorsese says the art form of
cinema needs to be protected against streaming
services.

In “Are streaming algorithms really damaging film?”, Alex Taylor (2021) reports that when he interviewed him, film director Martin Scorsese expressed pessimism that cinema is being devalued in terms of “content” despite streaming services keeping movies alive during lockdown. According to Taylor, Scorsese criticized a lack of curation, by which algorithms based on individuals’ viewing habits damaged the art form and treated the viewer as a consumer. Responding to the work of algorithms on cultural damage, Elinor Carmi, a research  associate at Liverpool University’s communication and media department, said the problem spans all formats from films, TV and music sold in the name of personalization. This aims to “get the right titles in front of each member at the right time”. In addition, Tufayel Ahmed, Journalist and media lecturer suggests that streaming services are an easy target and much more complex in reality, but are simply made in our image.  

                                                              ______________________ 

Response      

The BBC news story “Are streaming algorithms really damaging film?” really attracted me when I was browsing news among current news stories on Wednesday morning. This topic reminded me that media streaming platforms on the  Internet outstrip traditional services on TV and cinema. During lockdown, streaming services are an alternative source of entertainment for watching on-demand shows and keeping movie experiences alive. In my view, I am optimistic about streaming algorithms, not as Martin Scorsese is, but I am not sure whether streaming algorithms devalue films or not.

I do not quite agree with Scorsese that cinema is being devalued in movie contents. Although steaming platforms provide recommendations based on our viewing habits, not all of them damage the art form of contents as curations are happening behind the scenes without us knowing them, such as the Criterion Channel. In addition, I concurred with Elinor Carmi, who said that streaming-service algorithms present different types of contents on films and music to meet our personalization. Most movies we watch on streaming services like Netflix use algorithms to meet our preferences and viewing behaviors. “Emily in Paris” and “The Queen’s Gambit” are the most popular movie series and I am one of the watchers who had spent massive amounts of time watching these romantic and drama series on these sites.

However, I believe there are other reasons to reduce watching movies on cinema. First, during the lookdown of pandemics, cinemas are shut to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Cinemas are places with a high risk of easily spreading germs because of the lack of airflow moving and being crowded areas. Secondly, people feel uncomfortable to spend their time in a theatre. Watching movies among people who may be sick or infected with musty smell makes us worry and panic in spite of covering with face masks. Also, sometimes it is uncomfortable to sit on small seats with limited space, while watching a movie at home provides a larger space where we can stretch and lie on the couch anytime and eat whatever we want. This also prevents ourselves getting infected and spreading infectious agents to others.

Therefore, it is hard to justify whether streaming algorithms are really damaging film or not. It depends on each individuals preference and the purpose why we watch. Everyone just enjoys watching what they want that meets their favorable viewing habits. In my opinion, cinema is not being reduced on the value of art forms as they always appear in the scenes, which are hard to see, but if we take a look closer, we will see them. 

______________________ 

Question

What are some negative and positive effects of streaming-service algorithms?

______________________ 

Reference

• Taylor, A. (2021, February 21). Are streaming algorithms really damaging film?. BBC. https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-56085924 

Mean : Looking through vending boxes

Summary

Serving salads in vending machines

In “Singapore vending machines now dispense salmon, crab and even cacti”, Tim McDonald (2021) reports that vending machines tend to be popular and various kinds of products are provided in Singapore.  Freshly cooked local food and juice, books, cacti, et cetera are now available.  Several entrepreneurs said that the more machines, the more decent profits.  Consequently, vending machines are much more seen in Singapore. But why in Singapore?  Manish Kumar, the managing director of Norwegian Salmon, says “a compact, densely populated city like Singapore is ideal”. Moreover, Singaporeans are likely to have a lot of interest in this convenience . Since vending machines act as unstaffed, convenient stores with  availability of 24/7, people can still use them while other stores are closed. Moreover, the government also takes advantage of contactless services to provide free masks to the public during the pandemic. 

______________________ 

Response

This article pinned out the point very well. It describes why vending machines are so popular there, why they give a lot of importance to these machines and more. I was truly surprised that there are vending machines for books. When I first read it, I came up with the idea of how people can choose the book from its cover. By the way, I had just imagined that we can only see the cover but in reality, they might have some preview on the screen for customers. Moreover, I also wondered why people need vending machines for books. It is understandable that cooked food or fresh juices or bread are provided by vending machines but how does it work with books?

In this news, they also mentioned about having vending machines around the cities, for  which they raised Japan as an example. I would like to talk about my experience using vending machines in Japan as I visited several times. The first time I went to Japan, It totally opened my world. There are many sophisticated innovations created for building a great standard of life. Vending machines are also included here. At that time, three  years ago, it was such  brand new technology for me because there was not much available in Thailand. It is inevitable that it is so convenient. My family and I enjoyed buying snacks and drinks very much. They are located everywhere or even on every floor of the hotel. The price and quality of products were the same as a convenience store, which was reasonable to buy. 

Once the vending machine has the concept of contactlessness. In Singapore, the government is able to apply the machine well to the pandemic situation. They offered some free face masks on vending machines. I strongly appreciate this point. I want to mention more about  the situation of having no staff. This is also the good point of vending machines especially for entrepreneurs. They do not need to pay for several counter-employees. Overall, I must say the vending machine trend  is a good development in many respects . Try it when you have your chance.

 

______________________ 

Question

What is your opinion about having vending machines around Bangkok city?______________________ 

Reference

• McDonald, T. (2021, February 22). Singapore vending machines now dispense salmon, crab and even cacti. BBC. https://www.bbc.com/news/business-56066064 

Peter: A jump to the Dreamtime

Summary

Photographing the painting and
ancient wasp nests on site

According to “Australia: Oldest rock art is 17,300-year-old kangaroo” (2021), the leader of an indigenous Australian organization has emphasized its importance for ensuring that traditional “stories are not lost” of the recent discovery that an Australian Aboriginal rock painting can be confidently dated to 17,300 years ago. Using radio-carbon dating on mud-wasp nests from both above and below the image of the famously Australian image, which was painted in red clay, the research team could be certain that it was created between 17,500 and 17,100 years ago. One researcher added that similarities to much older rock paintings in Indonesia, now dated back to 45,000 years, suggest possible connections between the two cultures in the region. 

Unlike my summary of the longer, more complex article about Bill Gates, this one took 26 minutes planning + 12 minutes to write + a few minutes to edit, so about 40 minutes altogether. Again, you can see my planning notes and my composing in the Google Doc. 

______________________ 

Response

My country's coat of arms

The first thing that attracted me to this story in the BBC News as I was browsing just before our class last Tuesday was that it’s about Australia. And not just Australia, but our iconic marsupial the kangaroo. Even though I grew up in an area with plenty of kangaroos, also koalas, the fun of spotting one jumping around a paddock or along a road never failed to thrill. It is fitting that the kangaroo, along with the emu, grace my country’s national coat of arms. Kangaroos are also delicious. On my annual visit to see family and friends, I also get in a kangaroo steak. I wonder how many other nations gobble down their national animals. (Yes, we also eat emu meat in Australia, but I prefer duck from my brother’s farm to emu.) 

When I actually read the article, the science there impressed me. Radio-carbon dating is not new, but the way the scientists used the ancient mud-wasp nests, some of which the artists had painted over and some of which had been built by wasps over the new art work, was clever. It’s a bit like forensic science in detective shows on TV, where the smallest detail can unlock the mystery. 

And the actual age of the ancient paintings is a mystery worth unlocking. We’ve known for a long time that humans had occupied the land now know as Australia for about 50,000 years before the British turned up to claim it in the name of their king at the time, and then proceeded to suppress and kill off the original inhabitants as such “saviours” tend to do while making up amazing stories about how they were bringing civilization and the joys of religion and so on to the native people being turned into despised outcasts on what had for thousands of years been their homeland. At least my Italian ancestors arrived much later and we came as refugees escaping economic hardship and political repression in late 19th century Italy. 

Australia's oldest kangaroo,
or so the story now says

Of course, Australia’s Aboriginal people also told themselves stories. The kangaroo is most likely a character in one of those ancient Dreamtime stories of tribes who once covered Australia with their thousands of different languages, traditions and cultures. It was, in fact, the last sentence of the article that persuaded me that I wanted to summarize and respond to it. That sentence quotes an Aboriginal community leader: “‘It's important that Indigenous knowledge and stories are not lost and continue to be shared for generations to come,’ she said.” In my summary, I thought them important enough that I quoted four words from this quotation in my source. 

17th century telling of the story
where God punishes Adam and
Eve for seeking knowledge

I agree that stories are extremely important to human beings. And like examples that can clarify our ideas in an essay, it doesn’t always matter whether the stories we tell are fact or fiction, just that they can be believed on some level by the human groups that they bind together, which is what our stories do when we share them in recited poems, in books, in movies, in opera, in ballet, in TV series, or on rock paintings. The ancient religious stories of every culture are not true, but they are still powerful stories, even when people who believe in the religion interpret the ancient stories as metaphors rather than as facts. The story of  the creation of the world, of the Earth and of humans related in the Judeo-Christian Bible’s book of Genesis, for example, tells how God worked hard to create the world and everything in it in six days, and then rested on the seventh day. This ancient story is totally not true, but its power is seen in every country every week: even in Thailand, the week is seven days long, and Sunday is the day of rest. The ancient Middle-Eastern story still rules. And that same origin story in the Bible conveniently made women the servants of men, and gave humans the right to plunder the Earth, as we have done with results that might not prove catastrophic to ourselves. No god is going to save us. We perhaps need better modern stories founded on healthier moral values than the commands of dictatorial gods. But as with the ancient stories of the Aboriginal people, we need to remember, to tell and to critically review our stories from the past to understand what we are today, and what we might be able to be tomorrow.  

______________________ 

Question

What are some positive and negative effects that have come from the traditional stories of your culture? 

______________________ 

Reference

• Australia: Oldest rock art is 17,300-year-old kangaroo. (2021, February 23). BBC. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-56164484

Peter: Gates to a better future

Summary

Justin Rowlatt
interviewing Bill Gates

In “Bill Gates: Solving Covid easy compared with climate”, Justin Rowlatt (2021) says that when he interviewed him, billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates expressed optimism that humanity would be able to solve it, despite climate change being far more challenging than Covid-19 has proven. According to Rowlatt, Gates thinks that the “moral conviction” of concerned young people can help push governments to adopt the policies needed to encourage greener economic decisions so that the full cost of the energy and goods we consume is paid for, rather than being inflicted on the environment as in the past. Responding to the conspiracy theories some level at him, Gates, who recently published How to Avoid a Climate Disaster, said he has and will continue to ignore them as he now raises his voice to speak on the urgency of climate change in addition to his work of many years on global health issues. 

You can view both the Google Doc in which I composed this summary and a pdf print of the planning I did in MS OneNote. 

______________________ 

Response

Family meal at my brother's
home on my last visit

I wish I could be so optimistic about our species’ future as Bill Gates is, but I’m not sure that history favours Gates’ confidence that we will overcome the challenges posed by the climate change crisis that is already affecting us. In my own country, Australian, for example, scientists attribute the increasing severity of bushfires that destroy homes and bush habitats to climate change. They predict this will only increase in coming years. In 2019, my brother’s farm near the city of Lismore, was smothered in smoke from bushfires for almost two months. And it was dry. His usually lush, green grass and trees turned brown. He was very lucky that the bushfires only came close. Several of his neighbours were not so lucky, although only a couple of homes in the area were lost to fire. Other rural and semi-rural areas of Australia were not so lucky. And because the rain is less reliable, he's had another dam dug on his property. 

As Gates correctly identifies, a cause of global warming and related harm to the Earth and the living things on it, plants and animals such as ourselves, is that our economic systems since at least the time of the Industrial Revolution a couple of hundred years ago have allowed polluters not to pay the economic cost of their factories and extraction of resources. Electricity plants used to spew smoke from coal into the air that everyone must breathe. Paper manufacturers could flatten forests to get the raw materials they needed, and car drivers could make the air of Bangkok disgusting for the rest of us who live here. I agree with Gates that the full economic cost of these practices should be paid for by consumers. I’m not sure how radically Gates wants to change things, perhaps not as much as I think they should be changed. Car manufactures and sellers, for example, should be taxed at a high enough rate to fully pay for the government to undo the pollution that they cause. That would mean that fuel for cars should be much more expensive. I realize that this would slow economic growth, but such radical action might also save our planet, and therefore save our species from extinction. 

But I often read in the news of people who do not believe in climate change, or who don’t believe that humans cause it. This willful ignorance or rejection of the consensus of science is irrational and dangerous, as most unreason is, whether from the greedy denial that smoking causes cancer or the strange stories that religions tell to justify violating other people in other groups. 

Cattle (and a sister)
on my brother's farm

And that seems to me the deeper problem. Humans have always preferred their own interests of the interests of their group over fair sharing with others. As Gates says, the people of India naturally want, and deserve equally, the same standard of living enjoyed by people like my family in Australia. That means a lot of construction. I agree with Gates that technology can provide answers where religion and other ideologies, such as unregulated capitalism, fail or make things worse. I liked, for example, Gates’ example of meat grown in laboratories as an alternative to meat from cows, pigs, chickens and so on, but I fear that some, such as the US beef industry, will reject it as being unnatural. Actually, my brother raises beef cattle on his farm, and I’m not sure how he feels about cultured beef steaks replacing steaks from his delicious cattle, or his wonderful free-range ducks that I always enjoy on my visits.  

Technology is not the problem. We humans seem to me the real threat to our continued existence on a sustainable Earth. 

As I expected, the 600 words in my response took only about 35 minutes to write. It was much easier than the short summary paragraph. Then I had some fun finding and adding a few images.

______________________ 

Question

Singapore has approved
lab-grown chicken for sale

Now that cultured meat grown more efficiently in factories without killing animals is becoming available, should traditional meat taken from slaughtered animals be taxed at a high rate to encourage consumers to switch to lab-grown meat? 

______________________ 

Reference

• Rowlatt, J. (2021, February 15). Bill Gates: Solving Covid easy compared with climate. BBC. https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-56042029

Skillful 4: Reading & Writing, page 30 - Critical thinking

What is it?

In their critical thinking exercise that concludes the reading "Instant Gratification", Warwick and Rogers (2018, p. 30) invite us to discuss two follow-up questions on streaming and online gaming.  

____________________________________ 

Questions

• What do you think are the main reasons for the increased popularity of streaming and online gaming?
   
• What are some of the disadvantages of streaming services? How can these affect performers?
 

You have 15:00 minutes to plan and write a response to the two questions. I suggest you divide your time roughly as:

• planning = 3:00 minutes (It's usually a good idea to plan before you start to write.)
• writing = 9:00 minutes, and 
• editing = 3:00 minutes.

A helpful strategy

Imagine you are writing for someone who has not read the question you are answering or the article that the question follows up. Your aim is to clearly communicate your response to that reader, so it might help to paraphrase the question at the start of your response to it. But you need to rewrite (paraphrase) the idea in the question as a statement. 

Because your writing should make sense independently of the question it might be answering, it is usually useful to give background, which can often be done by paraphrasing the question into statements that begin your answer. This is also a useful strategy in exams such as IELTS and TOEFL.

_________________________________

Reference

• Warwick, L. & Rogers, L. (2018). Skillful 4: Reading & Writing, Student's Book Pack (2nd. ed.). London: Macmillan Education

Prim: The Best in Hide and Seek

Talking about the favorite games in my childhood reminds me of myself as a kid who attended primary school. The memories are nearly faded away. At that time, my favorite game was influenced by my personality and the surrounding environment. Me as an energetic girl with a smile on my face, ran to school every day to play with my friends. But to be honest, actually, I ran because I was late. Anyway, I really played a lot at that time. I think all of you can imagine which kind of kid species I was back then.,.. an annoying one. So let’s move on to what made me happy at that period of time.

It is true that I was born in quite a special era. I was lucky to be in the middle of technology development, so I have felt life both ways before smartphones, Ipad, and Twitter have started. Which is kind of a blessing, The game I enjoyed at that time evolved real people, real action, and real scenarios. Hide and seek, run and chase, frozen chase, Crew chase, jump rubber band, jackstone, and my favorite one is Hide and Seek. The game gives me creativity and it was very fun back then. As I remember the old-time thoughts, My heart fills with happiness and joy. 

Another factor here is my school environment. My school was different from most other schools. The place is filled with nature. Why? Begin with the concept of learning methods and teaching technique, which were quite strange. I learned how to plant and grow rice, how to garden and clean, how to cook rice without electricity, and separate garbage before throwing it away. We even had a rice farm inside the school, which also included a park and pond to study the ecosystem. So It allowed me to create my fantastic play zone for several years, which forms me to be a happy person, positive thinking, and lively to this day.

Although I didn’t appreciate that knowledge at that time because I was too happy to not stay still in the classroom, now I realize they teach the concept of creativity and gave me a lot of lessons and skills to live.

Mean : Retrospective Childhood's Game

Talking about childhood, people generally think about studying and relaxation time. Can you remind yourself what you were doing during childhood? In this era, in which which technology is advanced and tangible, children usually spend their free time on screens, including chatting with friends , surfing the internet, playing games, and so on. During my childhood, I was doing many things. Mostly, I studied, but rather than do that in my leisure time I played games with friends. In that context, the games didn’t rely on the internet. One of my favorite games was  Monopoly with a physical board and dice. As you can see, any kind of games are present in every generation, so it might have some significance. Monopoly had a lot of importance to me. In the following paragraph, the details will be discussed.

Monopoly is a well known board game. I played it a lot when I was a child. I have just realized that this game is so important to me. Firstly, it makes me sociable. As it is recognized,  Monopoly needs at least two people to play it, so every time I tried to play it, I had to make it up for two to five players. It taught me to talk and spend time with others well. Hence, my communication skill was rising too. Secondly, I learnt to make a plan since you were given a limited amount of  money at the start. To win this game, it is decided from anyone who possesses the highest value of the total properties. You should not spend a huge amount of money at first because you will lose it in the beginning. Lastly, as I have mentioned about spending money, Monopoly also taught me to not be greedy. For example, I have been given with a budget for each month so I need a plan and make the ends meet. These are all important I have got from this game. Contradictory, some people would not get the idea of playing Monopoly. It is undeniable that Monopoly takes a lot of time finding the winner. Thus, it is so typical that someone stops and retards themselves before the games come to the end.  

To summarize, coming up with games someone might have bad attitude toward it. However, they literally give something to us either way, depending  on the individuals. Personally, I got three important benefits from monopoly, which are socialization, planning skill, and communication skill. Try the games that fit you and eventually you can find the real importance to the games.

Phing: Crack and Bomb

A 90s  kid might be familiar with many famous or classical card games. I am certain that after growing up, those people still have a vivid memory of it. In my case, 24Game is one of the most outstanding memories.
24Game is a classical-arithmetic game which has uncomplicated rules. Firstly, the fastest player who finds a way to manipulate the four numbers shown (on the game cards) will be the winner. Second, players are allowed to add, subtract, multiply and divide each number only one time. For example, if the card contains the numbers 4, 7, 8, and 8, a possible solution will be ( 7-(8/8) ) x 4. Despite being a common game, my family played it our style. 

Not only did we adapt it to be more exciting, but this game also became a regular part of our road trips. In the era when low-cost airlines weren't widespread, holing up in a car for a long time was inevitable. Having nothing to play with can drive children crazy. No smartphone, no internet and no interesting sideway shops originated a new style of 24Game. I and my siblings didn’t have cards for playing this game; therefore, we used vehicle registration plates to substitute for game cards. We enjoyed playing with the plates more than the cards because it was more gripping and challenging. Many cars were moving so fast and sometimes turning to different paths. Moreover, we imagined that if the numbers of a car were cracked, that  car would be exploded. Players had to hurry up to get rid of enemy vehicles. It

 was my marvellous time with my siblings. My family road trips had never been boring after that.
All good things must come to an end. I rarely have road trips nowadays because air travel is more convenient. Furthermore, we all have a smartphone and a portable game console so our 24game is neglected. Even though it is over, I think that this game has already done its job. Had we never created this game, we would hate road trips.

Bioshock: The Horror name, the great game of all times

 The series of Bioshock, A Gang of bloody friends of this young singleplayer

In my childhood about 12 years old, my mom was doing the job of a teacher and my dad was going to work, leaving me at my cousin’s house (which is not quite that close). Then I found one game that was on their computer with a strange and a little bit of horrific name on the icon.

The first one of this saga is a First Person Shooter game where you can carry guns and shoot some villains also with the combination of a superpower to get more satisfied with killing, but you are not invincible. This game has various kinds of enemies that are ready to rip you out, making you have to prepare yourself before getting into a gory mess. And that introduced me to “Lore”. Bioshock lore explains to me a lot about why I always get a bad ending. One of them is my hot-tempered and non-reasonable killing. There’s a little female monster that the game allowed you to kill and drain her power which I didn’t know that killing her will affect the ending, making me drastically calm down when I want to shoot something, also affects my real-life decision too, the major example is especially on the sudden decision which I have to make, along with my cool down tempered while I have to get out of the argument without a bad consequence, that’s why I like Bioshock I. 

Next is the continuation of the series, Bioshock III Infinite(Actually I play this instead of the second one). After I was bored of the underwater world of Bioshock, this one was taking me to the steampunk balloons. 3 years pass, my parent bought a new computer for work and its performance was accidentally meet the requirement of this game, so I bought it with no hesitation. Bioshock Infinite III is improved from the previous one with the graphics and gameplay(and GORIER too). It was absolutely the first game that I took seriously on reading lore on the website or the essay that people write about and so with practicing English to understand it. The story from my understanding is very similar to The Flash that telling you about the parallel universe, the reversed side of the protagonist, even the form of his darkest mind (Savitar reference, from The Flash Ss3). At that time, a whole Bioshock series seemed like it is my only friend because I was the nerd in high school(Mattayom 3 or Grade 8) who just addicted to playing the online game alone before I found out that playing a storytelling game was funnier, and the series of Bioshock is the first saga that nails it. Even it is such a short good memory, as a standard of the storytelling game that their length is only 8-15 hours. But it is the short memory that inspires me to study hard to get to know more of English for a better understanding of every good masterpiece.

Kitt: What does the wind blow?

It has been a misunderstanding for such a long time among some parents that playing is a matter of time-wasting of their young children. Thus, there are many private schools that emphasize working only on children’s cognitive domain in their early years. That is a misfortune for our children. Fortunately, when I was growing up, academic achievement in young  children was not the first priority and, of course, we were allowed to engage in physical activity and to play games in school. Several games in my childhood started popping up into my head, but the one I liked most is one of the traditional Thai games, which is called, ‘What does the wind blow?’

‘What does the wind blow?’ is easy to play and no equipment is required. Children form a circle and sit shoulder to shoulder closely, no space is left between each child. There will be only one child standing in the middle of the circle. His duty is to answer the question from the young children who shout out, ‘What does the wind blow?’ He can give any answer he likes like ‘The wind blows people who are wearing shorts’. Then, anyone sitting on the floor who is wearing shorts must stand up and run to find a new seat. At that moment, the one who stands in the middle of the circle and answers the question needs to find a space and sit down quickly in the line of the circle.  One who cannot find a seat quickly enough will be left standing in the circle and the game continues many rounds until it is done.

Playing games, a traditional one or a computer game, gives benefits to the game players. Besides giving fun, it helps develop the skills in cooperation and build teamwork spirit to the players. Children also learn to conform to the rule of the games. And obviously, many traditional games help children develop their muscles, physical balance, and make them to be alert and active. ‘What does the wind blow?’ also helps them develop their listening skills as they need to listen for the answer given from the one who stands in the middle attentively in order to respond to the answer quickly enough before the others.

As narrated above, children’s games offer many benefits to them. And certainly, my favourite, ‘What does the wind blow?’ is the one that I would recommend to children and even to adults to use it as a warm up activity in their meetup.

 

Emma: The Time Machine

First launched in 1990, Super Mario World has become a popular video game among children and teenagers. The young players of the video game will take adventures and overcome challenges in each stage to save Princess Peach and Dinosaur Land. Whenever I see pictures of Super Mario World, I have nostalgia for my days at school.

I am sure that everyone has nostalgia. “Stay with your cousin after class and do homework. Don’t play video games,” said my mother. I still remember what she said to me when she dropped me off at school in the morning. After school, I used to spend time playing Super Mario World video game with my cousin while I was waiting for my mother to pick me up at my aunt’s house. I did not used to feel lonely because of the companionship from my cousin and Super Mario. Although my cousin was younger than me, she was the person that I could rely on for almost everything. She could cook dinner for us, teach my homework and cheer me up when I had a bad day at school. My cousin and I were raised in different cultures. While her family was easy-going, my family was conservative. Because video games were prohibited at my home, I would question my mother on the different parenting styles between our two families. I asked my mother “ Is banning video games a good thing to do? Why does Yong, our cousin, often get grade A in school?”

I still remember the time when I first met her. She said “Let’s play Super Mario. You are Mario and I am Luigi. Our mission is to save the Princess!” I could feel warm friendship from her invitation. Not only was Super Mario World the tool to connect my cousin and I, but it also brought us to a new favorite outdoor activity. During school holidays in summer, we used to dress up like Mario and Luigi and would go cycling around the neighborhood areas to take some adventures. After finishing school, we would not play Super Mario video games, because she moved to live in China with her father. Even though we lost our contact, I can recall the past enjoyable moments with her every time I think of Super Mario World.

To conclude, my favorite video game, Super Mario World, is important to me. It evokes my nostalgia for the feelings of my friendships with my cousin in my childhood. I wish I could turn back the time.

Anik: From Imagination to Virtual Reality

When I was young, my brother and I used to build  a house under the table using blankets and towels. For us, this kind of house had been our imaginary world and an escape from the influence of adults. After my friend introduced me to a computer game called “The Sims”, I went immediately to the video game shop to buy one for myself, wishing I could build more than a blanket house, but a bigger empire there. 

“The Sims” is a computer game that allows players not only to build a house with their own design, but also to run a Sims family and community. One of the first versions of the Sims is an offline, single player game where you need to install the game on your computer, but today, the Sims offers an online version where you can play from any device with your account logged in. Even though the game has moved to an online platform, its essence stays the same: building a house, creating a neighborhood and simulating life. 

“The Sims” plays a big part in building my childhood memory. Apart from an escape from reality, it also offers me an opportunity to put my imagination into a reality. In this game, I can create and design a house in the way I want without spending any money in real life. Of course, you need a large amount of Sim’s dollars to buy stuff in the game, but this wasn’t a big problem since you can always reload your virtual wallet . In addition, this game allowed me to try out new ideas without the fear of failing or causing any serious problem in real life. 

 It may sound surprising, but I firstly became aware of cultural differences through the Sims, too. As I already mentioned that the Sims is more than building a house, but it also involves creating a community and simulating life. Therefore, it is important for Sims to visit each other or invite someone to their place on a weekly basis to keep a good relationship. This face was new to me because for Thais, especially for my family, we don’t usually invite friends to our place for a movie or a dinner, but we would rather go out and meet them in a public place. Moreover, it surprised me that in The Sims it is unusual to build fences around your premises. In comparison, in Thailand it is the norm that almost every house, especially in big cities, is protected with fences.

In conclusion, the Sims taught me a lot about cultural differences and provided me a safe space for my imagination and creativity. Without this game, my childhood would have been  very boring. If I have kids in the future, I will definitely introduce them to this game.

Earth: Exciting Time for the Sims 2

Looking back sixteen years ago, in Thailand, video games began to become popular and shaped every stage of our childhood life. More and more game advertisements were promoting their products on how players could build our experiences and create details in the game. One of my favorite video games, called The Sims 2, gave me several benefits in my life.

The Sims 2 taught me how to manage relationships with neighbors, family and friends. It allowed me to create my own personality on Sims, and I learned how to build trust and ties when interacting with other Sims. Although most of the time I failed to tie up  relationships, I learned to adapt and understand until receiving compliments and forming relationships. This helped me to form bonds in my real life. In addition, The Sims 2 fulfilled my relationship goals. Although it was just a simulation and some experiences were impossible in the real world, I shaped my personality to become an outstanding musician and a lover of an adorable rock superstar Sim. At that time, I felt that I was her and I was very impressed by our romantic relationships.

Furthermore, The Sims 2 developed my cognitive skills on how to think and act reasonably. The game helped me easily to construct buildings, treat dogs and practice skills for cooking. I spent two to three hours a day playing  and observing the consequences of my actions, which shaped my attitudes towards a way of life.  These improved my creative and critical thinking skills on how to collaborate on a number of things for building unity. In addition, creating a society and a public center were challenging and required dedication , which made me have more patience and expand complex ideas. These skills are beneficial for my study and work these days when working with cross-functional teams for new products.   

Therefore, I think video games like The Sims 2 were very important to my childhood as they taught me several things  mentioned above. Although somebody might not have as good experiences as me, I believe video games benefit our lives even though they might not see tangible improvements in their lives when they were still young.

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Peter: Just the Trick

The fairy tale of Goldilocks and the Three Bears was never one of my favourites as a child, perhaps because in the version then popular, the nasty little Goldilocks escaped her just punishment for invading the hardworking bears’ home. But the story of Goldilocks does remind us that we want things to be just right for our purposes, not too hot to eat or too cold to be enjoyable, but “just right,” as Goldilocks tells herself before gobbling up all of the Little Bear’s porridge. In addition to a fondness for violent children’s stories, I enjoyed a lot of games as a child: hide and seek, Snap, Monopoly, chess, draughts, euchre, and so on. Some started as hot favourites, but then cooled. The three favourites I enjoyed the most for the longest are chess, euchre and Monopoly. Its perfect blend of challenging strategy and random luck that gave my brothers, sisters and I the added thrill of playing a grown up game while we had hours of fun together, made euchre my favourite childhood game, which endured while others passed. 

First, euchre is challenging, but not too challenging. Monopoly is a fun game that gave my brothers and sisters and I hundreds of hours of fun, but because the outcome is largely determined by random accidents throwing dice, it got a bit boring after a while. Chess, on the other hand, has no accidental luck: it’s a pure strategy game. I loved that, but it was very intense, and most people I knew did not love that much challenge. Euchre, in contrast, was just the right mix of strategy and luck. The cards that the players are dealt are important, but each player or team of two then has to work out, without talking about what they have, how to make the most of the cards they have been dealt. Good players could win tricks by carefully playing a hand of cards  that had looked pretty awful. Getting enough tricks to win a bid that had been risky was a triumph of planning and if playing pairs, of cooperation with your partner. 

More personally for me and my siblings, euchre was a grown up game. Our parents played it with friends at home, and they played it at their clubs. When we were old enough, around ages of ten, they introduced it to us. Actually, it was mainly our aunts, who loved to play. My mum’s sisters often stayed with us, and when the table had been cleared after dinner, out would come the deck of cards, and we would join the adult game of euchre, but we only played for points, not money as my mum and her crony sisters did at their clubs. Aunt Clarice was a few years older than our mother, and in my mind, she is always dressed in a long, maroon dressing gown, with a cigarette in one hand, and her cards in the other, often with a glass of wine nearby. She seemed like a witch in a fairy tale, with her hair mussed up a bit, her height, and a cackling laugh that came all the time. If she got good cards, she laughed and made a joke. If she got awful cards and lost, she laughed and made a rude comment, but toned down a little if my father was within hearing range. I used to think she lived permanently in the same maroon dressing gown, and I can’t imagine her now except in it, but she must have worn something else when she went to her clubs or shopping, surely? Nothing made us feel so grown up as playing euchre with Aunt Clarice and her sisters. 

But the best thing about euchre was the sheer sociable, fun of it all. Even if Aunty Clarice wasn’t gracing us with her lively presence, our games were noisy, nothing at all like the deadly silent chess battles I also loved. We would argue over whether a card had been misplayed, over whether someone had broken a rule, over the terrible contract our reckless partner had committed us to. We boasted when we won, and accused the winners of underhand tactics, or blamed the cards, when we lost. But it was all done with laughter. Nothing on TV could give half so much fun as our card games, which often went on for hours. Sometimes our father would tell us to quieten down a bit, or point out that it was an hour past our bed times. But when we had her there as an ally, Aunty Clarice was particularly good at keeping things going till midnight. 

These days, we always try to fit in a game or two of euchre on my annual visits to Australia. Our aunts are all gone now, Aunt Clarice perhaps buried in her beloved maroon dressing gown, but when my brothers and sisters and I get together, we relive those happy memories from our childhood as we enjoy the adult pleasure of the same challenging, fun game that we have loved for fifty years. Sadly last year that also fell victim to Covid. But perhaps we’ll have better luck this year; my great-nieces and nephews are now reaching the age where they might enjoy being introduced to the old-fashioned game that has given their parents and grandparents so much fun. 

Skillful 4: Reading and Writing, page 27 - After you watch

Discuss (v.) & discussion (n.) 

page 8

In every unit of Skillful 4, authors Lindsay Warwick and Louis Rogers make frequent use of the verb discuss (2018). The noun discussion is in fact the very first word of every unit, and the third word in every unit is the verb, for example on page 152. Rogers and Zemach almost always collocate the verb discuss with the object noun partner, or put them in close proximity. They clearly intend the discussion to be spoken, which is what we sometimes do, but in many cases, it helps our reading and writing class more to have a written discussion of the questions the authors ask us to discuss.

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Why hold the discussion on an online forum? 

Apart from the fact that ours is a reading and writing class, there are several solid reasons for holding at least some of our discussions online. 

• It practices response writing for fluency. Unlike in more formal academic writing, the goal is not to do research or even to plan carefully, but to quickly communicate your own ideas on a topic or in response to an issue. You should still write complete sentences organized in paragraphs, but we are not looking for a carefully planned piece of work that was extensively reviewed and revised after it was first written and posted. Response writing is not academic writing; it does, however, practice the fluency that is also important in more formal work.  
   
• This sort of response writing is common at universities today. As part of their assessment, students are often expected to participate in online discussion forums that explore issues raised in lectures, seminars, or tutorials. This sort of response writing is a common component of academic work. 
   
• Brainstorming and sharing ideas independently of face-to-face group discussion typically produces a wider and more thoughtful variety of responses, which is good for the group. See, for example, the articles on this in the Harvard Business Review by Art Markman (2017), Andrew O’Connell (2010), and Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic (2015). (If you are interested, read some of the sources I've cited here after our class. They are all short.) 

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Warwick and Rogers' questions 

page 27
Click them to view images full size.

Rogers and Zemach's questions are: 

1. Why have mobile devices broadened the popularity of video games?
    
2. The gaming industry generates a higher annual revenue than the movie and music industries combined. What possible explanations are there for this?
    
3. The concept of a “game”, from ancient board games to modern mobile gaming, has been popular throughout the ages. Why do you think this is the case?
   

One by one

We will answer each of Warwick and Rogers' questions in a short comment. For each question, you will have 2:00 minutes to plan and 4:00 or 6:00 minutes to write your comment. Plan and write fast! 

A helpful strategy

pages 26 - 27

Imagine you are writing for someone who has neither seen the question you are answering nor the video that the question follows up. Your job is to clearly communicate your response to that reader. Because your writing should make sense independently of the question it might be answering, it is usually helpful to give background, which can often be done by paraphrasing the question into statements that begin your answer. 

Remember: sentences in paragraphs 

This is response writing. You want to communicate your ideas fluently as if you were speaking for two or three minutes to someone listening carefully. However, that person can't stop you to ask questions, so it's important to state your ideas in complete sentences organized into paragraphs. 

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References

• Chamorro-Premuzic, T. (2015, April 2). Why brainstorming works better online. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2015/04/why-brainstorming-works-better-online
   
• Markman, A. (2017, May 18). Your team is brainstorming all wrong. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2017/05/your-team-is-brainstorming-all-wrong
   
• O'Connell, A. (2010, February 4). Sometimes, it’s better to brainstorm alone. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2010/02/when-its-better-to-brainstorm
   
• Warwick, L. & Rogers, L. (2018). Skillful 4: Reading & Writing, Student's Book Pack (2nd. ed.). London: Macmillan Education 

Welcome to EAP RW4 unit 2 and to our class blog

Welcome to Skillful 

Click to see
images full size.

Welcome, and thank you for registering for the class this term.

Our aim is to cover all of unit 2 of Skillful 4: Reading and Writing, which we should be able to do in our 16 hours of classes over the next four-and-a-bit weeks. In addition to your paper book, there is also a very useful digital version of the text, and an online workbook for further practice. 

If you have not already done so, please register for the digital version of Skillful, and then join both the online class and the online Workbook class, for which there are short presentations posted on Classroom. 

As with the Google Apps for Education that we will use and this class blog, it might take a couple of sessions for you to become familiar with these tools, but I am confident that you will find that initial effort worthwhile. By moving some of the work to out-of-class activities, we can then focus our class time on preparation for and discussion of the skills you will practice at home, or wherever you like.

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Introduction to students — page 6 

The digital version of  the
book is very convenient

In her introduction to students on page 6, the series consultant, Dorothy E. Zemach, gives some strategies for successful learning, one of which is to "be an independent learner" (in Rogers & Warwick, 2018). As Zemach suggests we do in her comment, it is one way for you to "practice English outside of class." Some of the topics you will write about here are the unit topics, but I also like Zemach's suggestion that "reading for pleasure and using the Internet in English" are important, so your writing here will not be limited to the topics of the units that we study over the next four weeks.
 
Another point that I like in her introduction is Zemach's emphasis on practice, for which she suggests that we do "a little bit each day." The research on this is strong: regular deliberate practice in small chunks of time is far more effective than long sessions once or twice a week (Schwartz et al. 2016, ch D). Since we meet twice a week, and on consecutive days, this is especially important to bear in mind.   

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Question

As Warwick and Rogers often do, giving readers a specific question or two to respond to is often an effective way to engage readers. It helps to check that we understand what we have read, that we have thought about the ideas critically, and to that we can apply them to our own of more general situations. 

• Which one of the five strategies that Zemach introduces on page 6 do you think will be most useful for you to focus on over the next four weeks? 

It's good if you think all five are useful, but this question asks you pick one of them, so you will have to write a little more to explain your choice of that one over the others. 

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References 

• Schwartz, D. L., Tsang, J. M., & Blair, K. P. (2016). The ABCs of how we learn: 26 scientifically proven approaches, how they work, and when to use them. [eBook edition]. W. W. Norton & Company. https://www.amazon.com/ABCs-How-Learn-Scientifically-Approaches-ebook/dp/B016CAJLBA/ref=sr_1_1 
   
• Warwick, L. & Rogers, L. (2018). Skillful 4: Reading & Writing, Student's Book Pack (2nd. ed.). London: Macmillan Education 
   

Phum's Alcoholic problem

The Death from alcohol during the COVID-19 Crisis

Every year since 2001, the record always keep track of the number of death on Alcohol. The foreshadow is in 2019 which is 0.5% of the 100,00 people is suffering and dying from alcohol, things get serious in 2020 which is increasing to 1.28% especially in the COVID lockdown, the report said that the cause of this excessive drinking is depression, some people said that their relatives drink 6 bottles of wine per day. One of the countries that have to deal with this problem is England, for example, a citizen in Devon County named John Slater speaks of his"Crept up Gradually" that he really need alcohol to get through the meal and the rough time, John even panics and rush to buy some from the Supermarket. Until he has to sign in the "Drink wise Age well" project that helps him manage his habits

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Phum Respond to the Alcoholic Problems

The problem from the alcohol that everyone has to deal with is infinite, there was the old case study such as the Gin problem in England which we know the drill, even the new case for learning and improvising. Back to the root of all-cause of the question what is an alcoholic drink made for, absolutely to cure the stress of work and celebrate, but by this time that there's the world crisis and have no time to celebrate at all, so people are drinking for relieving their stress during this endless catastrophe, leading to the summary above that the death by consuming the excessive amount of alcohol is higher than before. In the past that continuously flows to the present, there's a foundation such as Krabok Temple in Thailand that will cure people who fall into the addictive product, Drink Wise Age Well project and Gin Act 1757 in England is the project to help people to manage their drinking habit and controlling taxes, both of them will keep helping the people who drink that much, and people who feel desperate to live without it. And how to solve this world's end problem, for me it's such an unnecessary if we can manage our own time and amount to drink and buy it in, but it's up to the person's habit and behavior that can control their alcohol volume in their vein.

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Phum's question 

What is the case of the alcoholic problem in the past, I only found out that is the Gin problem in England, can you find it and write down as the answer?

The Gin Craze in England: https://www.vice.com/en/article/53jj7z/how-a-gin-craze-nearly-destroyed-18th-century-london

Do you drink? when you do, how to manage yourself in order to remember your way home?

Phon: Cyber-Security fears.

Summary of “Home working increases cyber-security fears”

According to the “Home working increases cyber-security fears” By David Silverberg and Will Smale. Work from home is risky to occur of cyber insecurity. There are many large and small companies around the world that are facing a hacking attack social network. Sometimes the home worker receives an email, pretending the service asked them to reset their log-in password. It is tricking into downloading viruses from hackers demanding ransoms. This is making workers who are working at home in trouble and anxiety. Their personal information can be assessed by scammers and company's data would be breached. It is essential that businesses give staff proper cyber-security training and set up a VPN or virtual private network. They should know how to report about cyber-security. This alleviates the problem from hacking attacks. However, the staff can still make damaging mistakes with cyber - security.

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Phon's response to "Home working increases cyber-security fears"

Due to Covid-19 pandemic situation, making a global population is staying distant or “ Social distancing”. People are avoiding social gatherings, face-to-face meetings. Major organizations have announced employees that can remote working from home. Although working from home can help us slow the spread of Covid-19, working from home is increasing cyber-security. And I am also working from home for some time. I have been using my laptop when I work at home. I am quite aware when I have to search for information from websites. I would not explore the website that seems insecure. As they said, home working increases cyber-security fears and gives solutions to ease the problems; supply laptops and other equipment to employees.
There is increased expenditure to the company, it would be impacted by finance. If a company supplies the laptop to all staff, including cyber-security software, it is a big amount to lose. I was thinking nowadays most companies are concerned about the earning or economy of the company.
In fact, the company does not want to burn their profits and try to control the budget and saving cost as much as possible. It is reasonable to understand. The employees can avoid the hacking attack by scammers, studying and investigating how to anticipate the cyber problem.
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Phon's question 

What do you think to protect your data and help companies to save cost?