Pondering Primary Paladin

Moontulip (59), Aman'thul

What do you do when you can't sleep?

Munch through a movie? Attack an assignment? Conquer countless Kakuro?

Why not Patch your Paladin? I'd have been way more alliterative if only I'd gone protection. And with Dungeon Finder levelling appears to be more popular through dungeons than questing. But this first pally of mine harvests skins and ore so she needs to be out so I quest and harvest at the same time to prevent monotony from either.

I didn't look very far but three of the top results I glanced at shared the same recommendation for build, so I began along that line with the points I have so far at 59... Then I discovered Caer Morrighan's action plan and I'll be considering the allocation suggested there.

My next challenge (at some point, though the game may change all over again before I get around to it) is to rediscover how to play pally, what attacks and controls to use.

For rotation I could start with advice from Dan Wolfe at Gameolosophy:

Aoe:

CS-Judge-Holy Wrath-DS-Conc now you can wait until your holy power is at 3 for more powerful divine storms.

Single Target:

CS-Judge-TV-Exorcism on proc once again you can wait until you have 3 holy power for max Templar’s Verdict hits.

Is that significantly different from Caer Morrighan? I don't know, I've finally begun to tire, so before I lose that I'm going to try again to sleep... Caer's plan [update 14 November...after some playtime... Caer's plan changed]. Ignoring for now the comments on Zealotry and Avenging Wrath that I just don't have to worry about for several more levels:

Single target

* Crusader Strike (CS) - Filler - CS - Filler + Use Templar’s Verdict (TV) whenever its
a) free or b) you have 3 Holy Power (HP) overriding the normal rotation.
Filler Priority: Hammer of Wrath > Exorcism with Art of War only > Judgement > Holy Wrath > Consecration

Multiple targets

* As above with Divine Storm replacing TV

Oh dear, before I play I'll also need to re-gear... Caer tells me "Agility is now bad." :( Apparently I need to look to:

Cap hit and expertise. After this, ... Strength. And Haste/crit.

Unholy ?fun with WoW 4.0.1 patch Death Knight

Missing dancing tonight after a cold hit my chest so that breathing hurts... I decided to spend the pre-sleep evening choosing a talent build for my death knight. While exploring the advice out there I had to battle my aversion to the whole persona of a death knight.

The talent tree summaries only helped by [probably] eliminating Blood, because I'm not really comfortable with a tanking role. Still left Frost and Unholy. I would avoid Unholy because it just sounds icky, but I felt I needed a more thoughtful reason.

Guide4wow helped me out by identifying, in their opinion, Unholy as the faster levelling build... and I'm still levelling.

I still needed advice with a rotation. Many months ago when I last played the dk, I never did gain any certainty over which spells/attacks to use. In this I've taken initial advice from Vraagar's lens: Unholy Death Knight DPS Guide and Death Knight Builds.

For my own future reference because who knows when I'll actually play this toon, and by then I'll have lost the links to the above advisers, and will have forgotten what their abbreviations mean, the plan is:

For solo targets/victims (check in Unholy Presence):

1. (I won't always start with this, but then 1 is never in my typical rotation) Neither adviser mentioned Death Grip but I have it at 1 on my action bar just because it was there before and I think I had a good reason for it, but I'm open to advice against that.
2. "Diseases Up" apparently means attack with Icy Touch (for the disease Frost Fever) ...
3. ...and Plague Strike (for disease Blood Plague)
4. Dark Transformation [?if] Active
5. Scourge Strike (U F) [I guess that means it needs an Unholy and a Frost Rune although the game says just an Unholy]
6. Festering Strike (B F) [needs Blood & Frost Rune]
7. Death Coil on Sudden Doom proc [Sudden Doom is an unholy talent, maxed at 15% chance to occur from auto attacks - making Death Coil not cost runic power]
   
8. Mr 12 uses Obliterate after diseases, but he is a Frost Death Knight.
9. Mr 12 doesn't advise using Rune Strike 

AoE Rotation (switch to Frost Presence)

• Mouse click Horn of Winter [ DKB advised this at end of rotation, but as it lasts 2 minutes I don't really understand why not to start as strong as possible]

1. No Death Grip in this case
2. Diseases ...
3. ...up and spread to everything with 
• Pestilence
4. Dark Transformation [?if] Active
• Death and Decay
5. Scourge Strike
• Blood Boil
6. Festering Strike if BB and FF runes up.
7. Death Coil on Sudden Doom proc

All that other fun stuff I have no idea - use the anti-magic, anti-spellcaster stuff if fighting a spellcaster I guess, but when to use Blood Strike or Death Strike, or Gargoyle - {shrugs}

More on citing board games: Scruples

How delightful: Having decided that a comment I was writing had developed beyond a simple example to append to my post about citing board games in APA style: as I entered a title for this new post it occurred to me that the theme of Scruples is what earned this blather its own space.

MyBlogLog shared another curiosity when I scanned its statistics for me today... Someone searched my blog for cite the board game scruples.

Unless the querant was pondering the ethics of citing board games, I'm guessing the curiosity was how to cite that particular game Scruples. I do have a copy of the game, and this is how I would cite the copy I have. As the game is revised and updated every five years (High Game Enterprises, 2008), you might have a different copy.

Depending whether my text refers to the game as a whole or a specific part of it, in-text citations might be:
(A Question of Scruples, 1986)
(A Question of Scruples, 1986, q178)
(A Question of Scruples, 1986, rules p.6)
(A Question of Scruples, 1986, base of box)

A Question of Scruples [Board game]. (1986). Sydney, N.S.W. : Milton Bradley

So, why would I not cite the publisher as corporate author? Because I am not sure that Milton Bradley are responsible for the design of the game. Although I would not rely* on the source regarding this particular information (Wikipedia and BoardGameGeek) to insert [Surname, I. (Designer)] in author place, it may be the game was designed by an individual who sold it to a game company who may have shared rights to publish it with companies in other countries.

*The claim of designership maybe false. Or overstated, perhaps the claimant merely created and sold the concept of the game.

It is sad for historians, and board game appreciators, that game publishers have not been in the habit of acknowledging the provenance of the games they publish.

Considering the claim (unverified, but uncontested) of a designer outside the publishing company, the claim on my box of copyright by MB "under Berne and Universal copyright conventions" and the absence of any information acknowledging designers or design teams (would that be too hard?), seems they may simply have bought the right to publish, and that the designer did not retain any right to acknowledgement for design.

I have seen a game in which the publisher did acknowledge the source of the concept, and the company personnel who then developed it into a game. I'd like to see more of that. Just like my uncle likes to read the credits rolling at the end of a film.

How to cite a game in APA style

edited 1 April 2010

Until now the answer to that question was not here; until now my presence in search results on that question would have stemmed from the fact that I have written in separate posts about both citing and games. And I don't like people to leave with their questions unanswered.

Now, below, I have an answer. BUT: before you use it, check the requirements of the professor or publication for whom you are writing. Please, if you've come here for an answer to the question, please comment with the game you are considering citing and perhaps in what context so I can check my suggestions, and improve them.

While the Publication Manual (APA, 2010) does not give a specific example for citing games, it outlines principles and the basic components. Chuck at APA's blog outlined these entertainingly as Who When What Where in The Generic Reference. The manual also advises us to adapt the examples that are provided as we need. This point is repeated by Timothy McAdoo in The Frankenreference, also at APA's blog.

Jump to:
Suggested format & examples
In-game quotes
Game manual

Electronic games are a form of software, so the example and guidelines (APA, 2010, p. 210) for citing software might seem the place to start. However the first games I wanted to cite were board games, so the software example was not where I went first, and when it came time to cite an electronic game I adapted from my board game guesses.

Even if one were to start at the software example, I think we'd end with the same format (jump to example) because we are permitted to adapt as needed... and we would want to for:

• Author: the guidelines for software seem to indicate that unless an individual has proprietary rights to the software the reference would be cited as an unauthored work, ie, by the title of the game, however isn't it first preferred to credit a corporate author (ie the game developer), than to assume none? There are also cases where developer and publisher are separate entities. I note that WorldCat's citation export tool generally compiles all reference styles for games using corporate authors.
• Date: Unfortunately the example for software (APA, 2010, p. 211) does not use a date, and offers no explanation for this divergence from normal practice: I considered it an error and that the date of publication (or copyright) is appropriate to include. But then again some online games are continually updated so sometimes, depending on the nature of the information being cited, a date might not be as relevant.
• Place of Publication? This information is not usually provided with game software, is the place important in this case?
  

Therefore:
In general, unless required otherwise by the university or publication, I would probably cite the developer, with the reference appearing:

Developer unless principal author is acknowledged. (year). Title (version #, if relevant) [gameformat]. Place of publication: Publisher.

in text: (Developer, Year)

Apparently this works out to be very similar to the style for game citations (based on APA) required by the publication Game Studies.

Examples:

1. Board Game:
   
• Darrow, C. D. (2006). Monopoly: the property trading board game. Eastwood, N.S.W. : Hasbro / Parker.
• Drennan, D. (1986). Zamitar: a battle for survival in space, employing strategy and skill [Board game]. Australia: Author.


2. Offline Electronic Game:
   
• Firaxis Games Inc. (2005). Sid Meier's Civilization IV [PC game]. New York, NY: Take-Two Interactive Software.
• Acclaim Entertainment. (2002). Turok Evolution [Playstation2 game]. Glen Cover, NY: Acclaim Entertainment.


3. Online game:
• Honeyslug. (2009). Ric Rococo: International Art Thief [Flash game]. Honeyslug. Retrieved 28 February 2010 from http://www.miniclip.com/games/art-thief/en/
• Three Rings Design. (2001-2009). Puzzle Pirates. [Java-based game]. San Francisco, CA:Three Rings Design. Retrieved 28 February 2010 from http://www.puzzlepirates.com
  

However, the title-based style is advised by some universities (eg Murdoch). So: do check the requirements of the professor or publication for whom you are writing.

--In-Game quotes

We are usually required to define as close a location as possible within the material. For a book this is by page, on the web by paragraph, from a play by division (Act, Scene, etc and Line).
How can we locate a quote within a game? Perhaps by Level or inter-level; or stage of scenario. I'd like to explore a variety of examples, but will have to get help from my gamer sons and friends.

*****
Please send me examples of interesting or fun quotes from your favourite games - with the most concise but accurate location information for the quote
****

• example quote from within a levelled online game?
  
• example quote from within World of Warcraft or similar quest-based roaming game?
• example quote from acted character in film supporting game storyline?
  
• example quote from another player in an online role playing game - only if the transcript of game play is archived?
  

---Update 24 March 2010:

Game Manual

Yesterday someone stopped by having sought how to cite a game manual. It isn't the first time, and I've had a look at a few game manuals over time, trying to see if there are significant points about game manuals that are different from other books. There isn't really.

Key point: Check the details for the manual - whether they are different from the game, that is:

• Manual author / developer - I did once see a board game's manual whose authorship was credited to an individual, so if citing that manual I'd use the individual's name; however whenever as usual there is no individual author, I consider the developer to be the manual's author.
• Manual date - again is it different from publication date of the game?
• Manual title - the manual son #1 just handed me is titled Ashes: Cricket 2009 which is the same as the game's title so I might add [game manual] to more specifically locate my source. I've also seen untitled... well it was more an instruction sheet than a manual, but the point being... if it doesn't have a title make one, enclosed in [ ]. (Just whipped over to APA's blog to check that, thanks Chuck)
  
• Publisher place & name - I've been assuming that the game manuals that people came here curious to cite would have been published with the game, so this would be same as game publisher. Are there game manuals that were not published with the game?
  

----------
Interestingly (thanks Alison Faix) there are some online games for practicing APA style citations (though not for games):
APA Psych Out by Williams College Libraries focusses on citation of books, chapters and articles but the basic principles of these extend to newer online sources.
APA and MLA Citation Games (jigsaw puzzles really) by University of Washington Trio Training Drag and drop the citation pieces in the correct order for that type, and includes puzzles for music recordings and televised broadcasts.

References:

American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, (6th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Playing with YouTube - no really: a game... in YouTube

I went looking for examples of citations of YouTube videos in academic papers, but I became distracted by the fourth result to my google search.

Don't start me wondering why, with the search string ... example of YouTube video referenced in academic paper... google gave me Dan Calladine's blog post (2009, Feb 6) about "the best set of YouTube Annotations videos [he's] ever seen".

Sure have some fun with the game (BENandERIC, 2008, November 7) yourself AFTER you tell me where you've seen a paper citing a YouTube video (please because playing the game will take you away from here).




I'm actually looking for new YouTube videos to practice referencing, particularly ones that have
(a) no discernible statement of responsibility (author/creator/producer), so the reference will begin with the video title; or at the other end of the scale
(b) a place and "publisher/distributor" to include in the reference.

The video cited here allowed for additional examples of citing a screen-name, a practice endorsed by APA (2007, p23).

References:

American Psychological Association. (2007). APA Style Guide to Electronic References. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

BENandERIC. (2008, November 7). Play: "BarackPaperScissors". [video]. Retrieved July 14, 2009, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2mcdS6ioo8

Calladine, D. (2009, February 6). Barack Paper Scissors - YouTube Annotations. Digital Examples. Retrieved July 14, 2009 from http://digital-examples.blogspot.com/2009/02/barack-paper-scissors-youtube.html

Libraries bridge the digital divide: includes games

Another pair of items I've had pinned for a very long time. I do like ShelfCheck and I love the point made in this miniseries. It also reminds me that the State Library of Victoria includes the videogame and computer game product of Victoria in its duty of protecting Victoria's heritage.

Word challenge

YAY I finally made a respectable score on Word Challenge (by playfish). (A round in which I recall there were finally no abbreviations or acronymns or foreign words).

My list of words I didn't know is growing, but so is the list of words I'm learning.

I like the way Word Challenge offers the hint of showing how many words are possible and then placing the words one scores with in alphabetical and length order, amongst blanks for those that one hasn't yet found.

Upwords

Upwords HGM
Originally uploaded by moonflowerdragon.

Helen, Graham and I played today: Helen & I tied at 184. I was disappointed early on that my old dictionary (our agreed reference) did not have "meme", cause I could have switched three words for 22 points.

Supreme Chief of All Hospitals

Supreme Chief of All Hospitals
Originally uploaded by moonflowerdragon.

A very proud gaming moment for me: becoming Supreme Chief of All Hospitals on "Theme Hospital"

"Print Screen" failed to grab a screenshot of this proud moment, so I had to play the end again to take a photo!

Puzzle Pirates - my second MMORPG

As I've mentioned at Counting Everything, I've had the opportunity to try another MMORPG. If you get addicted to tetris-type or hit-the-dropping-items-before-they-get-to-the-bottom or cleverly-manoeuvre-icons-into-groups-of-3+-colours-before-they-crowd-to-the-top games Puzzle Pirates will very kindly remind you how long you've been playing and remind you to take a break and stretch.

Puzzle Pirates Join a crew of friendly pirates in this massive multiplayer game. Update 10 June 2021: Removed broken referral to Miniclip. Wednesday, November 08, 2006 Silkroad Online ... my first MMORPG FUN The boys and their friends have introduced me to Silkroad online and I've had a very interesting, engaging week adventuring around Jangan. There are always new skills to learn, and I'm thinking maybe it is just a little repetitive trying to level to meet something new, but it is very fun "meeting" people from all over (ages 14-43): helping (it feels wonderful knowing and sharing the little bits even newer plays want to know) and being helped. Right now I'm trying to sell some of the treasures monsters have kindly dropped for me - I'd like to be able to afford a pet wolf. It is not easy calculating a fair price for goods, and timing is probably off as I set up stall when I'm going to be away from the keyboard rather than take up playing time. Thursday, July 20, 2006 Ms Stackman fun I wonder if I'll ever get time to find out whether Ms Stackman is fun? Sunday, December 25, 2005 Ingenious GUF is visiting over the festival season. I have learned a lot about the history of World Championship Chess, enjoyed the influence of my uncle on my sons, and received the kind of loving support and reassurance that only an uncle can give. Which reminds me that I caught up with GUK on Skyhero Chat this afternoon. Do you Sudoku? Cricket and I did (this morning) while watching our new Voyager DVDs (thanks GUF). Then Kitty did too, and she is again, with GUF, while I blog. Earlier we watched Madagascar and played Ingenious. Tuesday, December 21, 2004 NationStates game Okay GUK & GUF, have you seen this game and mentioned it to me? I wonder if you are interested how I came upon it? I am finally scrolling through my backlog of emails from unschooling mailing lists [ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/UnschoolingDiscussion/]... another mum asked others "I'm trying to recall the title of a book I read...mmm..about six months ago. The premise was a point in the future in which people were so dependent on corporations that employees took on the last name of the company they worked for (ie: Sheila McDonald's or Timothy Nike). One of the early scenes involves a kid getting killed at the mall over some fancy sneakers or something. I don't recall it in much detail at the minute, but it had an interesting premise that is related to a point I'm trying to make in one of my classes, and someone is wanting to read it if I can recall the name of it. " (I'll have to check out her blog) Naturally two or three others identified the title she sought and one pointed to the game. No, I haven't given it a go yet, I don't yet have sufficient online time. But I guessed one or both of my favourite uncles would have either tried it or heard of it? Subscribe to: Posts (Atom) About Me I ditched the profile gadget, but you can read posts that might say more about me than other posts do. 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