[racket] untrusted

[ You don't have to convince me, and I'd rather not share more than I have at this point. ]


On Apr 18, 2014, at 10:43 AM, Neil Van Dyke <neil at neilvandyke.org> wrote:

> 
> Matthias Felleisen wrote at 04/18/2014 09:33 AM:
>> On Apr 17, 2014, at 1:44 PM, Neil Van Dyke <neil at neilvandyke.org> wrote:
>>> BTW, another great game to inspire learning programming and AI methods is something in the spirit of Crobots ("http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crobots").  The very general idea is that you program a virtual robot to operate in a virtual world, and you have some kind of metric for success.  In the case of Crobots, it also has the appeal of being competitive and violent, in that you run different robot programs against each other in the same virtual world, and the robots can shoot each other.  Hook this up to a world that lets people watch 3D graphics of the Racket-implemented AIs play against each other, and that could be a lot of fun.  Put live displays visible from school hallways of the AIs interacting in 3D, including display of whatever stats/ranking/honors you have, and a URL and QR code where people can go to get info on how to program AIs for it themselves.  Suddenly, pursuing a CS major seems like more fun.  Surely some school that has a substantial video game programming track/classes also has a good Racket person.  (Do this soon in Racket, before someone does it in JS and poisons young minds further.)
>> In principle, yes, agreed very much.
>> 
>> But let me issue a warning that there are people out there who object to games for various reasons, some real, some issued by the PC police. Just recently I worked with a colleague at a Boston university whose departments forbids its instructors and professors the use of games in all courses (with a curious exception) for reasons that only Orwell could have dreamt up. Keep this in mind before your enthusiasm carries you away.
> 
> Interesting.  Quick speculation, since you didn't say what the objections are (and then I have to get back to paying work)...
> 
> If the objection involves the violence prominent in almost all popular games, that could be worked around.  Indeed, if a university has a video game development track/center, it seems that building up a category of compelling 3D action games that aren't centered around violence (nor are EA cookie-cutter professional sports team drivel) could be an area of research.  (Emphasize autonomous agent programming by players.  Multiplayer open world that is constructed and inhabited by autonomous robots?  Robot exploration/colonization of outer space or deep ocean?  Robot team soccer?  Robot rescue operations?  Pandering environmental themes?  Politically-delicate robot mitigation of disasters like certain nuke plants?  SimCity-ish development?)
> 
> If a "PC" objection involves another thing we sometimes hear, something like "girls and women don't like violence and conflict, nor competition; they prefer socialization and collaboration", that seems like a broad sexist generalization, and the intent of people saying that seems to vary.  Regardless of how correct the assertion is, which I don't know, it seems like helpful input when mapping out dimensions of games, to find under-explored areas and brainstorm innovation.
> 
> Or, for an objection to game hero/protagonists almost always being male and acting in gender-stereotypical ways (as in last year's hottest games, "The Last of Us", "Bioshock: Infinite", all three characters of "GTA V"), or occasional tough female heroine having to be overly 'sexy' (Lara Croft), that's evident.  Maybe the university -- by conducting research and broadening horizons, not just being a trade school for video game industry workers -- is the place to try to improve that by doing things that industry is not yet.
> 
> If an objection is "people should spend less time playing passive games with rote behaviors", well, what are active and constructive things that people should do instead, and what are roles for games in that?  (Are games all bad?  What about games in animal behavior for rearing of young and socialization?  Skills?  Team cooperation? Goal-orientedness?  Etc., etc.)
> 
> Neil V.
> 
>