When discussing about videogames, avatars and the internet the discussion often declares these spaces as “fake”. By talking about the “real” effects of virtual spaces or trying to establish links between personalities and actions online, some people try to create a division on its value. This rhetoric undermines the worth of virtual spaces, pushing them…
Tag: rant
The Matrix has a plumbing problem
Even after transcending the uncanny valley and with all the computational power we may be able to accumulate, setting aside utopian simulated reality theories, we won’t be able to simulate the full extent of our reality. But that doesn’t mean that what happens in virtual worlds does not leak into our flesh-and-bone reality. Our conduct…
Education and building foundations for building a castle
I don’t think of #CSforAll as an economical construct, I think of it as a diversity experiment. I think of it as expanding the use of technology to uses no one would have ever thought, because they would not be profitable, because they would not make clear sense, but only because they are art or…
New (starter) universes: stages and characters
Creating new worlds is always challenging. It tells a story, functions as a plot device, allows or restricts movement and evokes feelings on the user. And the characters that live in that world have to make sense as well, as goombas and koopas have no place on the roads of Gran Turismo. And that’s before…
Are we humans or are we coders? (humans, we’re humans)
Following my blog post from last week, I have been thinking a lot of Open Source, community building and how to maintain a nurturing environment. I realized I am not alone in my lack of participation and that many other developers, artists and overall coders feel like they would love to contribute,… but they don’t….
full-body virtual selfie
Our physical bodies have clear limitations on how they can inhabit virtual spaces. That’s why for most games, social scenes or general applications we create and use avatars of ourselves. According to the platform they can be an accurate representation of our physical selves or a transformation that represents a more psychological aspect. Or it…
The cat-flap of open source
I have been coding for a long time. My interest began as a child, I’ve been using computers since I was 3 years old and my mom is a software engineer. Later, I got into civil engineering and coded my way to graduation and now I’m doing artistic stuff that uses code in one way…
Diving in infinite immersive information
Why so many stories are just boring? Is it because the subject is meaningless or the storyteller untalented? Or is it because the storyteller doesn’t have the medium in which they can do it? The large number of new technologies emerging year to year give us exciting possibilities to express ourselves and tell the stories…
(re)Creating 3d spaces
What are the advantages of working in 3D? What can we get out of it and what does it mean for human perception? Actually, a lot. The world that surrounds us is three-dimensional. That’s how we understand the world, how we traverse it. So, naturally having a 3D environment is the best way for us…
Interacting is HARD (for some people, at least)
This week we had to observe, a lot. Finding a piece of interactive technology in public that is interesting enough and not as common or obvious was not that easy. Luckily, I came across this particular situation where I was disturbed by the lack of . The particular context can be seen on the following…