Paragons of Game Design 1: Dark Souls

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Commence a new series of blog entries: Paragons of Game Design.

In these posts, I'll be highlighting games that are examples of outstanding design and highlighting just why they are. First up on our list is one I've hinted before:

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Does Money Make You Mean?

Modeling the Mind

In psychological science, there are different approaches, or perspectives, different people bring to the field. As a science, psychology is descriptive. A true scientist doesn't actually 'prove' anything, they use methodological rigor to seek a consistent result under a particular set of circumstances.

Truth is consistency.

These results then serve as evidence to theories. These theories are what most people think of when describing findings. 'Study shows that sleep is important to memorization.' Well, yes and no. The study showed that people scored higher on a test if they slept beforehand. We extrapolate from that that sleep is important to memorization. (Alternative extrapolations could include: sleep reduces stress, sleep deprivation impairs general functioning, etc. These possibilities are narrowed down by repeating testing the same hypothesis with different methods that control for alternative explanations.)

But then comes the question of how. And in attempts to explain multiple findings and multiple theories, psychologists develop models. Although few scientists will disagree with the raw data of a well-designed study, they may disagree on which model best accounts for results in the larger scheme. Models are statistically tested for goodness of fit, which helps lend some objective credence to them, but ultimately they are based on incomplete information. Most of these models are focused on a concept, and highly abstracted, such as the various models of memory. They look kinda like this. Here's a more detailed explanation of one you may be familiar with.

Damn You Autocorrect

http://www.damnyouautocorrect.com

Oh Oh Oh Sexy Vampire

Crab Battle

The Emperor Gets a Job

Mumiy Troll - Medveditsa (NSFW... at all)

This video is completely insane. You probably need a certain kind of mind to appreciate it.

The Best/Most Horrifying Skyrim Mod Ever

6 Great Music Videos (For Totally Different Reasons)

In no particular order.

1. Fatboy Slim - Weapon of Choice

Yes, that's Christopher Walken. Just doing his thing. He's actually a trained dancer, you know.

2. Gnarls Barkley - Crazy

I'm not sure just why I love this video, but I do. Probably some symbolic synergy of the Rorschach, that combination of surrealism, symmetry, symbolism, subjectivity, and psychology, all things that strike chords of mine. What do you see in it?

3. Biting Elbows - Bad Motherfucker

Innovation will get you everywhere. This is actually a sequel to the video for their song The Stampede.

4. Michael Jackson - Smooth Criminal

With all the publicity he got later for his appearance, habits, and Peter Pan syndrome, some people forget why he was called the King of Pop. Just look at those moves. Thriller gets a mention as well, but although more ambitious, it's as much a short film as a music video, and Smooth Criminal just takes the cake for the style.

5. Dead or Alive - Spin Me Round

Odds are you've heard this song, but the music video makes it so much better. This just may be one of the best dances of all time, for reasons I can't explain.

6. Bob Dylan - Like a Rolling Stone

http://video.bobdylan.com/desktop.html
This won't embed here, so just check out the link. Innovation will get you everywhere.