Seventh Sanctum Update 9/21/2013

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Here’s a look at the latest site design for the generator page.  A friend gave some brutally honest feedback on how the overuse of the brass bars was, well EYE WATERING and had some contrast issues.  Fortunately it was Bootstrap to the rescue, and I managed to tweak the look in a way that works and seems to be multi-device friendly.

SanctumScreencap110

So thoughts?

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.

Geek As Citizen: What Is A Geek?

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As I mentioned last week, I’m going to be exploring the role of geeks as citizen. What is our place in a functional society? Where do we belong? Where are we needed? I think a lot of us kind of have an idea, but it’s worth exploring in an age where, almost accidentally, we kind of created modern society and to a lesser extent run it.

I’m not sure we intended to do this, but there you go. Me, I’d want better environmental policies and a reduction in stupid reality shows. But that’s for another time.

In order to actually ask “what is the ideal role of a citizen geek” we kind of have to define geek. I’ve taken a stab at it – many have taken a stab at it – and doubtlessly we’ll be arguing about it for years to come. But I’m going to make an effort (again) to try and do it at least to solidify my recent insights and give us a working theory.

Let me note that my definition is designed to be descriptive and not exclusionary.  I have no interest in promoting geek exclusion or exclusivity, there’s enough “not geek enough” garbage out there.  Instead I’m interested in it as a kind of demographic description – pretty much a case of “you are one if you think you’re one and identify as one.”

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Link Roundup 9/19/2013 – Video Game Edition

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Lots of gaming Links!

The power of failure in creating The Last Of Us. An interesting and inspirational look at the game, its themes, and how it came about over a long period.  Worth reading for gaming and media pros.

Speaking of failure, here’s an insightful look at sexist problems in video games beyond the use of sleazy sex appeal.  There’s actually some rather interesting issues of infantilization I hadn’t thought of.  Also shame and wonder that more and more we here at MuseHack to to Cracked for insight.  Food for thought for game developers and culture commentators.

The Tokyo Gameshow is in decline, and there’s a huge chasm in titles and representation that is part of a larger game industry change.  Maybe Cracked has some thoughts.

Amazon is working on it’s game console and his going to go full ecosystem – they’re courting developers and moving forward.  What intrigues me (beyond the level of awareness) is that they’re really more competing with the X-Box.  Might need to watch out for them, developers . .

Speaking of alternate consoles, Ouya is changing it’s rules on free games and development.  I’ll say . . . they didn’t do as well as I expected.  And I had low expectations.

Small, obscure title Grand Theft Auto V manages to net $800 million dollars.  Remember, game, not movie, and people will spend more time with this game.  Of course games-as-causing-violence is back in the news at about the same time – and the fact that torture is part of the game is not going over well.

– Steven Savage