Week 7 [14-20.01.19] Best presentation

Dear Students,
Vote for the best presentation. Justify your choice.

[Week 7 14-20.01.19] The power of correct words.

In many old tales knowing someone’s true name granted you power over them. In many fantastic stories the key to wielding magic is to learn correct sentences. It’s not just the imagination of authors. It’s not a coincidence. People were always aware that words are powerful when used correctly.

What if you could cast a blind rage spell on someone? Sounds like a unrealistic wish? Just try to say “Trump’s not all that bad.” to a woke vegan. Or argue that “religion should not influence political decisions when it comes to family planning” to my grandpa while he’s watching national TV news. I tried - Christmas Eve was a bit shorter this year. With globalization rose the need for tribalism. And to be honest while we think that we gather around certain ideas, in the end the masses are just repeating certain words. It’s easier than thinking. So now by using specific vocabulary you can make someone your best friend or your worst enemy in less than 30 seconds. With the shortest attention span in history you don’t need to do anything. Saying a word is quicker.

There’s one more side effect of globalization - our common, international language. English. Or rather Internetglish. Obviously the non-natives are limited in their vocabulary. On the other hand natives are simplifying so others can easily understand them. This leads to a big discrepancy between “normal” media consumers and language masters - PR specialists, journalists, marketers and politicians (some at least). This lack of equality allows the skilled to manipulate the others. By choosing correct vocabulary in an article they are pushing their agenda even it the content seems to be objective. Obviously less proficient English users cannot argue and in many cases cannot even spot the manipulation. It works on a subconscious level.

Gillette #MeToo razors ad on 'toxic masculinity' gets praise – and abuse

Can a video be abused?
Help me here cos' I'm confused ;)

Sometimes correct words are not those we’ve corrected. Have you ever erased a message 5 times before sending something vastly different then what you originally meant? Carefully selecting every word of your social media post to end up with something that your friends would never associate with you? I’m sometimes scared to just throw my thoughts out there in the age of political correctness. I’m catching myself shaping my thoughts and forming them into something I learned in Dale Carnegie's book. And I know for a fact I’m not alone. Maybe, just maybe, from time to time we should not waste our energy on censoring ourselves. Only then others will hear the real us.

What did you feel while reading my first paragraph? Any hint of anger? Are you often thinking why someone titled an article in a particular way? When was the last time you said something knowing it may not be the right thing to say, but it is your thing to say? Let’s exchange some correct words - at least speling-wise ;).

Week 7 [14-20.01.19] Interactive movies - future of cinematography?

For many years video games have provided us with the interactive experience. Nowadays when technology like virtual and augmented reality has arrived, games became much more immersive than they were before. Even without new technologies some of them serve exceptional movielike storyline. The best example is an adventure game Life is Strange.

Life is Strange published by Square Enix is one of the first adaptations of an interactive movie in the game world. It is an episodic game showing a story from a third-person view. The player mostly faces a lot of cutscenes and dialogues with branching options which affect the whole storyline. Every decision has consequences like in the real world. With these mechanics, the game provides a unique experience each time with a different ending.

 

Limitations in cinematography kept producers for a long time from producing the interactive movie. The first experience with the interactive movie could be experienced on the YouTube platform. Thanks to the annotation feature it is possible to create decision buttons which redirect to the next scene of the same video or even to the different video.

Music companies were not indifferent to the growing trend of interactive entertainment. German rapper Kontra K has come with an unusual idea for a video to one of his songs (LINK). He launched the website (LINK) where users can play a game. It is focused on decision-making investigation. It simply plays parts of the video and then we have to make a decision which will lead us to different endings.

Worth mentioning here is Late Shift - the world's first cinematic interactive movie. Although it is provided as a game through an external application, real actors play roles in it. It is presented with live-action cutscenes with real-time choices because the game does not pause.

After the success of Late Shift, Netflix has decided to bring interactive videos to the next level by taking care of accessibility of videos. There were created Black Mirror: Bandersnatch. It is an interactive movie placed in the Black Mirror universe. Netflix as a leader of movies/TV series streaming platforms has own applications on TV, phone and PC. Their app is available on most of the current TVs, what makes their products even more accessible.

Bandersnatch has been released on 28th of December 2018. Shortly after, it faced mixed reviews because it has problems with immersion, it is a bane of all interactive movies. Decision blocks distract users as it takes them out to the real world. So far there is no solution to bring user smoothly interactions during the show.

Closing up, I would like to highlight one thing.

When rating the interactive movies, there are two questions to answer:

- How good is it as a movie?

- How good is it as a game?

Although it can be a great movie, it can have poor or not impactful decision making.

Questions:

1. What is your experience with interactive videos? Have you watched any?

2. Do you think that interactive movies will be a real thing soon?

3. How should immersion problems be addressed?

4. Is it true that interactive movies engage users more than normal ones?

5. Which of new technologies can be used in cinematographic business?

6. Are interactive movies forcing  their users to spend more time with them? If so, do you think it is good for business?

Week 7 [14-20.01.19] The phenomenon of esports

     Nowadays there is approximately 335 million fans of esport games. We think about them as gaming nerds, but latest researches say that most of them are people in middle-age, having a well-paid, stable job. Check comparison below.

Pic. 1 Typical nerd

Source:https://slaymyboredom.wordpress.com/2012/03/26/real-life/

Pic. 2 ex Player of CS:GO Virtus.Pro Team since 2014

Source:https://sport.onet.pl/najlepszy-gracz-i-ojciec-na-swiecie-historia-pashy-to-material-na-oscarowy-film/fe0h31l

     For some time now, the phenomenon of esports has been noticed by the mass media. Therefore, it is increasingly expanding its influence and is growing at dynamic pace. Many people ask themselves whether in the future the electronic game will be able to push traditional sports such as football or volleyball off the pedestal. Esports industry is without any doubt an attractive source of income for huge investors. It was valued at $655 million back in 2017, but latest reports forecast that till 2021 it will become over $1.6 billion and permanently growing.  China and North America will generate over half of that sum, insane!

Pic. 3 Global esports revenue growth

Source:https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/07/the-explosive-growth-of-esports/

     Obviously as the esports revenue increases, players salaries can’t stay behind. Take a look at the highest overall earnings for the top 10 players in a world.

Pic. 4 Highest overall earnings

Source: https://www.esportsearnings.com/players

    The highest paying game Dota 2 is currently dominating the market, the prize pool of one of the major tournaments even surpasses traditional sports in this area.

Pic. 5 Comparison to Traditional Sports

Source: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/07/the-explosive-growth-of-esports/

 What about polish esport fans? Among the 38.6 million of polish citizens a huge number of over 6 million Poles are esport lovers. By 2020, it is anticipated that this number will increase to almost 9 million. In terms of gender distribution, we fall similarly to the rest of the world. 78% are men, while the Polish audience with the dominant age group 21-35.

Pic. 6 Polish crowd at IEM Katowice 2015

Source:https://www.redbull.com/pl-pl/vide-najlepsze-momenty-iem-w-katowicach

 

   Currently there is still ongoing battle if esport should be considered just like traditional sport. In the near future we might also see video games as a part of Olympic discipline. There are some actions taken so that esports could be added to the Olympic programme as an official medal sport in 2024.

What is your opinion on this matter? Should esports join the Olympic games?

What do you think, is it good that esports is growing so fast (e.g. taking young peoples health into consideration)? Do you find that growth as a threat or as an opportunity?

Do you play any esport games? If yes, have you ever thought about becoming a professional esport player?

Esport tournaments are very popular, have you ever been to any? Do you even think if it Is interesting to watch somebody else playing video games?

Sources (access: 03/11/2018)

• http://www.polsatsport.pl/wiadomosc/2018-01-13/tworca-legendarnych-gier-esport-przescignie-sport/ 
• https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/aug/09/esports-2024-olympics-medal-event-paris-bid-committee
• https://www.qualitance.com/blog/future-esports/
• https://www.money.pl/gospodarka/wiadomosci/artykul/esport-w-liczbach-co-sprawia-ze-esport-na,94,0,2376798.html?fbclid=IwAR0Pw6Kj8N1y5GDcaDTHxfYwGswNoqx8EZmEDm5Z0G7KCjvx0glc1ngqGYQ

Week 7 [14-20.01.19]- HOVER CARS ARE ON THE WAY!!!

Source: Tesla.com

Elon Musk - inventor of PayPal, SpaceX, SolarCity, Tesla, and few more- just last week announced on his Twitter that his latest sports car Tesla Roadster will also be able to hover over the ground!

The new Roadster will actually do something like this https://t.co/fIsTAYa4x8

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) 9 stycznia 2019

Whole automotive world was shocked and mostly skeptical already when Tesla claims that Roadster will be able to reach 0-60 mph (0-97 km/h) in just 1.9 seconds and will have 640 (1000 km) miles of range. Since the last tweets of company CEO most people treated it as a joke ( c’mon we normally don’t see flying cars over our heads in the streets ) but he hardly deny, explaining that the car will use SpaceX cold gas thruster system located in place of the rear seats. The idea that was being delivered in June 2018 claimed ten small rocket thrusters placed seamlessly around the car which will improve top speed, acceleration, cornering, breaking and “maybe they will even allow Tesla to fly”. And for now on as we can see it escalated quickly.

I’m not. Will use SpaceX cold gas thruster system with ultra high pressure air in a composite over-wrapped pressure vessel in place of the 2 rear seats.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) 9 stycznia 2019

Let’s be honest- even if we’re talking about just lifting from the ground it’s crazy and still hard to believe. But on the other hand Elon Musk was never joking about any features that previous models of Tesla received- it was always just a matter of release time. 

We have to remember that when in the early 2000’s Musk announced that he’s going to build fully electrical car on a mass scale the industry was more than skeptical of his possible success- he did it. The same situation was with space cargo which was totally dominated by the government companies and for now on SpaceX overtake NASA by miles. Hyperloop- crazy idea of fast, public transportation was also the subject of many jokes back in the days but since then we’ve already seen many prototypes and at the end of the last year we’ve seen a real tunnel where the few journalist were invited to test it ( only in Tesla Model X for now ).

Personally I’m a big fan of Elon’s company management and I keep my finger crossed for him to succeed in any coming projects- including hover car!

If anyone would be interested, the new Roadster is expected to be available from 2020, priced from $200,000 but only for the first 1000 buyers. Then the regular price will increase to $250,000.

QUESTIONS:

1. What’s your opinion about hover cars at all?
2. Is it still Sci-Fi or we’re in the middle of breakthrough?
3. Would you consider Elon Musk as a visionary or he’s just trying to get attention for increasing sales?

Feel free to give your opinion and I hope we’ll bring some interesting discussion!


Source:
1. https://drivetribe.com/p/elon-musk-says-the-tesla-roadster-BG1e11qrT5WZwdIs77PdKQ?fbclid=IwAR0nl-3fguu22BpHoZ8Dg5U95AE95X66U1TuhEK9_wl_r4PhT5GzSbDLI1A&iid=BWPUvCN7RhCs6sMdP2s23A&utm_campaign=main+&utm_medium=fb&utm_source=organic
2. Elon Musk Twitter - https://twitter.com/elonmusk