#minecraft taxonomy

[anonymous-witness777]

[Image ID: a speculative phylogenetic tree for all living things in Minecraft, including mobs and any "plant" or "fungus" lifeforms. The phylogenetic tree is illustrated using images from the game. The three highest domains are: Gramina, including grasses, vegetables, and most trees; Prismata, including creepers, slimes, and squids; and Velamina, including all fungi-like lifeforms, most animals, symbiotes (Wither and golems), and flowering plants. /.End ID]

Minecraft evolutionary tree of life, inspired by this one by NitroHydroRay. But in this one, life evolved very differently than it did on our world (it is UNHINGED). Click to zoom.

The clades are all invented, and I tried to name most clades (the ones lower than the three highest domains) according to the zoological guidelines: purple = superfamily, blue = family, green = subfamily, yellow = tribe, orange = subtribe.

[anthonihalibutshark3]

FARLANDER LORE?!? (Headcanon)

A Farlander is a being that originates from the ‘far lands’ of the specified planet. Places that are dedicated ‘far lands’ are either places in extremely high or extremely low altitude, like mountains or very deep caves/underwater trenches.

Mountain Farlanders are categorized by:

•Being able to sort of float.

•Being very in-tune with magical changes in environments and peoples.

•Their bodies appearing to split apart at random, with parts of flesh floating away or orbiting near the person.

•Needing to be attached to some kind of magically-imbued item for survival outside of the Farlands.

•Usually being entirely carnivores.

•Glowing eyes of cool-toned colors, usually a form of white.

•Very large lung capacity.

Cave Farlanders are categorized by:

•Smaller bodies, usually not growing more than 5”5.

•Elongated, skinny arms.

•Bodies seeming far more dense than usual human skin.

•Large ears.

•Being entirely carnivorous. Physically cannot digest plant fiber.

•Being very in-tune with the magic of their surroundings.

•Lack of eyes entirely.

Trench Farlanders are categorized by:

•Literally being unable to leave their home sea depth.

•Very large eyes for better eyesight under water.

•Lack of outer ear. Just has the holes.

•Lack of nose. Replaced by gills in various areas.

•Body being very stiff, almost exoskeleton-like.

•STUPIDLY magically in-tune with their surroundings. Can detect changes for miles.

•Responsible for magical ‘flare’s that don’t do anything except temporarily amplify the abilities of those at the surface water.

•Various shapes & sizes, body types, colors. Usually darker in skintone.

•Eyes can glow at will. Usually some sort of white or warm-toned color.

•Passive chemosynthesis.

The different cultures of Farlanders don’t mix often (if at all) due to dramatic differences in living spaces, but politically, they really don’t give a shit about each other.

Mountain Farlanders’ culture is categorized by:

•Thick, warm clothing with wildly different colors.

•Loud percussion music.

•Salty food, seasoned by what came from the animal killed.

•Grand performances of theater depicting historical events.

•Sacred appreciation for animal life.

•Long hairstyles.

•Beautiful jewelry made of various materials. Mostly gold & lapis.

•Honesty-first mentality. Very taboo to lie about anything above a white lie.

•Communal raising. Children are often taken care of by many people at once.

•Strong sibling ties. The bond between siblings is the strongest.

•An importance on acrobatics.

•An importance on written record.

•Polygamy. Two or more partners is common. Rare to see a monogamous couple.

•Matriarchal society.

•Communal economy. Makes it difficult to assimilate into human cultures.

Cave Farlanders’ culture is categorized by:

•Electricity being important. Very industrial society.

•Clothes made of fish membrane, if any clothes at all.

•Texture-based writing, akin to braille.

•Wide-spanning art pieces consisting of various textures to feel.

•Music focusing on carved wind instruments, acoustics, and vocals.

•Vast variety of food with a wide taste spectrum. Foods often have contrasting textures and tastes to make the dishes feel alive.

•Anything that can be killed can be cooked. Or eaten raw, depending on the person.

•Honorable cannibalism, see above point.

•Glorious stories of great poetry with emphasis on imagery.

•Reading material or spoken poetry being speculative, focusing on the future.

•Mostly monogamous with single children.

•Elaborate underground cities that have buildings ‘built’ (carved) close together.

•Skin-to-skin contact is done almost constantly. Diverse secondary communication through touch.

•Neither patriarchal or matriarchal in family households. Lack of any comparison between the sexes, aside from innate biological difference.

•Most cities are direct-democracies.

•Largest sex-chromosome variance in hominids due to insanely high quality healthcare.

•Economy is capitalistic with some regulation.

Trench Farlanders’ culture is categorized by:

•Clothing made from various animal life, ornate jewelry made of the shells of creatures at the sea floor.

•Music is performed using string instruments and percussion, with an extreme emphasis on percussive vocals (clicks, trills, etc).

•Detailed tattoos that cover the entire body.

•Carvings into surrounding stone that are usually supposed to detail a story. VERY rarely will you see art pieces that are simple.

•Vocal speech being incredibly vast, mostly consisting of clicks, whistles, etc.

•Respectful religious activities surrounding whale falls & wood falls.

•’Exposed’ burials. Body is left out outside of cities to decay to give back to the planet.

•Actually, these guys are pretty religious. Hands are pressed to the temple of the head when ‘praying’. Not really praying, per se, more like releasing thoughts and feelings into the planet.

•Hunting parties used to be in great demand, with the head of a family (polygamous in nature) usually the one organizing it. Society was formerly dominated by people collecting what they needed & being nomadic, but recently, people have started to settle into city/village life with jobs dedicated to hunting & selling food.

•Economy is capitalism with socialist values.

•Representative democracy is popular in these cities. Cities consist of several hundred villages, akin to what we’d consider countries.

•Overpopulation is a serious, sensitive issue. It’s considered taboo to discuss it.

•Caring for a child is considered the most selfless task, with families usually keeping to themselves rather than requesting communal effort.

•Not having a child is not looked down upon in more modern villages/cities. By not having a child, you are seen as respecting the needs of children by not taking more food/clothing/etc.

•In more traditional areas, not having a child is seen as being unable to give back to the community you grew up in. This idea is very quickly being challenged by recent issues of overpopulation and discussions of bodily autonomy.

•Education is of the utmost importance. Higher education (college) is required for mandatory schooling. Most exit school and enter the workforce at the human-equivalent of 30 years old.

•Religious wear is seen frequently in tattoos that depict your faith or your personal story. This is the same for art.

•While carving is a popular form of self expression, dancing is also very common. It’s combined with the voluntary glowing of Trench Farlander’s eyes to create stunning visuals.

[anns-works]

League Of Jay Tings (bc that right there? wasted potential)

The customizable character was a cool-ass feature and one of the best ideas Unagami had for the game. Even before Jay got sucked in, there were players running around with the ninjas as their skin.

(Scott got bored at one point and spent his time antagonizing the Red Visors in a Gold Ninja skin that was ridiculously expensive. Hw also lost a life. Totally worth it.)

On that note, I would like to point out that Jay and Scott's skins appear to be similar, so I'm guessing its one of the defaults that they ended up customizing (I imagine its like putting on a mustache or hat on minecraft Steve and calling it a day.

So, Jay's early days mainly included trailing around Scott cuz he was the only interaction he had with another person that wasn't just an NPC.

They finally encounter another another player but this one has a (surprise!) Blue Ninja skin. wat resulted was a ten minute long standoff between Jay and the other player which involved a lot of pointing and unintelligible noises.

The player bolted. Jay followed them screaming the entire time. Scott also followed cuz this was the most entertainment he's had in a long time. It's a miracle they haven't been discovered by any of the Visors yet.

The played leads them to a hideaway that had a LOT of people, all equipped with Blue Ninja skin.

Scott's previous amusement quickly turns into horror as he quietly goes what the fuck over and over again. Jay gets an idea like you know what, lets use this.

and basically thats how the League of Jay born in Scott's garage through Jay's ''diabolical" plan (he's making a safe hangout space for these kids and also letting them cause chaos)

(For convenience sake, lets just refer to og Jay as SRJ (after his gamer tag) ft. some of the other Jays from the league! w/ their nicknames. DeeJay777 is Dee. Jay22Walkin is Walker. BlueJay6669 is Blue. JayBird9000 is Birdy.)

Most of the things these gremlins do is mainly going around to vandalize stuff. Scott is apparently the "Master of Color" or whatever that may entail. It just basically means he can go around graffitiing "UNAGAM I UR MOMAS A HOE" or other stuff like that.

And back to the whole customizable skin bit, it was an instant hit cuz of the opportunities it presented. You could be a guy. You could be a girl. You could be as sexy as a kpop idol (is that in thing in ninjago?). You could be an eldritch creature beyond mortal comprehension if you're willing to spend up a few units.

Dee enjoys not having tits for a while. Birdy also loves the whole transmasc feeling. SRJ just updated his skin to be Like That™ to give everyone gender envy.

Unagami once released a feature in the game that would let you access different levels and mini-games based on your selected binary gender (back when that was still a thing). The League hated it and let him know dearly. So Unagami changed it into something else and threw in a couple units in the mix (a goddamn dance competition). This was an instant hit. They planed their next updates based on the League's reactions.

Unagami: I didn't realize it was you at first. But some of your actions proved to be quite educational.

SRJ, flashback to that one time he wrote "UNAGAMI I FUCKD U MAMA HERE" on a wall cuz he was feeling pissy: Sure man, don't mention it.

Also on that note, SRJ DEFINITELY founded the ninjago LGBTQA+ community. I meant ninjago in itself is a pretty non-heteronormative society and you can kiss whoever you want with no issue. But everyjay was trapped in the lair w/o Scott out nothing to do and he's bored out of his goddamn mind and just suddenly suggests coming up w/ names for different sexual orientations cuz why not? taxonomy is fucked but they're bored.

Walker has an anthropology degree and Birdy is studying gender so might as well begin.

After getting out they get awarded by the NU for their fantastic discovery.

SRJ gave up the mansion he inherited from Cliff Gordon to Scott and it sort of turned into a hangout spot for the League.

One League member said on Chirp (jokingly) that the League of Jay should have their own social media platform cuz they're too weird and are apparently freaking out people on Chirp. They get a reply from Blue who tells them she'll look into it, and two months later there's a new social media in town.

Lentils and beans of all sizes, I give to you TRip, ninjago tumblr. The buckwild experience ever. A huge hit among the serpentine immedietly.

Those iconic posts but ninjago style. Red floor at Darkley's. the three weed smoking ninjas. Don't you love the color of the gi. I like your shoelaces, thanks I stole them from samurai x. Garage ballpit.

[kchasm]

Ryu Number Chart Update: Darksiders

Here's a potential puzzler for you. Is Death death? (Stick with me for a moment here, okay?)

For some context, in the Darksiders franchise, Death—one of the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse—is a major character. Most media where the Horsemen are a Thing tend to have Death (the horsemen) be the same character as the general personification of death, just specifically doing the Horseman thing at the moment. Good Omens goes with this interpretation, if I remember Good Omens right, which I very much might not. It's been a while.

In Darksiders, however, the Four Horsemen are, uh, cosmologically complicated. Specifically, they're Nephilim—fusions of demons and angels yes I know that's not what nephilim are supposed to be I didn't make this game—who rebelled against the Charred Council (a mysterious body who nebulously keep the balance somehow; it's really not clear) and were in turn eradicated by the only four nephilim who sided with the Council. These four became the Horsemen, and were subsequently sent out as the Council's underlings whenever a Real Big Issue required that sort of response. In the four games in the Darksiders series, there's approximately one line that could maybe with some creativity and also if you looked at it sideways be interpreted as the Horseman Death being also Death in general, but... Nah, I dunno, man.

Anyway, that's why "Death/Grim Reaper" and "Death (Horseman)" now have their own respective points in The Chart. Don't at me.

Not being able to use the Grim Reaper skin from Minecraft to hop between Ryu and whichever Darksiders character you want is a bummer, admittedly.

Luckily, Lilith is a Marvel character.

(That's her in the background. That's her at the bar. Side. Losing her religion.)

Funny thing—Usiel (often seen spelled "Uziel" or "Uzziel") is usually depicted as either a fallen angel, or a demon. There are a few sources that put him on the side of being a good'un, though, so this portrayal is cromulent enough. I mean, as cromulent as anything from Darksiders can be in relation to varying and contradictory Judeo-Christian tradition.

(Per game lore, a bunch of pseudo-Celtic-Norsey Old Ones are hanging out in a side dimension or something. I dunno, man. Darksiders II was weird.)

Lilith appears in Darksiders II and Darksiders III, which is nice if you're trying to reach a character from Darksiders II and Darksiders III, but less so if you're working with the original Darksiders or Darksiders Genesis.

That's alright, though. Turns out the Four Horsemen are up and summonable in Scribblenauts Unlimited:

... Y'know, I really do think there ought to be a quicker path to Azrael that exists somewhere in the Wide Wide World Of Video Games, but if there is, it's not on The Chart at the moment, so it doesn't exist. Don't at me.

Or actually, do at me. Then I can put that game on The Chart, too, if it doesn't give my arbitrary taxonomy a tummyache.

Incidentally, because I read up on angels a whole lot going through these games and if I can't Show My Work on my own blog where else am I gonna do it: Here's a Thing.

"Now, hold on a tick," I hear you say. "What are Moloch, Astarte, and Dagon doing in this game as Lucifer's mooks? Astarte wasn't a demon; she was a goddess in Ancient Near East religion, sometimes considered the equivalent of Ishtar! And Dagon wasn't a demon; he was an ancient Syrian god of prosperity! And Moloch... well, actually, nowadays people don't think Moloch was even a Thing, but he was traditionally interpreted to be a Canaanite god associated with child sacrifice! Excuse the pun, but what the Hell's going on?"

You might assume that some Final-Fantasy-style hinkiness is afoot—that the creators of Darksiders Genesis named their characters after mythological figures that are thematically similar but ultimately unrelated (go on, try to convince me that any incarnation of Final Fantasy's Leviathan is the same one from the Book of Job) (Please do not actually do this)—but it turns out we can heap the blame on one dude in particular: John Milton.

That's right, it's all Paradise Lost's fault. Turns out that according to Miltonic lore, Moloch, Astarte, and Dagon were originally angels, but then joined with Satan in his rebellion, fell, and subsequently played as gods to deceive mankind. Now, is it a little iffy that Milton took a bunch of non-Christian deities and went "yeah, these were demons all along"?

Most def. He was following in well-established Christian tradition, though. Ba'al-Zebub was a deity of the Philistines, while Belphegor comes from the deity worshipped by Moabites at the mountain peak of Peor, biblically referred to as "Ba'al-pe'or." Astaroth is another one that comes from Astarte. And of course, the less said about Baphomet, the better.

All of this is a long-winded way of saying that no, I'm not counting this Dagon as the Syrian one. Or the Lovecraftian one, for that matter.

Don't at me.

[the-nebula-sys]

5 things you love (this is for everyone in the system)

So what you want is actually 40 things. I shall do that. But be warned. Some of us do not love more than five things yet. This is because we are all still so new.

I , Unit, love:

Doing construction work. Mostly hauling.

Farming. For the same reasons as construction work.

Eating. In headspace I cannot eat. Here however, I have taste buds. I like stimulating them.

Talking to my friends. I believe this is self-explanatory.

👑 I love these things:

Women

My accent.

Blacksmithing

My cats

Rabbits

📺 For me it's:

Women

My headmates

This one webcomic, High Class Homos (it's why Agatha exists)

My cats

Alright, it's Ellie time!

Speculative biology

Paleobiology

Taxonomy

Heat Death

The Outer Wilds

"I don't really have anything I like, sorry"-Alex

Void:

Engines

Darkness

Various abysses

My headmates

More specifically, Unit

Sieben:

Breakcore

The minecraft OST

The fact that I control the music in our head.

Bass

The Grand Maestre:

My lovely little hobbit hole

Helping others

Not being in fights

My friends

The purpose of our cats

I hope this suffices. Sincerely, Unit.

[mc-speculation]

I’ve been getting into taxonomy lately and now I’m thinking about making a taxonomy tree for Minecraft mobs

[bellshazes]

I really enjoy applying wrong taxonomies to things, like categorizing minecraft mods as maxis match vs alpha, or sits mods as vanilla+ or modded. functionally maxis match mods you'd THINK would be totally equal to vanilla+ in minecraft, but I think wicked whims is vanilla+ but not maxis match since its implementation is vanilla but it's far beyond what official content ever could be. supplementaries is slightly vanilla but very maxis match aesthetically. Hexcasting is aesthetically maxis match esp in that starting up requires only vanilla materials and gives additional function to amethyst, but practically speaking is deeply not vanilla. none of this means anything or matters but it's a fun thought experiment

[blind-bandit23-lolita]

Welcome to my home!

This is my side blog dedicated to lolita fashion <3. if you would like to know how to find posts check my Navigation.

─── ⊹ ⋆ﾟ꒰ఎ ♥︎ ໒꒱ ⋆ﾟ⊹───

Hi, I’m Lee! ૮꒰˶• ᴥ︎︎︎ •˶꒱ა My main blog is @blind-bandit23

❀ I'm a Bi, Genderqueer, man⚣

❀ I am proudly Autistic ∞

❀ I struggle socially, but I wanna make friends in the lolita community! feel free to dm me whenever and I’ll respond as soon as I can.ヾ(￣ω￣; )

❀ I have always used he/him but I'm experimenting with any/all pronouns. I don't want neos used for me though, I have nothing against them, they just don't fit me. Here's my pronouns page:

My other interests are: evolutionary biology, cultural anthropology, Minecraft, DOOM, taxonomy, accessibility, FNAF security breach, bone collecting, The Witcher, and Dinosaurs.

┌── ⊹ ⋆ﾟ꒰ఎ ♡ ໒꒱ ⋆ﾟ⊹ ──┐

My other blogs:

Main blog @blind-bandit23

Aesthetic side blog for my moon cored @blind-bandit23-moon

Liminal/WeirdCore/DreamCore side blog @blind-bandit23-liminal

Hardcore/emo/pop punk/metal side blog @blind-bandit23-music

Bone collecting side blog(CW: animal remains) @blind-bandit23-bones

└── ⊹ ⋆ﾟ꒰ఎ ♡ ໒꒱ ⋆ﾟ⊹ ──┘

Basic DNI + maps, zoos, TERFS, transmeds, JKR supporters, pro-ABA, Autism Speaks supporters, and people who use the term "aspie"

[minecraft-inspo]

I have a suggestion for the Minecraft taxonomy chart. Since lightning turns Villagers into Witches in the same way that it turns Pigs into Zombified Piglins, then that means Witch should be a branch off of Villager, possibly a dimensional distortion branch if we postulate that Minecraft Lighting has otherworldly effects. (Which it very well might given what it does to pigs.)

I've thought about lightning quite a bit, and decided ultimately to ignore it when I made the chart. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me for lightning, even if it's able to cause mutations, to be able to change one species into an exact copy of another. Maybe it's just magic - that's the issue with trying to apply biology to a game with fantasy elements.

[bretthandjob]

Mod post: Cornucopia Taxonomy

Hello my name is Cornucopia Taxonomy but you can just call me CT, I got by He/They pronouns. I will post on this blog along side my friend, Pigeon, I will try to post whenever I can as I do have a job and currently searching for another. Writing is a way for me to get back into doing certain things.

Fandoms I will write for:

Sally Face (NO INCEST or UNDERAGE CONTENT)

Inside job

Deltarune/undertale (NO UNDERAGE CONTENT)

Camp Camp (NO UNDERAGE CONTENT)

Gorillaz (NO UNDERAGE,NO ABUSIVE CONTENT)

Moomin

Bojack horseman

Minecraft (No Dream SMP/MCYT)

Creepypasta (NO UNDERAGE CONTENT)

Marble Hornets

Midnight Gospel

Gravity Falls (NO UNDERAGE CONTENT, NO INCEST CONTENT)

Homestuck (no homestuck 2 or epilogues)

More fandoms will be added later

For Homestuck content, I will only write about stuff when the comic ends, the characters are canon adults by that time.

I will write:

Teratophilla: the sexual and romantic attraction to monsters. BUT the monsters must be able to give some form of consent

NSFW

SFW

Certain ships (depending on the context)

Certain kinks (depending on context)

Headcanons (depending on context/content)

I will not write:

Underage character NSFW, if a character doesn’t canonically grow up to over the age of 18, I shall not write about them in a sexual manner. However if a character canonlly grows up (example Sally face: Sal is 28 when he dies) I will write nsfw of the ADULT.

Certain Ships I will refuse to write about, this includes ships that have underage children. if a character is in a relationship but is underage I will only write SFW content and will not be writing NSFW

Certain Kinks/Fetishes are out of the question, this includes intense or violent fetishes. Snuff and non con WILL not be written

Yandere content or anything representing toxic/abusive relationships, this includes weird possessive content

Certain monsters/horror characters will not be written due to the manner on how some of these monsters act or are unable to actually give consent.

Certain Fandoms: Danganronpa, Friday Night Funkin, Dreamsmp

I will not write content about real people, actors, you tubers, etc.

Feral content, I will NOT write z00 content

Anything Pr0shipper related, this includes incest, necrophilia, raceplay (slave/master), ped0philla, etc.

I will not write content for Dream smp/mcyt, I am a fan of the content, HOWEVER I will not write content of the characters as many of them are underage and many of the content creators are NOT comfortable will fan fictions and other content being made of them or their characters.

[redwinterroses]

(hope the first ask arrived okay, im keeping a close eye on tumblr being weird)

Endermen Gendermen

so almost everybody has heard the big common theory about the origin of Endermen by now, and this won't be much different from it, there's just some added flavor (i haven't watched any of the matpat theories btw)

there was someone once, who invented the magic that powers spawners and nether portals, and someone who made the end portal frames and went through for the first time

were they players? maybe, maybe not. they certainly couldnt have been too different, everything they left behind isnt too different from what players create after all. and maybe they were players, and some of them stayed and are still here and never changed much at all (or maybe they're just that slightest bit Off, because they're pretending, but they don't fit in at all, not anymore)

but that doesn't matter, because this is about the ones who went through the portal and travelled the End, and those who decided to stay there and explore and settle down and live. whoever they were, they knew about magic the players now don't, magic that is black and purple... just like the Void in the End. (but not like the end portal frames, which are yellow and green like a certain new monster that's not quite yet in the game, curiously enough) So its save to assume they observed the End and the Void that's woven through it like nowhere else, and they learnt how to make something from nothing and put spawners into the world. But the Void is dangerous, and it warps and twists anything in contact with it for too long. Everything native to the dimension has adapted, but whoever the newcomers were had not yet

flamingos aren't born pink, they eat shrimp full of red pigment which seeps into them and changes the colors of their feathers. whoever the endermen originally were couldn't teleport, but live on a diet of chorus fruit for long enough and their magic will seep in. and so will the Void itself, coloring what touches it too much a deep black over time, and finally making eyes grow purple and magenta. who knows how gravity works in the End with its floating islands, if it works at all. but weird gravity affects anatomy, stretches and compresses limbs into thin sticks. (the only thing left to remind of their origins are the pearls, which are once again a certain interesting shade of green)

the mob behavior and apparent lack of sentience is a different tale entirely. at some point, too much curiosity turned into hubris and became their downfall. they messed with too much of the Void's magic, let it seep too much into their bodies and minds. There were other beings out there who were much more powerful, maybe even made of the Void itself. And one of the Enderdragons, or many of them, one day decided these people made of Void are all too easy to control (be it as an army of foot soldiers, food that delivers itself or as a way to stop them from hunting the dragons for ship decorations)

an actual clearly defined classification of Endermen as a type of mob is straight up impossible due to this complex origin. can you call something that was almost a player once a simple mob? especially when some still try to communicate, some even show signs of being able to learn your language? (i imagine taxonomy in minecraft as a special kind of hell all thanks to endermen and endermen alone, screwing up any system someone tries to come up with)

did these people build the End Cities? they certainly had a hand in it, along with the others that used to live in the End. Especially in introducing the concept of "boats" and being the reason why there's diamond gear and enchantments in the End, despite the place lacking everything required for the creation of these things

oh yeah and of course, "ender" is a very old name for the Void! Enderdragon, Endermen, Eyes of Ender, Enderpearls? who knows about that weirdly green stuff, im waiting for 1.18 for that (the eyes of ender sure are an interesting key, with one part of it being carried by the ones who first used them and the other being created from parts of a mob that does not naturally exist anywhere, only spawning from strange blocks created with the colors of the Void)

thats all for now because in my timezone its the middle of the friggin night, up next in a few hours: End Avians, Elytra and a few more obvious mcyt references

Okay, I am in love with the concept of the Void itself being what changes and warps things in the end.

And with "ender" being another word for the Void -- the irony being that this is how a lot of players choose to get home when they get lost in the End: stow all your gear in an enderchest and then jump into the void. The player-ender, as it were.

(pineappleoracle headcanons, part 2)

[tf2workbench]

Player taxonomies

People enjoy video games in different ways and for different reasons. That’s pretty well-known. Game designers and psychologists have done research on this, creating a handful of classifications for players.

The most well-known one is called Bartle’s Taxonomy, which was developed by researcher Richard Bartle in 1996. It originally applied to massively multiplayer online games (MMOs), but can be interpreted to work for almost any kind of game. It uses a simple two-axis graph: “Acting [on]” vs “Interacting [with]” on one axis, and “Players” vs “World” on the other.

This is pretty simple. If you enjoy acting on the world of the game, you have Achiever tendencies; if you enjoy interacting with the world, you have Explorer tendencies; and so on and so forth. For my part, I fall pretty squarely in the Explorer part of the graph, a little toward Achiever.

Now, I want to stress that Bartle’s Taxonomy, by virtue of being simple, doesn’t come close to representing the full diversity of people who play games. I have a fantastic talk from GDC (Game Developers Conference), which goes deeply into the psychology of twelve player motivations:

Action motivations (Destruction, Excitement)

Social motivations (Competition, Community)

Mastery motivations (Challenge, Strategy)

Achievement motivations (Completion, Power)

Immersion motivations (Fantasy, Story)

Creativity motivations (Design, Discovery)

All of these motivations want different kinds of things from their games. For example, Action motivations tend to enjoy fast-paced gameplay of varying kinds.

Of course, because I’m interested, I took the test on at the Quantic Foundry website. It gives you a percentile relative to the other people who took the test.

With all twelve types included, I scored as follows:

Excitement: 34% Destruction: 22% Competition: 19% Community: 52% Challenge: 72% Strategy: 5% Completion: 34% Power: 17% Fantasy: 7% Story: 32% Design: 3% (Note that this refers to aesthetics like character customization. Interest in game design itself falls more in Discovery.) Discovery: 56%

This is, well, pretty accurate. I enjoy difficult games, often with action elements and some explosions; however, I’m also very invested in learning about the games. I spend a lot of time trying things in-game and exploring wikis, and, well, I run this blog.

TF2 is really the odd one out of the games I enjoy, most of which are singleplayer and more focused on exploration. When asked for this quiz, I listed Stellaris, Minecraft, Terraria, Darkest Dungeon, and TF2, in no particular order.

As you can see, I scored pretty low on Competition and Power, both of which are in ample supply in TF2. Community is a relatively high score, but Excitement and Destruction are pretty low. Many of the things I scored high on are not things TF2 is known for.

This is such a broad topic that I’d rather let you all draw your own conclusions about it, whether it’s from your own individual perspective or your thoughts on game development. What does this make you think? Where do you fall? Why do you play the games you play? How are those games designed for you?

[aion-rsa]

Tumblr’s Top Fandoms of 2020

https://ift.tt/37LLRPI

It’s been a weird and often devastating year, and our social media has reflected that. Tumblr has just released its top fandoms of 2020 and it’s fascinating to see how a year of pandemic and quarantine has affected transformative fandom and broader cultural trends. In a year when almost everyone spent a lot more time at home, Animal Crossing: New Horizons was the most blogged about topic on the social media platform, followed by animated dramedy Steven Universe, Belgian SKAM adaptation WtFOCK, K-pop supergroup BTS, and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. We talked to Tumblr’s Trend Expert Amanda Brennan about how she interpreted the biggest trends of the year, how this was a big year for animation and international media, and why 2020 was the year everyone stopped worrying about what was cool and just embraced what they love. But, first, some 2020 Tumblr statistics:

Top 20 of 2020 

Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Steven Universe

wtFOCK

BTS

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Artists on Tumblr

Critical Role

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Boku No Hero Academia

Black Lives Matter

Pokémon

COVID-19

The Witcher

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

The Magnus Archives

Reylo Rey & Kylo Ren, the Star Wars universe

RWBY

Sanders Sides

Catradora Catra & Adora, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

Zuko | Avatar: The Last Airbender

Top 25 Ships 

Rey & Kylo Ren, the Star Wars universe (m/f)

Catra & Adora, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (f/f)

Richie Tozier & Eddie Kaspbrak, It (m/m)

Geralt of Rivia & Jaskier, The Witcher (m/m)

Aziraphale & Crowley, Good Omens (m/m)

Zuko & Sokka, Avatar: The Last Airbender (m/m)

Luz Noceda & Amity Blight, The Owl House (f/f)

Kara Danvers & Lena Luthor, Supergirl (f/f)

Park Jimin & Jeon Jungkook, BTS (m/m)

Dean Winchester & Castiel, Supernatural (m/m)

Live Action TV

Wtfock

The Witcher

The Mandalorian

Good Omens

Skam France

The Umbrella Academy

Doctor Who

Supernatural

The Untamed

Killing Eve

Animated TV

Steven Universe

Avatar: The Last Airbender

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir

The Owl House

Invader Zim

Ducktales

The Dragon Prince

Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Gravity Falls

TV Characters

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

Zuko

Catra

Jaskier

Sokka

Adora | She-Ra

Geralt Of Rivia

Katara

Aang

Crowley

Aziraphale

Movies

Frozen

The Old Guard

Star Wars: Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker

Birds Of Prey

Twilight

Hamilton

Little Women

Parasite

Sonic Movie

Lord of the Rings

Movie Characters

Kylo Ren

Harley Quinn

Bucky Barnes

Batman

Steve Rogers

Tony Stark

Rey

Spinel

Peter Parker

Richie Tozier

Actors

Chris Evans

Henry Cavill

Sebastian Stan

Adam Driver

Tom Holland

Pedro Pascal

John Boyega

Robert Pattinson

Tom Hiddleston

Timothee Chalamet

Actresses

Katie Mcgrath

Jodie Comer

Daisy Ridley

Margot Robbie

Zendaya

Lili Reinhart

Naya Rivera

Brie Larson

Florence Pugh

Jodie Whittaker

Books

Harry Potter

Percy Jackson & the Olympians

Warrior Cats

The All for the Game series

Pride And Prejudice

Midnight Sun

The Secret History

The Raven Cycle series

Carry On

Six Of Crows

Authors of Books

J.K. Rowling

Rick Riordan

Erin Hunter

Nora Sakavic

Jane Austen

Stephenie Meyer

Donna Tartt

Maggie Stiefvater

Rainbow Rowell

Leigh Bardugo

Video Games

Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Among Us

Pokemon Sword And Shield

Undertale

Minecraft

Sims 4

Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Danganronpa

Overwatch

Persona 5

Video Games Characters

Obey Me Lucifer

Obey Me Mammon

Tom Nook

Link

Sans

Cloud Strife

Dandelion

Kirby

Raihan

Arthur Morgan

Animal Crossing Villagers

Raymond

Marshal

Poppy

Fauna

Julian

Claude

Marina

Stitches

Bob

Ankha

Anime & Manga

Boku no Hero Academia

Haikyuu!!

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure

Beastars

Naruto

Mo Dao Zu Shi

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba

One Piece

Fruits Basket

19 Days

Anime & Manga Characters

Midoriya Izuku

Bakugou Katsuki

Dabi

Wei Wuxian

Aizawa Shouta

Hawks

Todoroki Shouto

Kirishima Eijirou

Lan Wangji

Levi Ackerman

And, now, our chat with Brennan. (This Q&A has been edited for clarity and length.)

Den of Geek: I’ve heard you refer to the users as the Tumblr hive-mind or the orchid, whatever it is. I was just hoping you could generally talk about what the Tumblr hive-mind is to you? Which is the way of saying, who uses Tumblr generally? And how and why? If you can even extrapolate those things. Go!

Amanda Brennan: Most of our audiences is Gen Z; it’s at 48%. Our new user registration with Gen Z is even higher; I’m pretty sure it’s 60%. These are people who come to Tumblr because they love something so much they just want to share that love with people who love it as much as they do. I know that feels like a giant umbrella, but that’s the thing: Tumblr is what you make of it. If you love sports, sports Tumblr is intense hockey Tumblr, so good. If you love TV, you’ll have all of that. K-pop Tumblr, totally amazing. Furby Tumblr is off the hook and they make these incredible creations. I’ve recently gotten into Stained Glass Tumblr.

There’s layers upon layers. No matter what you love, there’s something on Tumblr for you. That’s both the easiest thing and the hardest thing about it. You have to go in being like, “Alright, I’m so into this thing, what does Tumblr have for me?” It’s not like the other social media networks, right? It’s really about what you love rather than who you know.

Yeah, I like that. I did want to ask you specifically about the process of how you track trends and how you make decisions about what to track?

We built the whole taxonomy that powers fandom metrics based on what Tumblr talks about. I’m a librarian, as you know, and I kind of reverse engineered it. My first year in review at Tumblr in 2013, they handed me a spreadsheet and they’re like, ‘OK, go to town.” So I was like, “Cool, let me pull out the threads that I see.” We really let the data tell us how to analyze it, if that makes sense. So when it comes to what we track, I have a running notebook that I’ve kept all year of the things that I’ve wanted to have in year in review.

The Witcher has been on my list since it came out. Animal Crossing has been another one. The Old Guard had a huge moment. I was just writing notes, like, “Oh, what is this thing? And we’ll keep an eye on it.” I have an amazing team. We all are into our own pieces of Tumblr. So we’ll all work together to just keep an eye on different fandoms. I don’t know if you know about Minecraft YouTuber fandom?

Yeah. I was actually listening to the latest Fansplaining last night and they mentioned it in that. I was just like, “OK, a new thing.” There’s always a new thing to learn about.

There’s always a new thing. That’s the beauty of Tumblr. It’s so fluid in fandom. You can go from one fandom to another and then you’ll see like, “Ooh, what is this thing?” I’ve got Supernatural on the brain, as who in the fandom doesn’t right now. [This interview was recorded on the day of the Supernatual series finale.] I was telling someone, the whole reason I got into Supernatural was because I saw a gif from the show on Tumblr and I was like, “What is happening? Let me go back and watch this entire series.” That’s the vibe of Tumblr, right? You see a thing and you’re like, “Oh, I need to know everything about that.”

Read more

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By Juliette Harrisson

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Supernatural: The Internet’s Best Reactions to the Series Finale

By Kayti Burt

Hmm. Yeah, for sure. I was interested in talking to you or getting your insight into how trends you saw or data you saw that were maybe tied to the very unique experience of being in the middle of a pandemic.

Yeah. I was looking back at the predictions that I had made last year and like four of those things didn’t even come out. It was just so unexpected. There’s two things that we really saw tied to the pandemic. The first was “cottagecore” as an aesthetic. It kind of touched everything because it’s soothing, it feels comfortable. In March and April in the early days, when you didn’t know what to do, you’re stuck in a forest isolation. Cottagecore has got this vibe of chosen isolation. It was very fantasy-driven and something to reach out for.

That evolved also into nostalgia. I think this year’s really big theme is nostalgia and comfort. We saw huge returns to fandoms like Twilight and Avatar: The Last Airbender. Avatar going on Netflix was such a world-breaking moment. Not only did it introduce a new, younger fandom to the show, there’s a lot of Avatar content once you get into it, but it brought people back to a younger time in their lives. Remembering and rewatching. The Avatar fandom, as you see, it’s all over all of the lists. Zuko is number 20 on all of the things on Tumblr this year. Avatar was able to redefine people’s year. Because you know what, we’re all at home, I’m going to binge Avatar. Reignite my love for this fandom.

A lot of TV too, because TV is episodic, you get lost in it. Movies had a really rough year. When we look at the movies, movies like Megamind were trending this year. That comfort movie that you go back and watch 17 times.

Yeah. I was curious about that too. The balance or proportions between older fandoms and newer fandoms, like the Avatar example. I was curious how much that changed this year? How much you thought it was tied to the pandemic? How much is tied to accessibility and things, like Avatar coming to Netflix? Do you think that is an interest in older fandoms? Or that it’s going to continue past the pandemic?

Yeah. I think another high-level theme of this year is the rejection of cringe culture. I’m getting a little ahead of myself, but I’ll tie it all back in. I think people are realizing what their values are and not being afraid to admit that they like a thing. Not caring what other people think of the things they like. Unabashedly loving the things they love. That’s why I think we do see a resurgence in these older fandoms.

Because people who may have loved them their whole lives, or may have been nervous to share that they liked it when they were younger they’re not afraid anymore. They’re like, “You know what? Twilight, it’s not that great, but I love it. This is my emotional support vampire.” Recognizing that you can be critical of something. You can see where its flaws are, but you can still love it. That duality of fandom is something that is going to persist into next year. That freedom to just like a thing, because you like it. Be able to see its flaws, but still be like, “You know what? Overall, this brings me joy and the world is melting down.”

I’m on board with that mission, that plan for 2021. I did want to ask about the role of non-English language media, especially live action stuff. Generally because I was someone who fell into The Untamed this year, but I saw that there were two SKAM remakes as well that are on the top 10. In general, have you seen over your time at Tumblr, and maybe especially in the past few years, an increase in non-English language content? Do you think that is mostly English speakers and Americans being more open to that or being able to find it easier? Or do you think it’s also an influx of people from outside the United States coming to Tumblr? Or both?

Interesting. The data that we work with is actually stripped of all user information. I don’t really have an insight into where these people are coming from. I do think that users in general are more open to content in any language. Tumblr is more interested in characters than where the story comes from. Thinking about The Untamed, it’s just such a compelling story, it doesn’t matter if you have to read subtitles.

To parallel it to something in major pop culture, Parasite. People are becoming more open to just watching content because it’s good. SKAM is really fascinating to me because the number one live action show is wtFOCK. Then, I think two years ago, 2018, the original SKAM was number one at some point. This show really transcends language barriers. It transcends geographical barriers. At the core, the story of the teenagers is just so relatable to anyone. We’ve seen lots of translation happening and not just into English. Translation of SKAM into other languages, just because people want more of these characters and their iterations, no matter what locale they’re based in. I’m waiting for some professor to have a class on it, because it’s so fascinating to me.

I also wanted to ask about how you thought the election cycle affected Tumblr this year, if there were any trends or data that you were like, “Yes, of course this is what people were doing on Tumblr this year.”

Tumblr has always had this backbone of social justice. This year, it came out stronger and in more force. No matter what fandom you were in or interests, everyone I know on Tumblr was participating in sharing social justice stuff. Even politics, if they weren’t from the US, those kinds of memes that were like, “I feel for you”. The way that fandoms do. I see your show is ending and I’m sorry.

The one thing that Tumblr really had leading up to the election was such an appreciation for the postal service. Especially Gen Z, their world is so much larger due to digital connection. Mail order, just as well as sending letters and keeping in touch with your digital friends is just as important as keeping in touch with your IRL friends. All of the artists on Tumblr, so many of them turn to mail order to replace cons. This is their livelihood. By the time the fall hit and the postal service was having all these issues, people are ready to jump in. There were the Transformers dressed like mail people.

https://morethanmeetstheass.tumblr.com/post/626466946047705088/i-completely-forgot-to-post-this-guy-here-this-is

There were all these comments like “support your postal workers,” “support the USPS.” It really boils down to the fact that we are all connected and the mail service is something in the US that connects everyone. Even overseas. Supporting these artists whose livelihood went from IRL to online and having to deal with all of this.

And the “Super Putin Election.” The confluence of those elements. I was just surfing on my personal computer and I was on Tumblr and I saw a post being like “Destiel’s canon.” I’m like, “Excuse me?” I immediately texted my team. I was like, “Open up your work computers, let’s go.”

It’s time.

We all signed on trying to figure out what’s going on and watching the numbers. That, to me, is thrilling. I said this to someone else, but it felt like the night of The Dress. To have that moment where everyone on the internet is feeling the energy. The things that kept getting layered on top of it. Putin and Sherlock and all the anime mysteries. It was breakneck speed, and it was really thrilling just to be in that moment, and so Tumblr.

I did want to ask you about an increase in animated fandom and potentially anime fandom. A lot of these things I’m anecdotally or just observing things in my own little corner of the internet. It just seems like animation and anime, probably at least partially because Netflix has accumulated a much larger anime collection and seems to be investing in these sorts of things. Have you seen that increase? Could you talk about it, if so?

It plays into what we were talking about earlier, twofold. That nostalgia vibe, the late nineties anime vibe, that art style. Also your comfort zone and being open to more stuff just because it’s good. Not worrying about reading subtitles and stuff like that. But anime in general had a huge year. Haikyū!! ending also transposed into other fandoms because that moment of the final panels, it brings people together. People being so excited to see this massive thing come to a close. You might not be familiar with Haikyū!! in general, but you’ll see the fanart and be like, “Oh, I feel that.” It’s the emotion of it.

The popularity of Avatar did also open people’s doors to like, “Oh, well, what else can I watch? What else do I want to learn about”? Boku No Hero was consistently on our Week In Review every week. BEASTARS is another Netflix anime that’s at the top. Then Mo Dao Zu Shi, thinking about The Untamed, the story of Mo Dao Zu Shi is so fascinating. I don’t think I can name another piece of content that has that storyline. People are just ready to take it all on.

I did want to ask you, I think you’ve probably talked about some of these already, but what were some of the biggest fandom moments for you on Tumblr this year?

Oh boy. So many things going canon. Catradora was a huge, huge moment. I cried watching that. The Witcher, Jaskier, introducing this whole new world to Henry Cavill. I saw a post yesterday that was like once Superman was goth, a lot more people realize that he’s hot. Repurposing and looking at things in a new way. Among Us, so huge. There is a user who is doing a comic about White and Pink being in love. She’s giving them lore. She’s giving them backstory, personalities. It is amazing.

Unus Annus, I am not very into streamers, but I’ve caught some of those videos. When they had their final stream, I was tuning in. I was like, “Are you really going to delete the channel?” Then they did. Just watching the fans have that moment, even though I am not in that fandom, it was wonderful so meaningful.

Harry Potter being taken by the fans. Fans own Harry Potter now, and that’s what matters. The Old Guard also came out of nowhere and really blew Tumblr away. The Immortal Husbands. I love that ship. I’ve got to touch on almost all of the places, MCR, My Chemical Romance. Those fans have woken up and they didn’t get their tour, but they will. They’re not going to sleep until they do.

Because we maybe all have Supernatural on the brain, to a certain extent. I’m just curious how you think, that show’s been on for 15 years. The fandom has gone through literal generations. How do you think the fandom is going to change?

There’s always going to be a supernatural gif for everything. People will continue gifing it. It’s going to surpass what it is and it’s going to become that comfort show. This is a personal anecdote, but when I go to the dentist, every single time supernatural is on. It’s just like, “Oh, I get to watch my boys while I’m getting my teeth cleaned. That’s good.” It’s always going to be there. It’s always going to be there for people when they need it the most. We’re going to see a lot more fan creations. People love these boys, men now they’re adults. People love these characters. I haven’t watched this season. I am going to watch the finale tonight. I’m going in almost cold. I know that a lot of fan favorites have returned. My prediction for Supernatural fandom going forward is seeing these side stories come through in fanfiction even more than they already do. Lots more Charlie. That’s personal of mine because I love her.

I don’t think you’re alone in this.

Yeah. Who doesn’t love Charlie? Seeing these smaller characters come out and just shine in their own fan works, more so than the world might’ve provided them in canon.

It feels dangerous to make fandom predictions based on what happened this year, but if you have any predictions and or hopes for the coming year in terms of Tumblr and fandom?

Where we’re at now and going forward, it’s all about true authenticity. Screw what people think. We’re rejecting our old ways of thinking. We’re about flipping perspectives and forgetting what you thought was important in exchange for what you truly love. 2020 has helped us all figure out what our values at our core are. It’s about choosing something that makes you happy, that supports you, and your people. Choosing the happiness of those around you and making sure that you’re fighting for the goodness in life. Which sounds really sugar sweet, but one of the things, again, that I love about Tumblr is it is about putting people first based on the things they love. That’s what I see happening.

Explore the rest of Tumblr’s Year in Review lists here, and let us know what your biggest 2020 fandoms were in the comments below.

The post Tumblr’s Top Fandoms of 2020 appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3lPIRa9

[bellshazes]

Hey I hope this isn't too forward or anything but if you'd feel comfortable sharing I'd love to read your paper on inescapable cycles that you were talking about. It sounds really interesting and if there's any LL parallels that would be fun to think about as well haha

No pressure though, and good luck presenting it!

Ps: Really appreciate all the work you do for the deranged bdubs fans out here ^-^

omg not forward at all especially as this is a wonderfully strong bit of motivation to stop whining abt revising it and instead actually do it! this is a link to the paper, but I'm going to sum it up below to get to the bits that made me insane bc I was writing it more or less during LL:

although a lot of academic research on games focuses on games as a vector for modifying human behavior (e.g. gamification of habits via apps like Habitica), games in a world in which nothing changes and there is no escape from the existential weight of inevitable, inescapable cycles are cut off from the possibility of meaningfully changed behavior and instead represent explorations of understanding.

we can understand the degree of resonance between the content of a game (or theater/performance, as performance fits into Piaget's taxonomy of games and play) and its players/audience by thinking about the magic circle, which has a contentious history of meaning but boils down to the communal space in which play takes place, “not a perfect separation of a game from the rest of the world, but an imperfect separation that players negotiate and uphold.” some performances, such s the famous San Quentin Godot production render this transparent; there is a perceived unity of the context of the play and the real-life context of the performers/audience. (my paper goes on to argue that this, alongside shockingly good stats re:recidivism rates for participants of prison theater workshops, leads to a call to action to utilize freire's critical pedagogy to transform the world etc.) broadly I think the healing power of theater/games in a world devoid of hope specifically because they are collaborative acts of imagination can fulfill solnit's description of hope as "an axe you break down the door in an emergency with."

with regards to Last Life specifically, i think in the context of watcher lore and the general but not universal decision to keep 3L and LL totally separate, they are an interesting twist on my argument about games without time loops, where the character does not experience resets even if the player fails and has to restart a level countless times. the games-within-the-game during both seasons, most notably tango's lava trap and bet your life, are examples of games as power grabs, or at least attempts to destabilize power (lives others have) for the fun of it. partially due to who tango is a a person, presumably, but also because 3L/LL are games in the sense that they are a set of communal actions taking place within a magic circle (minecraft, but also the various web of relationships btwn players) and even have bonus things like "rules" and "mechanics," but they are also play in the sense of performance.

I've talked before about how much I love that bdubs is the most committed to upholding continuity across non-LL series, as well as him and Cleo making explicit references to and even decisions based on their partnership in 3L. etho & bdubs partner up because their relationship transcends individual cycles! that is their whole point! the mechanics of LL in particular try to enforce a narratively interesting break with the past but bdubs & his partners most of all follow the exact same futile pattern as didi & gogo in Waiting for Godot: they try to play other roles (playing pozzo & lucky vs. the various negotiations when bdubs is red), which ultimately cannot be sustained as the force of inevitable repeating cycles bears down on them (godot fails to arrive vs. the end of one season but promise of the next), despite the explicit affirmation of their lengthy friendship and devotion to each other (fifty years bit vs. he loves me/love ya). you could probably get a whole lot out of the way bdubs attempts to perform being red but fails pretty fucking badly every time, from the way he builds lava traps for "leverage" rather than uh the murder he's obliged to at least pretend to do or compulsively defending loyalties he's technically not allowed to reciprocate and dying as a result of them.

also, one of my favorite genres of movies is "what if you had a fucked up relationship with your best friend that slowly and then rapidly deteriorated into tragedy and maybe one of you dies or possibly worse" (mikey & nickey, the most movie of ALL TIME, oslo august 31st, girlfriends, the long goodbye 1973 and the original novel which is the most book of all time; also, I see a darkness by will oldham, tmg's alpha couple and more music). godot, in bruges, and.... ethubs fall into this category.

[edutinkersblog]

Learning in the virtual world

Virtual worlds are intriguing, fascinating environments where students may gather online for regular class activities such as lectures, debates, case studies, projects, papers, examinations, and laboratories. Tools like the live class, learning management software, VR/ AR, and gamification of content can be used to make learning engaging and effective in the virtual (online)world. Classes consist of both synchronous and asynchronous activities. But what about virtual learning that has gained popularity in recent years? In this blog, we will discuss learning in the virtual classroom and how it’s changing the face of education.

Need for learning in a virtual world The goal of education should be to teach students how to study, think, and create. Learning can be a process of discovery and reflection. The traditional teacher-centered, site-bound paradigm should be replaced with a more holistic approach.

Traditionally, students are passive in teacher-centered classrooms. Learning is successful only when learners connect what they already know to what they will learn. Students must be able to connect their information to real-life situations and engage with others for learning to be relevant.

Virtual learning provides teachers the scope to conduct student-centric classrooms. This type of teaching can help students internalize their knowledge and apply it in different contexts. In this regard, teachers should consider the cognitive ability and information base of their students when determining what to teach.

The case for virtual environments in learning Classes conducted through learning management systems are frequently referred to as virtual classes, but in reality, the scope of virtual learning is vast. For example- initially, there was a tight distinction between games and virtual worlds, but they have merged over time. Minecraft: Education Edition is a wonderful illustration of this. When a player enters Minecraft: EE, they have the option of playing in survival mode or constructing mode.

Amazing benefits of virtual environments Let’s look at some of the characteristics that make virtual worlds such a great learning environment:

Encourage higher-level thinking:

Students can use virtual environments to explore, analyze, evaluate, and create material, all of which are higher-order tasks according to Bloom’s Taxonomy. Furthermore, VEs enable the students to advance to the highest echelon of the SAMR framework, redefining student success. Finally, the four C’s (creative ability, communication, collaborative approach, and critical reasoning) are readily fostered and analyzed inside virtual settings.

Enable construction and production:

Virtual worlds’ capacity to allow users to construct and create is one of their most enticing features. Virtual simulators, such as a virtual hospital for training medical personnel or a virtual battleground for military missions, are among the options. Users may also construct or reinterpret pieces of art and digitally recreate ancient architecture such as medieval buildings, the Roman Coliseum, or coloniaColosseumes.

Promotes self-expression:

Almost all virtual worlds also include customized avatars that allow users to express themselves in the digital domain by selecting clothing, tools, hairstyles, and so on. Furthermore, virtual classes allow students to experience real-life experiences and go on virtual trips that are usually not possible in the real world due to geographical distance or lack of resources.

Make true collaboration possible:

Most virtual worlds also provide incredible collaboration potential for groups of students to develop together. Because socializing is an important part of the experience, they frequently feature chat applications for interaction, and some even incorporate voice tools for enhanced cooperation. Also, virtual learning can enhance the teacher-student relationship for a better learning experience for students. https://edutinker.com

[edwardpotts]

U.S. Spending in Post-Apocalyptic Mobile Games Has Doubled During 2020

Player spending in mobile games with post-apocalyptic settings increased by nearly 106 percent year-over-year in the United States during the first three quarters of 2020, Sensor Tower Store Intelligence estimates show, making it the fastest-growing game setting by revenue.

This analysis is powered by Sensor Tower’s new Game Intelligence features, which can delve into titles by setting, art style, camera POV, and theme. For this report, we looked at the top 100 revenue-generating titles by each descriptor to identify the top performers. These new features provide publishers with another powerful data set to utilize in their analyses that enable a deeper look into the market and their competitors. They follow the addition of Game Taxonomy to the Sensor Tower platform, which segments games into relevant genres and subgenres to support publishers in efficiently identifying key trends.

Game Setting Growth

The Post-Apocalypse setting, top titles of which include State of Survival from FunPlus and Last Shelter: Survival from Long Tech, saw the fastest growth of all game settings, with player spending rising by close to 106 percent Y/Y in the U.S. for Q1 to Q3 2020 to approximately $384 million. The second fastest growing setting by revenue during this period was Modern, which increased by about 51 percent Y/Y to $3.7 billion, making it the most lucrative game setting . Ranking No. 3 was Historical, which saw player spending grow by more than 45 percent Y/Y to about $739 million.

Art Style Ascension

Retro - Low Poly was the fastest growing game art style in the U.S. during the first three quarters of this year, with revenue rising by nearly 95 percent Y/Y to $672 million, driven by titles such as Roblox from Roblox Corporation and Minecraft from Mojang. The No. 2 art style by revenue growth during the period was 3D Anime, which saw player spending increase by 84 percent Y/Y to close to $323 million. The 3D Realistic art style rounded out the top three, with revenue for these titles growing by about 54 percent Y/Y to approximately $1.7 billion. The most lucrative art style was 2D Cartoon, which generated about $6.8 billion in revenue, up 38 percent Y/Y.

Camera POV Popularity

Third-Person was the fastest-growing camera POV in the U.S. during the first nine months of 2020, compared to the year prior, with spending in such titles increasing by nearly 53 percent Y/Y to approximately $1.4 billion. Revenue for games utilizing the Third-Person camera POV was led by PUBG Mobile from Tencent and Fortnite from Epic Games, despite the latter title’s removal from the App Store and Google Play on August 13, 2020.

The No. 2 fastest riser among camera POVs was Dynamic, which saw an increase of nearly 50 percent Y/Y to approximately $1.6 billion. Isometric, meanwhile, ranked No. 3 for yearly growth, with player spending up about 44 percent Y/Y to approximately $5 billion, which also makes it the top grossing camera POV type for the period.

Intelligent Insights

Previously, we utilized Sensor Tower Game Taxonomy to produce a deeper analysis into how mobile game genres are performing. Our new Game Intelligence features offer the ability to delve even further and in more granular detail to see which game settings, art styles, camera POVs, and themes are hot right now. Through this analysis, we can see that games with a Third-Person camera POV are seeing the fastest growth, backed up by the immense popularity of titles including PUBG Mobile and Fortnite, before the latter’s App Store and Google Play removal. Such findings can provide publishers deeper insights into emerging market trends, which could be crucial when tracking competitors and researching viability of their titles.

Sensor Tower’s Store Intelligence platform is an Enterprise level offering. Interested in learning more?

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