#in application to mike before he was an avatar

[catwings-writes-things]

i’m re-reading ‘a world of his own’ and just… what the fuck did mike do to the lightless flame? “-I’d gotten into it with a few of them before-“ “-about the first time he pissed off the Cult of the Lightless Flame” like did he anger them multiple times??? “-Mike does not react well to being seen as an easy target-” did he fist-fight them?? did he make one go splat??? i don’t think they have lungs so like??? michael crew what tf did you do -possibly multiple times- to a CULT that can BURN you???

Well. You see.

Not too long after Mike joined the Fairchilds, he was introduced to several other avatars who either existed nearish to his home base or were (in whatever way) politically relevant to Fairchild family business. Standard procedure, you don’t have to like them, just don’t be rude. Mike had a script all set up, he’d fallen into a rhythm of initial pleasantries, answers to a few common questions, and then letting the other Fairchild who was with him do most of the talking (I don’t know who they were, but I do know they weren’t Harriet).

Things were going fairly smoothly until he was introduced to Jude Perry.

The nature of avatar society is such that the line between socially acceptable cruelty and a legitimate cause for grievance can be very, very thin, and often subjective. When she’s dealing with people who she grudgingly has to admit are important enough that it’s probably in her and her Cult’s best interest to avoid pissing them off too badly, Jude Perry is usually fairly skilled at staying just on this side of that line, and generally anyone allied with a group as powerful as the Fairchilds would qualify as important. But Jude was younger then, more reckless and less aware of the myriad ways power can manifest, and she didn’t bother to conceal her disdain for the twitchy little freak with the weird scar and the stilted, canned-sounding speech.

Honestly, it might’ve been better if she’d just insulted Mike directly. He was aware of the stakes, after all, and if she’d done that there’s a solid chance he would have swallowed his pride and let it go. But when Jude instead started sneering to the other Fairchild present about how their standards must be slipping, talking over Mike as if he wasn’t even there… well, that struck a nerve.

Don’t let the story of Icarus fool you. It’s very cold above the stratosphere, where the last of what you might call air thins out into the beginning of what scientists consider outer space. Cold enough that even a person made of molten wax who burns from the inside out will mostly solidify, given enough time. At which point… have you ever dropped a candle onto a hard floor?

The twenty-four hours after Harriet got that phone call were among the most stressful of her entire existence, which is saying quite a lot. During that time, she was simultaneously trying to keep the Cult of the Lightless Flame from declaring war on the entire Fairchild family (Jude was fine after the application of some friendly fire and honestly kind of respected Mike’s ability and willingness to stand up for himself, but she and the rest of the Cult agreed that nearly extinguishing her was a bridge too far), get across to Mike that being a Fairchild meant his actions affected the entire family, temper his visceral negative reaction to that idea enough that he didn’t just bolt and abandon his attempt to be part of the family entirely, and calm Simon down enough to avoid him deciding that having Mike as a Fairchild was more trouble than it was worth and kicking him out for the sake of the other members who would be harmed or killed by a massive inter-Entity incident (the incident Harriet was at that time trying to prevent). What was worse, as both the family’s best diplomat and the Fairchild Mike trusted the most (or, at that point, distrusted the least), she knew perfectly well that she had to be the one doing most of that. She could and did assign the task of dealing with Simon to another of the Fairchilds with people skills, but it was still incredibly challenging to stay on top of all that at once, not to mention terrifying.

Fortunately, because Harriet is a very good diplomat, Jude honestly did respect Mike’s reaction, and Mike did the work to put aside the years of hurt and anger Jude’s behavior had set off enough to process and absorb what Harriet was telling him, the immediate crisis blew over. However, the Cult of the Lightless Flame elevates holding grudges to a religious practice, and if Mike thought getting burned was a reason to avoid doing something again he wouldn’t be here, so there was really no way that was going to be the end of it. Fortunately, avatar social conventions allow for sincere but formalized and relatively harmless rivalries, and by the time A World of His Own takes place, the enmity between Mike and Jude (and, by extension, his people and hers) has settled into a familiar dance. They may be dancing through a minefield, but they both know the steps well enough that an explosion is unlikely.

Thank you for the ask, friend, and I hope that answered your question!

#fic: a world of his own #the jailbreak squad #jailbreak mike #jailbreak mike and harriet #mike and jude #asks and answers #anonymous #ableism mention

[i-love-sweet-william]

here have another Dream Post

I had a dream in which Will is an improperly installed (or rather, he's installed just fine but his external equipment is not) AI hologram friend. y'know, for little friendless losers like young Mike Wheeler. whose parents are concerned for his social skills.

Robin is the AI who helps guide/monitor the installation process btw even tho Robin and Will are computer programs, they're still gay af. and when Will grows up he's gonna cause Mike many emotional struggles.

(I'm telling you that bit about her preprogrammed self because there's a Teeny Tiny Baby angst scene of Will trying to contact her without internet and being sad that "she isn't real", at least for the moment. but he knows she's still out there)

anyway. so Robin's the program used to find the right AI friend, and gives step by step instructions on how to prepare the house/room, but unfortunately she can't physically force a user to do it right. and Mike's parents did not do it right, but still clicked OK.

during his setup (setup wizard lmao) Will gets a lot of basic info on Mike, has his resolution/size adjusted for onscreen and when projected, has Mike organize his interests (he likes everything on the list, but Mike's chosen order affects what Will wants to do more frequently), just a bunch of shit they can do without a projection....so they don't know shit's missing until Robin is already long gone

without any incoming data about.....literally anything, Will has nowhere to project himself, and nothing to interact with. he's not "scared" or anything, just wondering where everything is. since he can still see and interact with the computer screen, he spends a little time just....opening menus left and right searching for the connections/applications he needs, thinking maybe something is disabled or named wrong or something simple like that. he knows it's an external thing because he's perfectly functional inside the computer

meanwhile, Mike's just sitting like this watching this chibi avatar nyoom through shit that his brain can't even begin to read before the next window opens and Will has to fuckin. be like netflix and ask if Mike's still there because the cursor hasn't moved in years

(they do eventually get it all working, and altho there's brief angst with hands going through each other, it's quickly forgotten when Mike finds out that Will's hologram isn't just for his body. he needs all the sensors and shit so he can tell what objects are around him and can make his own copy to interact with, like for dinosaur toys, or paper and crayons, and even things that don't exist. if Will can find/generate a 3D model for it, he can project it)

spoiler alert: by the end of the au, Will has a human/cyborg body (I dunno how much mechanical shit is required before someone counts as a cyborg). but as to whether all his memories transfer intact........well. who knows

#stranger things #will byers #mike wheeler #robin buckley #byler #byeler #my post #art #dreams

[clementine-kesh]

Peter: *stuffing the pockets of his Burberry suit full of cocktail shrimp while aggressively sipping a G&T made with Lukas Distillery gin and Tesco Brand tonic.”

Elias: Hello Peter.

Peter: *jerks his hand away from the cocktail shrimp, smoothes down his suit jacket where a wet spot is slowly forming* Elias, fancy seeing you here!

Elias: Yes it’s quite funny that I would be here at the annual fear avatar get together and gift exchange. Very unusual for me, the largest and most important avatar of Beholding, to be at an event designed with the specific purpose of getting all the fear avatars together to schmooze, drink, and just leave the normies alone for one Eye-damned night while also exchanging gifts. Strange how I am here at this party and not outside terrorizing innocents with my large eyes and shiny bald head.

Peter: Did you just say-

Elias: *eyeing the expanding wet spot on Peter’s jacket* Are those shrimp in your pocket?

Peter: No.

Elias: Shame, I would have liked one. Who did you get in the gift exchange this year?

Peter: *awkwardly brushes a hand over his one shrimp free pocket where a small velvet box encasing his grandfather’s wedding ring is hidden* Ah, I got, uh, you wouldn’t know them. They’re new.

Elias: *raising an eyebrow* Oh? Are you implying my powers aren’t so sharp as to not know the name of every single person at this party, their social security number, and what outfit they thought about wearing tonight before deciding it was too risqué? Mike Crew might think no one knows how bad that electric blue suit looked on him but I do, I know.

Peter: Anyways I had a dream about you last night.

Elias: What happened?

Peter: Don’t act like you don’t know.

Elias: No really I was busy.

Peter: With what?

Elias: Watching Big Brother.

Elias: Also I know you got me in the gift exchange and I demand to know what my present is.

Peter: *fumbling the ring out of his pocket* Well I was going to get a very large, very tasteful portrait of you ruling over the world from your cursed throne but I couldn’t find an artist who I thought would do the feeling of looking upon a thousand fearful faces and rejoicing in their pain justice, so I got you this instead. *gets on one knee but as he does so just absolutely beefs it sending shrimp flying everywhere*

Peter: Ah fuck. *disappears in a puff of fog*

Elias: *picks up the ring Peter dropped* How romantic, unfortunately those alimony checks are the only thing keeping the institute going until we can secure ourselves some new funding. See you when grant application season is over, dear.

Nikola, from across the room: See, Jane, this is why you don’t date academics.

#the magnus archives #this ended up being so long im sorry to everyone who has to scroll past it

[imaboi3000]

Blog Post 1, Ass 3

From Runescape to World of Warcraft, the ability to explore a virtual world through the use of a personal avatar, participate in its activities, communicate with others, while simultaneously blurring the line between reality and fiction is astonishing.

However, this form of technology is majority used in medicine, entertainment and military. There are much more applications for this form of technology, particularly in education.

  In ‘Virtual Worlds’ produced by Real Life Productions, Assistant Head Mike Adams talks about how he wanted to investigate the potential of using the virtual worlds in education and soon discovered the potential of Second Life; an online virtual world developed in June 2003, where users are able to build, create, shop, and trade virtual property and services with one another.

Pupils at John Hanson Community School in Andover use this software to build in the virtual world, particularly for virtual engineering, and architecture.

Head of maths Helen Perkins describes the educational benefits of using virtual worlds with pupils in the classroom.

“We found that our students are very eager to take on information we give them but they’re less eager to actually go out to research things themselves and promote themselves. So, it’s a really good opportunity to say ‘This is some individual learning. You need to learn the skills.’”

Perkins also described the benefits in regards to collaborative learning between students.  

“We have students who are very confident working themselves but they’re not so good working in a group, and I’ve seen a change in the classroom situation of group work. One student tends to hide his work, whereas now he’s taken more of a sharing and teaching role.

In Mike Adams words; “I don’t see that they’ll be any subject in the end that could not make use of this in some way.”

  We are currently living in the digital age. Virtual worlds are emerging as a common ground among universities and academic institutions. For instance, the introduction of virtual campuses, virtual classrooms and even virtual field trips.

Take, for instance, the work of Josh Harle; a multidisciplinary researcher and new media artist.

One of his recent projects involves a 3D reconstruction of the Museum of Contemporary Art, in an attempt to create a game environment where you could walk through the museum, and see all of the artworks. It was designed to be as close as possible to the real thing, from the sculptures, to the video art.

This exact replica of the MCA has a lot of applications to education, rather than just being a game environment, and this isn’t limited towards the MCA.

Students can go on excursions or field trips, from the comfort of their own home, through the use of a virtual world. Through their avatar, a student would be able to visit places around the world that appear real and talk to other avatars. For example, students could visit the Louvre where they are free to observe the Mona Lisa or NASA where they can examine a rocket up-close. Virtual worlds are also excellent for distant education when students are unable to be in the same space as the educator, for various reasons such as distance, cost, or time factors.

  People today are more technological dependent than ever before, as well as their attention span being literal seconds until they are disinterested. A virtual world is more likely to grab their attention and keep them interested longer than reading from a textbook or watching a video. This is mostly due to the level of interactivity and active engagement that is required from the audience. Subjects that aren’t generally interesting like political issues, such as the case with Escape from Woomera.

Escape from Woomera is an unfinished first person, action-adventure game released as a Half-Life mod in 2004. Players play as Mufasta, an asylum seeker who speaks with other detainees and attempts to plot an escape plan, and they can listen to various experiences of asylum seeker NPCs, even escape through methods based upon the experiences of real detainees.

Another subject that regular people aren’t generally interested in are the possible futures mankind is heading to. Due to the endless possibilities, it Is frequently difficult to visualise. With the aid of virtual reality, the common person might be able to completely understand one’s vision of the future. Such as the case with Sounding the Future.

Users sit in a chair that is positioned in the middle of a projection, using a trackpad on the chair, users are able to point and play a recorded message that proposes a particular pathway for mankind.

Virtual reality can be incorporated into the simulators to enhance learning. As advanced human-computer interaction, the ability to simulate experiences is not to be overlooked. It creates a layer of engagement and understanding of the subject.

  Virtual worlds would be a perfect fit to be implemented in mainstream education. The advantages of virtual worlds are immense; from convenience, interactivity, and engagement. Many subjects in the curriculum are able to benefit from it, such as field trips, excursions, history, and even politics.

  References

Search.alexanderstreet.com.wwwproxy1.library.unsw.edu.au. (2017). Database Access - UNSW Library. [online] Available at: http://search.alexanderstreet.com.wwwproxy1.library.unsw.edu.au/view/work/bibliographic_entity%7Cvideo_work%7C1783775 [Accessed 27 Oct. 2017].

Virtual Reality Society. (2017). Education and virtual worlds - Virtual Reality Society. [online] Available at: https://www.vrs.org.uk/virtual-reality-education/virtual-worlds.html [Accessed 27 Oct. 2017].

TeachThought. (2017). 20 Uses For Virtual Worlds In The Classroom. [online] Available at: https://www.teachthought.com/the-future-of-learning/20-uses-for-virtual-worlds-in-the-classroom/ [Accessed 27 Oct. 2017].

EduResearch Matters. (2017). Why teachers should use virtual worlds. [online] Available at: https://www.aare.edu.au/blog/?p=1104 [Accessed 27 Oct. 2017].

Al-Elq, A. (2017). Simulation-based medical teaching and learning.

En.wikipedia.org. (2017). Instructional simulation. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instructional_simulation [Accessed 27 Oct. 2017].

Joshharle.com. (2017). About / Contact | Josh Harle | Australian Media Artist. [online] Available at: http://joshharle.com/about/ [Accessed 27 Oct. 2017].

#soma2480 #Ass3 #assignment 3