Restart

MAY 2015

TRANSHUMANISM:

Writing Our Own Future A Little Story About

OPERATING SYSTEMS

D&D EVOLUTION

COMPETITIVE TF2

Unrecognized Space Projects Past and Present

RESTART May 2015

Letter from the Editor 3 Contributors and Biographies 4 Amber’s ASF 5 - 6 A Little Story About Operating Systems 7 - 10 How operating systems work

The Central Processing Unit 11 Parts of the CPU

How to Design a CPU 12 How CPUs are designed

Unrecognized Space Projects Past and Present 13 - 16 Military plans for the past and scientifc plans for the future

The Spacecrafts of Today 17 - 18 D&D Evolution 19 - 22

From pen and paper to modern RPG games

Competitive TF2 23 - 26 Daisuke Tashiro Photograph:

The View from Mount Tubakurodake

A Brief History of 27 - 28 Valve Transhumanism Writing Our Own 29 - 32 Future

The future of transhumanism

33 - 34 Youtube

An overview how Youtube works and a few popular channels Wikepdia (alienware):

William Vega (Source Filmaker):

Arena_nucleus (TF2)

Alienware Laptop

Cover art credit eta.com

Letter From the Editor

“So I bought a truck…” Every time I tell that great story of how I negotiated my way out of having my truck sold for scraps and was saved by valiant vigilantes, I start it with that simple statement, “So I bought a truck.” Of course, this never happened in real life. No, this is one of the countless experiences that people have through technology, to enrich their life. Because that’s what it’s all about in the end: making life richer, better, more satisfying.

We life in a digital age where even what we consider new today could become obsolete tomorrow. Everyday, new technologies are created more and more quickly, each becoming more perfect than the previous, and as the French writer Antoine de Saint Exupery said, “Perfection is not achieved when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”

-Jacob Nannapaneni

Photo and right page photos by Izzie Mohr

Amber Carlson

Contributors

Amber Carlson spends her free time playing D&D or computer games. She enjoys DMing by creating new worlds with complex histories and mythologies. Currently learning to code, Amber hopes to design computer games as well. Her favorite subject is math and she hopes to build a career in engineering after she graduates from college.

Aidan Dressel

Aidan Dressel is an amateur artist who casually passes his time reading fictional novels, playing computer games, and occasionally sketching buildings and nature. For several months he has been imagining and drawing the art for his first ever computer game with his friend, which will be a horror game based on the short story “The Yellow Wallpaper� by Charlotte Gilman.

Aidan enjoys learning of the new discoveries in astronomy and working towards his dream career of being a graphic artist.

Will Vega

Will Vega enjoys playing Team Fortress 2 and drawing. He recently constructed his own gaming computer and has taking up amateur animation with Source Filmmaker. He plays jazz drums in the Stage Band and the Jaguar Band drum line.

In his limited free time, he likes to crochet, watch Parks and Recreation (often both at the same time), and run.

Kitty Williams

Kitty Williams, an aspiring psychologist/park ranger, enjoys playing piano and violin, riding and working her horse Missy, backpacking in the mountains, and writing fantasy stories with her close friend, Vesper. For several years she was part of the First Lego League Paragon Prep robotics team. In the past she has learned coding in both Java and HTML, mainly writing text-based adventure programs. She enjoys learning about physics, space, and expanding her field of knowledge.

Video and Pen and Over time, there have been a plethora of events through the evolution of video and D&D games. These events mark the greatest steps in fantasy entertainment.

1947

1958

Cathode Ray Tube Amusement Device

1971

Chainmail

Release of Tennis for 2

While not well known, Chainmail paved the way for D&D as the first pen and paper game on the market.

Predecessor to Pong, Tennis for 2 was the first video game in history.

First known interactive electronic device was the first step toward what we think of today as “video games.�

Commonly believed to be the first video game, Pong was the first video game that really hit the streets paving the way for countless other games.

Release of Pong

The first home gaming system. It allowed people to play casually from home increasing the market and demand for video games greatly.

Odyssey released

1975

1972

2014 5th Edition D&D released 5th edition simplifies combat dynamics as well as adding some new character option such as sub-races.

2008 4th Edition D&D released

4th edition changes combat dynamics and adds a much more complex economic system to the game.

Screenshot taken by Amber Carlson from the game Dragon age Origins by BioWare

0 6 MAY 2015

1976

First Edition of D&D released

D&D popularized RPG games, marking one of the greatest stepping stones in both video game and pen and paper game history.

The first text based adventure game quickly popular paving the way for many similar games.

Release of Colossal Cave Adventure

1977

2003

D&D version 3.5 released 3.5 was made to fix issues with 3rd edition by clarifying ambiguous rules and balancing game play.

Paper Games Over Time by: Amber Carlson

1980

Release of Advanced D&D

Advanced D&D was a more complex version of the original game branching off for the more hard-core gammers.

1987

Release of Zork

Zork popularized text based video games creating a huge and loyal fan base from which the video game industry could begin.

1989

Release of Dungeon

Another popular textbased video game, Dungeon shared even more resemblance to D&D.

1992

This popular arcade game introduced the video game market to a new group of young consumers.

Release of Pac-Man

1982 2000 3rd Edition of D&D released

This introduced the famous D20 (20-sided die) system. There were also other edits to game play.

Legend of Zelda becomes available

1998

Dune II Popularizes Real-Time Strategy Games Based on the best selling book series, Dune II quickly earned its place in the gaming hall of fame.

One of the first massively popular games, Legend of Zelda’s uniqueness earned it a huge fan base.

1995

First Game FAQ Game FAQs was the first site to host a gaming FAQ where gammers could trouble shoot and communicate with each other.

RESTART 0 7

A Little Story about Operating Systems A

nyone who’s used a computer has used an operating system. It’s what makes the computer run. It is the life and soul of the machine. So exactly what is it?

An operating system can be broken up into several basic parts: the GUI (graphical user interface), kernel, device drivers, and system utilities. These parts make use of the hardware of the computer, such as the CPU (central processing unit), RAM (random access memory), and motherboard. Everything works together to run the computer.

The very core of the operating system is what is known as firmware, or software that is hard coded into the computer. At this point, “It’s a little bit hard to say what is hardware and what is software,” says Paul Meyer, a silicon chip designer for ARM. Firmware is code stored in the ROM (read-only memory), not meant to be changed by anything. On a BIOS (basic input/ output system) booting computer, the BIOS reads from the ROM to start everything else up, and that code isn’t meant to ever be touched.

The operating system today known as Windows started back in the 1980s when Microsoft had DOS, their Disc Operating System. Windows was only a desktop environment, one of many at the time, a program with a GUI that ran inside of DOS.

Microsoft kept evolving and evolving Windows until, with the release of Windows 95, it became its own operating system.

Since the Mac OS evolved on its own, independent of Windows, since its birth in 1984, everything from the ground up about the two are different. “Just everything is different,” Russell Coleman says. “Even the way they draw programs to the screen.”

On the surface, the GUIs of the two systems are different, which people tend to notice.

(This is why we have two distinct cults of Windows or Mac followers.) Another thing people notice is how the file organization systems differ. With Microsoft, the differentiation between file directories is a backslash instead of a forward slash.

Everyone has found that programs don’t work across platforms without some additional help. When downloading something from the internet, you have to choose the proper operating system. The reason -- system calls for nearly every single task are different. A system call is how a program requests a service from the operating system’s kernel. For example, creating or accessing a file on the hard drive, execution of a new process, etc, are all things that have system calls. The kernel handles all these requests and translates them for the CPU and other

electronic components of the computer.

One way Windows programs can run on a Mac (or vice versa) is via virtual machine, such as WINE. A virtual machine creates exactly what you’d think, a virtual computer, by taking chunks of every resource your computer has (RAM, CPU, and so on), running Windows on this virtual computer and then running the Windows program in this virtual machine. “As you can imagine, that takes a ton of resources and is very slow,” Russell says.

Another place virtual machines are found, one most of us use regularly, is Java. Java, originally developed by Sun Microsystems and today distributed

by Oracle, was developed to be an entirely crossplatform language. Languages such as C compile directly to machine code, but different operating systems need different binaries.

Sun’s solution? Java. Java is the language the user codes in. It is then compiled into something no machine uses, called bytecode. The bytecode is then run through a Java virtual machine and translated into whatever instructions the CPU needs. This process is very slow since it needs to be translated and everything, however, it runs on almost any machine.

“Java is a fairly high level coding language, so it takes more time to do just about anything, just because there are more things being done with each action that...are designed to make it more user friendly, but also slow the processes,” says Alex Carter, a freshman at LASA.

So what’s the difference between Java and JavaScript? “This is the same, or a similar question as asking ‘what is the difference between ham and hamster or a car and carpet?’” says Russell. “They share the first few letters [of the name].”

JavaScript,. a standardized scripting language, Image by JOSE MARIA SILVERIA NETO on Flickr

“ “ is related to ECMAScript, which is used for client-side scripting on the web. On a webpage, HTML5 would be used to make some basic elements, such as a button, CSS would be used to make everything look nice, but with only html there’s no interactivity. JavaScript enables the user to interact with the web page.

JavaScript isn’t compiled into bytecode but rather interpreted, “Which is even slower than Java, which is quite a feat for a language,” Russell says.

Google developed the V8 JavaScript engine that uses a form of pseudo-compiling that makes everything run much faster. Java and JavaScript do share some syntax with each other, but not much. Java needs to be in a class or an interface whereas in JavaScript you can just write stuff.

One of the risks associated with the internet is malware. Unwanted, unsavory programs that download themselves onto your machine and steal your information, wreaking havoc on your life and making you miserable. Maybe you call them viruses you’d be wrong.

There are three major categories of malware: viruses, worms, and Trojans. The goal of a virus is to duplicate, spread, and destroy. Many viruses hide behind a mask of some innocent program, while they slip onto your computer, duplicate themselves, attach onto any computer accessible through yours (via email attachments or network connections), and begin to destroy your computer.

One of the most famous viruses is Love Letter/I LOVE YOU. An email would show up in your inbox, with the innocent attachment named “I Love You.” When the user downloaded it, it didn’t reveal a heartfelt confession but rather overwrote the user’s image files and began to run amok. It emailed itself to the first 50 contacts in the user’s Windows address book, and within hours it was a tech pandemic.

Image by DUSTY DINGO on Wikipedia

Surface mount electornic components

Image by UNKNOWN on wallpaperswide.com

Trojans, named after the infamous Trojan Horse, pretend to be something they’re not so that the computer lets them in. Trojans are generally non-replicating. One famous one is the Storm trojan.

Emails with subjects such as ‘230 dead as storm batters Europe’ or ‘FBI vs Facebook’ would show up in the user’s inbox. The computers with Storm downloaded began to communicate to one another, forming a bot network. As there was no central computer, it was nearly impossible to kill Storm, though the threat was eventually contained.

The last category of malware is the worm.

Worms are very similar to viruses, self-replicating with the intent to spread malicious code throughout the user’s system. Worms quite often spread over networks, taking up as much bandwidth as possible and making the user’s life miserable in any way possible. Something unique about worms is that they don’t need to hook into an existing program, as viruses do, they can simply exist on their own.

So next time someone claims their computer has a virus when it’s running slowly, you’ll know that it’s probably not. Also, next time someone heartily proclaims their love for Mac or Windows, smile.

A computer’s motherboard

Central Processing Unit This is the brain of the entire computer. The type of CPU shown here is a microprocessor, common today in laptops and cell phones. It makes a computer run by performing basic logical, arithmetical, control, and input/output operations specified by programs and the computer. Art and story by Kitty Williams

L2 Cache This is the secondary cache for temporary data files (L1 being first). Files here aren’t found as fast.

ALU (Arithmetic Logic Unit) This piece handles all the logic operations of the computer.

It is the fundamental building block of all modern CPUs.

This is the brain of the processor. It directs the various parts of the computer in how to respond to program’s instructions.

This is where information is stored (that isn’t data) for easy access.

This is normally instructions for programs.

This is a coprocessor designed to help the ALU with large or complex math operations.

L1 Cache (data)

Control Unit

L1 Cache (instructions)

FPU (Floating Point Unit)

This is the first cache where temporary data files are stored. If files are stored here, they will be found faster.

Input-output Management Unit This unit handles all the interactions between the CPU and the rest of the computer.

Registers The registers are used for temporary storage of data, instructions, and addresses during the execution of a program. They hold 8-bit chunks of information.

How to design a CPU

CPU design is one of the most prevalent problems in technology today. Every new chip is designed to run faster and more efficiently. To do so requires the calculations to run faster than before. This is the process involved in designing microprocessors.

All images from wikipedia.org unless otherwise noted

Starting small To start designing a processor, you first take one or two transistors. Each one has a value of either 1 or 0, on or off. The transistors are put together to make small chunks of logic, such as an AND or an OR gate.

The die from an Intel 8742.

Transistors on an integrated circuit.

Putting things together The chunks of logic made in step one are then assembled into more complex units, such as an adder or a small unit of storage.

Silicon circuits on a microprocessor (from flickr)

Turning code into pictures The silicon chip is made up of a bunch of little rectangles. A projector projects the shapes onto the silicon. The code is translated into a set of little rectangles that is stored as whatever it is, say a NOT gate. The gates are then assembled (as per step two) into a chip.

Finished microprocessors ready for implementation.

From code to chip Once all the pictures are made and the code is done, machines very carefully cut the materials and assemble the chip. Chips are then implemented into the consumer market, where they make the next phone run faster.

Unrecognized Space Projects Past and Present By: Aidan Dressel

ForestWander photo:

F

The night sky seen in West Virginia

or centuries, people have looked up into the heavens and have observed the masterpiece that continues to form above their heads, for some of their jobs would even consist of just observing and understanding its elusive ways of both amazing and terrifying humanity at the same time. Eventually the telescope would be created, and many civilizations would observe the stars and the planets in a much more detailed manner, where they could accurately sketch the

surface of a nearby planet.

However, since humanity has discovered rockets, its time of observing the planets from far is slowly drawing to an end, as they now are capable of reaching the celestial beings they have observed for over two hundred millennium.

Ever since humanity discovered rocketry, several organizations of scientists and mechanics have thought of and manufactured wondrous inventions such as the space

shuttle, allowing them to reach areas where no man has ever been before. With this invention, many people have considered the exploration of the universe, however, the cost of a space shuttle can go over $200 billion dollars and take more than a decade to construct, so only a few groups have been able to able to afford to execute their plans in exploring space. One of these organizations being NASA, which is well known for their Apollo missions, however, there are

other less known organizations and projects for the exploration of space, and some of them had plans that would do similar things as the Apollo missions, while others sought to do even more.

In order to compete against Russia during the cold war, the United States Air Force wrote several reports for projects

that would push the US into completing many firsts and have an advantage in space over the rest of the world.

These reports included Project Horizon and the Lunex Project, which consisted of the ideas that the US Air Force had that would let America reach the moon first and even settle

on the moon. However, these reports were not approved by the US government, as the ideas that the United States Air Force had were not complete and the US did not have much information about traveling in space.

Even though these projects were not supported, other groups with similar ideas

Concept art for the Colonization of the Moon NASA concept art:

were not discouraged. In fact, a few years after these reports were made, the group known as NASA took up a new project with the support of the US government and sent humanity to the moon and back. However, NASA never set up a base on the moon, which is something that many people today are attempting to do.

Having studied the moon as a lunar geologist for over 40 years in several organizations including NASA, Dr. Paul D.

Spudis is one of the many people trying to put a base on the moon. In the past, Dr. Spudis provided many ideas and plans on settling on the moon to other programs and organizations with similar goals, and with the help of Tony Lavoie, the director of Space Systems Programs at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, they have made a manageable plan for a lunar base. Their plan consists of

sending robots to scout out the lunar poles for a better estimate of the amount of ice water contained there, to have other robots that are remote controlled from earth go there to set up a simple moon base for 10 years, to set up a way of transportation in between the moon and the earth, and to finally send humanity to the moon to finish the base and start living there.

Once the base is set up on the poles, Dr. Spudis and Mr.

Lavoie believes that humanity could move on to the rest of the moon or other celestial beings.

“Ultimately, the entire Moon is available to us, but first, we need to learn how to live off the local resources and the best place to acquire those skills are near the poles,” stated Dr. Spudis.

Furthermore, Dr. Spudis’ and Mr. Lavoie’s plan is not only manageable, it is also sustainable and affordable as

“Ultimately, the entire Moon is available to use, but first, we must learn how to live off the local resources”

an entirely different colony on another celestial being could be done within about fifteen to sixteen years with less than eighty eight billion dollars. Moreover, Dr. Spudis has also remarked that their plan could be made into effect immediately with the technology that America has and uses currently. However, there are a few reasons why America or humanity itself

The full harvest moon on 29 September, 2004 Ole’s Astronomy Site:

hasn’t started a plan like this yet, one of the biggest reasons being the different views and ideas within the politics of the world.

“Political winds are difficult to predict accurately. Six years ago, we had a program to return to the Moon. Three years from now, we may have

one again,” says Dr. Spudis.

Even though Dr. Spudis’ and Mr. Lavoie’s lunar base plan isn’t currently supported, there are still other plans that go even beyond the moon and are supported by most politics. One of these projects is called Mars One.

Starting from 2024, every two years Mars One would send 4 astronauts to Mars in order to slowly colonize part of the planet, which will continue until the base on Mars becomes permanent and is fully operational. Because of this project, a multitude of people are getting excited for

Pexels Photos of Universe:

Artist’s Concept of the Milky Way Galaxy

the expansion beyond the earth, which in turn has influenced all kinds of new ideas and plans for the expansion of humanity.

With the help of these inspiring projects for settling on other celestial beings, many people, such as Alison Earnhart, an astronomy teacher at LASA

high school in Austin, Texas, and Dr. Paul D. Spudis, expect other great plans for the future of space exploration and believe that humanity will continue on and on beyond our home planet, no matter the size of the obstacles that block the path ahead.

“It will not be smooth sailing. It is inevitable that there will be disasters along the way.

Astronauts will die. Mistakes will be made. But if we keep forging ahead, eventually I believe we’ll succeed in colonizing other worlds,” says Alison.

The Spacecrafts of Today

By: Aidan Dressel

The Great Space Race was an internaitonal competition to create better ships and to go farther than any human before. However, just because that race is over doesn’t mean we have to stop inventing.

SpaceX Concept Art

: The

Dragon V2

The Dragon V2 The Dragon V2 is the second version of SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft which will be a human operated vehicle capable of soft terrestrial landings and propulsive landings. This version compared to the original Dragon adds new computers, redesigned solar arrays, and a new outer mold line. The spacecraft was unveiled on May 29, 2014, and the test flight has been planned to occur in late 2015 or 2016.

XCOR Aerospace Conceptual Art:

The Lynx spacecraft

The Lynx Spacecraft The Lynx is XCOR’s first attempt into joining the commercial reusable launch vehicle market. The Lynx has room for two passengers and will be a human-piloted spacecraft capable of reaching suborbital flight (330,000 ft) for a half-hour and will be designed to allow forty flights before preventive maintenance action. The first test of the engine was conducted on the fifteenth of December in 2008, and the tests for the entire spacecraft continue to this day.

Virgin Galactic/Mark Greenberg:

Spaceship Unveil

The SpaceShip Two The SpaceShipTwo spacecraft is owned and produced by Virgin Galactic, and they plan to use the spacecraft for space tourism above the atmosphere in suborbital flight (330,000 ft). The spacecraft was first presented to the public on the seventh of December, 2009, and the first one constructed successfully performed its first powered test flight on 29 April, 2013. Virgin Galactic has now been taking bookings for these tourism flights for some time, with the initial ticket price of $200,000 (USD) per ride.

The Orion Spacecraft Approaching the Robotic Asteroid Capture Vehicle NASA Conceptual Art,

The Orion Spacecraft ”NASA’s Orion spacecraft is built to take humans farther than they’ve ever gone before. Orion will serve as the exploration vehicle that will carry the crew to space, provide emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during the space travel, and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities. Orion will launch on NASA’s new heavy-lift rocket, the Space Launch System.”

- NASA

The Dream Chaser NASA:

The DreamChaser The Dream Chaser is a reusable crewed suborbital and orbital liftingbody spaceplane that is under the development of the Sierra Nevada Corporation. The spacecraft is designed to carry two to seven people from and to low earth orbit.

The Dream Chaser will be used for space tourism and carrying cargo for various organizations, and could also be used in conventional runways in airports that allow commercial flights.

D&D Evolution Amber Carlson From the Pong to Dragon Age, video games hold an uncanny resemblance to pen and paper games. Is this similarity coincidence, or is there more to it?

Picture from clipartlord.com

From the release of Tennis for Two (a what makes it fun or not, you know the graphics are predecessor to the famous game Pong) in 1958 cool, and ... I love good graphics, but ... no matter to Dragon Age Origins in 2009, video games how good the graphics are… if the creative aspect all bear an uncanny resemblance to the pen that went into the game isn’t very interesting, no and paper rpg game, Dungeons & Dragons, amount of graphics is going to save that,” Freeze says. but did they really evolve directly from them?

How much of the creativity is lost in video

Joshua Freeze, a video gamer and D&D games? “You’re presenting the players with one player says, “the first computer game probably world and one storyline,” says Manners. “Hundreds any of us played, of my generation anyway, was a of thousands of players been able to enjoy the same typed game called Zork.” In Zork game, the player world all together but with... their own individualized spawns outside a white house and finds their way stories.” The dungeon master is replaced by game into the basement.

He describes designers.

On one hand you have This photo was taken by Metoc and ettided by gameplay as being, “totally D&D kind a whole team of designers working Drilnoth from Wikipidia of things except… slightly modern together to make the adventure, times you know they gave you a while on the other, there is only one flashlight instead of a torch… [as adventure that has to be compatible you try to] not be eaten by the with hundreds of thousands grue.” This is, however, coming of players. DMs provide the from a D&D player. David freedom to venture off from Gubbay, player of Magic the story line and bend the the Gathering says, “I don’t edges of the world, whereas see any connection right computer games are confined now. I think that the world to the options that the game of games is pretty expansive, designers have anticipated. but video games, hard core Which is better? Josh says, “[I video games are a league would prefer a game] with the into their own.” So, which is creative effort more on your local right? Were video games based DM.” Having a ‘local DM’ provides on D&D and if so, how much? an almost infinite supply of original,

The first text based, individualized stories.

Campaigns adventure game, The Colossal Cave can last for decades with the same This is an example of a D20 used Adventure, while less well known characters in the same world provided the in RPG games such as D&D or popular than Zork, was a huge DM continues to write story for it. Part of stepping stone in video game evolution. what makes D&D special is that the players Its creator, William Crowther, says “I decided I write the story as much as the DM does. Computer would fool around and write a program that was a games may have choices, but they can only go down re-creation in fantasy of my craving, and also would plot paths set up by the game designers. If a group be a game for the kids, and perhaps some aspects of of Gnomes travel up from the south looking to hire the Dungeons and Dragons that I had been playing” mercenaries, when the characters suddenly decide In game, the world is described from an omniscient, to go visit the elves. A good DM will allow them to narrative, sarcastic being, not unlike a dungeon abandon the created plotline, even if it requires them master. The role of the dungeon master has to be to improv and fill in the blanks. Computers, on the filled, either by “the DM, or in the computer’s case, other hand, are cannot think on their own or keep the game designers,” Joel Manners, a computer up with players trying to wander off the edges of game designer, says. They create the game and the created world. However, the creativity that D&D can be described as “the determining factor of allows for comes at a price as the rules must be able

This is a character sheet from the D&D character creator. Compare this to the character creation screen for Dragon age Origins.

Screen shot taken by Amber Carlson from the D&D 3.5 charector creator on exel.

to handle any situation the DM can come up with, they were picked up from video games. In this way, creating very complex, confusing rules, whereas in the two species of games coevolved off of each other. computer games, “you can transcend, kind

D&D, throughout its history, is famous of the nitpicking that D&D has you know for bringing friends together to play a where they have to come up with game cooperatively together. “I like all these thousands of little rules it [D&D]… because it reminds me to cover any creative situation of playing with my friends.... for because you’re presenting the me, playing games whether players with one world and it’s computer games or one storyline,” says Manners. board games or whatever

There are other is more about the people elements than the DM, that I’m playing with and however. One of the most less about the games common appeals in video themselves.” says Freeze. games vs. pen and paper Manners agrees,+ “pen games is the graphics. “They and paper games are really [video games] create a much fun because you are always richer experience to present with other people, right? You to you that you get to interact get to it’s a party. Everyone’s Joel Manners with,” says Manners. Graphics working together cooperatively have evolved, “to the point where sitting around a table”.

How the graphics are astonishingly real can video games compete with now and that’s pretty cool obviously with human interaction: by adding human the pen and paper games that we play, we have our interaction.

The first video game, Tennis for little figures that we use and that’s neat,” Josh says. Two, was infact a two player game. Today’s most Figurines in D&D were a trend only started after video popular style of multiplayer games are the infamous games became popular, so it could be concluded that MMORPG’s or massively multiplayer online role

“The transformation from hey we all sit around a table and play games to computer games... you could draw direct parallels between.”

This the Character creation screen for Dragon Age Origins Caompare this to the D&D creation screen abovel.

Screen shot taken by Amber Carlson from Dragon Age Origins by BioWare.

This picture was taken by Wikipedia user Moroboshi and posted on Wikipedia.

This is an example of a combat setup in D&D. Compare this to the combat from Dragon Age Origins bellow

playing games. There is a Yahoo group called World of Warcraft Widows for “anyone that has had a relationship affected by this [World of Warcraft] addictive game.” This is not always a good thing however.

It can be said that technology such as telephones and social media make people further apart by replacing human interaction with simulated shortcuts. It’s so much easier to log onto a video game than to coordinate with friends. It is in fact this element of ease that gives video games such a leg up says to Freeze, “Sometimes pen and paper games can get a little overwhelming with die rolling and it kind of takes over the game… You don’t see that in a computer game, the computer does that all for you.” There is software on the market made to aid with combat and math in D&D. With video games, people are more under an attitude such as this “I understand how protection works, but I don’t really need to know what the equation is for flanking resistance from this kind of damage against that kind of shield,” Joel says. “ I just need to know that this is more effective than that, and sit back and let the computer do all the work.”

In this sense, video games are the embodiment of our laziness, how we reach out to each other because it’s our nature, but are unwilling to go out of our way to do it even if that means that the experience is reduced to the point where it becomes unhealthy. This, however is an extreme. In moderation video games have been proven to aid in brain development as well as hand eye coordination. Video games are everything we enjoy This is an example of combatage Origins. Compare this to the D&D combat above.

This screenshot was taken my Amber Carlson from Dragon Age Origins made by Bioware.

Screenshot taken by Amber Carlson from Dragon Age Origins by BioWare.

in D&D made easy, while D&D is the original. As time goes on D&D will most likely become obsolete, where video games will grow, but they will always show some resemblance to their mother D&D. So, did video games come from pen and paper rpgs: yes, mostly.

They did have some of their own elements, but retained much of their links to D&D. How much creativity is lost in video games? a good amount. Video games are cut out to a certain path, while pen and paper games allow you to wander wherever you want.

They are also the same game, played by everyone across the industry, while pen and paper games have a unique adventure This is an example of character representation. In the bottom center you can see the character Sten swinging for everyone.

The question his flaming ax. On the right you can see the mob called a Hurlock. remains, however, which is better pen and paper games or video games? As Joel mentioned, they’d both have their purpose and the preference varies from person or person. Everyone has their own style, whether they like to create worlds and gather with their friends, or are more interested in a casual afternoon running raids with their guild, they are both important parts of our culture that beg to be understood and appreciated.aaa Tihis is a painted figure used in rpg games like D&D.

Photo taken by mephiston_1 and posted on flickr.

COMPETITIVE TF2 community-powered

by Will Vega

Photo credit: Will Vega

Team Fortress 2 enjoys a booming community-driven competitive scene.

What does the future hold for competitive play?

An old woman’s cold, strict voice counts down from five. The gates open, and the sound of metal sliding against metal is drowned out by the footsteps and battle cries of six men charging out into the field, rushing to make it to the front first to gain a territorial advantage. Rockets and grenades are hurled across the bridge as both parties spread around the map. It’s the beginning of a control point match of Team Fortress 2.

An old woman’s cold, strict voice counts down from five. The gates open, and the sound of metal sliding against metal is drowned out by the footsteps and battle cries of six men charging out into the field, rushing to make it to the front first to gain a territorial advantage. Rockets and grenades are hurled across the bridge as both parties spread around the map. It’s the beginning of a control point match of Team Fortress 2.

Team Fortress 2 is a first person shooter with nine playable classes. The game enjoys an amazing competitive worldwide community that, unlike many other games, is fueled not by the game’s developing

Photo credit: thatguytagg

the defending team has to stop the attacking team from pushing an explosive cart into their base.

“Personally I find 6’s to be a bit stale,” sigafoo says. “From my playing of it, a lot of it seems to revolve around having better DM, whereas with Highlander, having good DM is important, but having good strategy/teamwork and playing smarter can win you games over arguably more skilled teams.”

In competitive play the Medic class is the backbone of the team. A big element of the game is having the resources to replace health the other team has taken. The Medic is important in that he keeps the team’s health

The middle point of a 5 control point map cp_badlands.

Photo credit: WARHURYEAH

company, but by the community itself. Tournaments by organized esports sponsors draw players from all over the world in to fight for the championship, which can include a community-funded prize pot for the winning team to split. Valve, the company that develops TF2, hosts competitions and supports competitive gameplay for other products of theirs like CounterStrike: Global Offensive and Dota 2, but has left TF2 behind in this regard.

Competitive playing is hosted by community-made organizations. The world-wide league that many people play in is the United Gaming Clan, or UGC. There are also regional leagues, like the European TF2 League and the E-Sports Entertainment Association in North America, which caters competitive organization to a number of games.

The competitive format has shaped itself through the years.

There are two prominent modes of gameplay: 6v6, and Highlander.

6’s is a format in which six players compete on each team. Most commonly, there are two scouts, two soldiers, one demoman, and one medic on each team. In Highlander, nine members, one of each class, play on a team.

While Highlander is still played on the same maps as 6v6, they also compete on Attack/Defense maps and Payload objectives, where

topped up, and that he can provide an Übercharge. An Übercharge makes the Medic and his healing target invincible for 8 seconds, and can turn the tide of a game.

A Medic gains über by healing his teammates, and activates it to push through enemy defenses.

Switching his healing target whilst charged can make multiple players invincible at once. Players want to attack fully charged enemy Medics in their own territory to force them to save themselves with their über a safe distance from the enemy team.

There are usually two Scouts on each team. Scouts have low health and deal low damage at long-range damage, but are the fastest class in the game, have tremendous mobility, and deal high damage at close range. These Scouts’ jobs are to make sure that the enemy team can’t sneak through the flanks, to rush in and capture points, and to pick off important enemies so their team can push. They specialize in cleaning up enemies who have already been damaged the power classes, Demo and Soldier.

There are two types of Soldiers on a team: a roamer, and a pocket. The pocket is the soldier that sticks with the team. His job is to protect the team’s Medic, to lead the team when they push into the enemy, and to effectively use the Med’s über. The roamer

a profit from winning matches, although their wennings can sometimes cover the cost of going to LANs. “Players can profit in bigger esports like League of Legends or DotA 2, or even CS:GO. CoD is

casting or streaming has come such a long way,” Getawhale says.

“It’s a lot easier to have a bigger production team. You can have a camera person, and a caster, and a crew putting together the

Making it so that the leap to competitive is just a button press on the main screen would go a long way.

Photo credit: Will Vega

Photo credit: Will Vega

Soldier traverses around the map, trying to catch the Medic and his pocket by surprise and put in as much damage as possible and picking one of them off if possible.

The Demoman fills both an offensive and defensive role for his team. His stickybomb launcher, which can fire up to eight bombs at once and detonate them remotely, is used for crowd control. The Demo can force enemies to go through choke points, to block vulnerable routes to his team, and deal initial damage during midfight encounters so the Scouts can clean enemies up.

The game revolves around team dynamics. “I love teamwork, whether it’s in a public server or competitive,” Platinumlevel Highlander player sigafoo says. “There’s nothing quite as satisfying as working together to accomplish something great.

Having the chance for yourself to stand out and do something amazing can be a great feeling too.”

Players dont’t usually make

another good example, Microsoft puts a lot of money behind that.

But Valve hasn’t put funding towards TF2 competitions because it’s not their competitive game.”

Competitive TF2, along with other competitive games, are viewed by the community on a website called Twitch.tv. Twitch is a service that allows players to easily stream game footage live from their computers. Using Twitch, streaming organizations can spectate matches, casters can commentate from the players’ points of view, and spectators can discuss the match in chat.

“The technology for doing

actual stream. A lot of software has been developed internally in the community, with plugins and frameworks” Like wallhacks, so viewers can see where all the players are, someone in the designed that for TF2 competitive.

Our community has done it.”

While most TF2 competition takes place over the internet, some e-sport organizations hold events where top-tier players from all over the world or the country gather to play against each other over a LAN. At LANs players don’t have to worry about lag, and they can communicate directly with their teammates at their sides.

International LANs like Insomnia gain thousands of viewers.

“TF2 experiences a fairly constant, steady growth,” TF2 caster Getawhale says. “After GXL LAN 2014 and Insomnia52 you were hearing people saying, ‘TF2 is dead.’ The reality is, people say that every year. Interest drops off a little bit after every event, but it picks back up.” Many people are dropping out of TF2 with the belief that the game is on a decline. Valve hadn’t ever shown any initiative to implement competitive play into the game. Many figureheads of TF2, such as YouTuber STAR_ and Muselk, who run YouTube channels primarily featuring TF2 content, have expressed their disdain with Valve’s treatment of the game and the community. Valve recently announced something through the TF2 streaming organization “eXtelevision” that would shock and surprise many people, with the biggest feature in a long time: in-

Photo credit: thatguytagg

(left to right) Epsilon’s kileR, WARHURYEAH, and KnOxXx playing againstFroyotech at Insomnia52.

Photo credit: thatguytagg

Above: American team Froyotech poses after their victory at Insomnia52.

Photo credit: WARHURYEAH

game competitive matchmaking.

This would allow players to play against teams of equal skill, to form lobbies with a specific team, and to enter competitive play more easily overall. “A lot of players think that getting into comp is pretty daunting,” sigafoo says, “and it can definitely feel that way. Making it so that the leap is literally just a button press on the main screen would go a long way.” With the upcoming in-game matchmaking, the competitive community can grow and expand. The development team for Team Fortress 2 has more members actively working on new features than it has for a long time.

Left: Last point of cp_gullywash.

a brief history of

VALVE

by Will Vega

illustrations by Will Vega

FOUNDING MEMBERS

Gabe Newell and Mike Harrington

Starting with two men and rising to dominate the PC gaming industry, Valve Corporation has developed some of the most significant products in the business.

STEAM

Two former Microsoft employees founded Valve Corporation in 1996 to produce the game Half-Life, based off of the Quake game engine. After the massive success of Half-Life they continued to make spinoffs until they began to produce more titles.

Steam is a game distribution platform Valve initially developed for Windows in 2003. It features an online store, the user’s game library, and community pages for players to interact and trade. As Steam rose in popularity, Valve released it on other platforms like OSX, Linux, and limited clients on iOS and Android.

STEAM COMMUNITY MARKET

STEAM WORKSHOP

The Community Market lets players trade virtual items with each other using Steam Wallet funds. Valve takes a 15% tax on every sale made. The Community Market started in December 2012 in a beta stage that only sold Team Fortress 2 content and released for other games in April 2013.

2 8 MAY 2015

The Steam Workshop lets players create content such as mods, items, and levels so that others can implement them into their games. Sometimes, game developers will add items uploaded to the Workshop into game, and give the Workshop author a cut of the profit made off of their content. The Workshop opened originally in featuring only Team Fortress 2 content, but has expanded to other games. During April 2015, Valve attempted to monetize Workshop content by making player pay for mods for the game The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. This resulted in massive backlash, and was removed.

November 19, 1998: Valve releases their debut game, Half-Life.

August 24, 1996: Valve is founded.

June 19, 1999: Valve aquires the rights to and releases playermade Half-Life mod, Counter-Strike.

May 9, 2003: Day of Defeat is released.

October 9, 2007: The Orange Box, a compilation containing the titles of Portal, Half-Life 2 (as well as Episode 1 and Episode 2), and Team Fortress 2, is released.

2009: Valve hires the developer of Defense of the Ancients, a playermade mod for Warcraft III.

April 19, 2011: Portal 2 is released.

August 21, 2012: Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is released.

July 9, 2013: Defense of the Ancients 2 (Dota 2) is released.

RESTART 2 9

Writing Our Own Future

By Jacob Nannapaneni

H

e rocks in his chair, staring into the sunset.

His heart beats slowly and inconsistently, missing every other beat. His body slowly loses pace, the gears of his mind churning ever more slowly. He feels confused, for he remembers little of what happened yesterday, or the day before, or anything for the past 15 years. His parents long since passed, his children off with children of their own, and his wife died a few years ago, but he can’t remember that. Her name softly escapes his mouth as he calls to her. He is utterly and dreadfully alone. He feels a tug at his chest as the sun dips below the horizon and his eyes slowly close forever.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

Technology, the frontier on which humans have made ourselves resist the elements, predators, and disease. From the moment the first man took up a club, the human race has had an advantage over the rest of the world. Now approaching lies the next great technological advancement, this one with the power to prevent tragedies like the one of the old man and infinite possibilities for benefits to mankind, thus opening up an entirely new world with new

definitions for everything including what it means to be human: transhumanism.

Transhumanism is the use and integration of technology into our bodies and daily life to enhance our abilities. It is a movement of technological use to better humankind in all aspects.

The Head of the Religious Department at Juniata College, Donald Braxton says “Transhumanism is the inevitable next logical step in understanding our evolved nature and taking control of that evolutionary process. It means we don’t leave it to slow, blind chance.”

Transhumanism allows for the further evolution of our race to increase its quality and length of life. Physical evolution of the human race stopped 100 million years ago, and behavioral evolution 30 million years ago. Today, we advance humanity through technology.

“Now the truth is transhumanism is kind of a broad movement that is essentially saying that given the fact that we know from modern science that we evolved, that as a species we evolved without goal.” explains Braxton.

With the capacity to solve problems humans have been struggling with since their existence, transhumanism is the next

Image by TechPinions.com

Transhumanism

great leap in science.

Alzheimer’s, cancer, disorders, nervous dysfunctionality, and infinitely more health problems can be solved with transhumanist inventions and discovery.

“Part of transhumanism is raising people up to the level of normalcy with things like glasses and hearing aids and prosthetics,” says Allison Earnhart, teacher at Liberal Arts and Science Academy in Austin, Texas.

Transhumanism also involves raising people past the level of normalcy. Many scientists use ritalin, a drug used to treat disorders such as ADHD, to raise the mental focusing capacity so that they may work more efficiently. In another aspect of transhumanism, it allows for countless possibilities to not only extend and better the quality of human life, but

also to great

make technological

leaps happen more quickly, whether it be by asking computers to solve problems, or by increasing our brain’s capacity to solve problems ourselves.

Scientists such as Ray Kurzweil predict an event called “The Singularity” around 2050, where the time between these great technological leaps become so small they are almost non-existent, emphasizing the infinite nature of the possibilities of the field of transhumanism. Though, not everyone is looking forward to this future.

“The biggest [argument] that I encounter most often is that transhumanism exists in opposition to the very definition of what it means to be human,”Kyle Munkittrick, a transhumanist writer, explains. “So the b e s t

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An artistic representation of the integration of technology into humans

example of this is immortality.

Some people argue that death gives life meaning and since many transhumanists hope for immortality at some point, they are worried that it would take away some core element of our humanity.”

The definition of humanity is a widely debated subject. Many transhumanists hold a much looser definition,

An example of a prosthetic hand

understanding of where we will go with transhumanism, but regardless of the outcomes these debates, transhumanism will continue to be developed as a field in the future.

“If it stops in the US (say, because of a ban on stem cell research with new cell lines), it will be taken up in South Korea,” says Dr. Braxton.

“Ergo, we all have to deal with

Image by Atomic Kitteh

one more based on personhood than humanity as a species, countering those believing that humans are only human if they have all of the same “pure” properties of an ordinary human. Personhood is often used on an idea that not just humans deserve rights as they aren’t the only ones to have consciousness.

That other beings would receive rights based on what level of personhood they have, which in turn would be determined by their level of consciousness.

“I think something that something that we will see in the future will be that people will start to see that age and being human isn’t enough to determine whether someone has rights,” says Munkittrick.

These ethical debates over what makes a “person” are important to the

Image by Wonderlane

A close up on a new development of a charger for artificial body parts.

Image by IBM

transhumanism, even if we don’t want any part of it.”

Transhumanism is the future of the human race. Many will embrace it, many will not but it will happen.

And once it does, the benefits that will be received by humans will be so enormous that it will shape our world forever, changing the outcomes of events that humans could never dream to change before. It will give access to an understanding of everything in a way nobody had ever thought before. Transhumanism will help to remove the frailness of human life and make humans live for longer at better than ever before, preventing the tragedies that are cancer, Alzheimer’s, and countless other diseases.

Transhumanism is the fate of not just humanity but our world and everything humans have come to know and so it is up to people all over the world to be ready.

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How It Works Youtubers make videos to attract viewers. They subscribe to be notified every time they post a new video and advertisers pay to have their advertisment placed before the video.

PewDiePie Felix Kjellberg has the most subscribers out of any channel on Youtube. The Swedush celebrity started his channel not long after Youtube was first released. During that time, the comedian has grown exponentially, like no other youtuber ever before.

Esitmated yearly revenue from channel alone: $1M - $16.7M

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SkyDoesMinecraft - Adam Dahlberg

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Adam Dahlberg started his Youtube career playing RuneScape. He made an account for his sister with the username “SkythekidRS� and, long story short, he stole it. One day, a few of his friends introduced him to a game called Minecraft. He loved it right away and built up a huge audience off of the game. He know owns Minecraft servers, mobile apps, and an unmatched pure gaming channel fan base. He recently started playing other games besides Minecraft to exapnd his audience. He has worked with and done collaborations with hundreds of other youtubers , helping them to grow their channels as well.

Estimated yearly revenue from channel alone: $103.3K - $1.7M

Youtube was founded in Febdruary of 2005. It was bought by Google in November of $1.65 billion and since then, it has become the largest video sharing network on the internet. It is a platform for directors, comedians, writers, artists, singers, and even gamers. It has also become a huge platform for, in some ways most importantly, advertisers. Any one can use Youtube and begin branding themselves on their own channel. Many people make a nice bit of pocket change off of it, but some make a lot more.

Top Subscribed Youtube Channels (excluding VEVO’s)

1.

PewDiePie (Felix Kjellberg) Yearly Revenue: $103.3K - $1.7M

2.

3.

Hola Soy German (Felix Kjellberg) Yearly Revenue: $126.7K - $2M

4.

5.

JennaMarbles (Felix Kjellberg) Yearly Revenue: $65.3K - $1M Machinima (Felix Kjellberg) Yearly Revenue: $89.4K - $1.4M

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Youtube Spotlight (Youtube) Yearly Revenue: N/A

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Smosh (Felix Kjellberg) Yearly Revenue: $257.2K - $4.1M nigahiga (Felix Kjellberg) Yearly Revenue: $105.6K - $1.7M ERB (Felix Kjellberg) The pie chart above shows the Yearly Revenue: share of subscribers among the $107.6K - $1.7M top eight subscribed channels.

5.

NigaHiga - Ryan Higa

Ryan Higa was born in Hilo, Hawaii and grew up as an outcast. Though, through his life, he discovered the thing that brought him happiness and made him a part of society: making people laugh. He started out just making videos with his friends for his family, but one day, he started posting on a new site called Youtube. His fan base grew and he now is an excellent comedian, actor, director, and writer for his channel, inspiring his fans with his heroic story.

Estimated yearly revenue from channel alone: $105.6K - $1.7M

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Art by Ryan Higa

I WANT YOU TO WORK AT VALVE www.valvesoftware.com