This week I took a quick trip to our local Kirkland’s Home Store in search of some new fall decor. The store was stocked with some amazing fall products that are all currently 20% off! Below you will find a roundup of some of my favorite finds and purchases. Until next time – Bring on […]

Weekly Favorites | Kirkland’s Fall Decor

My most important objective is to make a fully functional 35 mm film camera entirely of existing LEGO parts. And the main goal is also to make it affordable and portable, that’s why I try to make it as compact as possible. ZH1 is built of 582 existing LEGO parts and 4 colours in total […]

The LEGO ZH1

This past weekend was a “comfort tv” weekend.  After a LOT of hours gardening and then recuperating in my studio while it rained, I was all about watching some of my standard oldies but goodies. WarGames.  Looking at the technology that was over the top when the movie came out, it’s a little laughable now.  […]

I remember clearly, even today. The sharp scents and the hot sun on our backs as me (12 yo) and my little bro (9 yo), smiling our summer vacation smiles, walked to the ps2 gaming parlour. Our hearts were beating fast with excitement, we were practically running even though the distance was very short. We’d […]

Haibun: Good Old Times

Gubbare, the kids’ channel from the house of IN10 Media Network, is set to capture children’s imagination with interactive digital assets as affinity towards the world of gaming sees an upward trajectory. After the success of its original show, ‘Roro Aur Hero Bhoot Mast Zabardast’, launched in April this year, the channel is happy to […]

IN10 Media Network’s Gubbare launches two new online games

Editor’s note: This story is part of the annual Mosaic Journalism Workshop for Bay Area high school students, a two-week intensive course in journalism. Students in the program report and photograph stories under the guidance of professional journalists. Benjamin Tonthat, a rising senior at San Jose’s Evergreen High School and an avid player of first-person shooter games, was playing Valorant recently, and wasn’t doing well in his competitive match. As a result, his teammates targeted him with aggressive comments. Though he muted them, he continued to feel bothered by the hurtful remarks while playing, which affected his delivery in the game. “I reported them after the game, but I don’t think it did much,” Tonthat said. Tonthat, like many teens, loves to play online multiplayer games. And like many, he has been harassed while playing. In 2021, three in five teen gamers, or nearly 14 million teens, reported experiencing harassment or being targeted by hate in online multiplayer games, according to a survey released in September by the Anti-Defamation League. They were sometimes harassed because of their gender, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation. The games Valorant and Call of Duty drew the most complaints in the ADL survey, with League of Legends and Rocket League drawing the least complaints. Nearly all teens said they have had some positive gaming experiences, but at the same time 60% said they had also been harassed. To avoid being targeted, teens are resorting to managing who they play with, or even changing how they play, which can affect them competitively. Some even quit, or avoid certain games. After being humiliated or bullied, some teens retreat from friends and family, or start to treat others worse. Others report doing poorly in school. Few had contacted a helpline. Because she’s female, Vivian Tieu, a teen gamer from Alhambra in Southern California, has been relentlessly told by other gamers to quit and stick with typical known “feminine” games, like Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing. If she wasn’t doing well, her teammates would berate her.  And if she was doing well, they would berate her. “They would still talk down to me,” said Tieu. One time, Tieu and a female friend had joined a team on Valorant, when a stranger on their team found out they were both girls. He began verbally harassing them and, annoyed at playing with girls, he disconnected from the game. Experiences like this have led Tieu to often not talk in voice chat while playing. However, as communication is an essential in team games, this can put her at a disadvantage as a player. Vish Kapu, a rising senior at San Jose’s Yerba Buena High School, plays various online games, like Valorant, Rainbow Six Siege and Apex Legends. When he hears children spewing slurs in voice chat, he intervenes to let them know the consequences of offensive speech. Some take his advice, but others don’t.  Kapu has tried making light of toxic players in Rainbow Six Siege.When users hurled insults, he would sarcastically retort that it was a good game. “If someone says something like ‘you are s***’, I go, ‘TRUE gg tho’ and just move on,” Kapu said. Like Tieu, Vicky Nguyen, a teen online gamer from Garden Grove who plays on Minecraft and other platforms, uses voice chat cautiously while playing, so that she can avoid being put down because she’s female. She said she’s been mocked for the pitch of her voice and had a teammate throw obstacles in her way, which made her emotional. Harassment in online gaming can be particularly harmful to women and girls, according to Rabindra Ratan, a professor at Michigan State University and an expert on toxicity in gaming. Besides affecting their psychological status, toxicity decreases their motivation to pursue technical fields, Ratan wrote in MSU Today. [related_articles location=”left” show_article_date=”false” article_type=”automatic-primary-tag”]To combat the toxic culture, major gaming companies have banned players and published their names, and imposed restrictions on players who show abusive behavior. In January, Riot Games imposed more than 40,000 bans and 400,000 chat regulations on Valorant players. But the company has acknowledged that the bans and regulations haven’t necessarily reduced Valorant’s toxic culture. The ADL would like to see game industries do more. Among other measures, it recommends that industries submit to regular independent audits, and improve their reporting systems and moderation tools. It also recommends more parental involvement and governmental regulation of the industry. Jasmine Sessoms is a rising sophomore at Silver Creek High School in San Jose.

Teens harassed while playing online games

Regardless of age, gender, race, geographical location, creativity level, or experience, the modern gaming industry has something for everyone. Online games can be both therapeutic and educational, but most importantly. Modern games offer an improved gaming experience suited to modern lifestyles. Due to increased smartphone usage and internet accessibility, online gaming has seen massive growth […]

The world’s most popular online games

Ever watched a movie and thought, “I could write something better than this!” Now you can with Rifftrax: The Game, a Jackbox-style party game where you rewrite the lines of a bad movie. Participants must register. Room codes will be posted on the Facebook event page. Game is 2-6 players. Up to 12 non-players may participate […]

Online Game Night: Rifftrax – The Game