Writing Assignments – Wiki Game

For this writing assignment, I decided to go with the Wiki Game; it seemed like a fun little assignment, and I needed to take at least one easier assignment when it comes to writing (not my strong suit). For those unaware, the point of the game is to start on one wikipedia page, and solely through clicking links on that page, end up on a completely different topic. I picked a starting and ending point that are as closely related to this class as possible, which was the digital storytelling page, and ended on the westerns page. I was definitely curious how quickly this could be done, as westerns didn’t come to my mind when I thought of digital storytelling (before I actually enrolled in this class). Turns out, it wasn’t too difficult. This was the path I followed:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_storytelling

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houston

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_(genre)


The second part of this assignment was to create a story or poem using the words from the links you clicked. I wrote a quick little poem about my first day experience in the class below.

When I saw the class description, I signed up for Digital Storytelling in a hurry.

When I saw the subject matter, I thought my eyes were blurry.

I said, “Isn’t this school in Virginia, not Houston, Texas?”

As it turns out, learning about Westerns is not only fun, but infectious!

 

 

That Fateful Day

For 2 stars this week, I played The Wiki Game. The object of this game is to start with a random word, and somehow end up at the ending randomized word, only using links found within the Wiki pages.  Some of the words are easier than others and after a while, the game can be quite addicting! The instructions for this assignment:

“…write a story, poem, song, or any other form expression using words using the words from the links you clicked to get from your starting word to your final word…”

I played this game a few times, until I found a path that I liked the most and thought I could write a story from.  Here are the games that I played with my clicked paths:

 

7 Clicks:Puerto Rico?Territories of the United States?United States Postal Service?New York City?United States?Ice hockey?Field hockey

6 Clicks: Weyburn Airport?Canada?Canada–United States border?Ohio?Greater Cleveland?Cleveland

5 Clicks: Another Cinderella Story?Canada?Fresh water?Snow?Summer

5 Clicks: Pro Wrestling Illustrated?United States?Contiguous United States?Indiana?Indianapolis

5 Clicks: Area code 869?United States?World War II?Nuremberg Trials?Nuremberg

——

And now, a story for your enjoyment.. (The bolded words are the links that I clicked on in the game.)

Starting word: Another Cinderella Story

Ending word: Summer

 

Sam was in a jam. She thought her life was just another Cinderella story. But boy, was she wrong. Things were starting to look up for Sam, when she met Luke. They were so happy together! They had been together for a few months now, and had decided to move to Canada to get away from her wretched step-family.  They were renting a small cottage that sat right on a fresh water lake. It was a wintry day, and Sam and Luke decided to go ice skating on the frozen lake.  It had been cold for a while now, and they assumed that the ice would be thick enough. They grabbed their skates and headed outside, only for one of them, this would be their last…

The freshly fallen snow had covered a fishing hole that had been used by the local ice-fishermen. One wrong step, and SPLASH! Luke had fallen into the icy water.  Sam was smaller than Luke, and she couldn’t pull him out! What was she to do!? She ran to the closest house on the far side of the lake to get help.

When Sam returned a short 15 minutes later, it was too late.  Luke was frozen in the ice, just next to the opening. Sam could see the terror, frozen in his expression, through the ice.

Sam was devastated, heart-broken.. There was no one else in the world as kindhearted and as tender as Luke.  Now she couldn’t wait for Summer to come, so she could forget that fateful day, when she lost her one true love.

The Wiki Game from Prayer Beads to Bowling

I wrote a random story using the linked words from the Wiki pages. I started with the word “Prayer Bead” and my goal was to get to “Bowling”. Harder than I thought it would be, but fun to write the story.

Game Changer

Allied News-Stream Network

Border War Update

Dallaustin, Texas

Paranoia and desperation are running through the American South. Since the start of hostilities with the Republic of Mexico, tens of thousands of Southerners have been displaced. The refugee situation has worsened in the Mid West and Northern states since the advance of the Mexican Republican army over the Texas border.

US President and former Texas governor George Hernandez  stated in a national address today “Texas is my home and an indispensable part of these United States. The battle is not over and she will not be lost.” He added in his colloquial manner “Y’all don’t mess with Texas.”

The Texas megalopolis of Dallaustin has become the frontlines of the conflict. Hyper sonic bombers and mechanized Army troopers have been strategically redeployed to Dallaustin and other cities in the southern United States for operations against Republican forces.

Since Mexico’s full industrialization and recognition as a first world nation 40 years ago, US intelligence reports indicated that it was mechanizing shock troops in secret to match the technological level achieved by US and Chinese forces. Sightings of power-suited Republican soldiers have been confirmed by US Army Headquaters here in Dallaustin.

New intercepted intelligence suggests that the servo mechanisms used in the Artificial Articulated Limb Reflex Systems (AALRS)  of the Republican suits are copies of the Chinese version. The revelation of the possesion of such advanced robotic technology is startling to US forces as they believed only America and her ally China had been able to develop nano-mechanical bionetic tissues.

With US and Republican conventional forces so evenly matched, the fear of nuclear exchange grows larger. The US and Mexico hold the largest nuclear arsenals in the world.

—————————————————————————————

This is the Wiki Game assignment. You pick two random words that will start and end some sort of written article of your choice. Starting on the first word’s wikipedia page you click on links in the article until you get to your finish word.

I went to watchout4snakes.com, which has a random word generator. It gave me “paranoia” and “mechanical.” Starting on the “paranoia” wiki page, I clicked the link “colloquial.” Then on the “colloquial” page I clicked “y’all” and so on. My words in total were:

paranoia/ colloquial/ y’all/ southern United States/ industrialization/ mechanization/  servo mechanism/ robotics/ mechanical

It was fun to find the words and I thought it would take a long time but it was about ten minutes. Once I had my word collection, I decided to do a kind of war report set in the future.

I was inspired in no small part by George Friedman’s book The Next Hundred Years where he tries to forecast the future.  He bases alot of the premise of the book on how geography determines international relations. He proposes that the North American continent is the center of gravity for world politics because it straddles two oceans. Sea power is required for world power as demonstrated historically by Britain and Rome. So who ever controls North America can control the sea and dominate the world. But will future control reside in Washington DC or Mexico City?

Game Changer

Allied News-Stream Network

Border War Update

Dallaustin, Texas

Paranoia and desperation are running through the American South. Since the start of hostilities with the Republic of Mexico, tens of thousands of Southerners have been displaced. The refugee situation has worsened in the Mid West and Northern states since the advance of the Mexican Republican army over the Texas border.

US President and former Texas governor George Hernandez  stated in a national address today “Texas is my home and an indispensable part of these United States. The battle is not over and she will not be lost.” He added in his colloquial manner “Y’all don’t mess with Texas.”

The Texas megalopolis of Dallaustin has become the frontlines of the conflict. Hyper sonic bombers and mechanized Army troopers have been strategically redeployed to Dallaustin and other cities in the southern United States for operations against Republican forces.

Since Mexico’s full industrialization and recognition as a first world nation 40 years ago, US intelligence reports indicated that it was mechanizing shock troops in secret to match the technological level achieved by US and Chinese forces. Sightings of power-suited Republican soldiers have been confirmed by US Army Headquaters here in Dallaustin.

New intercepted intelligence suggests that the servo mechanisms used in the Artificial Articulated Limb Reflex Systems (AALRS)  of the Republican suits are copies of the Chinese version. The revelation of the possesion of such advanced robotic technology is startling to US forces as they believed only America and her ally China had been able to develop nano-mechanical bionetic tissues.

With US and Republican conventional forces so evenly matched, the fear of nuclear exchange grows larger. The US and Mexico hold the largest nuclear arsenals in the world.

—————————————————————————————

This is the Wiki Game assignment. You pick two random words that will start and end some sort of written article of your choice. Starting on the first word’s wikipedia page you click on links in the article until you get to your finish word.

I went to watchout4snakes.com, which has a random word generator. It gave me “paranoia” and “mechanical.” Starting on the “paranoia” wiki page, I clicked the link “colloquial.” Then on the “colloquial” page I clicked “y’all” and so on. My words in total were:

paranoia/ colloquial/ y’all/ southern United States/ industrialization/ mechanization/  servo mechanism/ robotics/ mechanical

It was fun to find the words and I thought it would take a long time but it was about ten minutes. Once I had my word collection, I decided to do a kind of war report set in the future.

I was inspired in no small part by George Friedman’s book The Next Hundred Years where he tries to forecast the future.  He bases alot of the premise of the book on how geography determines international relations. He proposes that the North American continent is the center of gravity for world politics because it straddles two oceans. Sea power is required for world power as demonstrated historically by Britain and Rome. So who ever controls North America can control the sea and dominate the world. But will future control reside in Washington DC or Mexico City?

Game Changer

Allied News-Stream Network

Border War Update

Dallaustin, Texas

Paranoia and desperation are running through the American South. Since the start of hostilities with the Republic of Mexico, tens of thousands of Southerners have been displaced. The refugee situation has worsened in the Mid West and Northern states since the advance of the Mexican Republican army over the Texas border.

US President and former Texas governor George Hernandez  stated in a national address today “Texas is my home and an indispensable part of these United States. The battle is not over and she will not be lost.” He added in his colloquial manner “Y’all don’t mess with Texas.”

The Texas megalopolis of Dallaustin has become the frontlines of the conflict. Hyper sonic bombers and mechanized Army troopers have been strategically redeployed to Dallaustin and other cities in the southern United States for operations against Republican forces.

Since Mexico’s full industrialization and recognition as a first world nation 40 years ago, US intelligence reports indicated that it was mechanizing shock troops in secret to match the technological level achieved by US and Chinese forces. Sightings of power-suited Republican soldiers have been confirmed by US Army Headquaters here in Dallaustin.

New intercepted intelligence suggests that the servo mechanisms used in the Artificial Articulated Limb Reflex Systems (AALRS)  of the Republican suits are copies of the Chinese version. The revelation of the possesion of such advanced robotic technology is startling to US forces as they believed only America and her ally China had been able to develop nano-mechanical bionetic tissues.

With US and Republican conventional forces so evenly matched, the fear of nuclear exchange grows larger. The US and Mexico hold the largest nuclear arsenals in the world.

—————————————————————————————

This is the Wiki Game assignment. You pick two random words that will start and end some sort of written article of your choice. Starting on the first word’s wikipedia page you click on links in the article until you get to your finish word.

I went to watchout4snakes.com, which has a random word generator. It gave me “paranoia” and “mechanical.” Starting on the “paranoia” wiki page, I clicked the link “colloquial.” Then on the “colloquial” page I clicked “y’all” and so on. My words in total were:

paranoia/ colloquial/ y’all/ southern United States/ industrialization/ mechanization/  servo mechanism/ robotics/ mechanical

It was fun to find the words and I thought it would take a long time but it was about ten minutes. Once I had my word collection, I decided to do a kind of war report set in the future.

I was inspired in no small part by George Friedman’s book The Next Hundred Years where he tries to forecast the future.  He bases alot of the premise of the book on how geography determines international relations. He proposes that the North American continent is the center of gravity for world politics because it straddles two oceans. Sea power is required for world power as demonstrated historically by Britain and Rome. So who ever controls North America can control the sea and dominate the world. But will future control reside in Washington DC or Mexico City?

Wiki Game

Play the Wikipedia Game. If you’ve never played, this is how: You have two words, a starting word and a finishing word. These “words” can be anything that has it’s own wiki page. For example, your starting word can be “persian cat” and your ending word can be “mocha.” You go to the wiki for starting word (i.e. persian cat) and by only clicking on links on the wiki page (e.g. on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persian_cat you will see the linked words “cat fancy”) you must end up at your second word, in this case, “mocha.” Usually, you play this with another person and see who can get from word 1 to word 2 the fastes. It’s fun, but since it’s only you, write a story, poem, song, or any other form expression using words using the words from the links you clicked to get from your starting word to your final word. P.s the example I’m showing you is actually just the link to the persian cat wiki page.