Recently, JP Button was contacted by Associate Professor Aaron Delwiche from the Department of Communication at Trinity University. Professor Delwiche is teaching a course on Transnational Onilne games. He had some very exciting news for us. A portion of JP Button, specifically the Talking Points community project, was made required reading for the class! It’s really exciting to hear that people from outside the FFXI community have seen the site and can maybe learn from some of the issues that affect us to make better games in the future. We’re really honored to be included like that. Thank you Professor!

You can be included too! Along with his students, he has initiated the WorldPlay Research Initiative. He is looking for the FFXI community to contribute their thoughts and experiences adventuring with players of all different cultures in Vana’diel.

Currently, I am working with seventeen undergraduates to launch the Worldplay Project. As you can see from our site, the Worldplay project is trying to figure out ways that players, game developers, and researchers can promote cross-cultural cooperation in virtual worlds. We are very committed to the same values that are embodied in JP Button.

As the first step of this project, we are asking players from around the world to share their thoughts,concerns, and suggestions about cross-cultural interaction. We’ve put together a short (10 question) open-ended document that invites people to speak up on this important issue. This survey is currently posted in Chinese, English, German, Japanese, Korean, Spanish and Vietnamese.

If you have the time, check out their site and fill out a survey. It’s a little more complicated than yes/no , but it’s not very long at all. There’s also a link that downloads a PDF with the results they have compiled so far.

Here are some direct links to the project pages:

And some fast links to the survey in each language:

Sorry for the wait!  We are finally ready to release the results of our 1st Anniversary commemorative contest, the Bilingual Treasure Hunt.  For those that don’t remember, we had five clues written in Japanese that people would have to try to translate into English and then send us a screenshot that fits the clue.

Curious who won and what the answers are to the clues?  Click more to find out!

Read more »

To celebrate the one year anniversary of JP Button, we are holding a Bilingual Treasure Hunt for Final Fantasy XI players around the world!

As we head to the Tokyo Game Show this month, we are striving to make it so everyone can come along for the ride. In that vein, we will be giving away four Tokyo Game Show 2009 t-shirts, and some exclusive FFXI-related merchandise available at the show!

This is a screen shot contest where players need to decipher clues in Japanese and take an appropriate picture in locations throughout Vana’diel. There are a variety of clues of varying difficulty, so feel free to try your luck at as many as you wish.

Read more »

It’s been a slow month, I admit. Both Corinth and I have our FFXIV projects to keep up on and personal sites to build. Ever since Moogle Kupo D’Etat came out, there just hasn’t been much FFXI info.

JP Button has been running for a full year now, though, so we have to do something to celebrate. We’re looking to involve our trip to the Tokyo Game Show next month, and work out something where we can get prizes back to our readers.

Since we bought Contributor Tickets, which will allow us early access to all the FFXIV content there won’t be, we will have enough TGS T-shirts to clothe Bastok’s Fightin’ Fourth. Keychains will be available at the show, and possibly some new toys that we’ve seen glimpses of over the past few months. Also, we’ll definitely be making a stop at the Square Enix store, which is loaded with cool stuff.

Look for an update within the next few days.

(I still can’t believe they think looks appropriate… )

In the 7th installment of JP Button Radio, we talked about internet cafes. Shortly after we recorded the episode, I hopped over to Aprecio and took a few pictures. I’m not really sure if that’s allowed or not but…. too late.

Read more »

In the seventh installment of JP Button Radio, we discuss the allure of internet cafes in Japan.

Here are some related links:

ゆう遊空間 (Yuu Yuu Kuukan), a cafe chain with several locations around my area.

Media Cafe Popeye, another chain with comfy chairs.

Aprecio, a chain of Internet cafes with locations around Corinth’s neck of the woods.

Also, don’t forget to check out The Speed Gamer’s Final Fantasy marathon! It started only a few hours ago, and will run the entire week. Click the image above to be taken straight to their front page.

Credit to Pharoh Atem — SerawheelSwing
&
DJ Plaeskool — Antediluvian, Jumpen@Aydeewa, 南極星の諸島 (Islands of the Southern Stars)

The show is available on this site for streaming or download, or you can pick it up using

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Speed Gamers, http://www.thespeedgamers.com/, is holding a Final Fantasy Marathon to help raise money for ACT Today, a non-profit group that provides funding for autism treatment and research.

The event will run from Friday, July 17th, and last the entire week!

They are going to play through every numbered Final Fantasy, from I-XII, excluding X-2 and XI. You can check out the video stream on their site or sign up at U Stream for a free account.

Not only can you watch the fun and chat with other viewers, but donators can win a variety of prizes! According to SpeedGamers: “… each day we will do two random drawings. The winners of the drawings will have their prize chosen by us spinning a wheel. Whatever the wheel lands on, that’s the prize they will be given.”

JP Button will be contributing to the pool with some Japanese calligraphy scrolls. If you win, you can choose any term related to the Final Fantasy series to be hand-painted onto a hanging scroll. Here are some samples of Black Mage, Caller and Puppetmaster:

So, check out Speed Gamers and the Final Fantasy Marathon Discussion Thread for all the details.

Here’s another 四字熟語, four-character idiom. Check out Shade’s artwork at the link above if you like it!

Ideas can come from the strangest places. I was at the cafeteria looking at what to order for lunch. Now that it is warmer and we are heading into summer, the cafeteria has started their summer menu of cold noodles: cold soba, cold udon, and cold ramen. However, cold ramen isn’t called ramen. The name changes to chuka (hiyashi chuka). The word chuka in this case refers to chukamen, a type of noodle originally developed in China.

While the usual word for China in Japanese is Chugoku (used in Chugokugo or Chugokujin), this is just a short form for the official title of 中華人民共和国. The first part, Chuka, is still commonly used in words like 中華料理. It can also refer to China or Chinese people but that usage isn’t nearly as common.

So what do noodles and China have to do with FFXI? I bet you can guess the obvious connection.

RMT

What follows are my thoughts on a change that occurred in how Japanese players refer to people involved in RMT. Sociolinguistics is an area I’m very interested in so I thought it would be interesting to see what I could learn about the change. (This article does deal with a sensitive issue as well. The goal is not to talk about which side is right or wrong but just examine the linguistic change. Hopefully nobody gets offended.)

Read more »

This time I tried out a 言い習わし, a type of kotowaza that provides some knowledge or pearl of wisdom. Think of it like a proverb.