Introduction to Coding
A hands-on workshop series that teaches the fundamentals of programming in a fun and interactive manner through customizable examples that explore shape, color, animation, and user interaction using C# and the Unity development platform. The only prerequisites are a computer with a recent version of Unity installed: https://unity.com/download.

This workshop will cover character animation basics in Unreal Engine, and is aimed at beginners on the topic. A basic understanding of what rigging & skinning is is assumed but not required. Beginner-level experience with Unreal Engine is highly recommended.

In the workshop we will cover importing a provided skinned character into Unreal, some of the basics of Unreal’s control rig, how to add the character to a level sequencer and play animation on it. We will take the Unreal default third person project and replace the mannequin within it with our new character. We will briefly cover what animation state-flow and runtime animation systems are on a theoretical level. The exercise should serve as a good primer for beginners to research animation topics more in depth on their own.

This chapter investigates the developer’s moderation of Overwatch by analyzing the game’s official Blizzard forum discussions (2016–2019). The moderation put in place by Blizzard allows players to address, for instance, toxicity by reporting or avoiding players, while also rewarding positive play experiences. By analyzing the player discourse around these moderation systems, the data gathered yields a rift between casual and competitive players, resulting in conflicts in what players might expect and want from their play experiences. I conclude that varying expectations and standards of play feed into a community’s conflicts alongside the failure of moderation in curtailing unwanted behaviors.