Announcements

[Father]

As some of you undoubtedly noticed the server was very slow today and also some total downtime was experienced.

Without going into much technical details we are getting closer and closer to the final new site and we have reached the stage where our current database is going to be adjusted to the new site. This means a fair bit of manipulation and every time we need a fresh database to test things out it means reimporting a 2 gig DB file. This process creates a significant load on the system.
Although we try most things out on a separate test server certain things simply need to be done on the live system.

There may be some slowdowns over the next few days but none of them should be of the same magnitude as today.

My apologies for the inconvenience.

Thank you.

[Father]

Here at TOG we always find it interesting to help out with of surveys that look into the psyche of us gamers so therefore I agreed to let people here in TOG know about a new study being done by a student at the Charles Darwin University:

Survey can be found here

I quote:

I am Behavioural Science Honours student at Charles Darwin University (CDU) and I am seeking your permission to post a link to an online questionnaire for a study that I am currently undertaking. As part of my Honours year I am required to undertake independent research in an area of their interest that is then reported in a thesis. In this case I have chosen to investigate how particular types of computer games and the motivations to play computer games contribute to the development of a sense of community. At the moment despite the huge growth in the popularity of computer games much of the research that has been conducted into computer games has predominantly investigated the harmful effects of these games. A large proportion of the research done in this area has focused on the relationship between violent computer games and increased levels real-life aggression. Other research has sought to investigate the addictive aspects of computer games and the impact of such an addiction. This current study provides an opportunity to look at the more positive aspects of computer games rather than the negatives.