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The curriculum of the faculty includes discrete mathematics, theory of decision-making, modeling of systems, information technologies, network technologies, bases of forecasting, cryptographic protocols.
The computer laboratories of the faculty are well equipped with modern computers connected into the local nets and having access to the Internet.
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5. Match words and their definitions: |
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Curriculum |
The putting to use |
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A course of study offered in a school, college, institute |
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etc. |
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Software |
A large system of lines, tubes, wires, etc., that cross or |
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meet one another |
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Application |
Means to do things; that which can be used |
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Struggle |
The magnetic tapes, programs, etc. That make a |
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computer work |
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Network |
A hard fight |
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6. |
Answer the following questions. |
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1. Why is it extremely important to have experts able to manage information |
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flows? |
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What specialities are there at The Information Management Systems |
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faculty? |
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3. |
What is your qualification? |
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What specialized subjects do the students of your faculty study? |
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5. |
What isбАyour favourite subject and why? |
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6. |
What is the main activity your computer helps you to do? |
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Do you have any other interests besides computers? |
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7. |
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Read the humoristic story about computer failure. Retell it or make |
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up a dialogue.
1) the helpdesk employee;
2) the user;
3) the computer;
4) the shop assistant of the shop where the computer was bought; 5) the director of a customer care department.
This is a true story from a word processor program company's helpline, in the days before Windows. It was transcribed from a recording monitoring the customer care department, and the helpdesk employee was fired as a result.
"Computer assistance. May I help you?" – "Yes, well, I'm having trouble with your program."
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"What sort of trouble?" – "Well, I was just typing along, and all of a sudden the words went away."
"Went away?" – "They disappeared."
"Hmm. So what does your screen look like now?" – "Nothing." "Nothing?" – "It's blank. It won't accept anything when I type." "Are you still in the program, or did you get out?"– "How do I tell?"
С"Can you see the C: prompt on the screen?" – "What's the sea-prompt?"
"Never mind, can you move your cursor around the screen?" – "There isn't any cursor. I told you, it won't accept anything I type."
"Does your monitor have a power indicator?"– "What's a monitor?"
и"When you were behind the monitor, did you notice that there were two cables plugged into the back of it, not just one?"– "No."
"It's the thing with the screen on it that looks like a TV. Does it have a little light on it that tells you when it's on?"– "I don't know."
"Well, then look on the back of the monitor and find where the power cord goes into it. Can you see that?" – "Yes, I think so."
"Great. Follow the cord to the plug, and tell me if it's plugged into the wall."
– "... Yes, it is."
"Well, there are. I need you to look back there again and find the other cable." – "... OK, here it is."
"Follow it for me, and tell me if it's plugged securely into the back of your computer." – "I can't reach."
"Uh, huh.бАWell, can you see if it is"– "No."
"Even if you maybe put your kneeДon something and lean way over?" – "Oh, it's not because I don't have the right angle – it's because it's dark."
"Dark?" – "Yes – the office light is off, and the only light I have is coming in from the window."
"Well, turn on the office light then."– "I can't."
"No, why not?" – "Because there's a power failure."И
"A power ... A power failure? Aha, OK, we've got it licked now. Do you still have the boxes and manuals and packing stuff your computer came in?" – "Well, yes, I keep them in the closet."
"Good. Go get them. Unplug your system and pack it up just like it was when you got it. Then take it back to the store where you bought it."– "Really? Is it that bad?"
"Yes, I'm afraid it is." – "What do I tell them?" "Tell them you're too smart to own a computer."
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8. Read and translate the following text.
THE INTERNET
The Internet is a global computer network which embraced millions of Сusers all over the world. Began in the United States in 1969 as a military experiment it was designed to survive a nuclear war. Information sent over the Internet takes the shortest path available from one computer to another.
Because of this, any two computers on the Internet will be able to stay in иtouch with each other as long as there is a single route between them. This technology is called packet switching. Owing to this technology, if some computers on the network are knocked out (by a nuclear explosion, for example), information will just route around them. One such packetswitchingбАnetwork which has already survived a war is the Iraqi computer network which was not knocked out during the Gulf War.
Most of the Internet host computers (more than 50 %) are in the United States, while the rest are located in more than 100 other countries). Although the number of host computers can be counted fairly accurate, nobody knows exactly how many people use the Internet, there are millions worldwide, and their number is growing by thousands each month.
The most popular Internet service is e-mail. Most of the people, who have access to the Internet, use the network only for sending messages. However, other popular services are availableДon the Internet: reading USENET News, using the World-Wide Web, telnet, FTP, and Gopher.
In many developing countries the Internet may provide businessmen with a reliable alternative to the expensive and unreliable telecommunications systems of these countries. Commercial users can communicate cheaply over the Internet with the rest of the world. When theyИsend e-mail messages, they only have to pay for phone calls to their local service providers, not for calls across their countries or around the world. But who actually pays for sending e-mail messages over the Internet long distances, around the world?
The answer is very simple: users pay their service provider monthly or hourly fee. Part of this fee goes towards its costs to connect to a larger service provider, and part of the fee received by the larger provider goes to cover its cost of running a worldwide network of wires and wireless stations.
But saving money is only the first step if people see that they can make money from the Internet. Commercial use of this network will drastically increase. For example, some western architecture companies and garment centers already transmit their basic designs and concepts over the Internet into China, where they are reworked and refined by skilled – but inexpensive
– Chinese computer-aided-design specialists.
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However, some problems remain. The most important is security. When you send an e-mail message to somebody, this message can travel through many different networks and computers. The data is constantly being directed towards its destination by special computers called routers. However, because of this, it is possible to get into any of the computers along the route, intercept and even change the data being sent over the Internet.
СIn spite of the fact that there are many good encoding programs available, nearly all the information being sent over the Internet is transmitted without any form of encoding, i.e. "in the clear". But when it becomes necessary to send important information over the network, these encoding programs may иbe useful. Some American banks and companies even conduct transactions over the Internet. However, there are still both commercial and technical problems which will take time to be resolved.
10.AnswerбАthe questions for the text «The Internet».
1.When and where was the Internet designed?
2.What was its original purpose?
3.What is the number of host computers existing in the world nowadays?
4.What is the most popular InternetДservice?
5.What other services are enumerated in the text?
6.How is payment for sending e-mails arranged?
7.What is the most important problem of the Internet?
8.What should be done to protect the data being sent from intercepting and changing? И
11.Translate the following words from the text and give their transcription, read them.
Ubiquitous, genre, features, be confined to, dedicate, environment, cyberbullying, virtual, prominence, components, extrinsic, intrinsic, minor.
12.Can you decode the following abbreviations? What phenomena do they describe?
MMORPG, MMORTS, RTS, MMO, MOBA
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13. Read the text. How many parts can it be divided into? Entitle each part.
ONLINE GAMES
An online game is a video game that is either partially or primarily played through the Internet or another computer network. Online games are Сubiquitous on modern gaming platforms, including PCs, consoles and mobile
devices, and span many genres, including first-person shooters, strategy games and massively multiplayer online role-playing games.
The history of online games dates back to the early days of packet-based
иmore graphical games, such as the flight simulator Air Warrior, released in 1987. The rapid availability of the Internet in the 1990s led to an expansion
computer networking in the 1970s. An early example of online games are
MUD, including the first, MUD1, which was created in 1978 and originally
confined to an internal network before becoming connected to ARPANet in
1980. Commercial games followed in the next decade, with Islands of
more recentбАdevelopments include the popularization of new genres, such as social games, and new platforms, such as mobile games.
Kesmai, the first commercial role-playing game, debuting in 1984, as well as
of online games, with notable titles including Quakeworld (1996), ltima-
Online (1997), Starcraft (1998), and Counter-Strike (1999). Video game
consoles also began to receive networking features, such as the PlayStation 2
(2000) and the Xbox (2001). Following improvements in connection speeds,
Online game sessions are hostedДby a game server, which can be a dedicated computer managed by the game company or a gamer organization, or the computer of one of the players. The design of online games can range from simple text-based environments to the incorporation of complex
graphics and virtual worlds. The prominence of online components within a game can range from being minor features, suchИas an online leaderboard, to
being part of core gameplay, such as directly playing against other players. Many online games, especially MMORPG, create their own online communities, while other games, especially social games, integrate the players' existing real-life communities.
Traditionally, researchers thought of motivations to use computer systems to be primarily driven by extrinsic purposes and have designed these systems accordingly; however, use of online games is by intrinsic motivations such as fun, relaxation, competition, achievement and learning, which considerations must drive their design.
Online game culture sometimes faces criticisms for an environment that might promote cyberbullying, violence, and xenophobia. Some gamers are also concerned about gaming addiction or social stigma. Online games have attracted players from a variety of ages, nationalities, and occupations. Online
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game content can also be studied in scientific field, especially gamers' interactions within virtual societies in relation to the behavior and social phenomena of everyday life.
14. Explain next terms from the text.
Gaming platforms, computer network, internal network, commercial games, graphical games, game server, social games.
15. What two types of problems faces online game culture? Can you explain the meaning of the following terms: cyberbullying, xenophobia,
gaming addiction, social stigma? |
Match these terms with |
their |
definitions. |
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- «…the act of harming or harassing via information technology networks in |
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a repeated and deliberate manner…». |
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- «…the fear of that which is perceived to be foreign or strange…» |
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- «…an excessive or compulsive use |
of computer games or video |
games, |
иwhich interferes with a person's everyday life…» |
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- «…refers to extreme disapproval of (or discontent with) a person or group |
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on socially characteristic grounds that are perceived, and serve to |
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distinguish them, from other members of a society…» |
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Find more information about these phenomena and write an essay concerning to one of the problems mentioned above (100-150 words).
17. Skim the text. What genres of video games are mentioned in it? Can |
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you complete the list? |
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ONLINE GAME GENRES |
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First-person shooter game (FPS) |
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During the 1990s, online games started to move from a wide variety |
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of LAN protocols (such as IPX) |
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onto |
the Internet |
using |
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the TCP/IP protocol. Doompopularized |
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concept |
of deathmatch, |
where |
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multiple players battle each other head-to-head,Иas a new form of online game. Since Doom, many first-person shooter games contain online components to allow deathmatch or arena style play. And by popularity, first person shooter games are becoming more and more widespread around the world. And FPS (First Person Shooter) games are now becoming more of an art form because of the required skills and strategy with teammates. More first person shooter competitions are formed to give players a chance to showcase their talents individually or on a team. The kind of games that are played at the more popular competitions are Counter-Strike, Halo, Call of
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Duty: Advanced Warfare, Quake Live and Unreal Tournament. Competitions have a range of winnings from money to hardware.
Real-time strategy game (RTS)
Early real-time strategy games often allowed multiplayer play over a modem or local network. As the Internet started to grow during the 1990s,
software was developed that would allow players to tunnel the LAN protocols used by the games over the Internet. By the late 1990s, most RTS games had native Internet support, allowing players from all over the globe to
Сwere formed where people could meet in "rooms" to play a game. Popular RTS games with online communities have included Age of Empires, Sins of a Solar Empire, StarCraft and Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War.
play with each other. Services were created to allow players to be automatically matched against another player wishing to play, or lobbies
Multiplayer online battle arena game (MOBA)
A specific subgenre of strategy video games referred to as multiplayer online
battle arena (MOBA) gained popularity in the 2010s as a form of electronic |
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the Defense |
of the Ancients mod |
sports, encompassing games such as |
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for Warcraft III, its Valve-developed |
sequel Dota |
2, Heroes of the |
Storm and League of Legends. |
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MassivelyбАmultiplayer online games were made possible with the growth of broadband Internet access in many developed countries, using the Internet to allow hundreds of thousands of players to play the same game together. Many different styles of massively multiplayer games are available,
Massively multiplayer online game (MMO)
such as: |
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MMORPG (Massively multiplayer online role-playing game) |
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MMORTS (Massively multiplayer online real-time strategy) |
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MMOFPS (Massively multiplayer online first-person shooter) |
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MMOSG (Massively multiplayer online social game) |
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Console gameИ
Xbox Live was launched in November 2002. Initially the console only used a feature called system link, where players could connect two consoles using an Ethernet cable, or multiple consoles through a router. With the original Xbox Microsoft launched Xbox Live, allowing shared play over the
internet. A similar feature exists on the PlayStation |
3 in the form |
of |
the PlayStation Network, and the Wii also supports a |
limited amount |
of |
online gaming. However, Nintendo has come with a new network dubbed "Nintendo Network", and it now fully supports online gaming with the Wii U console.
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Cross-platform online game
As consoles are becoming more like computers, online gameplay is expanding. Once online games started crowding the market, networks, such as the Dreamcast, PlayStation 2, GameCube and Xbox took advantage of
online functionality with its PC game counterpart. Games such as Phantasy |
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Star Online have private servers that function on multiple consoles. |
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Dreamcast, PC, Macintosh and GameCube players are able to share one |
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server. Earlier |
games, |
like 4x4 |
Evolution, Quake |
III Arena and Need for |
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Speed: Underground also have a similar function with consoles able to |
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interact with PC users using the same server. Usually, a company like |
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Electronic Arts or Sega runs the servers until it becomes inactive, in which |
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private servers |
with their |
own DNS number can |
function. This form of |
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networking has a small advantage over the new generation of Sony and |
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Microsoft consoles which customize their servers to the consumer. |
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Browser games |
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As the World Wide |
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browsers became |
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sophisticated, |
people |
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creating browser |
games that |
used |
a web |
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browser as a client. Simple single player games were made that could be |
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played using a |
web browser via HTML and HTML scripting technologies |
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(most commonly JavaScript, ASP, PHP and |
MySQL). More |
complicated |
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games such as Legend of Empires or Travian would contact a web server to |
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allow a multiplayer gaming environment. |
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The development |
of |
web-based |
graphics technologies such |
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as Flash and Java allowed browser games to become more complex. These |
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games, alsoбАknown by their related technology as "Flash games" or "Java |
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games", became increasingly popular. Many games originally released in the |
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1980s, such as Pac-Man and Frogger, were recreated as games played using |
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the Flash plugin on a webpage. Most browser games had limited multiplayer |
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play, often being single player games with a high score list shared amongst |
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all players. This has changed considerably in recent years as examples |
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like Castle of Heroes or Canaan Online show. |
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Browser-based pet games are popular amongst the younger generation |
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of online gamers. These games range from gigantic games with millions of |
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users, such as Neopets, to smaller and more community-based pet games. |
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More recent browser-based games use web technologies like Ajax to |
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make more complicated multiplayer interactions |
possible and WebGL to |
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generate hardware-accelerated 3D graphics without the need for plugins. Java has become the most widely used programming language for
browser games (though 2d). Applets made in Java are embedded in webpages and are run on the user's computer.
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MUD
MUD are a class of multi-user real-time virtual worlds, usually but not
exclusively text-based, with |
a history extending back to |
the creation |
of MUD1 by Richard Bartlein |
1978. MUD were the direct |
predecessors |
of MMORPG. |
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18. |
Fill in the following table. |
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Type of the |
Characteristics |
Examples of the |
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games |
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FPS |
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RTS |
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MOBA |
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MMO |
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Console game |
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Browser game |
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Cross-platform |
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online game |
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MUD |
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19. Answer the following questions.
1. How do you think what is an average age of computer gamers and what is their socioeconomic status? Can you make up a segmentation of gamers in coordination with age and socioeconomic status?
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How many hours per day does an ordinary computer gamer/online gamer |
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spend playing computer games? |
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3. |
What genres of video games/online games are more popular? |
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What is the percentage of male and female gamers in the world? What |
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genres are more popular among male and female gamers? |
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Are there any differences in genres between online and video computer |
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games? Can you give any other classifications?
Surf the internet to find more information for your answers
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20. Look through the extract from the text devoted to PC video games 2016. What style does this text refer to? Give some reasons.
THE BEST PC GAMES OF 2016
СLet's get one thing out of the way before we dive into the deep end of the pool: this is not a historical retrospective of the best or mostgroundbreaking PC video games.
Instead of penning a piece that would assuredly cause rabid fanboy rage in the comments section, we decided to handle the best PC games topic with a more informative, practical approach. An approach that will help you decide which titles to download for your gaming rig when
иCompiling this list was no small undertaking. PCMag's writers and editors have reviewed an insane number of PC games over the years, so
Battle.net, GOG, Origin, and Steam are calling your name.
incompleteбАhigh-profile titles to see if the developers had patched in fixes since our initial reviews. ДOur goal was to determine if the updated games were now worthy of being included. That was a wise move. Street
The Game Selection Process
selecting the cream of the crop requires significant time and effort. A game was deemed worthy for inclusion if it received at a rating of at least 3 stars. Yes, flawed games can be fun games, too—but not broken games.
On the topic of flawed games, we revisited a few busted and/or
Fighter V is a prime example of a title that greatly benefitted from this decision. The half-baked original release earned a disappointing 2.5 star review, but now bears 4 stars after several software updates. It's become an excellent game, even though it's stillИnot complete. Don't get us started on games being released before they're finished, though.
Digging Into Our Picks
There are dozens of games in this story, so making navigation as simple as possible was a high priority for our crack team of editors and visual artists. The games are grouped alphabetically by genre, and the titles in each category are listed in alphabetical order.
Keen-eyed gamers will notice that there are two genres that are a bit skimpily represented at the moment: MMORPGs and MOBAs. Now, before you break out the pitchforks and torches, please understand that we hold no ill will toward games such as Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn or Dota 2. The truthful answer is that we haven't reviewed very many MMORPGs and MOBAs, but that will change as we frequently
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