Happy Holidaze: Blind Gaming,Top 2020’s, and Phobias and the probability math behind Dream’s Minecraft-y SpeedRun!

‘Tis the most wonderful time of the ….awww, shut it! Bah! And Humbugs!!

As we see this year off (good riddance I say!) I thought it would be cool to get a little different perspective on gaming and found Blind Gamer, Steve Saylor…he’s not only playing games with really limited vision…he’s streaming his adventures… check him out and perhaps give him a follower. Why, do you think it’s important to get different perspectives on gaming? What kind of things could be improved in games, to make gaming more accessible for people with vision issues, like Blind Gamer?

Did you know that there’s a whole game accessibility lab right here at the University of Toronto!? Once all this COVID is done and vaccinated we should see if we can visit!

https://www.utoronto.ca/news/gaming-everyone-u-t-s-faculty-information-makes-video-games-more-accessible

Bring on 2021! And with it the usual, “Best of” lists that I love! One of my favourites to look at Twitch’s Metrics. Here’s what they’ve got listed as most popular streams…

Twitch Top 10 Most Popular

https://www.twitchmetrics.net/games/popularity

And let’s not forget the all seeing eyes of Google Trends! Here’s their list of top game related searches for 2020 (US that is…can anyone find the Google Trends Games list for Canada…’cause I couldn’t!?):

Google Trends Games 2020

It’s not a spider…it’s a peach, right!? Well, a peach of an idea (Dad puns!) about using gaming to help ease phobias…like Arachnophobia (the fear of spiders).

Grounded saw that they had a problem with arachnophobic gamers who stopped playing their amazing new game as soon as their amazingly realistic spiders turned up. Here’s a great video by Polygon about how the Obsidian the game company that developed Grounded has tried to help fight the phobias and how other game tech is being used to treat them!

Do you have any phobias? ImIronham and I did some wikipedia research and discovered we have Trypophobia, well, not so much the fear as the disgust of closely-packed holes… and Thalassophobia which is a persistent and intense fear of deep bodies of water such as the ocean or sea…just think, if we hadn’t looked them up we’d never know! 😉

See if you can guess what each of these mean before you click the name to reveal the truth!

Scopophobia

fear of being stared at.

Huzzah! Stares

Automysophobia

fear of being dirty.

PIC BY @onnisamoyed / MERCURY PRESS (PICTURED: ONNI BEFORE HIS DOGGY PLAY DATE) These hilarious photos of fluffy puppy before and after a muddy doggy playdate – with his face left still immaculately white – have gone viral. Onni, a five month old Samoyed from Helsinki, Finland, had been rolling around in the dirt with sister Ada before owners Lotta Alajoki, 25, and Miiro Lehto, 30, decided to post the adorable aftermath on Instagram. The fluffy pup, who has his own profile on the app, left his followers stunned as his face was still completely clean while the rest of his body was completely dark brown due to the mud – prompting some online critics to even claim the picture was photoshopped. Secretary Lotta and construction manager Miiro have now shared more pictures proving the phenomenon is natural – explaining the dirt struggles to cling to the shorter fur around Onni’s face. SEE MERCURY COPY PIC BY @onnisamoyed / MERCURY PRESS (PICTURED: ONNI AFTER HIS DOGGY PLAY DATE) These hilarious photos of fluffy puppy before and after a muddy doggy playdate – with his face left still immaculately white – have gone viral. Onni, a five month old Samoyed from Helsinki, Finland, had been rolling around in the dirt with sister Ada before owners Lotta Alajoki, 25, and Miiro Lehto, 30, decided to post the adorable aftermath on Instagram. The fluffy pup, who has his own profile on the app, left his followers stunned as his face was still completely clean while the rest of his body was completely dark brown due to the mud – prompting some online critics to even claim the picture was photoshopped. Secretary Lotta and construction manager Miiro have now shared more pictures proving the phenomenon is natural – explaining the dirt struggles to cling to the shorter fur around Onni’s face. SEE MERCURY COPY
Allodoxaphobia

fear of hearing other people’s opinions.

Xanthophobia

fear of the colour yellow!? In china it was the color of an order to kill yourself

Coulrophobia

fear of clowns.

Panphobia

fear of everything!

dog’s nose in the sweaters
Chirophobia

Fear of Hands

Genuphobia

Fear of Knees

Huge golden retriever pet lying on knees of young tender hindu woman sitting on sofa in domestic room and using digital tablet. Caring owner stroking her four-legged friend while surfing the Internet
Globophobia

Fear of Balloons

Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia

Fear of Long Words…and ironically it’s the longest word in the dictionary!

Turophobia

Fear of Cheese

Little mongrel dog with cheese pieces in front of his nose; Shutterstock ID 1359112583; Other: ; Purchase Order: 123; Client/Licensee: ; Job:
Nomophobia

Fear of Being Without a Phone

Arachibutyrophobia

Fear of Peanut Butter Sticking to the Roof of the Mouth

Alektorophobia

Fear of Chickens

Omphalophobia

Fear of Belly Buttons

Bogyphobia

Fear of the Bogeyman

The dog’s nose peeping from under the blanket
Nakusophobia

Fear of boogers

And for those a little freaked out by the whole phobia and giant spiders thing…Who’s going to be playing the newest Stardew Valley Updates!? I love this game… it’s a more tasteful and quirky Animal Crossing if you ask me… which nobody is!

https://www.gameinformer.com/2020/12/21/stardew-valleys-huge-new-update-is-available-now-on-pc

ImIronham has been telling me about DreamXD and his “possibly” Fake his 1.16 Minecraft speedrun. He says it’s legit, but he has been accused for cheating “probability” during trading with a Piglin! Here’s the drama… and the math that goes along with probability!

And if you need a refresher…like I did…here’s MathAntics on Basic Probability!

Have yourselves a great, safe and gameful Holiday!

All the best, from the best!

D!

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