Sake Of Belonging Essays - Belief, Autonomy, Metaphysics

Sake Of Belonging annon Just for the Sake of Belonging Two common ways of handling a situation are either to do so according to one?s own personal needs and desires with no specific regard to other people, or one can base a decision on how it will be viewed by others. The vast majority of people fall on the side of being worried about what others are saying and thinking. Both good and bad can come from living this way, but it has seemed to remain constant throughout history. People have a natural desire to belong, and to fit in with a certain group. No matter what group an individual chooses, that individual almost always is forced sacrifice a part of them self in order to seem more a part of things. People in this world seem to need companionship and are often too weak to stand alone. As a result, they stand together in what ever group they are best suited to. It is a point of interest to many of the people who have stopped to think about this fact. The idea that people live according to how others will perceive then has been established as the rule, not the exception. The real question now lies in the reasons for this way of life. It was hypothesized by C.S. Lewis that this desire to belong and to fit in is a natural human characteristic. He believed that people have an instinctive drive to belong, in the same sort of way species reproduce. It is possible that his theory of instinctive necessity is accurate, and humans are as a whole are week and scared when they are faced with solitude. The old adage ?there is safety in numbers? is appropriate in this topic. Often in this world terrible things happen because people group up and commit unspeakable acts, then take shelter in the numbers of those involved. The Annual Freaknik ?celebration? is the perfect example. Thousands of individuals crowd the streets of Atlanta and pillage the city for a weekend, all the while they show no respect for the laws or the residents of the city. This can be directly related to the issue of people doing things to be a part of the group. If these people were asked individually why they did these terrible things, for the most part they would respond by saying ?everyone else is doing it. This could be translated to ?I am just trying to be a part of things?. In this particular example those involved sacrifice any sense of morals or upbringing that they might have had. ?Everybody is doing it?. This sentence has ruined thousands of lives. It could could be the worst four word combination in the English language. People have been convinced to begin drug use, drunk driving, cliff jumping, and countless other unwise activities. The reason behind this is clear, the human necessity to fit in and to seem cool is often to strong to compete with. A person could have the world and all of its riches, but with out someone to share it with, that person would be totally alone. People need each other. This is a fact of the world, and it will never change. This need is a natural desire that is found every where in every person with very few exceptions. It is true that trouble can brew and awful things can happen because of these groups, but the advantages associated far out weigh the costs. These groups that people form between themselves often serve as shelter for the lonely, for this reason it is natural for people to go far out their way if necessary to belong a particular crowd. As a result the opinion of others is crucial part of life.

How to Plan a Game Development Project

How to Plan a Game Development Project One of the most complicated aspects of game development is planning. Some would argue that small indie projects don’t need this step; they simply need to work on the project until it’s done. This is far from true. Initial Planning The design framework laid at the project’s origin will determine the course for the entire project’s development. Its important to remember at this step that nothing is set in stone, but you should attempt to be as accurate as possible. Feature List First, analyze the design document and determine the game’s requirements. Then, split out each requirement into a list of features that will be needed to implement the requirement. Breaking Down the Tasks Take each feature and work with your leads in each area (art, animation, programming, sound, level design, etc) to break it down into tasks for each department (a group or person, depending on the size of your team). Assigning Tasks The lead of each group should then create initial time requirement estimates for each task and assign them to team members. After this is complete, the lead should work with the team to ensure that the estimates are correct and reasonable. Dependencies The project manager then must take all the task estimates and place them into a project management software package, either Microsoft Project or Excel (the two long-time industry standards) or any of the newer choices available for agile project management. Once the tasks are added, the project manager must look at the tasks and match dependencies between teams to ensure that the timing of creating a feature doesn’t have impossible relationships that prevent it from being completed within necessary time frames. For example, to fully implement a racing game, you wouldnt schedule the coding of tire durability before the completion of the physics system. You would have no framework to base the tire code upon. Scheduling This is where things get particularly complicated, but where the need for project management in the first place becomes more apparent. The project manager assigns estimated start and completion dates for each task. In traditional project planning, you end up with a cascading â€Å"waterfall† view, which shows the timeline for completion of the project and the dependencies that link the tasks. Its critical to remember to factor in slippage, employee sick time, unexpected delays on features, etc. This is a time-consuming step, but it will quickly give you an idea of exactly how much time the project will take to complete. What to Do With the Data By looking at this project plan, you can determine if a feature is going to be costly in time (and, therefore, money) and make decisions about whether the feature is necessary for the game to succeed. You might decide that delaying a feature to update- or even a sequel- makes more sense. Also, tracking how long you’ve worked on a feature is useful in determining if its time to either try a new technique to solve the problem or cut the feature for the good of the project. Milestones A frequent use of project planning involves the creation of milestones. Milestones indicate when a certain element of functionality, a time period of working on the project, or a percentage of the tasks has been completed. For internal project tracking, milestones are useful for planning purposes and for giving the team specific goals to aim for. When working with a publisher, milestones frequently determine how and when the developing studio is paid. Final Notes Project planning is regarded by many as a nuisance, but youll almost always find that developers who plan projects well in advance and hit their milestones are the ones who succeed in the long run.

Management accounting & decision making Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Management accounting & decision making - Essay Example As at September 30, 20X0 Property, Plant and Equipment 1,840,000 Less: Depreciation (133,167) Net Book Value 1,706,833 Inventory 9,000 Receivables 144,585 Cash 172,700 Total Assets 2,033,118 Owner's Capital 2,000,000 Profit for the year (92) Creditors 12,960 Overhead cost payable 20,250 Total capital and liabilities 2,033,118 The above statement presents the cash budget, income statement and the statement of financial position for the six months ended September 30. In the forecasting of the cash budget, the effect of inflation has been ignored. During the six months period the inflation is expected to rise and it will impact all the variables of the projections. In addition, it has been assumed, in the cash flow forecast, that the credit sales will be settled at the end of two months. Same assumption has been applied in the cost of purchases which is being assumed to be settled at the end of the next month in which the sales were made. It has also been assumed that purchases, in orde r to maintain the inventory level to ? 10,000, are included in the total cost of purchase. In the income statement, it has been assumed that China glass and cutlery, bed linen and towel and miscellaneous items including toiletries are revenue expenditure and will be consumed entirely during the current period. The loss in inventory is proportionately divided between the two half of the years and half of the expected loss is taken. The corresponding impact has been taken in the inventory. Task 2 (a) As per the given scenario, the average spending has decreased by 15% which means that the average spending in actual turned out to be 127.5. If we substitute this figure with the current expected occupancy rate, the revenue is likely to decrease. The following table presents the revised income statement Income Statement In ? For the six months ended September 30,20X0 Revenue 386,325 Cost of Purchases (77,265) China glass and cutlery (10,000) Bed linen and towel (10,000) Miscellaneous item s including toiletries (5,000) Labor Cost (77,265) Overhead Cost (96,581) Depreciation (133,167) Losses in inventory (1,000) Net loss (23,953) As apparent from the above table, the net loss has further increased which would adversely affect the financial outlook of the company. In order to maintain the previous less of profitability (in this case net loss of 92) the company is required to maintain the same level of sales. This can only be done by increasing the level of occupancy so that the sales remain the same at ?454,500. In order to maintain the same level of sales the monthly occupancy should be increased by 20% monthly. Since the occupancy rate of august is already 90%, it can only by increased to a perfect 100%. Following is the revised occupancy rate if the previous level of sales is desired Monty Occupancy Rate April 24% May 36% June 61% July 97% August 100% September 73% Average 65% Thus the revise sales