SnitchSeeker.com - Muggle Studies Lesson Two {the Technology Center}

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grrr..Meow (Post 11633766)

Bay was totally into this game now when he heard the Professor talk to him. He hit the little pause button on the screen and looked at her. Ohhhh she wanted to know if he's used one of these before. "I've used them a few times before.. When I went to visit an aunt she has one.. Still not sure how to work it all but this game " he pointed at the robot " is a lot of fun. Thank you professor " he smile at her.

Ah that made sense. Used it before. Yup, cause he totally seemed like he knew what he was doing. Nodding at him, she walked around to the next student to see how they were doing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deezerz (Post 11633770)

So...they were going to play games? Beverly blinked at the computer in front of her and hesitantly moved the mouse. What the hell? It didn't even resemble a mouse. Where were the tiny ears and eyes or tail? HMM? NOT a mouse.

Moving said mouse around she moved the cursor toward the games folder and clicked it. Thank goodness for her brother or she'd be sitting here like a total loser not knowing what to do. Even if his had a touch pad instead of a 'mouse.' Now...all she had to do was find a game she wanted to play.

... and nearly cracked a smile when Beverly explored her computer station and the mouse.

Quote:

Originally Posted by littledhampir (Post 11633792)

Last time they'd cooked pizza, and now they were being told to play a game? Hayden liked Muggle Studies. Luckily she wasn't too bad at it either. She knew what the power button looked like, and she pressed it. Her computer took a couple seconds to turn on, and then it was time to find a game. Hayden clicked on the windows menu, and then the games folder. There were many different choices, a couple she'd heard of and several she hadn't. She studied all of them, trying to figure out what to play. Finally, she decided on a game called 2048. She had no idea what it would be like, hopefully not too much math. When she clicked on the game it opened up a new screen that looked very confusing at first.

SPOILER!!: start

What was she supposed to do now? It would be very helpful if the game came with any sort of instructions at all. Since it didn't, it looked like she'd just have to figure it out herself. She pressed the up arrow and both boxes moved to the top of the screen, and a new box with a 2 on it was added. She pressed the left arrow and when two of the boxes ran into each other they formed a 4. She messed around with the arrow keys for a couple more seconds until she thought she finally had the hang of the game. She concentrated hard, even though she really didn't know what the point of the game was. To get to 2048, maybe? That was what the game was called after all. Hayden hoped Hadley hadn't said anything else because she was too focused on her game. She thought she'd done pretty good so far.

SPOILER!!: progression

128 was pretty good, right? It seemed like it, especially since this was her first time playing the game. Hayden glanced around the room quickly and noticed that everyone else was still playing games. Hadley hadn't said anything. Hayden was glad that she hadn't been so caught up in playing that she hadn't missed anything. But seeing as nothing new had happened, she went back to playing. She focused on getting all the blocks together with other blocks of the same number. She grinned happily every time she reached a big number that she hadn't reached before. It felt like a pretty big accomplishment. But the longer she played, the harder it got. She had to concentrate more and more on what she was combining as there were less spots available. Eventually she just couldn't do it anymore, and all the spaces were filled with no opportunity to make any more combinations. The words 'game over' flashed on her screen.

SPOILER!!: game over

Another quick glance around the room confirmed that Hadley still hadn't said anything else. So Hayden started the game over to play again. She tried to pay attention at least a little bit on what was going on, so she would know when they were moving on in class.

"Oh that game looks interesting. Looks very ... numbers oriented." And she should know and be one to say such things about numbers.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ArianaBlack (Post 11633794)

Zander found it kind of hilarious that Hadley had to go on and explain something as simple as what the 'on' button was. He may be bad at Arithmancy, but this muggle technology stuff was the kind of thing he grew up with. Before Hogwarts, he never even used parchment. Everything was done by computers and printed onto paper. So this was easy. Yet, Zander felt the need to humor Hadley, so instead of going on and doing something super complicated, he just went for a simple game of internet tic-tac-toe.

Pulling the page up on the internet browser, he smiled to himself. The Gryffindor looked around the room to see if anyone was having any trouble. Because this was pretty funny. Ehehe. Pizza's may not be his thing, but computers? He could do this blindfolded. Not that he wanted to try that...

Anyways. He pulled up the game, surprised at how quickly the internet had worked. Hm. Who knew wizards got good wifi? Clicking the box in the very corner of the board, the third year played his first move. The computer followed followed very quickly with it's move.

SPOILER!!: First move

Okay. So he wasn't really a tic-tac-toe expert. He actually lost most of the time. So where would he do the next move? The other corner? Was that a good choice? Eh, this was more of a Ravenclaw game, huh? Again, surprised by the internet speed, Zander marked his next move.

SPOILER!!: Second move

Alright so clearly this game was not going anywhere. It was pretty obvious that it was just going to be a tie at this point. Yet, the Gryffindor felt the need to keep playing. Who knows, maybe he could come out a winner in the end? A miracle? Possibly? Okay yeah moving on. Clicking the next box, Zander put an X and waited for the computers next move.

SPOILER!!: Third Move

Yeah. Clearly going absolutely no where with this game. The third year let out a small sigh. He wasn't having much luck with this stupid game. Maybe he'd take a try at Angry birds liek Bay? That didn't look that hard... This computer was just too good. Man, technology these days. If this computer went to Hogwarts it'd totally be a Ravenclaw.

SPOILER!!: Fourth move

Was this bit even necessary anymore? At this point there was only one space left. And nobody would win. He'd be at zero and the computer would too. Just a tie game. Man.

SPOILER!!: Last move

Darn. Tie-game. Hm. Zander looked around the room and noticed that not many people were done yet. Maybe he could just sneak in another game? For tie breaking purposes of course. And he just needed to prove that he could actually beat this computer for good.

Heh, tic-tac-toe. "I loved playing that with my sisters when were little." Though she never tried playing with a computer, but she reckoned her sisters probably challenged her more than the computer would have anyway.

Quote:

Originally Posted by feeheeheeny (Post 11633795)

Brain of the whole device, yeah! That's what she meant! "Cool." Because it was. Even though they didn't need to, Sophie totally wished wizards used computers.

As instructed, Soph located the power button first on the tower, then the monitor, and peered up at the projection to look for what was next. A loading screen... yes, yes, good. The waiting game was making her antsy, but things LOADED. And the screen looked right! This stuff was way easy, so she pressed on, awkwardly taking the mouse in her hand - she lifted it from the mat, examining the underside of it curiously before setting it back down and blinking up at the cursor on the screen. She mooooved the mouse a little and watched the cursor move one way, then mooooved the mouse a little the other way and was pleased when the cursor followed her movements.

This was so strange. And so cool.

Windows menu, windows menu... Sophie clicked what Hadley had in her demonstration and looked at all the options that came up in the menu - pictures, documents, all sorts of weird things she didn't know the use for. She discovered the option for the games, though, and also eyed the one for a word document. Hmmmm. Normally, Sophie wouldn't mind bragging about her career aspirations, but... GAMES. On a COMPUTER. That was something new and fun. So, TO THE GAMES IT WAS.

She scanned over the list of games, finding... all sorts of weird names. Things she'd never even heard of. What did Mahjong mean? Curious, she clicked at it and leaned in close to the screen, examining the window that popped up. Click on the layout...? DRAGON! Her favorite! She moved the cursor carefully and clicked right on it, then sat back with wide eyes to examine the board that came up. That didn't look anything like any dragon SHE had ever seen. Weird.

Squinting at the little box in the left-hand corner, Sophie shrugged a little. The gameplay seemed simple enough - a game of matching. She was quick to find a few matches at first before she came upon an error. Oh. She'd tried to click a tile that wasn't available - ahhh, as she dragged the mouse and the cursor across the tiles, she noted that the available ones lit up. Good note. She pressed on, then, playing a bit more and eliminating tiles gradually - at one point, she thought it looked more like a skull than the original dragon it was supposed to be - before not too long, she ran into a dead end and HUFFED loudly.

"It cheats." What a rude game.

AND then she heard it and she DID crack a smile at Sophie's comment. "Tell me about it... but that game looks like it takes strategy..." Who said computer games couldn't be educational?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Squishy (Post 11633796)

Muggle Studies was one of the best subjects EVER. They got to make pizza AND play computer games. Professor Hadley was her kind of Professor and an awesome Head of House. Both of her Heads of House were amazing women. Go Professors Hadley and Bentley!!

Eagerly Lux turned on both her monitor and tower, knowing how to do each already from multiple visits to this very room. Generally using the computer to talk to people on Twitter, she did not have much experience playing games. There was bound to be a fun one to try out though! Lux always liked trying new things, and challenges were awesome. Patiently she waited for the computer to start up, rubbing her hands together eagerly as the start up music played.

And here we go!

As soon as the screen loaded, Lux moved her mouse to the bottom and scrolled across the icons there until she found the one titled 'Finder'.

SPOILER!!: Clicky

After clicking on the icon, a window popped up on the screen showing the different files that were on the computer. There were a lot of files, and she did not want to search through them all in order to find a game to play. Looking at the left side of the window, she scanned the list of options that she could choose from in order to sort out the files that she wanted. One of them was labelled 'Applications'.

SPOILER!!: Clicky

Clicking on the 'Applications' button brought her to another window which had files in it, but there were not as many as there had been in the other window. This was much better, and made it a lot easier for her to find something to fiddle with. Near the top of the list of files, there was Chess. This was a game that Lux was not very familiar with, having only played it once. Maybe it could be fun for her to try it out on a computer, moving some of the pieces and seeing what would happen.

SPOILER!!: Clicky

Clicking on the Chess icon brought her to another window which was a chess board. There was no toolbar that she could use in order to ask for help, but the plain wooden pieces were closest to her while the black pieces were further away. It did not take a genius to figure out that all she needed to do was move one of said wooden pieces for the game to start.

SPOILER!!: Clicky

Staring at the board, she thought of what she wanted to do. As far as her understanding went, the small pieces at the very front were called 'pawns' and they were the first pieces that were moved in a game of chess. They also moved two places forward. Or so she thought. Picking one of the random pawns on her end, she slid it forward two spots then watched as the computer moved the black pawn opposite of it.

SPOILER!!: Clicky

Now what to do? Unsure, Lux bit her lip before deciding to move another one of her pawns. If this was a good idea, she had no clue because she was not an expert at strategy. As soon as she made her move, the computer sent out one of it's pieces that looked like a horse. This was a 'knight' as far as she knew, and the knight moved in an 'L' shape. She loved Knights and liked to think that these ones were Knights of the Round Table because the King Arthur stories were awesome.

SPOILER!!: Clicky

Hmmm, thinking about the Knights made Lux want to send one of hers out, so she chose the one on her left side, sending it out bravely to battle. What a good Knight it was.... Except almost immediately the computer swooped in and her Knight was gone. Awww, that sucked! Pouting, she noticed that it had been taken by something weird looking. Okay, what was that supposed to be?

o_O

SPOILER!!: Clicky

What was she supposed to do now? Totally at a loss, Lux looked around her. Was there still time to play, or what? Maybe she should wait for the rest of the class because this game was making her head hurt. She was so confused.

As did chess. Not wizard chess sadly. But she was doing okay ... better than she'd do, probably. "Too bad muggle chess isn't really like wizarding chess."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Emms (Post 11633797)

Listening to the Professor, Simon nodded. Okay first step first was to turn on the computer. He quickly turned on the power of the computer tower and then he monitored. As he patiently watched the screen load, he wondered what games the computers had on store for them. A colourful beach ball appeared and spun a couple of times around which made Simon bit his lip a little bit. It was the colour wheel of death. He took a deep breath and relaxed. By the time he had exhaled, the computer had sorted itself out. He touched the mouse and quickly moved it to the menu bar. He clicked on it and read the options that they could choose from. Where was the games folder? His blue eyes hungrily searched for the section and widened when he had found it.

Clicking the game folder, he opened it up and found a sudoku game. Ooh, he thought. He liked puzzles. Puzzles were fun. A smaller window popped up revealing a puzzle. He started working out where all the ones were. When he couldn't find all the ones, he moved onto the twos and threes. A couple minutes later, he had a puzzle that looked like this. Pursing his lips, he tried to figure out where all the other numbers went. Becoming more and more unsure by the minute, he checked his answer by clicking a single button. The puzzle application told him that his answer was right so far and that he should continue playing. Alright... thirty more.. he thought and added more numbers.

He added a couple more numbers here and there, making sure that they worked in the puzzle. Eventually, he made his way to a puzzle like this. With fourteen left, the puzzle became much easier and he was putting numbers here and there until he solved the puzzle. The application popped up with another screen, informing Simon how long he had spent on the puzzle.

He'd spent seven minutes? He bit his lip. That was not good. He would have to practice. But practicing was for another day. He glanced around the room and noticed that some of his classmates were still working. Could he work on another puzzle perhaps in the meantime? Yes, he'd do that quietly. He reopened the application and started solving a different one.

Sudoku puzzle! "Ah another numbers game! I love this one and nice work," Hadley beamed at the Snake.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anna Banana (Post 11633861)

Oh, GREAT.

Sophie + Muggles = Not good.

Sophie + Muggles + Computers = ...

Well, she didn't even want to imagine the chaos that was probably about to happen. She had no experience whatsoever with computers, let alone playing games on them. Why would you want to play a game on a computer?

Oh, right...because they were all snowed in and couldn't go outside anymore. Well played, Hadley.

So anyway, Sophie took a deep breath and began the search for the Deathly Hallows-like symbol she was supposed to push to turn the whole thing on. That didn't sound too promising, but other people had started, and they hadn't had chaos erupt yet. She found the power buttons and the computer sparked to life.

Sophie stared at the computer as if it was a three-headed dragon. WHAAAAAT did she do now?! O_O. She fumbled around with all the buttons and after a while, a long while, she located a menu:

One

Applications was a word she knew, and if there was anything she did know about Muggles it was that they had the same terminology MOST of the time. Applications likely meant the same thing, and so she selected it and began browsing the applications on the computer. Garage Band?! Ohh, cool! Sophie would choose that, because it did look cool, but she didn't know how to play in a band. NEXT!

CHESS! This was something familiar!

Two

Sophie selected "Chess" and began to play.

She made the first move and noticed the computer played along. She blinked at it as it called out its move.

Three

Uhhh, so what now? Sophie suddenly got the feeling that the computer knew how to play better than she did. WHO was playing with her? It was like a weird ghost was in there or something.

Four

Sophie continued playing along, with whoever this was, until finally her piece on E4 was overtaken. WHAAAAAAT. This computer WAS better than she was! Crazy! There was a THING beating her at chess!

Five

Another chess player! It seemed there were quite a few; perhaps they should start a chess club to cure the winter blues? Bad joke? Okay then. "Nice try"

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mordred (Post 11633880)

Oh yay! They get to do whatever they want? They get to play? Ethan sat straighter and examined the computer before him. Yes, of course. He's got to power it on first before anything else, yeah? Maybe...pressing the power button on the tower should go first because it's closer to the power supply...correct? Upon closer inspection, Ethan found the right button, pressed it and the computer started to whir. Pleased with that, he pressed the other power button on the monitor. The screen came to life and...it did exactly what Professor Hadley's monitor did, so yes, he was on the right track.

Now...MERLIN. Where in Salazar Slytherin's armpit is the start button? THIS...IS...CONFUSING! Ethan did tap the monitor, but nothing happened until he accidentally bumped his mouse. "Oh. Ooooh." The pointer thing moved, and it showed a smaller...screen thing on the side...and right at the middle was the word and icon that said START. "Huzzzaaaaaaah!" the Slytherin let out a small cry and clicked the thing.

And as he did, Ethan's eyes widened as MORE icons flew across his screen. Wait it can fly? Anyway, the Slytherin slooowly moved the mouse like a grand daddy, eyes squinting until he found an interesting icon. "Oooh. What does this button do??" CLICK. Oh bravo! A game...A GAME! Yusssss! "Achievement unlocked!" Success! Hehehehe.

Ethan followed the instruction, and occasionally flail at his monitor because the instructions went by TOO fast. Merlin! A few more clicks and the Slytherin FINALLY figured out what to do. Matchy-match the colored coins and unlock a new puzzle...or was it a treasure? By the way, that frog thing on top? FUNNY.

Anyway...

Click, swap, match, win. Repeat.

And props to to Ethan as he found his way on the computer. They really were simple pieces of technology; and surely something their young minds could easily grasp and figure out.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Talikins (Post 11633900)

GAME TIME? REALLY?

OHHHHH YEAH! Abbi was SO ready for this. Though she was going to do this old school style. Spider solitaire style that was. She at first waited for her desktop to load and then after that she clicked on the start button searching for games where she found her solitaire. LIKE WHO would even write a paragraph when games were there?

New game dealt. Boy she was ready and she would TOTALLY not use help. Like who needed that anyways?

After sometime she switched cards about, untill finally she got her first full set. ONE POINT FOR ABSTER! She had this. MHHHHHM. Took her a while though and mostly because she couldn't find herself a free Jack. Finally thoug she nmanaged to get one, thank goodness.

Hmmm..the others then? She clicked about, again having a lack of the Jacks and began to get slightly annoyed at the computer, but soon enough it granted ehr wishes and she was able to complete everything with a fairly alright score if you'd ask her. She was way too impressed with herself. Though she had to admit, maybe she should of opted for a more exciting game. This one...well it was a bit adultish.

OH WELL. STILL! She WON. TOO COOL! MHHM

So what was Grayson up to then?

Ooh spider solitaire! Another good game for winter days ...... and one that didn't require the partnership of the evil computer for an opponent, which made it even better.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Meizzner (Post 11633909)

Well that was interesting. All the different things that make up a muggle computer. First time Nigel used one was a simply awesomely awesome experience. Nigel listened on and wanted to find the one with the least amount of work. He was feeling more lazy than usually today. Maybe to was the cumulative effect of the cold.

Lets go with that.

Nigel was not in the mood to play simple computer games. The one paragraph thing on career options sounded better. Plus Nigel has been thinking about that a lot more than he should. So there he went, typing away until his paragraph was finished.

SPOILER!!: Awesome Paragraph

Perfect

Heh, nice ... someone (figures a ravenclaw) who didn't play games but typed up a paragraph instead. Which considering some of the computer games out there, this was definitely the simplest choice...

Quote:

Originally Posted by FearlessLeader19 (Post 11633914)

Awesome! They got to do whatever they want? Adi knew what he was going to do! Play Spider Solitaire. It was one of his favourite games because he won most of the times. Well, that was because he usually set the game on 'easy' mode. Hehe. The Puffer turned on the computer, waited for it to boot up and opened the game.

SPOILER!!: Starting the Game

It always took sometime for him to form the first deck because there were so many cards to sort through and sometimes the cards he needed were blocked by others so he had to move them out of the way. But never the less, in about five minutes he successfully made the first deck.

SPOILER!!: Deck 1

Onto deck two! Adi switched some cards around and added some new ones from the deck on the right hand corner of the screen. The he did some more switches until he had another deck.

SPOILER!!: Deck 2

After forming deck three, the third year began building deck four. Once again, he added a deck from the right hand corner of the screen, switched some cards around until he had a complete deck.

SPOILER!!: Decks 3 & 4

In less time than it had took Adi to complete the previous decks, he formed another. This was because as less cards were in play, the faster one could swap around the remainder.

SPOILER!!: Deck 5

Soon, deck six was up. He was going to win this and he knew it!

SPOILER!!: Deck 6

The second to last deck was completed within seconds. Just one more remained.

SPOILER!!: Deck 7

Now finally, the last deck1 Just as with the previous one, Adi completed it within seconds. And looky. Fireworks were bursting on the screen, indicating he had won. He grinned broadly. This was an awesome game. Eight decks completed in 112 moves and giving him a score of 1188.

SPOILER!!: Deck 8

Another spider solitaire player! Giving Adi a nod when she passed, it didn't seem as if he was having trouble.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScarletCharm104 (Post 11633924)

Marigold grinned as she brought the computer closer to her and scooted her chair in. She would finally play the game Moo had told her about aaaages ago, but never played because she hadn't gotten around to it. First, she turned the computer on, then clicked the shiny button.

SPOILER!!: Clicky

Then, she went to the page where the game would be. "Flappy Bird," it was called. She would probably be AMAZING at it.

SPOILER!!: Game page

She pressed the start button, then started playing. She was really bad at it and crashed into the very first… whatever that green thing was.

SPOILER!!: Playing and failed screen

She was frustrated, but didn't want to give up. She played again, and got 0. Then, she played and got THREE!! She would stop there. She didn't like the game much, and three was probably the highest she would go.

SPOILER!!: Final score

Oh this one looked similar to what Bay was playing; nodding at Marigold as she was playing, she watched a few moments and frowned when she didn't seem successful at it. "I swear some games are just rigged..." Hence why there were other games out there to play which you COULD actually win at.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaniDiNardo (Post 11633925)

Oh awesome, they could mess around with the computers now!! It was a good thing the Professor had already mentioned which button was the power button and such but like, pfffft, she would have been able to figure it out anyway because it was the same button you found on a television set and they happened to have one of those. Things that happened when you had a muggle in the house, yeah? Though that was hardly a thing anymore but Lex didn't mind. The TV could be interesting some times, even with her choosing not to spend too much time with it.

With the computer 'booted' or whatever they called it, she found herself looking at a screen with a lot of those icon things from earlier. Only problem was she didn't know which one she wanted to click.

So....she wasn't all that sure what she was meant to click but this one looked good. A click, then another click and she was brought to a screen. This...actually kinda seemed promising. It wasn't like that moving card game someone next to her was playing but these options might not have been so bad.

Of course she wasn't up for any pansy games so after what took like ages of fiddling around she figured out how to scroll she found one with a car. OPPORTUNITY FOR ROAD RAGE!!!! Cliiiiick. Taking her to....this? Neat.

It didn't take too long after she began playing for her to realize she was losing. Like what even? How did you steer this thing?? Her car kept going from one side of the road to the next, crashing into walls like the driver inside didn't understand what his job in all this was. Jeez, how'd he get himself this car and why'd he have to be HER driver?? Just look at him heading for another wall.

"Bloody hell, can you not though?" She mumbled watching him swerve away only to end up in another wall no matter what buttons she pressed. Dumb game this was a very dumb game and it was either she had given up or the man because there was another wall headed right toward them.

In her frustration Lex might have just started pressing buttons at random. Surely something would make the man grow a brain and better his driving! Suddenly, this happen:

http://i62.tinypic.com/30moc4g.jpg

"................................Okay." Have it.

But then she heard reactions that she did NOT want to hear ... frowning over at the Gryffindor Prefect, she sighed, as she saw that blue screen of death. "Oh for the love of Wenlock, what HAVE you done, Prefect Cambridge? The computer is NOT a bludger target ... nor is the game you were playing. No need to be clicking so - aggressively." Because now she's done it and she WAS not fixing the computer for Cambridge to wreck again. She could mess around with a computer again on her own time.

Quote:

Originally Posted by OwlEcho63 (Post 11633926)

Hazel grinned. This was the coolest class ever! She typed 'checkers' into the search bar and clicked on the first result.

SPOILER!!: Start

She quickly caught on to the game. She'd heard of the game and knew the idea of it, but the puffer had never really played before. She kept playing.

SPOILER!!: Playing

Ooh! She had a 'queened' checker! Or was it called 'kinged'? She didn't know, but she was excited to keep playing. This was the best she'd ever played a computer game!

SPOILER!!: Playing

Hazel was getting better at this! She had two 'kinged' checkers now. She began feeling more confident that she would win!

SPOILER!!: End

Yay! She won! Now, Hazel had clicked on 'Easy', but she was still proud. She won her first computer game!

"Ah checkers! Very exciting! Well done," Hadley beamed at the young student. Apparently computer checkers was proving easier than computer chess.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Felixir (Post 11633937)

Though Toby was always a very energetic and hyperactive kid, there was one thing that required sitting and focusing but that always captured his focus perhaps a little TOO well, and that was video games. Of course, they didn't have his kind of video games here in this lesson, but computers had games all of their own. That was close enough. And he knew computers well enough that he could use them with practiced experience.

It felt good, being around technology again. Going to a magic school was awesome, but sometimes you just missed little things like this.

Toby reached down to the PC terminal to press the on/off button, then did the same with the monitor. He held onto the mouse and jiggled it around a little while he waited for the computer to go through the various loading graphics, until it finally reached a familiar log-in screen. There was only a guest account available, with a little flower as the icon, so Toby clicked once on that and resumed mouse jiggling once more.

It was a fast computer, and pretty soon Toby was at the desktop with a bunch icons up on screen. He looked momentarily at the little internet icon, but quickly moved on to the paint symbol, which was tempting. But no, he was here for the games.

Instead of clicking on any symbols, Toby instead looked at the keyboard to search for his specific shortcut. Finding it, he tapped on the key that looked like a cross between a window and a flag (the windows key), and the start menu game up. Next, he typed 'ga', and looked up to see the 'Games' option right there. Using the arrow keys, he navigated to it and pressed 'enter'.

Hmmm... not many that had ever really captured his attention before. This computer didn't seem to have the games he really liked, and Toby was about to click out and get to 'paint' after all, until he finally spotted a game he loved. Tetris.

Without hesitation, Toby clicked on the icon and waited for the game to boot up.

SPOILER!!: Start

He took a moment to go through the instructions so he knew which buttons did what, before maximising the screen using one of the buttons in the corner of the window so that it filled the whole screen. The Hufflepuff paused briefly to stretch out his fingers, y'know, just limbering up, and then clicked on 'play game' and moved the cursor out of the way.

This was one of those games he often played for a long time. It was something that could keep him sitting still and hyperfocusing for an obscene amount of time. It could be a strange sight, to see Toby focused on something for so long, but folks, you're seeing it now.

It took a few restarts of the game before Toby really got the hang of it again, and then he was well and truly into it, all of his energy evident only in the speed with which he tapped the keys on the keyboard. He stared at the screen captivated.

Merlin only knew how long he played for, but he knew it was time to stop when his eyes began to hurt. Toby leaned back in his chair, blinking and rubbing at them. Soooooooooo many colours.

SPOILER!!: Finish

And a tetris player over here. Nodding approvingly at Tobias, she continued walking around observing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Holmesian Feline (Post 11633963)

Okay, so Ben was trying to focus really hard on what everyone was saying and talking about around him. Sure he was a half blood and had muggles or at least muggleborns in his family. Sure he had at least seen a computer before if not really used it all that much. He certainly wasn't aware of half the things about computers that some of the others seemed to know.

The third year watched as Professor Hadley's computer turned on and what was it...loading? He wasn't sure but at least he knew were to look later when the woman asked them to turn their own one. Half circle button...half circle button. Pressing it as he found it, Benny wait and waited until his screen matched the professors. And just about everyone elses.

SPOILER!!: desktop

He fiddled around until he figured out where to go to get anything he might be doing. For what Professor Hadley wanted them to try out on the muggle computer. One button led to one thing, another led to something else and then there was a final screen that seemed promising.

SPOILER!!: programs

Debating on what to do, he opted to write. At least that should somewhat resemble typing on a type writer. That he had actually been shown by his uncle who seemed to enjoy the activity.The Gryffindor followed the instructions they had been given to find the various items, almost clicking on one called Dragon but finally stumbling onto a program called Word. Ben clicked on it. He was certainly going to be using words...right?

SPOILER!!: jackpot

When he opened, it almost looked like a piece of parchment. Right there...up on that...what was it? Screen? And there was this blinking thing on it. Benny tentatively pressed down on a key, a w, and it appeared. Getting ambitious, hit the keys that held the letters for his name, spelling it out first in his head and then on the faux parchment.

SPOILER!!: document

And another writer ... who hadn't written anything yet, but at least he got the program up and running.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlwaysSnapesGirl (Post 11633981)

Time to turn it on, finally!

Penelope found the power button pretty easily and then it was just time to wait for it to load...which didn't really take all that long really. Surprising. But a good surprise. She didn't wanna sit around waiting for too long after all.

So now she needed to find the games - which was also pretty easy. But what wasn't as easy was deciding which game to play. There were LOTS of them on here. Hmm... Well, she didn't really want to play a card game. Something different would be more fun, one she'd never played before...like this one with the funny name. Mahjong Titans? Could be interesting.

A new little window popped with a selection of layouts for the...cards? Tiles? Whatever the little rectangles were called. Wasn't hard choosing which one to do though - she was immediately drawn to the cat one.

So now...how to play? There was a little pop-up at the bottom that sorta explained, though it seemed kinda basic. But she tried it and got one match, but then the next one wouldn't work. Could only use ones that didn't have a tile on the right or left? Meh. Okay.

She did okay for while, though she kept forgetting about the not using ones that had tiles on either side so the little message kept popping up. And then it was kinda hard to see which matches she still had, so she might've used the hint option a couple times. This thing was much harder than she expected...but also kinda fun.

But just when she was kinda getting the hang of it and liking it...

It ended. Merlin's beard. Ughh. So close too. She only had a few left.

...She was gonna try again. Yep. She clicked the "End Game" option and started a new game.

And another one who was playing the game that looked kind of like dominos but with funny symbols on the pieces... who also was unsuccessful at the game. "Better luck next time."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deezerz (Post 11633985)

Beverly frowned when she clicked on the games folder icon. It highlighted it, but other than that nothing else happened. Scowling at the monitor, then at the mouse, she clicked it again and again and BAM. Folder opened. Huh. Two clicks did the trick.

Scrolling down, the Slytherin's multi-colored eyes stopped on something that looked clever enough to be played. She double clicked on it. Tetris. Also, she's played that before on Kennedy's blasted portable phone. It was fun-ish. It was okay.

The window popped up, demonstrating her the keys she will use to play. Space bar and Enter. Okay. She HAD this. Let the game begin!

SPOILER!!: Starting the game

It was pretty simple as to what to do at first. Build up blocks, make them fit, create lines and knock the opponents'. She was doing well until the game sped up and the opponent started knocking lines at HER. How DARE it do that? Who did it think it was? Just a computer. Pffft!

Beverly was full in You're-going-down Zone. Pressing away at the Space bar and Enter button. Keeping her eyes on the left box, she connected blocks, made them fit and knocked lines over at her computer. Then BAM!

SPOILER!!: End of game

GAME OVER.

Winner: Beverly Juniper Wayne.

As it should be. Leaning back on her chair, arms folded across her chest the fourth year smirked at the computer screen. Yeah, what now, bud? HIIIIISSS!

And back to Beverly who selected a game - tetris. Who seemed successful as well. Hadley beamed at the fourth year approvingly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hermionesclone (Post 11633990)

Did this mean that they could play games in class?

FREAKING. YEEEEEEEEEEES!

As excited as anything, Grayson turned the computer on by pressing the Deathly Hallows like symbol. He knew exactly where it was, thanks to a certain third year Hufflepuff who had shown him what to do. Really, thank you, Lux. Otherwise he would have looked daft in this lesson.

Actually, he did look daft. Now. When the start screen came up.

Er.

The boy leaned closer and started looking around for a familiar looking start button. It had an image that was similar to a window and-- OH! THERE! On the bottom left hand corner. Grayson clicked on that, which brought up a small section, full of icons that he could click on. Some were ones that looked like the ones he used at home and others............... not so much.

Photos!: Screenshot

Next? All Programs. Because he wanted the GAMES. Not seeing any in the immediate icons list, Grayson scrolled down until he saw it: Games. Another click on that happened, which brought up ANOTHER list of applications. This one............ had a lot of games. Half of them didn't even look like ones he wanted to play. There was one, however, that he liked the look of so..........

Photos!: Screenshot

................ he clicked on it. Which brought up another two screens. Er. Alright then.

Photos!: Screenshot

Brilliant! It was time to start the game! But first, he needed to select a difficulty level. WELL............... this was going to be the first time playing the game so there was no way that he was going to select the most difficult option. Too much risk to his ego. The easiest one wasn't the one he liked the sound of so... the boy selected the middle one. Intermediate. Not too easy and not too hard.

Photos!: Screenshot

The window on the right hand side disappeared and a new board was opened up. There was a small notice on how to play the game, which Grayson looked over and then closed hastily. Minesweeper. Click on the blue tiles and try not to select a mine. It sounded DEAD simple. The boy continued clicking until..........

Photos!: Screenshot

What?!

WHAT?!

ALREADY?! He had only clicked on TWO FREAKING TILES.

Photos!: Screenshot

Oh you have got to be kidding me.

Done. He was DONE. This game was stupid.

Oh Wenlock. Someone seemed frustrated. Clearly did NOT have the patience of a Hufflepuff. "You need to have patience; if you click to hasty than you set off the mines..." Yup, she'd experimented with that game before.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Holmesian Feline (Post 11633991)

Okay so now he had gotten into the thing and sorta gotten used to how it all worked. Typing on the computer. Even if he didn't feel anymore connected with the muggle contraption. But Benny still had something else to do. He had to continue typing and put together some thoughts so he fuddled around and came up with something that was at least halfway legible. Or understandable in this case.

SPOILER!!: paragraph

"Looking good there," Hadley nodded, as she glanced over Benjamin's shoulder at the words he'd typed up.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Expecto-Penguin (Post 11633992)

Alright game time! What could Kace play! This was his favorite class ever. Hmmm he really liked burger games! So he clicked and typed in a burger game of his choice and got one he really liked!

He started off with a tutorial!

SPOILER!!: Tutorial/Beginning of the Game

Then he began to start playing his game, he was starting to get good at it. Psshh this game was easy!

SPOILER!!: Middle of the Game

Then at the end he got his check and happy customers! He was pretty happy!

SPOILER!!: End of the game

"ah that one looks educational ... future shopkeeper on our hands, I think," Hadley noted at Kace's screen.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lissy Longbottom (Post 11634015)

Playing games? COOL! That actually sounded like a lot of fun! Turning to his computer, he went to the games folder and opened it, taking a look at all his options. He'd never heard of half of these - but aha! There was chess - he could do chess. He knew how to play the wizarding version, how different could this one be?

He opened the file and the game popped up. It was just a plain old chess game, not a wizarding set, but he had expected that. So he was white, yes?

SPOILER!!: Game on!

He clicked the first piece and moved it, starting out slow with the pawns. The computer was pretty reckless though- after two moves, it decided to move it's queen! That was bold, Mr. Computer, super bold. He moved his king out the way and attempted to move the computer's queen into a good position to take it out - and ended up getting himself into checkmate.

Oops.

SPOILER!!: For real that's what happened play by play

Another chess player! Who lost. Funny how both Newells chose to play the same game; did they think that up on their own ? Telepathic communication?

"Next time," Hadley noted at Caleb.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Harry174 (Post 11634097)

Angel couldn't believe she was getting to play with a computer, she loved them, well she liked playing on them at home, she had even played a few games on them when her friends were all too busy to go out and play, so she decided to play a game that she liked.

SPOILER!!: starting

Angel beamed as she clicked on the button, this game sounded simple enough but she would have to wait and see, she had thought about playing a hard game but decided that she didn't have enough time for that.

SPOILER!!: in progress

Angel was totally enjoying herself now and then she saw one of the one's that got her extra points and she beamed as she continued to play the game, she loved this game.

SPOILER!!: in progress

Angel had been caught up in the game too much, she never realised that she was losing lives regularly and all too soon the computer was saying game over which was weird because she couldn't remember losing all her lives.

SPOILER!!: the end

Oh well she realised she would just have to practice more when she got home, though she totally loved muggle studies.

Hmm this one? Interesting game choice... observing Angel clicking randomly a moment or two, she waited until the game was near over before speaking. "Well that game seems ... interesting."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chiara (Post 11634109)

Awesome!!! Game time!!!
Lucy had played with the games already with her mother's PC!!

Lucy loved this game!!
Lucy started to play the game..

Lucy and her mother often had fights in this game..they agree that the loser washing the dishes...

After a few games Lucy decided to close the game...
She was really happy and relaxed..

OOC: sorry I didn't loaded the images because I have some problems with my PC..

And another game player who Hadley watched and observed...

ooc: so no images, but could you at least provide a play-by-play in-depth descriptions of what game you played? What happened in the game? I need some more details to give you more participation credit ...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daydreamer11 (Post 11634113)

Jasmine turned on the computer and the monitor. Unfortunately having a heads up on the Muggle world was not going to help her much in this situation. A computer whiz, she definitely was not. How she was going to make it through this task, she did not know.

Looking at her choices, the possibilities weren't good. She saw something that she knew even less about than computers and that was chess. Her dad had always wanted to teach her to play, but she had never learned. She had watched him play, but only had a vague knowledge of the game. So why would she choose this game to play? Call her crazy.

Looking at the board, Jasmine tried to remember all of the pieces and how they could move. This was not going to go well, she knew it.

SPOILER!!: Start

Making her moves, Jasmine watched as the computer countered each of her moves. More than once, she got a "ding" when she made a move that wasn't allowed. She had no idea what she was doing, but she continued to play. Maybe she would learned something from this total annihilation.

Amazingly, Jasmine was able to capture some of the computers pieces. Unfortunately, that usually led to some of her pieces getting captured in return. Finally she heard the dreaded word "Check". She knew enough to know that if she didn't get her king out of the situation, she would lose. "Ding, ding, ding" No way to escape apparently. The game was over. Jasmine had lost her first ever chess game ~~as expected~~. Best two out of three?

SPOILER!!: Finish

Yet another chess player! Yup they totally needed to start a chess club. It would go right along with the gobstones club or anything else really.

Making her way back to the front, Hadley took one glance at her computer and sighed, "Oops, time flies when we're having fun! It seems as if we're out of time for this lesson." She glanced around at the class. "Make sure you take those computer diagrams with you and study them along with the definitions for each component that we talked about. Your homework is simple; head back to the technology center and play around the computer some more. Play a different game, draw something on the paint application, type up some of your other homeworks, just try something new on the computer."

ooc: yes, class is dismissed. If you have any questions, please ask them now. Homework will be posted officially up tomorrow or Monday, but the gist of it is what we mentioned IC =)