Saturday, January 12, 2013
What makes a gamer
I agree with MoniqueWeijermars' distinction of what makes a gamer and a person who play games. A gamer probably spends a lot of time in a game which then they understand how to win the game and attain certain skills eventually. With more online resources, the more professional gamers would participate in online communities such as gaming forums, and read and contribute articles about their gaming experience and their knowledge about the game. Many even make gameplay screencasts or tutorials available on YouTube to explain the strategy needed and demonstrate how they complete a challenge in a game.
I find MMORPGs particularly unfair in player-to-player competitions. People who have played the game for quite a while usually gained a lot of game points, game money and items whereas newcomers are forced use basic items during a multiplayer gameplay. For example, I recently purchased Asphalt 7 on the iPad during the New Year discount special. Many players have probably unlocked cars with way higher speeds. They are using a Lamborghini and I'm using a Mazda in the racing competition. The byproduct of this is people start selling game points, game items or their account to newcomers who would like to save the time needed to achieve a higher level in a videogame.
The ultimate end?
So as the first blog post of the year and really the start
of my own experience with the gaming world, I thought I’d begin with the
ultimate end- death. Of course, in the virtual world, “death” doesn’t have
quite the same ultimate, irrevocable quality. In the gaming world when you die,
you’re perhaps set back a bit in time, effort and patience but it’s not really the end of your virtual life. Well,
or so I thought until I found this article online that noted a new trend in
gaming- the trend towards inevitable, or even irrevocable, death.
Basically for those that might not click on the link, there
is a trend in games for death to be either extremely, frustratingly frequent
(as in you may not last 30 seconds) or as in the game ‘One Chance’, as a far
more real punishment. In One Chance, you literally have one chance at the game.
If you die, then that’s it, you can no longer play.
The article discusses how this affects the way that you
experience the game but it’s also interesting to consider why this trend is occurring and what this might indicate about the
dynamics of the gaming community. It certainly reinforces what Kevin was saying
in the lecture about the appeal of the challenge and the rising elitism of the
gaming community. If you can survive One Chance or get to a certain level of
Dark Souls you must be a real gamer,
someone others can really respect. Perhaps it’s also true that after years and
years of experience, today’s gamers are wired with an unprecedented resilience.
I know personally, when challenged in an area I would consider myself good at
or have had years of success at, frustration breeds obsession rather than disheartenment.
For those that have for years prided themselves on their skill, to be defeated
is simply not an option, with the dangling satisfaction of triumph more and
more alluring with each “game over”.
Finally, because these games heighten the realism and sense
of danger it’s interesting how games like One Chance could be explored deeper
from a psychological/philosophical standpoint. In single player games, there’s
no real human connection or interaction with other characters, making game play
more predictable. Yet it would be interesting to have death as a very real
punishment in a MMORPG strategy and/or team work based game. As demonstrated in
the reading, MMORPGs bring games somewhat closer to the “real world” by demonstrating
the interactions within a community. They can also make the gameplay more tense
and unpredictable. I guess in such a
game there would need to be a lot of build up and strategizing before there was
much possibility of you being killed (in order to make the game workable and
worthwhile). However, I think it would make an interesting case study from a
range of academic viewpoints- political, psychological, game theory, etc. What
do you guys think?
Submersion in immersion
It’s what
keeps you from realising its 4:04 in the morning. It’s what whispers to you as you scroll
through your games list of what to play. It’s what disconnects you from the
outside world as you fail to hear the cries that dinner is ready. Folks may I
present to you the most, in my opinion, impacting feature a game has had on me
and what I consider an integral part in how a game can most effectively captivate
its audience: through the wonders of immersion.
I know we
have yet to talk about this in the lecture but there’s no harm in a little
healthy discussion and I really want to speak my mind about this subject. The
sense of total engulfment and being completely surrounded by a virtual
atmosphere can be at sometimes breathtaking. I remember when I first stepped
out of Vault 101 in Fallout 3 and gazed my eyes upon the desolate
post-apocalyptic landscape. It was as if I was really there as I studied my
surroundings. Immersion is created through a combination of different features;
through visual captivation; the soundtrack played and the ability to interact
with your environment and characters. A majestic landscape can beckon you as insects
buzz around and birds sing songs of nature while you are busy picking berries
for a quest giver.
Ian Mahar from Kotaku (http://kotaku.com/5949897/the-two-ways-you-become-immersed-in-video-games)
splits up immersion into two categories: personal and impersonal immersion. With
personal immersion, you choose what you look like and “the character responds
exactly how you feel like responding to any situation”. This type of immersion
relates to agency that we talked about in the past, we can interact in the game
world and consequences may follow our decisions. This is a major selling point
in RPGs as games like Skyrim are known their many roles in which you can take
up, Orc, Redguard etc and for its lifelike environment, if you’ll pardon the
dragons and arrows flying at knee height, with realistic water and clearings of
lush greenery and how diverse you can make your character with multiple combat
techniques. Secondly impersonal immersion is about experiencing a character’s
journey from the passenger seat; it’s their own story with their own behaviour i.e.
Prince of Persia, Gears of War. The more
you feel immersed in a game the more connected you are and the more fun you can
potentially experience as a result.
This
gamasutra article (http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/29910/Analysis_The_Psychology_of_Immersion_in_Video_Games.php#.UPAcQ28sl48)
really gets into the nitty gritty of it all, listing the characteristics of a
rich, absorbing game that add to an experience. Although visual stimuli
contribute a lot to the overall experience, inclusion of background music and
sound effects act as a great foundation for a mesmerising ambience. The article
also talks about the psychological aspect as well as touching on how
games can break its immersive consistency too through tutorial tips, damage
numbers etc. Imagine people chatting to you on Facebook while you are immersed in the wondrous, mind-blowing universe of that which is Farmville, that could send people over the edge right there.
A point I’d like to raise though is that sometimes immersion can be too much. As in, personally I cannot just hit play on immersible RPGs, being engrossed in a game can take up a lot of time and I have to mentally prepare myself before going forth; kind of have to be in the right mood to settle into that sort of gameplay, so playing others games such as League of Legends, I can easily start up and not feel so “stressed” about accepting the fact I will be engulfed in the atmosphere. Do you feel me? WEIRD AY.
I’m looking forward to the lecture on this next week and expanding
my knowledge about it. I’d love to hear your opinions on the matter, what games
have dazzled you with their creative immersible techniques? What levels could
immersion be taken to in the future etc? Happy gaming!
how time is consumed
Gaming interactivity has interested me for a while now from the PS1 up to the upgraded technology that leads to the Xbox. Since COD black ops became super popular and very addictive, people spend hours and hours getting their CAD up and finding more ways to use perks and buying credit to unlock different maps. This time that people try squeeze in, just to play a few more rounds online. Feeding the need to shoot and kill, its feature of counting head shots,medics,players online,how many hours spent playing ect looks ridiculous when the stats are amazing. All around the world people are playing with each other sometimes with a microphone and sometimes just listening to the chatter of another group of people. The controller used became instinct to anyone after constantly playing in their free time from months to months.Not only were people playing on the xbox but there was also a computer version of it online, where the hand eye co-ordination was a bit more tricky I found. There were many more perks and different settings that made the computer version more playable. But overall the hand eye movements with a mouse were not as smooth as a controller would be. COD would become an excuse not to go out anymore, an excuse to stay up all night and jam it till your fingers throb with over use, it would immerse and become part of the slang in friends everyday languages. When you close your eyes before you sleep all you can see is the first person perspective looking out for the enemies. Deciding which weapon would be most effective, which spots are the best to take cover in. Maps were closely studied and people did not want to give up. The success of playing, sense of happiness and some self rewarding achievement has been reached and the time spent playing was time well spent. Gaming makes it feel like every minute spent waiting for it to load, waiting for players and shouting at the screen is worth it.
story about MMO
I wanted to post a stories about the development of MMO that was mentioned during Thursday lecture. I just began to wounder what just caused the growing popularity of MMO. In today's gaming culture it seems that MMO has become one of the main stream games despite being fairly young in its age. Here are some reason as to why I think that is the case. In order to talk about this I will be looking at several different MMO games that I know as an example.
Firstly I think that many MMO games tend to make games more realistic and allow players to explore the new world. what I mean MMO focuses not just on the aspect of fighting but also living in that virtual world. Here I shall take world of Warcraft as an example of this. In this game the players are encouraged to explore the different worlds and players can do other activities other then just fighting. They can trade to other players and They can just explore the areas ignoring the fighting. Unlike other types of games the players are not forced to do just one act. In most racing games for example the player is forced to do just race but with MMO players have choose on what they like to do, just like in real life. Also as it was mentioned by Xinran Zou in his post, this aspect of MMO has been shown in the anime/light novel called "Sword art online." As in this anime it shows how in the future MMO games can be developed into something that is close to reality. I think many gamers are fascinated on how they can explore on in this new world and try things that were impossible in real life
Secondly I think the reason why MMO is so popular is because of the way people can interact with each other. With the exception of online console games, for the most videogames people often played by themselves alone or with just 2 or 3 friends. With the introduction of MMOs it enabled people across the word, from one side of the globe to another to play with each other. This can be seen through the way most MMOs have some way of forming parties or guilds. I think this aspect was seen as attractive because players enjoyed a chance to meet different people from all around the world while fighting the fictional creatures. this is even more so when computers became a necessary item in the 21th century. Unlike the console, since computers can be used for other then entertainment, more people had the ability to buy the game.
From the consumer's point of view I think these are the reason what makes MMOs so popular these days. For me I think MMOs are quite interesting because of the new possibility that gamers can experience in this new virtual world and meet other person that they could not meet otherwise.
Firstly I think that many MMO games tend to make games more realistic and allow players to explore the new world. what I mean MMO focuses not just on the aspect of fighting but also living in that virtual world. Here I shall take world of Warcraft as an example of this. In this game the players are encouraged to explore the different worlds and players can do other activities other then just fighting. They can trade to other players and They can just explore the areas ignoring the fighting. Unlike other types of games the players are not forced to do just one act. In most racing games for example the player is forced to do just race but with MMO players have choose on what they like to do, just like in real life. Also as it was mentioned by Xinran Zou in his post, this aspect of MMO has been shown in the anime/light novel called "Sword art online." As in this anime it shows how in the future MMO games can be developed into something that is close to reality. I think many gamers are fascinated on how they can explore on in this new world and try things that were impossible in real life
Secondly I think the reason why MMO is so popular is because of the way people can interact with each other. With the exception of online console games, for the most videogames people often played by themselves alone or with just 2 or 3 friends. With the introduction of MMOs it enabled people across the word, from one side of the globe to another to play with each other. This can be seen through the way most MMOs have some way of forming parties or guilds. I think this aspect was seen as attractive because players enjoyed a chance to meet different people from all around the world while fighting the fictional creatures. this is even more so when computers became a necessary item in the 21th century. Unlike the console, since computers can be used for other then entertainment, more people had the ability to buy the game.
From the consumer's point of view I think these are the reason what makes MMOs so popular these days. For me I think MMOs are quite interesting because of the new possibility that gamers can experience in this new virtual world and meet other person that they could not meet otherwise.
Crash Bandicoot: Misogyny and mayhem- jkin263
Crash Bandicoot, one of the most popular
and well known adventure games on PlayStation and one of the best well known.
However, when I look back at the first Crash Bandicoot game I cannot help but notice
the subtle sexism that is in video games. In 1999, when I was a child of five
years old I had no idea what words like “sexist” or “racist” meant. However,
what is disturbing is that with video games like Crash Bandicoot children are
being exposed to gender stereotypes from an early age. Now I know what you’re
all thinking. “Crash Bandicoot? How
could that possibly be sexist?” Here’s how. Firstly the main protagonist and
antagonists of the original Crash Bandicoot are of course the protagonist Crash
and the antagonists Dr Neo Cortex who is a psychopathic scientist along with
his disturbed assistant Dr Nitrus Brio. Notice anything yet? As with all action
genres and most video games the leaders or the one’s with authority are males,
but the one without any power is of course Crash’s girlfriend ‘Tawna’. Essentially
what the game is doing is establishing the male ‘Crash’ as the hero and leader
of the good side whereas his girlfriend is the one left defenceless and in need
of help. This would be fine if there were other female characters that were
strong in the game, but there aren’t. As a matter of fact ‘Tawna’ is the only
female character in the whole game! Children playing video games without even
realising it are being exposed to a society that thinks of men as superior to
women by their strength, and Crash Bandicoot follows this formula. Yes these
characters are fictional bandicoots but their obvious reference to a
misogynistic culture is troubling. But ‘Tawna’ being the damsel in distress is
not the only worrying aspect about her character. She wears provocative
clothing and has no lines. None! What does this say about how society works?
Women are meant to be stared at for their looks? They aren’t meant to speak?.
Clearly this game represents misogyny in general society where men are strong
and powerful, women are good looking, silent and weak. Yes, again the sexism in
this game is subtle, but sometimes subtle can be the most powerful and
influential on shaping views.
Jordyn King
jkin263
Why We Shouldn't Buy Kids Competitive* Online Games
Swearing aplenty. You probably shouldn't play ^that^ on your speakers in a public place.
Saw the above Youtube video today, which made me ask many questions.
- Is it wrong to judge when we had similar access to age-restricted video games?
Yes. We may have grown up on the likes of Tekken, Twisted Metal, and Metal Gear Solid, but none of these would have had the vast amount of violent content that can be found in video games these days.
The need for increased 'realism' can be blamed I suppose, as we expect a certain blood splatter from a headshot or realistic bone-breaking crunch from a 10-hit combo.
- Who's to blame?
We can't heap blame on a single individual or entity, can we? Parents will blame the video games company for poisoning the mind of their "precious little angel". Companies will proportion blame on those same parents who bought the game for their child for their birthday, for Xmas, or when the brat nagged them for it.
On a long shot, we'd simply say it was the older child, of legal age, who left the game out or in the disctray.
If you compare it to the arguments for gun control, and underage/unauthorized use (long shot, again) you'd see similar arguments being used.
And just like with gun control, the media will of course blame everyone it can name, as long as it creates buzz :)
- Is it just violent video games such as shooters or action titles that are to blame?
Not necessarily? There's a fair element of competition to seemingly more 'vanilla' genres such as simulation racers, MMORPGs, hell, even casual games like Farmville must have spawned some moments of 'holy f%#k you !#^$*& tit" I'm sure SOMEWHERE in the world. Here's looking at you America.
Being able to 'troll' or be aggressive in online games is the norm, if not accepted practice in some games. The allure of being say 9 and able to flaunt your prowess or monetary glory to someone across the world is just part of identity formation for digital natives that exist in such online spaces. Teabagging is another action that really is quite frowned upon in the real world (however we define that now), and for good reason, but is a commonplace action online. It's similar to how NFL players will have signature 'moves' and dances for touchdowns.
- Is blame even the right word? Is it just the video game's fault? Have the stories gained extra attention because they're related to video games, a trigger-reflex for "ermagherd violence protect the kids" thinking?
In the case of a US mother shaking her baby to death for interrupting her Farmville session, it seems less reasonable to think that such a colourful, peaceful game could drive people to doing this.
Before anyone starts thinking only women play Farmville, here's an example from the UK of a male (shockhorror) stealing a blind man's credit card to spend on the game, and stabbing someone else. Yikes.
- Does the kid in the above video come from any demographic, any culture, and scenario?
Yes, and no. We can no longer walk down the street and instantly name (and shame, maybe) the multiple identities people use on a daily basis. Less likely is being able to spot who's a Reddit mod, or who's the world's #1 Starcraft player, or the biggest and most dangerous troll on the internet. They could be among us, in our class, oooooooooh.
- Is it the swearing, the logic behind the swearing, or is the author a prude?
Kids like the poor sod in the above video are eeeeeverywhere. Sure, there is an element of passive trolling in the video with the use of 'headshots only' mode (this can evidently be frustrating when you are completely unaware you're playing with this rule) but it does raise questions about how this growing generation of digital natives problem-solve in the 'realworld', and whether that behaviour has a measurable connection with their activities and similar behaviour in the online world of gaming, and beyond.
Necessary tldr version, lets be honest here, this may be assessed but it's still on the internet while you multitask. You're welcome.
tl;dr: watch video, be disgusted/
Sword Art Online
For those of you who like to watch Japanese Anime, this is one that deals with many issues regarding video games; technological, psychological, storyline, interaction and much more. It was adapted from a novel and also adapted into an actual video game. I do not enjoy watching anime and was forced to watch this one but eventually I realised that the ideas fitted really well with video game theory.
This anime that is set in 2022 is about a 'Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Game' where you wear a this helmet (Nerve Gear) which connects to your different senses so you get the sensation of physically being there and completely detached from your own body. Players realise that unlike other games of the type, they are unable to log out and it is revealed that you will only be freed if someone reaches the 100th floor and defeat the last boss. In addition, if you are killed in the game, you die in real life and if anyone in the real world attempts manually take off your Nerve Gear, your brain will fry. YAY. I'm not far enough in the anime to know why the creator of the game would do this but I am going to assume there is some crazy lesson. Perhaps some kind of metaphor.
You follow the main character Kirito who is secretly a beta tester and is actually of an extremely high level but conceals this, perhaps to protect others around him or for self survival. There are themes of trust, friendship, revenge...and that's all I've seen so far. I have been noticing that there is an incredible amount of boob and bum (am I allowed to say that) conveniently but unnecessarily placed in shots. Lucky guys :(. I am told that eventually it will get a bit lovey-dovey and I'm sure I will stop watching but so far it's fine. The first 10 episodes at least are pretty good and if lovey-dovey doesn't gross you out then I would recommend watching it all.
What is awesome about this anime, or this game is the idea that one day games could develop into a lived experience; having jobs as innkeepers and black smiths, creating guilds and leading them, cooking (actually this one feels like cheating, you place your knife on the ingredients once and they are all diced perfectly), fighting monsters, teleporting (imagine that!). The complexity is astounding.
An analysis of some Red Dead Machinima
An analysis of- Red Dead Redemption Machinima/Movie "Dastardly"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8OMqil7Kqg
Bernard Peron and Mark Wolf insist that those studying videogames should consider ‘how artistic decisions are shaped by technological compromises.’ Unlike the successful Red vs. Blue machinima, Red Dead Redemption characters have no futuristic battle-masks to cover their faces. Uploader and creator ‘Foolish Pedro’ therefore faced a problem. Dialogue in his short film couldn't work because the avatars mouth would not move as they spoke. In the early days of videogames, creators faced a level technological playing field leading to innovative use of software becoming the main form of competition. Similarly, machinima producers all have access to pre-made video games that they cannot easily alter. Faced with the same canvas, the way machinima artists manipulate and overcome limitations is what makes the various films unique and interesting. ‘Foolish Pedro’ cleverly adopted a silent film style to overcome the dialogue issue. The dialogue comes up in captions over a black background. Ironically films of this era used this technique to overcome the problem of non-synchronous sound. This technique works well due to the setting of the game and Pedro parodies the style further by adding in olden day piano music, an old fashioned black and white projector effect and a generic damsel in distress narrative. However, Pedro plays with the oft told damsel in distress train story by adding in a videogame twist. A key difference between videogames and film is that players have capacity to act. They do not merely passively watch but have agency. When playing Red Dead, there is nothing to stop users from hogtying a lady and throwing her on a train track. No hero will appear to stop us as they do in films. Pedro’s short film reflects on this with its overly simplistic plot. The main character has no reason for his actions and he wins by killing the girl because the protagonist doesn't get there in time. This is something that does not happen in traditional narrative structures. This raises issues of the moral problems involved with videogames. You can become a bad guy and nothing can stop you from pointless acts of extreme violence. However, as Constance Steinkuehler argues, ‘the game that’s actually played by participants is not the game that designers originally had in mind.’ Videogame creators may argue that they cannot be blamed for encouraging grotesque behaviour (with could lead to potentially dangerous social issues) because they did not anticipate such an act to be carried out by the player or are at least not in control of the players actions. Yet this is clearly not the case in Red Dead. At the end of the short film, the title Dastardly is revealed to be the name of a gaming achievement. Not only did the creators predict the murder of a bystander by train, they encouraged it in their achievement guides. The game therefore encourages players to kill innocent people in the most creative ways they can think of. There might be a problem there..
Word count: 494
Lloyd Thomason (2691650)
This week I contributed to the 'Gaming as a Sport?' thread
Bernard Peron and Mark Wolf insist that those studying videogames should consider ‘how artistic decisions are shaped by technological compromises.’ Unlike the successful Red vs. Blue machinima, Red Dead Redemption characters have no futuristic battle-masks to cover their faces. Uploader and creator ‘Foolish Pedro’ therefore faced a problem. Dialogue in his short film couldn't work because the avatars mouth would not move as they spoke. In the early days of videogames, creators faced a level technological playing field leading to innovative use of software becoming the main form of competition. Similarly, machinima producers all have access to pre-made video games that they cannot easily alter. Faced with the same canvas, the way machinima artists manipulate and overcome limitations is what makes the various films unique and interesting. ‘Foolish Pedro’ cleverly adopted a silent film style to overcome the dialogue issue. The dialogue comes up in captions over a black background. Ironically films of this era used this technique to overcome the problem of non-synchronous sound. This technique works well due to the setting of the game and Pedro parodies the style further by adding in olden day piano music, an old fashioned black and white projector effect and a generic damsel in distress narrative. However, Pedro plays with the oft told damsel in distress train story by adding in a videogame twist. A key difference between videogames and film is that players have capacity to act. They do not merely passively watch but have agency. When playing Red Dead, there is nothing to stop users from hogtying a lady and throwing her on a train track. No hero will appear to stop us as they do in films. Pedro’s short film reflects on this with its overly simplistic plot. The main character has no reason for his actions and he wins by killing the girl because the protagonist doesn't get there in time. This is something that does not happen in traditional narrative structures. This raises issues of the moral problems involved with videogames. You can become a bad guy and nothing can stop you from pointless acts of extreme violence. However, as Constance Steinkuehler argues, ‘the game that’s actually played by participants is not the game that designers originally had in mind.’ Videogame creators may argue that they cannot be blamed for encouraging grotesque behaviour (with could lead to potentially dangerous social issues) because they did not anticipate such an act to be carried out by the player or are at least not in control of the players actions. Yet this is clearly not the case in Red Dead. At the end of the short film, the title Dastardly is revealed to be the name of a gaming achievement. Not only did the creators predict the murder of a bystander by train, they encouraged it in their achievement guides. The game therefore encourages players to kill innocent people in the most creative ways they can think of. There might be a problem there..
Word count: 494
Lloyd Thomason (2691650)
This week I contributed to the 'Gaming as a Sport?' thread
Friday, January 11, 2013
Gaming as a sport?
While attempting to download on of the video games for the paper, I came across a video that caught my eye.
Not having seen any gaming videos of the such, I couldn't help thinking this video was extremely familiar. The video's personal presenter, the special and exciting graphics used to count down the different 'game plays', and commentary accompanying the action occurring in each segment were all attributes I have seen before. This style mirrors any sports count down, particularly NBA Top 5 plays of the week, like this one:
Both videos show a presentation and appreciation for the skill-set being produced through the games played. However, to fully understand what you are watching, the viewer must have background knowledge of the game itself.When watching the IGN Pro-League Highlights, I did not understand one thing, as it requires the knowledge of the game, the rules, the characters used and the interface in order to appreciate the skill-set shown. Therefore, being a gamer requires a lot of knowledge and personal in-game experience, which is what may set 'gamers' a part from people who just play games.
A Step Removed from Reality
As was discussed in the lecture on Tuesday, there is, at
present, a trend across mainstream gaming towards more ‘realistic’ level
design. Not realistic in terms of subject matter—space marines and
super-soldier projects are the go-to for any company looking to make a quick
profit, after all—but in terms of style. It’s hard to find a popular game that doesn’t
take place solely in grim villages, dark alleys, and shining steel corridors—or
maybe the occasional desert, if you’re lucky. In the monochromatic environments
that have become so standardised, it starts to become almost novel to see a
flash of colour and surrealism. These flashes take the form of games such as Folklore, Psychonauts, and Dear Esther—each
utilising their colourful settings to stand out from the drab crowd.
Folklore is a game
set in Ireland, where a journalist named Keats and an illustrator named Ellen
find their way into the Netherworld. This Netherwold is separated into a variety
of smaller ‘netherworld realms’, which are depicted in different ways and form
the levels of the game. The first—and arguably the most spectacular—is the
Faery Realm, a technicolour forest home to both the spirits of the dead, and a
selection of Irish faeries, or ‘fair folk’.
In Psychonauts,
which was mentioned briefly in Tuesday’s lecture, you play a psychic boy, Razputin,
as he dives into the mind of the other game characters—one such mind being the
mind of Edgar Teglee, a tortured artist, whose subconscious, ‘Black
Velvetopia’, takes the form of a black and neon city, full of references to
luchador wrestling and covered in beautiful patterns.
Dear Esther is the
story of an unnamed man trying to reconcile with the death of his wife, Esther,
as he traverses an island in the Hebrides. The island is full of lush scenery,
most notably a network of caves, which are bathed in otherworldly light, and
covered in glowing blue paintings of atomic symbols.
However, despite the spectacular and varied environments of all three
games, there are still elements of conventional level design in each. Folklore features a desolate world named
Warcadia, which as the name implies, takes place in a bombed-out city; Psychonauts begins its tutorial level, Basic
Braining, in an army-themed setting; Dear
Esther dots its floral fields with rickety shacks and shipwrecks.
Is the choice to add war, destruction and desolation—themes
gaming and gamers often equate to ‘realism’—to these otherwise surreal games a necessary one?
Is it simply impossible to create a mainstream game now without tying it into
these themes and settings—and if so, why? Is it because the world feels games
need to be tied in with our present time, and all the industrialisation and
destruction in it, or is it because players simply have an expectation that
these things will appear? To those who have played these games—I’m aware that
these elements all factor into the plot of their matching game, but with a
little innovation, perhaps they could have been avoided?
Relevant Links
Hi Folks,
As promised, here are some links mentioned in the lecture.
An emulator for the original Spacewar! code.
A bundle of freely downloadable Indie games.
- Kevin
As promised, here are some links mentioned in the lecture.
An emulator for the original Spacewar! code.
A bundle of freely downloadable Indie games.
- Kevin
To Game, Or Not to Game
Following on from the discussion of the difference between a
‘gamer’ and a ‘game player’, it appears that there is a layer of stereotype
surrounding the term ‘gamer’. Could it be possible that this stems from the
immersive experience that is gaming? Since a great deal of the experience of a
game is the way a person interacts with the game through an interface, a game
that is immersive and encourages participation is surely what makes them
entertaining (here I am not distinguishing between diagetic/intra-diagetic
immersion as in the Taylor reading). Gaming relies on the involvement and
attention of the game player, otherwise by definition it is not a game.
This immersion could be the downfall of the gamer identity.
People sit in a darkened room to enjoy cinema, so it is natural that the same
occurs to enjoy the cinematic and aesthetic aspects of a game. Gamers now seem
to be associated with the act of hermiting indoors, like the Hikikomori
of Japan, or with an intense passion for the game. This
could be attributed to the experience of gaming online (where, as many may have
found, people yell at you). Gaming, whether it be on a console or on a
smartphone, is a common entertainment undertaken by all types of people. These
stereotypes have culminated, thanks to this kind of attention in news media,
into a representation that is unflattering and not true of the community.
A recent story caught my eye, a story of a man hiring
in-game assassins to kill his son’s avatar. This was in the hopes of deterring
him from World of Warcraft so he would find a job. Here gaming is changed from
being a hobby to being a nuisance to society, simply because a man belongs to
more than one community, and one of his communities is online. His community of
hobbyists is no different from those who belong to a sports team or a boat
club. There is the same level of commitment that is undertaken. Why do we then
shun the name ‘gamer’? Even as someone who only occasionally plays PS3 (when I
can wrestle the controller off my brother), I can appreciate the way the
immersive experience can pass hours in a second. Probably more hours are spent
staring at Facebook than are spent playing Alan Wake or Assassins Creed, yet
someone playing the game gets the title. Perhaps game players will someday
adopt the title of ‘gamer’, but the negative connotations need to dissolve
first.
Taylor, Laurie. “Video Games: Perspective, Point-of-View,
and Immersion”. Thesis. University of Florida, 2002.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hikikomori
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20931304
Onya
The emergence of Crowdsourced funding
platforms has provided a quick way for startups to create a buzz around a new
product or concept and quickly secure funding. On sites like www.kickstarter.com entrepreneurs use
short videos to “pitch” their
ideas to potential funders. They offer various benefits depending on the
investment level (this varies from $5 up to thousands of dollars), most often
the product at discounted price before it hits the market. Funders are sent
updates during the development/production process.
I’ve funded a couple of ideas and seen the product from concept to delivery had the product. It's been fun. eg. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2107726947/hidden-radio-and-bluetooth-speaker
One of the biggest funding successes kickstarter
has had is Ouya, an Android-based game console… at $99 cheap way to bring
Android games to the flatscreen tv, it quickly raised around $8.6 million from more than 63,000
backers. It's still in production.
The stated aim of Ouya is to “lower the barrier for game development compared to traditional
game consoles, so there are no licensing fees, and every console will include a
software development kit. There's just one big rule that all developers must
follow: All games must have a free-to-play element, whether it's a timed trial,
a feature-locked demo or a complete experience filled with microtransactions”
You'll find other game concepts on kickstarter. On thing is for sure is that it has provided a new awareness, funding and distribution channel that allows small independent players to take games & consoles to market at a lower cost. Maybe some of the bigger companies will look to this model to get early involvement in new game concepts, as it lowers risk.
In the meantime here comes the Onya. Whether the games provide a rich immersive experience... well that's another, critical, thing.
http://www.ouya.tv
Sexism and such
Ok, so we're supposed to post on this blog before Sunday, and, quite honestly, I have no idea what to write. Anything that I feel I could bring up would either be something people have already mentioned/thought about/discussed before, or it would be judged by the hardcore gamers in the class. And I think I get enough of that judgement from my brother (a software engineer that stays up until at least 3am gaming every single night).
I do have to wonder, though, if I have a greater fear of that judgement BECAUSE I'm a girl, and I'm more than aware that, as a girl, I'm more likely to be more harshly judged than a man. I bring this up mostly because I heard two people discussing this earlier today before class. I was also speaking to and IT professional friend of mine about the same thing just the other day. She claimed that, in order to be respected by the IT community, she had to make herself part of the 'boys club', and couldn't come to work with a little extra make-up, heels, or a skirt without being mocked by her colleagues. It made me think about all the posts I constantly see on reddit about girl gamers. Half of them describe male redditor's wishes of 'wifing' a girl gamer, while the other half criticize pretty girls who call themselves 'geeks' or who claim they like 'geeks' for being phonies. Most of the time that just makes me think that these people need to figure out what they really want.
On a more positive note, I have begun to see more and more women seep into sites and communities like reddit, and a lot of them have been gradually wandering outside of r/aww, and have even begun proudly proclaiming themselves as gamers.
It's interesting to see a community that loves to pronounce itself as tolerant and open-minded, suffer through the same issues as our contemporary society had to, in order to reach it's current level of development (which, of course is still far from ideal in many places). Just a thought.
I do have to wonder, though, if I have a greater fear of that judgement BECAUSE I'm a girl, and I'm more than aware that, as a girl, I'm more likely to be more harshly judged than a man. I bring this up mostly because I heard two people discussing this earlier today before class. I was also speaking to and IT professional friend of mine about the same thing just the other day. She claimed that, in order to be respected by the IT community, she had to make herself part of the 'boys club', and couldn't come to work with a little extra make-up, heels, or a skirt without being mocked by her colleagues. It made me think about all the posts I constantly see on reddit about girl gamers. Half of them describe male redditor's wishes of 'wifing' a girl gamer, while the other half criticize pretty girls who call themselves 'geeks' or who claim they like 'geeks' for being phonies. Most of the time that just makes me think that these people need to figure out what they really want.
On a more positive note, I have begun to see more and more women seep into sites and communities like reddit, and a lot of them have been gradually wandering outside of r/aww, and have even begun proudly proclaiming themselves as gamers.
It's interesting to see a community that loves to pronounce itself as tolerant and open-minded, suffer through the same issues as our contemporary society had to, in order to reach it's current level of development (which, of course is still far from ideal in many places). Just a thought.
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Believe the Hype
After class today and the discussion on how Sony promoted the Play
Station and created hype and buzz back in 1994 it got me thinking a lot about
the hype in the gaming world as a whole. Xbox also created hype before it
release but in a completely different way. They paid different bar tenders to
talk to customers in bars about ‘this new gaming console called the Xbox and
how amazing it was going to be, people were being subjected to advertising
without even realising it and on a completely new level.
Now in the case of the
Xbox, it obviously lived up to the hype but speaking from personal experience I
can say this is often not the case. Several years back I pre-ordered a game
called “Frontlines: Fuel of War” which had so much hype built around it and its
capabilities of being an MMO. It was advertised everywhere and talked about a
lot. However when the release date came around the game was a massive
disappointment. The game was average and there were no players to sustain the
online side. It did vary slightly from standard FPS’ slightly and this
obviously did not pan out or play to the games advantage, clearly going in the
wrong direction.
It made me realise that hype and promotion are almost as
important as the game itself, provided you have the goods to back it up. Gamers
gossip and speculate a lot and it definitely pays to use that to your
advantage. Games like Halo and Call of Duty which help create buzz and are
extremely successful (it also helps to actually have a decent game). It is
amazing the size of the gaming community and the money involved in video games.
It is definitely an area that is overlooked by most people as it is such a
large community.
Posting because I have a 2 hour break and nothing else to do
I remembered hearing my friends talking about PKers back in primary when they all played Runescape but never found out what they were until that reading explained it. I also remembered how pissed off they were about them since they were all relatively new to the game, pretty much demonstrating even more of what they said in the reading about people losing interest in the games as a result. It also reminded me of the World of Warcraft South Park episode where that one guy killed everyone in the game and they ended up having to kill boars in order to level up.
What they're doing isn't formally banned but seems to be against an unwritten gamers code. Just like camping, which was the only way I ever got kills in Counter-Strike (and one of the reasons why I never play that game anymore.) Each game has its own set of unwritten rules which is based around ensuring everyone enjoys their gaming experience. The way everyone conducts themselves according to this code demonstrates the existence of a separate culture created by video games. Sometimes it seems cult-like, like when there are clans.
This unwritten gamers code always has enforcers, who ensure no-one breaks it. Some are in-game, like the aforementioned Pk hunters while others are outside the game, like admins on servers who kick players who cheat or don't play properly. They are responsible for ensuring the game is fair and so that everyone keeps playing. As far as I know, these enforcers aren't usually affiliated with the game creators (correct me if i'm wrong.) It's amazing how formalized gaming etiquette has become.
Later on some of these friends actually ended up becoming "Chinese farmers", collecting runescape gold, ores etc in order to make a real world profit on TradeMe. I didn't realize though that there were actual businesses dedicated to that practice in the real world. Clearly they crumbled to the competition though because all of them gave up after a while.
What they're doing isn't formally banned but seems to be against an unwritten gamers code. Just like camping, which was the only way I ever got kills in Counter-Strike (and one of the reasons why I never play that game anymore.) Each game has its own set of unwritten rules which is based around ensuring everyone enjoys their gaming experience. The way everyone conducts themselves according to this code demonstrates the existence of a separate culture created by video games. Sometimes it seems cult-like, like when there are clans.
This unwritten gamers code always has enforcers, who ensure no-one breaks it. Some are in-game, like the aforementioned Pk hunters while others are outside the game, like admins on servers who kick players who cheat or don't play properly. They are responsible for ensuring the game is fair and so that everyone keeps playing. As far as I know, these enforcers aren't usually affiliated with the game creators (correct me if i'm wrong.) It's amazing how formalized gaming etiquette has become.
Later on some of these friends actually ended up becoming "Chinese farmers", collecting runescape gold, ores etc in order to make a real world profit on TradeMe. I didn't realize though that there were actual businesses dedicated to that practice in the real world. Clearly they crumbled to the competition though because all of them gave up after a while.
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Yellow Light of Death
A question for all of you Sony savvy people, related to but somewhat irrelevant to the course, how do you fix a PS3's YLOD? I don't want to face that this could be the end and am mildly certain overheating was not the cause seeing as my console is connected to a fan and I also ran the machine's own fans on high a couple of times to cool it. Any advice would be much appreciated.
Thank you!
Thank you!
Trying to understand the Modding Community
From the perspective of having basically no interaction with
video games, I found the first lecture interesting when discussing how much of
phenomenon particular video games are. The amount of popularity that some games
have is interesting and I never knew there was a difference between
“mainstream” games and “indie” games. It makes sense though that there would be
both mainstream and alternative games, as this is obviously the case for films
and music.
When reading the extended reading “The Mangle of Play”,
something that I found particularly interesting was the quote that “games are a
“mangle” of production and consumption” (page 200). I assumed that people
played the games and enjoyed the games as the designers had intended, however
that is clearly not the case. It is significant to note that the designers of
video games impact and effect the game they are designing, as well as the
players themselves. The red vs blue modding example clearly shows that and
emphasises how unpredictable these video games can become, to both the producer
and the consumer. The people who enjoy certain video games seem to take the
game further and find new ways of enjoying it by breaking the “rules” of the
game.
Is modding common? Or is it something that people can rarely
do, unless they have been playing that specific video game for a long time?
Not just play?
It would be interesting to discover the various individual motivations for investing brain time and treasure in this paper. As indicated from the hands raised in the lecture, some will be passionate about game culture itself, while others will be curious about a medium that they know little about. Dismissing a couple of brief periods, I’ve been a dispassionate, over the shoulder, observer of videogames, but their influence has had an impact in my professional life. And that is why I’m here.
The Marketing environment has gone through the transition from one-way, broadcast mass communication to one to one, two-way conversations with people. The focus is on creating engaging activities that allow people have deeper relationships with brands. Digital technology has enabled collection of personalised and localised data instantly and respond with tailor-made responses sent to computers, phones and a myriad of other devices, e.g. in-store merchandising. All this can be measured and evaluated for effectiveness in real time.
Retaining consumer attention requires the brand providing constant news or rewarding experience.
Promotional Marketing often turns to game techniques in the construction of awareness or sales building programmes. Marketers borrow from the fun and immersive qualities that videogames offer and associate these with the brand.
This example from McDonald’s in Stockholm leverages the simple game of Pong in an unexpected way to generate store traffic. (source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/05/mcdonalds-interactive-pong-billboard-brings-big-screen-elation/)
Pedestrians play on a giant billboard using their smartphone as the game controller. Game winners are rewarded with small food prizes which require people to visit the store where they’ll quite likely trade-up to larger meals. Behind the fun will be the commercial reality of what revenue the activity delivers to the bottom line.
This "digital immigrant" is looking forward to the insights that a deeper understanding of videogame theory and culture bring and applying that to developing creative business solutions. That is fun too!
Pedestrians play on a giant billboard using their smartphone as the game controller. Game winners are rewarded with small food prizes which require people to visit the store where they’ll quite likely trade-up to larger meals. Behind the fun will be the commercial reality of what revenue the activity delivers to the bottom line.
This "digital immigrant" is looking forward to the insights that a deeper understanding of videogame theory and culture bring and applying that to developing creative business solutions. That is fun too!
2013 Season Updates from D.Dawson
As 2013 kicks off with a bang - Battlefield 3 sound-effects of heads exploding in the flatmates room followed closely by champagne corks hitting the roof (Mmm champagne!!) - I take to the daunting task of Summer School. Well at least on the positive side I get to explore the mystical, magical and out-right fantastical world of videogames!!! So I thought what a better way to begin than by setting out some of the goals and highlights of the year to come and focus on releases.
Hitman: HD Trilogy Following close on the heels of the November 2012 release of Hitman: Absolution; the 29th of January in North America and 1st of February in Europe sees the release of the Hitman trilogy to both PS3 and Xbox platforms. Ohhh yeahh!!! Now you can complete the best of the box set with one easy purchase!
http://hitman.com/
http://forums.eidosgames.com/showthread.php?t=131854
SIMCITYDefiantlyy the most anticipated date on my computer calendar for 2013 is March 5 with Maxis' sixth major release of the SimCity series. The title was expected for a February release, but it is now to be officially released on March 5, 2013 on Windows and Mac.
http://www.simcity.com/en_US
https://www.facebook.com/SimCity
Tomb Raider
March is a busy month for many fans this year, with the release of the fifth title developed by Crystal Dynamics in the Tomb Raider franchise.
As taken from wiki:
"the game is set to provide no correlation to the entirety of the previous entries in the series; a reboot that emphasizes the reconstructed origins of the culturally influential lead character, Lara Croft.[4][5]"
Tomb Raider is scheduled for release on 5 March 2013 for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Windows.
Unannounced
Plenty more titles are hitting the gaming community this season with as much global anticipation as perhaps the crowning of the US president.
Grand Theft Auto Vhttp://www.facebook.com/rockstargames
http://www.rockstargames.com/V/
Battlefield 4
Potential unveiling coming soon.
Any further forms, threads, posts or videos are welcome to follow. May the season be just as exciting for you all and "May the force be with you"!! :)
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