Video games are changing, growing, becoming more complex and for video game studies, more influential. Games are becoming more commonplace and more acceptable since alot of people these days have growing up with at least 1 type of gaming platform like myself, which was the original Nintendo Entertainment System and will never forget Super Mario brothers and Duck Hunt.
Image by:MnGilen. (For those interested, you can buy a magazine from your local news agency called Retro Gamer, which is all old awesome games reviewed and discussed.)Video Game systems have changed drastically in graphics where they are at a stage where people, environments and the whole game engine is starting to feel more like life, as computer technologies improve.
The changing and affect of video games has been explored by many researchers and is a type of research area in it's self. A recommended reading is Trigger Happy which the author Steven Poole describes the book as "a book about the aesthetics of video games — what they share with cinema, the history of painting, or literature; and what makes them different, in terms of form, psychology and semiotics". Click Here to download the free book. What is the difference between video games affect on our culture and the influence of movies, books, art works etc? Video games are completely interactive. They are playable as you physically control a character via a control system to do what you want him/her to do. There is obviously limitations at the moment in movement, expressions etc, but it wont be long until they are going to become so in depth and life like, nearly anything will go.
The world of games is changing, by saying this I am thinking of the online video game example Second Life. A world where you can trade, sell, chat, move, fight, love, hate and even have sex... The Second Life websites "About Second Life" page says players are able to meet people, go shopping, get settled, be creative and make money. This style of play is not really appealing to me, but it's the changing and evolving world of video games that is interesting to explore. Video game players have interacted and played with each other for a long time, from chat programs all the way now to massively multiplayer online role playing games like World Of Warcraft pictured below. Image from:World of WarCraft.
Video games are developed with technology and within technology, you can set rules, regulations that govern the players experience with the desire to create a utopia. Utopias can be created within video games, players can do as much as the developers allow them to do, which is also pushing boundaries of society. What is unacceptable in society, is starting to become susceptible in video games.The academic study of video games is usually viewed in 2 different areas, Narratology and Ludology. Naraatology is aimed at the story line of the game and Ludology is geared towards the game play elements that makes it enjoyable to the player. As games become more in depth and complicated, they will continue to affect people in a much greater way, whether for better or worse.
TUTORIAL TASK
Reference 1
Is google making us stupid?
This journal article is a controversal one that is supporting the claim that computers are maing us stupid. It emphasizes the point by aiming at google and how easily we as people use google to find the answers for nearly everything.
Reference 2
Does the internet affect our brains?
This article states that using the internet is not just affecting our basic thingking patterns, but actually rewiring the neurons in our brain. This new connectivity is making us feel like we need to rely on the internet for answers.
Reference 3
technology free's our mind
This online article takes the step against the internet being an overpowering, neuron reconnecting piece of technology. A storng point the article makes is "In a knowledge-based society in which knowledge is free, attention becomes the valued commodity"
Reference 4
ImagineFX Magazine
I have several paper articles on the use of a digital medium to allow doors of creativity to open and flourish. There is how ever, articles and many talented artists that tell people not to rely on the computers for everything. The articles will be used as a supportive measure of the benefits of keeping traditional ways of creativity open and going strong
Reference 5
The art of Leonardo Da Vinci (book>
This is a book I own and is filled with quotes, scripts, images and artistic teachings that are as insightful and truthful as when they were first written. This book is going to support the idea of how much training, understanding that a man like himself needed to go through produce such stunning artworks. The values of understanding for your self and not letting the computer understand for you.
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