Video Games and Human Values Initiative
A new kind of conversation about games in culture
Context Clues for October 11-17, 2009
Welcome back! Here's what you may have missed, recently, on The Internet:
Heads up: I've taken out the "pop" in these links, so they won't automatically open in a new tab or page anymore. If you have a strong opinion on the matter, please let me know. Meanwhile, let's cross our fingers and hope that these 40-something links all work properly.
G. Christopher Williams (PopMatters' "Moving Pixels" column) sees that most games use sex as reward or as mini-game, but also looks at what games could do, and what games like Heavy Rain are trying to do. C.T. Hutt (Press Pause To Reflect) appraises how well games have handled love and romantic relationships.
Michael Clarkson pens a Critical Compilation of GTA IV writing for Critical Distance. In the comments Regina "Brinstar" Buenaobra (of Acid For Blood) points out an Iris Network post by Alex Raymond (While !Finished on the Iris Network), which compiles discussion on GTA IV's shaky (at best) femininist standing. (Critical Distance tries to encourage readers to point out other good writing on subjects, just as we try to do here at the VGHVI Context Clues.) Alex's post was originally written in May of 2008, but was updated this past week as well. I haven't played GTA 4, but I wonder if it isn't (from many perspectives) a bit of a tragedy. Regardless, the simple sorting of my brain generally drops sexualized violence into the "not a good depiction of healthy romance" bin.
"Daria" (NYU Video Games) appreciates video games for their contributions as dynamic art. I think Daria's pointing us on the right path for this sub-section (and the heading seems to confirm my suspicions), so let's look at those dynamics that make games special.
Zoran Iovanovici (Game Set Watch) explains the history of gender-swapping characters via "Midnight Bliss." I wish there were more discussion of what it means that the original Midnight Bliss turned opponents into girls and (presumably because they're then weaker), inflicted massive damage by squeezing the life out of them. I don't mind mixing around sex or gender, but I do find the presentation of that attack troubling. Perhaps this is less "dynamics that makes games special" and more "odd mechanic." You know, like a mechanic played by Peter Lorre.
Malcolm Ryan (Words On Play) applies Scott McCloud's "Big Triangle" of realistic, iconic and abstract art to game mechanics (not just game art): simulation, representation and abstract. Jason Johnson (Gamasutra Features) traces how games draw heavily (consciously or not) from the myth of Osiris, in which Isis recovers the scattered parts of the king's body in order to revive him and conquer evil. Maybe McCloud should add "mythical" to this list and make a sweet Big Rhombus.
Michael Abbott (Brainy Gamer) looks for meaning in difficulty in Demon's Souls, and Adam Bishop (Gamasutra Featured Post) defends repetition. Jonathan Stickles (Preparing For The Apocalypse) cross-applies economics knowledge to games to better understand cost and utility for players. Adam Bishop notes that repetition breaks immersion, and I think this is common to most situations where players balance cost and utility (be it "risk-reward," "return on investment ," "cost-benefit" or any other kind of explicit analysis).
Taekwan Kim (Gamasutra Expert Blogger Featured Post) looks at how games model Socratic debate (or should). To bring across the immersion concerns of difficulty and repetition, Taekwan makes clear that player buy-in is crucial to this model.
There are many ways to cultivate immersion and buy-in as well. Scott Juster (Experience Points) is examining rumble implementation as a means of encouraging immersion. Kylie Prymus (Post-Emo Existential Gaming) traces the history of game narratives from mere wallpaper to emergent design. Emily Short's "Homer In Silicon" column (Game Set Watch) looks at the dynamics of resonance in Fable II, where the game picks up on player choices to track the player's emotional investment, and then to leverage those emotions in the narrative. Jorge Albor continues his look at death in games in both strategic and emotional impact by focusing on death of friends and allies in games.
Michael Abbott (Brainy Gamer) is impressed by the recent surge of hand-drawn art in games.
Greg Wild (The Reticule) gives a close look at Rapture from BioShock.
Brendan Main (The Escapist) struggles to define "massive," while Fraser McMillan (Resolution Magazine) struggles further to define "indie." Fact: "Indie" is not a town in central Indiana.
Jorge Albor and Scott Juster at Experience Points invite Justin Keverne (Groping The Elephant) to discuss games vis a vis television.
First Wall Rebate interviews Ian Bogost about platform studies and Racing The Beam. Jesper Juul complains that artistic games for the iPhone are muzzled by the device's store highlighting of top sellers and fear of objectionable content.
Chris Holden (Charge Shot) reexamines media now that the format veneer has worn through, allowing the raw data to take precedence over its format. Does that make us post-medial?
Last week, Leigh Alexander wrote a bit for Gamasutra, calling out gamers for complaining about games they don't like, given the vast variety of titles and audiences that games cater to. I ducked it, as I've tried to duck the whole debate over whether challenge is necessary in games. This week, though, Martyn Zachary (The Slow Down) extrapolates that games should avoid "everything to everyone," which then becomes an admonishment in favor of greater authorial control, including claiming that customizable characters are a cop-out from creating a strong narrative. It's a bit of an extreme view. Chris Lepine (The Artful Gamer) takes it a step further, seeing the problem that gamers don't identify with characters so much as their psychological calluses and defense mechanisms compel gamers to identify with game protagonists' body armor.
Dare To Play Competition's games are available for download (signup required).
Alec Meer (Rock, Paper Shotgun) is journaling Risen.
Diego Doumecq is journaling Spelunky.
The Escapist announces its Q1 editorial calendar for 2010, so that writers can prepare submissions accordingly.
Drawing Out (23 Oct. 2009)
7th International Conference on Design & Emotion (15 Feb. 2010)
Seminar.net special issue on "digital storytelling" (1 Nov. 2009)
Artech 2010: envisioning digital spaces (27 Nov. 2009)
Fun 'n Games 2010 (20 March 2010)
Electronic Visualization And The Arts (15 Jan. 2010)
University of Florida's "Futures of Digital Studies" (20 Dec. 2009)
October 20, 2009 (TOMORROW) at Georgia Tech
-- Via Ian Bogost, PhD and heartthrob
Digital Humanities 2010 (King's College, London) on October 31
As always, feel free to contact me (here via note or comment, or @erik_a_hanson on Twitter) if you would like to point out something you think I missed, or if you'd like me to check out a site to add to my weekly review. You can also find me in Google's vast virtual empire as Erik Alan Hanson. And be sure to check the VGHVI events section, both as a reference and to add any events you think are worth including.
Heads up: I've taken out the "pop" in these links, so they won't automatically open in a new tab or page anymore. If you have a strong opinion on the matter, please let me know. Meanwhile, let's cross our fingers and hope that these 40-something links all work properly.
The Game Of Love
We'd best be careful with all this love talk, lest Hallmark catch wind and stick us with another holiday.G. Christopher Williams (PopMatters' "Moving Pixels" column) sees that most games use sex as reward or as mini-game, but also looks at what games could do, and what games like Heavy Rain are trying to do. C.T. Hutt (Press Pause To Reflect) appraises how well games have handled love and romantic relationships.
Michael Clarkson pens a Critical Compilation of GTA IV writing for Critical Distance. In the comments Regina "Brinstar" Buenaobra (of Acid For Blood) points out an Iris Network post by Alex Raymond (While !Finished on the Iris Network), which compiles discussion on GTA IV's shaky (at best) femininist standing. (Critical Distance tries to encourage readers to point out other good writing on subjects, just as we try to do here at the VGHVI Context Clues.) Alex's post was originally written in May of 2008, but was updated this past week as well. I haven't played GTA 4, but I wonder if it isn't (from many perspectives) a bit of a tragedy. Regardless, the simple sorting of my brain generally drops sexualized violence into the "not a good depiction of healthy romance" bin.
Less-Romantic Dynamics (and the odd mechanic)
Pro tip: In crime dramas, the odd mechanic usually did it."Daria" (NYU Video Games) appreciates video games for their contributions as dynamic art. I think Daria's pointing us on the right path for this sub-section (and the heading seems to confirm my suspicions), so let's look at those dynamics that make games special.
Zoran Iovanovici (Game Set Watch) explains the history of gender-swapping characters via "Midnight Bliss." I wish there were more discussion of what it means that the original Midnight Bliss turned opponents into girls and (presumably because they're then weaker), inflicted massive damage by squeezing the life out of them. I don't mind mixing around sex or gender, but I do find the presentation of that attack troubling. Perhaps this is less "dynamics that makes games special" and more "odd mechanic." You know, like a mechanic played by Peter Lorre.
Malcolm Ryan (Words On Play) applies Scott McCloud's "Big Triangle" of realistic, iconic and abstract art to game mechanics (not just game art): simulation, representation and abstract. Jason Johnson (Gamasutra Features) traces how games draw heavily (consciously or not) from the myth of Osiris, in which Isis recovers the scattered parts of the king's body in order to revive him and conquer evil. Maybe McCloud should add "mythical" to this list and make a sweet Big Rhombus.
Michael Abbott (Brainy Gamer) looks for meaning in difficulty in Demon's Souls, and Adam Bishop (Gamasutra Featured Post) defends repetition. Jonathan Stickles (Preparing For The Apocalypse) cross-applies economics knowledge to games to better understand cost and utility for players. Adam Bishop notes that repetition breaks immersion, and I think this is common to most situations where players balance cost and utility (be it "risk-reward," "return on investment ," "cost-benefit" or any other kind of explicit analysis).
Taekwan Kim (Gamasutra Expert Blogger Featured Post) looks at how games model Socratic debate (or should). To bring across the immersion concerns of difficulty and repetition, Taekwan makes clear that player buy-in is crucial to this model.
There are many ways to cultivate immersion and buy-in as well. Scott Juster (Experience Points) is examining rumble implementation as a means of encouraging immersion. Kylie Prymus (Post-Emo Existential Gaming) traces the history of game narratives from mere wallpaper to emergent design. Emily Short's "Homer In Silicon" column (Game Set Watch) looks at the dynamics of resonance in Fable II, where the game picks up on player choices to track the player's emotional investment, and then to leverage those emotions in the narrative. Jorge Albor continues his look at death in games in both strategic and emotional impact by focusing on death of friends and allies in games.
Plots & Places
John Walker (Euro Gamer) writes a Jedi Knight retrospective that highlights the game's innovative level design and solid plot progression.Michael Abbott (Brainy Gamer) is impressed by the recent surge of hand-drawn art in games.
Greg Wild (The Reticule) gives a close look at Rapture from BioShock.
Genre, Medium & Platform
In light of the almost documentary nature of The Beatles: Rock Band, David Carlton (Malvasia Bianca) questions video games' penchant for defining genres based on mechanics. I've said before that I'm a sucker for genre discussions. Also, "compare and contrast" was one of my favorite prompts from grammar-school exam questions.Brendan Main (The Escapist) struggles to define "massive," while Fraser McMillan (Resolution Magazine) struggles further to define "indie." Fact: "Indie" is not a town in central Indiana.
Jorge Albor and Scott Juster at Experience Points invite Justin Keverne (Groping The Elephant) to discuss games vis a vis television.
First Wall Rebate interviews Ian Bogost about platform studies and Racing The Beam. Jesper Juul complains that artistic games for the iPhone are muzzled by the device's store highlighting of top sellers and fear of objectionable content.
Chris Holden (Charge Shot) reexamines media now that the format veneer has worn through, allowing the raw data to take precedence over its format. Does that make us post-medial?
Know Your Audience
Lindsay Grace (Game Career Guide) grapples with how educational games combine the fictive and escapist elements of fantasy with education goals.Last week, Leigh Alexander wrote a bit for Gamasutra, calling out gamers for complaining about games they don't like, given the vast variety of titles and audiences that games cater to. I ducked it, as I've tried to duck the whole debate over whether challenge is necessary in games. This week, though, Martyn Zachary (The Slow Down) extrapolates that games should avoid "everything to everyone," which then becomes an admonishment in favor of greater authorial control, including claiming that customizable characters are a cop-out from creating a strong narrative. It's a bit of an extreme view. Chris Lepine (The Artful Gamer) takes it a step further, seeing the problem that gamers don't identify with characters so much as their psychological calluses and defense mechanisms compel gamers to identify with game protagonists' body armor.
News
Alice and Kev has ended.Dare To Play Competition's games are available for download (signup required).
Alec Meer (Rock, Paper Shotgun) is journaling Risen.
Diego Doumecq is journaling Spelunky.
Writing Gigs & Calls For Papers (And Next Deadline)
Game Set Watch compiles coverage from GDC China.The Escapist announces its Q1 editorial calendar for 2010, so that writers can prepare submissions accordingly.
Drawing Out (23 Oct. 2009)
7th International Conference on Design & Emotion (15 Feb. 2010)
Seminar.net special issue on "digital storytelling" (1 Nov. 2009)
Artech 2010: envisioning digital spaces (27 Nov. 2009)
Fun 'n Games 2010 (20 March 2010)
Electronic Visualization And The Arts (15 Jan. 2010)
University of Florida's "Futures of Digital Studies" (20 Dec. 2009)
Upcoming Events
How to Think About Narrative and Interactivity: A colloquium with Espen Aarseth, Fox Harrell, and Janet MurrayOctober 20, 2009 (TOMORROW) at Georgia Tech
-- Via Ian Bogost, PhD and heartthrob
Digital Humanities 2010 (King's College, London) on October 31
As always, feel free to contact me (here via note or comment, or @erik_a_hanson on Twitter) if you would like to point out something you think I missed, or if you'd like me to check out a site to add to my weekly review. You can also find me in Google's vast virtual empire as Erik Alan Hanson. And be sure to check the VGHVI events section, both as a reference and to add any events you think are worth including.
Comment
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Comment by Erik Hanson on October 20, 2009 at 3:54pm - I was remiss in not linking to Big Red Potion's podcast on emotions in games.
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