Showing papers in "Eludamos. Journal for Computer Game Culture in 2009"

Generations of Game Analytics, Achievements and High Scores

Abstract: This paper poses the question, how has game recording evolved over the generations and how will it affect future generations of players and game developers who have access to the digital past? High scores have a history behind them and as generations of games have moved forward they begin to record much more than just scores. The present player generation can record complete replays of their entire gameplay performances and even play against other recorded player ghosts. As the future generations of gamers and developers take over they will have unprecedented access to the digital history archive as it becomes easier and easier to record and store the past. Deciding what to do with that past will be the next generation’s task as games move into the future.

Key Dimensions of Contemporary Video Game Literacy: Towards A Normative Model of the Competent Digital Gamer

Abstract: Recent developments in digital games technology, economy, and content have further expanded the popularity of the medium. At the same time, requirements for competent gaming or digital game literacy need to be reconsidered in the light of the rapid evolution of digital games. The paper outlines three important dimensions of contemporary video game literacy: (1) Resilience against effects of game content on automatic cognition (such as stereotypes and aggressive thinking), (2) the ability to cope with social affordances of multiplayer games, and (3) the ability to manage inertia processes in playing motivation that result in a perceived risk of losing investments of time and effort when deciding against playing. Finally, the importance to substantiate game literacy concepts with scientific theory and empirical research is articulated.

Playing with one's self: notions of subjectivity and agency in digital games

Abstract: This paper explores the ways in which the experience of participation or interactivity in digital games may influence or reinvent the player’s ideological subjectivity. It offers an application to video game analysis of the theoretical perspectives of Jean Baudrillard, Roland Barthes, Louis Althusser, Theodor Adorno, Walter Benjamin and Slavoj Žižek, and thereby suggests that the simulated realities of commercial digital games cultures offer an illusion of agency or co-authorship which, in common with similar illusions promoted by parallel manifestations of industrial mass culture, may foster a critical complacency which permits the inscription of their consumers within virtually invisible ideological perspectives.

Tanks, chauffeurs and backseat drivers: competence in MMORPGs.

Abstract: In this paper learning and competence in the MMORPG World of Warcraft are explored. In order to facilitate movement between in-game and the real-world contexts of play, data was collected from couples who play the game together while sharing real space. Through the collection and analysis of interview data the authors develop a framework for the examination of learning practices. The ways in which players acquire and assess skills, balance different skill levels, and accommodate different play preferences, are discussed. It is argued that competence in MMORPGs is complex, variously constituted and assessed by players in diverse ways.

Passionate Digital Play-Based Learning (Re)Learning in computer games like Shadow of the Colossus

Abstract: In the last decades the potentials for teaching and learning based on computer games have increasingly become a focus in scientific research and the computer industry. It is argued that computer games are a valuable tool to enrich learning. While in traditional educational institutions the enhancement of motivation for learning something was often reduced to a pressure to perform for someone, games are said to lead to a more learner-centred teaching. However the “great expectations” were not fulfilled: The reasonable symbiosis of meaningful content and an engaging environment transformed through digital media stayed beyond its instructional expectations. Especially the dimension of passion as a circular and non-linear process of relearning and learning anew was overlooked in a majority of theories, concepts and designs of games. In this understanding the passionate dimension of learning refers to a kind of learning, where the learners’ expectations disprove and he explores resistive experienced. The paper outlines how a unique game such as "Shadow of the Colossus" can open up a new horizon of experiences that lead to a passionate dimension of learning by playing digital games. By stressing a theoretical learning perspective on the process of experience within the game "Shadow of the Colossus", a new understanding of learning based on playing games will be given. Therefore the paper will give insight into the concept of learning by passion and Digital Play-Based Learning and show a new dimension for twenty-first century learning games.

An Analysis of Persistent Non-Player Characters in the First-Person Gaming genre 1998-2007: a case for the fusion of mechanics and diegetics

Abstract: This paper describes the results of an analysis of persistent non-player characters (PNPCs) in the first-person gaming genre 1998-2007. Assessing the role, function, gameplay significance and representational characteristics of these critical important gameplay objects from over 34 major releases provides an important set of baseline data within which to situate further research. This kind of extensive, genre-wide analysis is under-represented in game studies, yet it represents a hugely important process in forming clear and robust illustrations of the medium to support understanding. Thus, I offer a fragment of this illustration, demonstrating that many of the cultural and diegetic qualities of PNPCs are a product of a self-assembling set of archetypes formed from gameplay requirements.

'I am Trying to Believe': Dystopia as Utopia in the Year Zero Alternate Reality Game

Abstract: A major symptom of postmodernity is the loss of utopian energy, of which the popularity of dystopian cultural production is evident. The dystopian genre, however, is cautionary, and thus utopian. Associated is the influence of technology on post-utopian culture—although it has been viewed pessimistically, technology allows for new ways of telling dystopian stories. One such mode of telling dystopian stories is the Alternate Reality Game (ARG), a narrative, multi-media game, using several different technologies that puts the player in a fictional reality. One ARG that exemplifies the idea of dystopia as having utopian energy is Nine Inch Nails’ Year Zero , which shows that technology can have utopian energy, offering new ways of telling dystopian stories such as via the ARG, thus locating some utopian energy in postmodern culture through the form’s culturally critical structure and interactive nature, which equals a call to action against the dystopian nature of contemporary society.

Repelling the Invasion of the "Other": Post-Apocalyptic Alien Shooter Videogames Addressing Contemporary Cultural Attitudes

Abstract: In the current videogame landscape, a great deal of first-person shooters are being made that depict a post-apocalyptic invasion by an “alien” force that must be repelled. Culture in a given context can become preoccupied with certain issues and themes because of the societal situation it is born from. This allegorical function serves to speak to historically grounded contemporary concerns. Many of today’s contemporary concerns are related in some ways to 9/11, and the scholarly works that address the influence this event has had on videogames seem to pay closer attention to games that deal with these issues on an explicit level. This analysis moves past the singular historical event of 9/11 to show how latent long term attitudes and beliefs can be addressed by cultural texts on a more allegorical level. Through looking at the FPS invasion videogame texts themselves, such as the Resistance and Killzone series, it becomes clear that what these games are speaking to is a latent fear and mistrust of those culturally different. Through a fair amount of “Othering,” a steadfast ethnocentric viewpoint, and a reliance on the theme of the justified war, these games speak to contemporary cultural attitudes that are intertwined with the reputation of the US overseas. Instead of addressing these concerns head on, these videogame cultural texts place them within thinly veiled allegories that make explicit the desire to repel the invasion of forces that threaten the Western world.

'Just Gaming': On Being Differently Literate

Abstract: How do videogame players who are ‘by day’ engaged in formal media and literacy education understand the boundaries between playing, reading and writing in the sphere of ‘Media 2.0’ in relation to the kinds of reading practices they are obliged to be immersed in during formal learning? How might empirical witness to such cultural practices usefully inform current educational policy debates in the United Kingdom in relation to the current ‘Literacy’ and ‘Media Literacy’ agendas and their attendant discourses? This paper presents emergent findings from a qualitative research study undertaken with a small group of 16-17 college students who are regular players of Grand Theft Auto IV . It attempts to explore the multiplicity of their ways of telling (about being , in the game) in relation to poststructuralist theories of difference and in particular Lyotard’s (1985) notion of ‘gaming’ – whereby the rules of literacy are always-already local, fluid, changing and contested. Drawing on approaches from critical discourse analysis the thoughts and reflections of the students in relation to what they think it means to read, and be a reader and to play and be a player are explored. By giving voice to game players who are often spoken for , this paper offers findings that will be informative for colleagues with an interest in Media Literacy as social practice, as opposed to a set of competences. Thus we suggest that the use of poststructuralist critical theory (informed by Lyotard’s ‘ Just Gaming’ intervention) for such discussion is neither abstract nor ‘only’ theoretical but, because the videogame as a media form resists ‘orthodox’ representational concepts, that such a theoretical context is an obligation, and of direct ‘practical’ value in the development of policy and practice around Media Literacy.

Chopin's dream as reality: a critical reading of Eternal Sonata.

Abstract: This article opens with a short statement on how video games should be considered as a viable means of making cultural and social statements and compares the evolution of literature to the evolution of video game narratives. After making an argument for Eternal Sonata as meaningful art worthy of critical attention it proceeds to give a critical reading of the game which presents Eternal Sonata as an instrument critical of specific aspects of society, including war, human greed, and the interests of large companies. The article integrates video game and critical theory, professional commentary, excerpts from the game, and examples of poetry, music, and painting to support the arguments presented.

Games and Self-Imagining, a Comparative Media Perspective

Abstract: This article compares the self-positioning mechanisms used by the computer game American McGee’s Alice to those of its paper and film predecessors. After dismissing the claim that the virtual is ontologically different and therefore incomparable to the fictional, Kendall Walton’s theory of representation as make-believe is laid out. This theory is then used to describe the various techniques for entertaining laid out by the three works and relate them to their relative medium-specific qualities. Next, Walton’s concepts of subjective and objective imagining are presented to describe the positions of the imagined self vis-a-vis the represented events. When applied to the material at hand, it becomes clear that it does not allow for simple categorisation and that all three media lay out complex strategies combining subjective and objective techniques, but that, overall, the game can be seen as evoking a primarily subjective experience with an objective counterweight whilst the book and the film should be seen as primarily objective with subjectifying elements.

Fahrenheit and the premature burial of interactive movies

Abstract: Interactive movies have the bad reputation of combining the worst of cinema and video games. The success of the game Fahrenheit (released in North America as Indigo Prophecy ) in 2006 might lead us to reevaluate this failure. This articles argues that this game can be considered an updated form of interactive movie and discusses some of this genre's characteristics that are still relevant and attractive today: artistically motivated mise -en- scene and rich storytelling.

Assembling a Mosaic of the Future: The Post-Nuclear World of Fallout 3

Abstract: Fallout is a series of role-playing games set in a prolonged nuclear age that follows the fictional Great War of 2077. Its story follows an alternate history scenario that branches from our history at about 1950. During the years following the nuclear fallout, the earth changes its face. Species mutate, some animals become sentient, and many humans lose their mind. This review focusses on the historic context of the nuclear age and how it informed the world of Fallout.

Doubly Real: Game Studies and Literary Anthropology; or, Why We Play Games

Abstract: Few game studies scholars will regret that the infelicitous ludology vs narratology debate has been left behind However, one misconception concerning the nature of literary theory continues to haunt game studies If Gonzalo Frasca (correctly) observes that "Ludologists Love Stories, Too" (2003), I wish to point out that his conciliatory gesture seriously threatens to distort the concerns of literary theorists in ways that make their reflections on human sense-making indeed seem of very limited use to game studies scholars If we truly want to know in what respects game studies can profit from literary theory without jeoparidizing the strategies of distinction a still emergent field such as game studies needs to position itself vis-a-vis dominant theoretical paradigms--and which Espen J Aarseth calls for in his editorial to the first issue of Game Studies (2001)--we need to be aware of two things First, narratologists make up only a fraction of the literary-theoretical community And the narratologists most often cited by game studies scholars usually practice a structuralist version of narratology that has come under sustained critical scrutiny since the late 1960s Second, not all literary scholars are concerned with narrative Of course, they often study narrative texts such as novels and short stories, but they also study plays, poems, and other non-narrative texts More importantly, even when they do study narrative texts, literary scholars--be they narratologists or not--are not always interested in the forms and functions of stories This essay argues that game studies can profit from reflections on issues other than narrative by a literary theorist whose work has been unduly reduced to those concerns In Cybertext: Perspectives on Ergodic Literature (1997), Aarseth refers to the work of Wolfgang Iser as one influential model of literary communication that does not help explain the specific forms and functions of nonlinear, multicursal computer games More specifically, Aarseth argues that Iser's notion of Leerstellen (blanks) cannot account for the kinds of openings cybertexts offer their users Yet the later work of Iser is a much more promising avenue of exploration for ludologists Iser's The Fictive and the Imaginary: Charting Literary Anthropology (1993) develops what is arguably the most sustained theory of fictionality available today While honed in the study of literary texts, Iser's theory can tell us much about the cultural work of fiction in a variety of media without leveling the distinctions between different cultural practices As such, Iser's later work does not provide yet another framework for reading games as stories but challenges games studies scholars to rethink some of their central concepts, in particular 'play,' 'simulation,' and 'immersion' Moreover, it invites us to ask whether the rhetoric of distinction that much game studies scholarship still employs to stake out its claims has outlived its usefulness, serving less as an effective defense mechanism than as an obstacle to cross-disciplinary fertilization

Letter from the Wilderness

Abstract: Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 "; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-parent:"";} MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} MsoPapDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; margin-bottom:100pt; line-height:115%;} /* Page Definitions */ @page {mso-mirror-margins:yes; mso-facing-pages:yes;} @page Section1 {size:85in 110in; margin:10in 10in 10in 10in; mso-header-margin:5in; mso-footer-margin:5in; mso-paper-source:0;} divSection1 {page:Section1;} --> /* Style Definitions */ tableMsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 54pt 0in 54pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:100pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:110pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} In a November 2006 Gamasutra article titled “We’re not listening: An Open Letter to Academic Game Researchers” John Hopson argues that much of the research into games by academics is not presented in a way likely to appeal to game developers and is largely irrelevant to their concerns Hopson’s argument implicates humanities and many social science researchers producing speculative and descriptive research rather than more hard-edged technical and statistical research that can have an immediate impact on a game’s bottom line While conceding Hopson’s point about the ineffectiveness of many academic communication norms, I argue that Hopson’s article is indicative not of problems with academic research into games as much as the position of game development toward the utility of academic research in general After analyzing the assumptions underlying Hopson’s argument, I offer a schema that articulates several key types of research into games carried out by scholars with a primary background in the humanities and the contribution of each research approach to the game development process

The pleasurable lightness of being: Interface, mediation and meta-narrative in Lucasfilm's Loom

Abstract: This critique of the overlooked Lucasfilm adventure game focuses on the techniques, by which the distance between the avatar and the player is bridged, and the way the game deals with its gameness in its fiction. The critique is broken into three sections: the analysis of the fiction, investigation of the interface and, finally, the whole narrative structure. Conclusion is made that the uniqueness and "magic" often mentioned by the game's fans comes about thanks to a series of parallels between the player's and the avatar's situation.

Serious games taken seriously

Abstract: Eludamos : journal for computer game culture 3 (2009) 1, S. 7-8 Padagogische Teildisziplin: Medienpadagogik;

Pure Hardcore? wipEout HD and current game design

Abstract: This review highlights the changes made for the futuristic racing game Wipeout HD. Once deemed a hardcore game the Wipeout series has since broadened its appeal. The game's state of the art audio integration and the subtle changes to its gameplay are highlighted in the context of contemporary game design.

I HEART LocoRoco – a reading of a gameplay experience

Abstract: In the diverse landscape of modern gaming it is rare to find specific games that are universally described in affectionate terms. Allegiances to form and genre identify the various tribes and often the divide between gaming sub-cultures runs deep. Passionate players pride themselves both by the longevity of their status and via signifiers of skill acquired. These traits typify what has become known as the “hardcore” player; in popular gaming culture the hardcore is often positioned contra the “casual” player with hours and type of game played as the main criteria for qualification. However these terms are ludicrous at best and fall short in describing the multitude of people who play digital games. The following is focussed on one particular Sony PSP game franchise that has received widespread critical acclaim, LocoRoco. This is a 2D platform game initially released in Europe in Summer 2006 and although it has not gone platinum this title got to No 5 in the UK Charts and has won 2 BAFTA’s for character design and children’s game in 2006. LocoRoco 2 was released in the U.K. in November 2008. Sony’s Tsutomu Kouno, the Director of LocoRoco, has stated that one of his design intentions was to make a game that appealed to those who didn’t normally play games (Kouno, 2006). This statement is key in my selection of this game. As a hugely lucrative yet nascent industry, it is of interest to study the ways in which commercial developers attempt to attract new players to part with their hard-earnt entertainment dollar. My investigation looks to explicate game design decisions that entice a player into dialogue with the ongoing game experience. I will look at issues including pleasure and seduction within the action and reward cycle inherent to gameplay.