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Unit Operations: An Approach to Videogame Criticism

01 Jan 2006-
TL;DR: In Unit Operations, Ian Bogost argues that similar principles underlie both literary theory and computation, proposing a literary-technical theory that can be used to analyze particular videogames and argues for the possibility of real collaboration between the humanities and information technology.
Abstract: In Unit Operations, Ian Bogost argues that similar principles underlie both literary theory and computation, proposing a literary-technical theory that can be used to analyze particular videogames. Moreover, this approach can be applied beyond videogames: Bogost suggests that any medium -- from videogames to poetry, literature, cinema, or art -- can be read as a configurative system of discrete, interlocking units of meaning, and he illustrates this method of analysis with examples from all these fields. The marriage of literary theory and information technology, he argues, will help humanists take technology more seriously and hep technologists better understand software and videogames as cultural artifacts. This approach is especially useful for the comparative analysis of digital and nondigital artifacts and allows scholars from other fields who are interested in studying videogames to avoid the esoteric isolation of "game studies." The richness of Bogost's comparative approach can be seen in his discussions of works by such philosophers and theorists as Plato, Badiou, Zizek, and McLuhan, and in his analysis of numerous videogames including Pong, Half-Life, and Star Wars Galaxies. Bogost draws on object technology and complex adaptive systems theory for his method of unit analysis, underscoring the configurative aspects of a wide variety of human processes. His extended analysis of freedom in large virtual spaces examines Grand Theft Auto 3, The Legend of Zelda, Flaubert's Madame Bovary, and Joyce's Ulysses. In Unit Operations, Bogost not only offers a new methodology for videogame criticism but argues for the possibility of real collaboration between the humanities and information technology.
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
23 Jun 2015
TL;DR: The authors argue that playing a video game is always, at least to a degree, playing a game of meta-communication with, against and around a game's hard-coded rules, and that the specific language through which video games convey this message is that of their rules.
Abstract: Gregory Bateson claims that all play acts should be primarily understood as meta-com­municative. In other words, playing a game implies being able to transmit and receive the meta-message ‘this is play’, which establishes a psychological frame among the players. I will propose a radical reading of Bateson’s theory in the context of video games; specifically, I will attempt at analysing the characteristics, specificities and implications of the message ‘this is video game play’. I will contend that the specific language through which video games convey this message is that of their rules, the inescapable limitations posed by their computational and digital nature. In other words, playing a video game is always, at least to a degree, playing a game of meta-communication with, against and around a video game’s hard-coded rules. Finally, I will propose a close reading of the game Papers, Please and contend that Pope’s work engages in a significant reading of the inherent reflexivity of video games, deliberately portraying their authoritative na­ture and communicative potential.

7 citations


Cites background from "Unit Operations: An Approach to Vid..."

  • ...Ian Bogost’s research (2006; 2007) moves from this assumption in order to understand how video games can convey meaning through rules and procedures. Bogost defines configuration the operations that the player executes within the procedural environment of a video game; in other words, according to Bogost facing a procedural medium means choosing which procedures need to be actualized from time to time or, using the terminology proposed by N. Katherine Hayles’ (1999), determining a subjective pattern within randomness....

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  • ...Ian Bogost’s research (2006; 2007) moves from this assumption in order to understand how video games can convey meaning through rules and procedures. Bogost defines configuration the operations that the player executes within the procedural environment of a video game; in other words, according to Bogost facing a procedural medium means choosing which procedures need to be actualized from time to time or, using the terminology proposed by N. Katherine Hayles’ (1999), determining a subjective pattern within randomness. In evoking subjectivity as a defining trait of gameplay, Bogost refers to the fact that playing a video game means approaching «the myriad configurations the player might construct to see the ways the processes inscribed in the system work» (2007: 42). A more radical reading of this communicative asymmetry is offered by German media scholar Claus Pias (2011), who claims that «[a] game program is thus not only a set of instructions, a kind of law code for the world of the particular game, that I have the duty to follow when I am in the company of computers, but at the same time also a police agent that precisely monitors my actions» (Pias, 2011: 179)....

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  • ...As noted by Murray (1997) and Bogost (2006), procedurality is not exclusive to computer games; most computational media ask their interactors to initiate or respond to different procedures....

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01 Jan 2016
TL;DR: The threshold of invisibility as mentioned in this paper is a concept for identifying moments of contentious and sometimes confused critical discourse where the underpinnings of scholarly rhetorics are laid bare for rhetorical analysis.
Abstract: This dissertation suggests that certain historical moments of transition generate identifiable schisms in scholarly discourse that leave contemporary scholars unable to communicate with one another. At these moments of Augustinian “unlikeness,” established scholarly commitments, such as logocentrism, are rendered invisible to the critics that rely on them as new forms and technologies become the (ostensible) talking points of discourse. The confusion at these moments contribute to a complex of discursive practices that can be called “thresholds of invisibility,” or moments of transition and division, when scholars are captivated by new forms and less attentive to the continuing influence of already established terministic screens. In the process, however, these normally submerged screens rise to the terministic surface, allowing for in-depth rhetorical analysis. This dissertation proposes the threshold of invisibility as a concept for identifying moments of contentious and sometimes confused critical discourse where the underpinnings of scholarly rhetorics are “laid bare” for rhetorical analysis. In this dissertation, the threshold of invisibility concept is used to explore a number of critical tools in established rhetorical theory, and then apply them to several case studies of critical discourse on new technologies and issues, including debates on digital photography, video games, and digital composing in college classrooms. The threshold of

7 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The Mass Effect video game series has been called the most important science fiction universe of a generation as mentioned in this paper, and it has been widely recognized as one of the most popular video games series in history.
Abstract: Canadian video game developer BioWare’s critically acclaimed Mass Effect video game series has been called the most important science fiction universe of a generation. Whether or not one is incline...

7 citations


Cites background from "Unit Operations: An Approach to Vid..."

  • ...As Ian Bogost points out, “Instead of standing outside the world in utter isolation, games provide a two-way street through which players and their ideas can enter and exit the game, taking and leaving their residue in both directions” (Bogost, 2006, p. 135)....

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BookDOI
23 Mar 2021
TL;DR: In this article, a multifaceted reflection on persuasive games is presented, divided into three pillars: persuasiveness, design, and validation, with a critical review of previous and current persuasive gaming theory and analysis.
Abstract: This chapter offers a multifaceted reflection on persuasive gaming divided into three pillars: persuasiveness, design, and validation. The f irst section on persuasiveness is a critical review of previous and current persuasive gaming theory and analysis. It argues that the contemporary gaming landscape needs to expand theoretically and presents a multidimensional persuasive approach as one way in which this can be done. The following section on the design of persuasive games looks at research on design principles, which are the def ining characteristics of persuasive games. The f inal section on validation discusses existing studies on the effects of persuasive games and the case-based assessment of the impact of new games.

7 citations


Cites background from "Unit Operations: An Approach to Vid..."

  • ...In Bogost’s classic volume (2007), procedural rhetoric was presented as the prime mechanism responsible for successful game-based persuasion. Since then, De la Hera (2019) has developed a theoretical argument in favor of a wider set of persuasive dimensions (see Figure 1....

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  • ...Persuasive Games, A Decade Later 29 Ian Bogost 3....

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  • ...It is more than a decade ago that Ian Bogost published Persuasive Games (2007)....

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  • ..., Bogost, 2007; De la Hera, 2013; Ferrari, 2010; Frasca, 2007). In Bogost’s classic volume (2007), procedural rhetoric was presented as the prime mechanism responsible for successful game-based persuasion....

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  • ...In this edited volume, we narrow the scope of attention by focusing on what game theorist Ian Bogost (2007) has called ‘persuasive games’, that is, gaming practices that combine the dissemination of information with attempts to engage players in particular attitudes and behaviors....

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Proceedings ArticleDOI
04 Aug 2007
TL;DR: Some additional concepts listed as a Dictionary of Terms that may address some of the shortcomings of border and boundary theories are introduced, thereby providing greater analytical power to the consideration of gaming as a subset of what Thomas Vander Wal calls the "info cloud."
Abstract: Game play, however brief, monopolizes a player's time, physical engagement, cognition, and even identity. How best to understand, describe and explain how people navigate between these worlds, cross social boundaries while maintaining a sense of identity? Border and Boundary theories seek to understand and explain the transitions between the interdependent domains of work and family. Boundary theory even admits the possibility of "third places" which suggests that these theories may be a useful analytical tool to study activities such as gaming, instant messaging or more broadly social networking. However, the work of select authors [Bateson 1972; Bogost 2006; Gee 2003; Goffman 1974; Jenkins 2004; Juul 2005; Salen & Zimmerman 2003; Suits 1990 etc.] suggest that border and boundaries theories as currently formulated are inadequate to explain the full dynamic of immersion in game play or engagement in social networking. This paper introduces some additional concepts listed as a Dictionary of Terms that may address some of the shortcomings of border and boundary theories, thereby providing greater analytical power to the consideration of gaming as a subset of what Thomas Vander Wal calls the "info cloud."

7 citations


Cites background from "Unit Operations: An Approach to Vid..."

  • ...player's mental model of its unit-operational rules, then game criticism would do well to give voice to these mental models and the ideology they communicate” [Bogost 2006]....

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  • ...If game play requires a leap of faith the gap to besurmounted is Bogost s notion of simulation: "A simulation is the gap between the rule-based representation of a source system and a user's subjectivity" [Bogost 2006]....

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  • ...If game play requires a leap of faith the gap to be surmounted is Bogost’s notion of simulation: "A simulation is the gap between the rule-based representation of a source system and a user's subjectivity" [Bogost 2006]....

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  • ...Bogost s aim is to broaden the discussionof Game Studies: If the experience of a game takes place in theplayer's mental model of its unit-operational rules, then game criticism would do well to give voice to these mental models and the ideology they communicate [Bogost 2006]....

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  • ...However, the work of select authors [Bateson 1972; Bogost 2006; Gee 2003; Goffman 1974; Jenkins 2004; Juul 2005; Salen & Zimmerman 2003; Suits 1990 etc.] suggest that border and boundaries theoriesas currently formulated are inadequate to explain the full dynamicof immersion in game play or…...

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References
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TL;DR: The discipline and practice of qualitative research have been extensively studied in the literature as discussed by the authors, including the work of Denzin and Denzin, and their history in sociology and anthropology, as well as the role of women in qualitative research.
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Book
01 Jan 1927
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present an interpretation of Dasein in terms of temporality, and the Explication of Time as the Transcendental Horizon for the Question of Being.
Abstract: Translators' Preface. Author's Preface to the Seventh German Edition. Introduction. Exposition of the Question of the Meaning of Being. 1. The Necessity, Structure, and Priority of the Question of Being. 2. The Twofold Task of Working out the Question of Being. Method and Design of our Investigation. Part I:. The Interpretation of Dasein in Terms of Temporality, and the Explication of Time as the Transcendental Horizon for the Question of Being. 3. Preparatory Fundamental Analysis of Dasein. Exposition of the Task of a Preparatory Analysis of Dasein. Being-in-the-World in General as the Basic State of Dasein. The Worldhood of the World. Being-in-the-World as Being-with and Being-One's-Self. The 'they'. Being-in as Such. Care as the Being of Dasein. 4. Dasein and Temporality. Dasein's Possibility of Being-a-Whole, and Being-Towards-Death. Dasein's Attestation of an Authentic Potentiality-for-Being, and Resoluteness. Dasein's Authentic Potentiality-for-Being-a-Whole, and Temporality as the Ontological Meaning of Care. Temporality and Everydayness. Temporality and Historicality. Temporality and Within-Time-Ness as the Source of the Ordinary Conception of Time. Author's Notes. Glossary of German Terms. Index.

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Book
01 Jan 1988
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a very different view of the arts of practice in a very diverse culture, focusing on the use of ordinary language and making do in the art of practice.
Abstract: Preface General Introduction PART I: A VERY ORDINARY CULTURE I. A Common Place: Ordinary Language II. Popular Cultures: Ordinary Language III. Making Do: Uses and Tactics PART II: THEORIES OF THE ART OF PRACTICE IV. Foucault and Bourdieu V. The Arts of Theory VI. Story Time PART III: SPATIAL PRACTICES VII. Walking in the City VIII. Railway Navigation and Incarceration IX. Spatial Stories PART IV: Uses of Language X. The Scriptural Economy XI. Quotations of Voices XII. Reading as Poaching PART V: WAYS OF BELIEVING XIII. Believing and Making People Believe XIV. The Unnamable Indeterminate Notes

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Book
01 Jan 1984
TL;DR: In this article, the status of science, technology, and the arts, the significance of technocracy, and how the flow of information is controlled in the Western world are discussed.
Abstract: Many definitions of postmodernism focus on its nature as the aftermath of the modern industrial age when technology developed. This book extends that analysis to postmodernism by looking at the status of science, technology, and the arts, the significance of technocracy, and the way the flow of information is controlled in the Western world.

10,912 citations