Book•
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.
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TL;DR: This paper raises some new issues for the field, like Embodied Simulation, Simulations of Depth and of Surface, the Ontological and the Epistemological Barrier, the Simulation Story, and the K-Rule.
Abstract: The relation between games and simulations can be profitably investigated by combining ontological tools and recent neurological findings Neurology shows that simulations are connected to fiction or to reality by a suspension of disbelief or alternatively a suspension of belief, and ontological categories of Mimesis simulation of an event or an object and Catharsis simulation of the experience of an event or object lead to a classification of ludic simulations, which allow to discover some of their hidden properties This paper raises some new issues for the field, like Embodied Simulation, Simulations of Depth and of Surface, the Ontological and the Epistemological Barrier, the Simulation Story, and the K-Rule Finally, some wittgensteinian tools semantic, syntactic, infra-semantic, and super-syntactic are used in order to suggest how to transform a simulation into a ludic simulation
4 citations
Book•
01 Jan 2017
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors deal with the issue of propaganda in contemporary war-themed videogames, considering the current geopolitical situation on one hand, and the pervasiveness and widespread use of the vid...
Abstract: This thesis deals with the issue of propaganda in contemporary war themed videogames. Considering the current geopolitical situation on one hand, and the pervasiveness and widespread use of the vid ...
4 citations
Cites background from "Unit Operations: An Approach to Vid..."
...Bogost (2007), writes about procedural rhetoric, and how games can act persuasively through their rules and mechanics, ideally in a positive way, but he does not seem to acknowledge that procedural rhetoric and persuasive videogames might be used as a channel for propaganda, and speaks about America’s Army ́s particular representation of war (e....
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...Directly related to videogames is procedural rhetoric, described by Bogost (2007) as «the art of persuasion through rule-based representations and interactions rather than the spoken word, writing, images, or moving pictures» (p. ix). This particular type of persuasion is typical of computers, since they run processes, and is not therefore exclusive to videogames, but videogames are able to express it in a way that other software do not. Ordinary software (word processor, photo editing applications, etc.) is commonly used to create expressive artefacts, while videogames are computational artefacts that have meaning as computational artefacts. (id.). However, as Sicart (2011) and de La Hera Conde-Pumpido (2014, p....
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...Directly related to videogames is procedural rhetoric, described by Bogost (2007) as «the art of persuasion through rule-based representations and interactions rather than the spoken word, writing, images, or moving pictures» (p....
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...For Bogost (2006) procedurality is possibly the most important characteristic of videogames. Other research stresses the importance of interactivity (Mäyrä, 2008, p.6). With the development of the field, there has been an influx of scholars from different disciplines favouring a more humanistic approach to the study of videogames, which gave rise to the “ludology vs. narratology” debate (Kokonis, 2014). Ludology was a term introduced by Frasca (1999) calling for a discipline dedicated to studying games and play activities with its own theoretical frameworks and methodologies. Juul (1999) pointed out this necessity as well, noting that videogames devoid of any narrative elements do in fact exist, that being the particular strength of the medium....
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...For Bogost (2006) procedurality is possibly the most important characteristic of videogames. Other research stresses the importance of interactivity (Mäyrä, 2008, p.6). With the development of the field, there has been an influx of scholars from different disciplines favouring a more humanistic approach to the study of videogames, which gave rise to the “ludology vs. narratology” debate (Kokonis, 2014). Ludology was a term introduced by Frasca (1999) calling for a discipline dedicated to studying games and play activities with its own theoretical frameworks and methodologies....
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Posted Content•
TL;DR: A.D. Gamer as discussed by the authors is one of those rare films that truly dares to be “as radical as reality itself.” Precisely because of its exaggerations and funhouse distortions, it says more about the world we actually live in today than nearly any other recent American film that I have seen.
Abstract: Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor’s Gamer (2009) is brilliant in the way that only a sleazy exploitation movie could be. It is fast, cheap and out of control – the product of directors who cheerfully describe themselves as “pretty A.D.D.” (Quigley 2009). Neveldine/Taylor’s earlier Crank films already pushed the motifs of the action genre beyond all boundaries of taste and plausibility. But Gamer ups the ante considerably, in terms of both choreographed violence and conceptual edge. It’s an audacious movie; and one that, in the service of this audacity, isn’t afraid to risk seeming ridiculous or stupid. Gamer may well be, as Jeanette Catsoulis of The New York Times rather snarkily put it, “a futuristic vomitorium of bosoms and bullets” (2009). But this description needs to be read as praise rather than opprobrium. For Gamer is one of those rare films that truly dares to be “as radical as reality itself.” Precisely because of its exaggerations and funhouse distortions, it says more about the world we actually live in today than nearly any other recent American film that I have seen. Gamer remains a few steps ahead of any possible critical reflection that one might try to apply to it – including, of course, my own.
4 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that Proteus and Islands: Non-Places (Ice Water Games, 2016) are two games that encourage the player to critically inhabit her position in the world and to question her expectations of dominance and control typically experienced in video games.
Abstract: How does one talk about materiality or embodiment when the “body” and the “environment” in question are forever separated by a screen? Through close readings of Proteus (Twisted Tree, 2013) and Islands: Non-Places (Ice Water Games, 2016), this essay argues that certain video games articulate empathetic relationships between player and world, because of—rather than despite—the video game’s position as a virtual realm. Because these two games limit player interaction and manipulate experiences of time, Proteus and Islands: Non-Places force the player to critically inhabit her position in the world and to question her expectations of dominance and control typically experienced in video games. Applications of material ecocriticism drive the readings of these video games. Specifically, by considering theories of time—both Anna Tsing’s pace of walking and Rob Nixon’s slow time of environmental disaster—together with Jane Bennett’s concept of vibrant matter and Serenella Iovino and Serpil Oppermann’s definition of material ecocriticism, this essay argues that the worlds of Proteus and Islands: Non-Places demand an environmental attention from the player. These two games reject the human desire to touch, cultivate, and master the environment, offering, instead, a digital assemblage that includes the corporeal player and the virtual world. Proteus and Islands: Non-Places, human-made constructions designed for human consumption, drive an investment in the vibrancy of the world—both within the game and without. Resumen ?Como se puede hablar de la materialidad o la personificacion cuando el “cuerpo” y el “ambiente” de los cuales hablamos estan siempre separados por una pantalla? Mediante un analisis cuidadoso de Proteus (Twisted Tree, 2013) y Islands: Non-Places (Ice Water Games, 2016), este trabajo argumenta que algunos videojuegos fomentan la relacion empatica entre el jugador y el mundo a causa de — y no a pesar de — la existencia del videojuego como un mundo virtual. Como estos dos juegos limitan la interaccion del jugador y manipulan la experiencia del tiempo, Proteus y Islands: Non-Places obligan al jugador a reflexionar sobre la posicion que ocupa en el mundo y a cuestionar las expectativas de dominio y control que tipicamente se hacen realidad en los videojuegos. El uso de la ecocritica material impulsa el analisis de estos videojuegos. Concretamente, al considerar algunas teorias del tiempo — como la idea del “paso de la caminata” de Anna Tsing y la nocion de la “violencia lenta” de Rob Nixon — junto al concepto de la materia vibrante de Jane Bennett y la definicion de la ecocritica material propuesta por Serenella Iovino y Serpil Oppermann, este trabajo sostiene que los mundos de Proteus y Islands: Non-Places exigen que el jugador considere el medio ambiente. Estos dos juegos rechazan el deseo humano de tocar, cultivar y dominar el ambiente; mas bien ofrecen un montaje que incluye al jugador fisico y el mundo virtual. Proteus y Islands: Non-Places, que son construcciones hechas por el ser humano para ser vividas por el ser humano, impulsan una apuesta por la vitalidad del mundo — tanto dentro como fuera del juego.
4 citations
01 Jan 2018
TL;DR: The authors argue that moral reflection does occur even in mainstream games, and that it tends to happen in connection with the very moments game scholars often overlook, in the moments of awe or realization, when the controller has been set down or the keyboard pushed away, and yes, even during cut-scenes.
Abstract: In the field of video game studies, meaningful action and flow are upheld as primary targets of game design, and key factors in many ontological definitions of what games can and should be. Yet, games are not all action. Within most games one encounters numerous pauses and interruptions of various kinds, including the much-maligned “cut-scenes” that lead or force the player out of an active role at certain moments. Furthermore, not all actions are goal-directed. If they are, they are not necessarily pragmatic. These pauses, interruptions, and nuanced goals are often overlooked, if not actively derided, in the field of game studies. In short, ideas about how players stop and reflect, how their goals and experiences take on emotional and/or moral valences, are under-represented. My work argues that moral reflection does occur even in mainstream games, and that it tends to happen in connection with the very moments game scholars often overlook—in the pauses before or after actions, in the moments of awe or realization, when the controller has been set down or the keyboard pushed away, and yes, even during cut-scenes. Such moments may invite the player into a state of moral reflection, but for this state of moral reflection to be poignant and memorable to the player these moments must also involve a consideration of differing values. Finally, how a game structures the player’s experience of time, from receiving quests to setting out into the game world, from pauses to demanding challenges, and even through the layout of video game spaces lends these points of reflection their crucial impact. INDEX WORDS: Game studies, Ethics, Temporality, Flow, Values, Role-playing games POINTS OF REFLECTION: A CASE FOR MORAL ENGAGEMENT ACROSS VIDEO GAME TIME AND SPACE
4 citations
Cites background from "Unit Operations: An Approach to Vid..."
...Ian Bogost (2006), in his book Unit Operations, gives some credence to reflection and interpretation....
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...Scholars such as Bogost (2011) would likely argue this game does not lend itself...
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...Some game scholars (Bogost, 2006; Bogost, 2011; Sicart, 2009; Sicart 2013) believe a degree of moral reflection happens, but primarily in indy games that few people actually play....
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...Scholars such as Bogost (2011) and Sicart (2009, 2013) are adamant that an ethical perspective in games cannot come from a position of power, yet in this instance it was precisely my position of power that my reflection...
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...Bogost (2011) holds a position similar to Sicart’s regarding the ethical implications of playing weak and/or hindered avatars....
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References
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TL;DR: In this paper, it is argued that the degree of overlap of two individuals' friendship networks varies directly with the strength of their tie to one another, and the impact of this principle on diffusion of influence and information, mobility opportunity, and community organization is explored.
Abstract: Analysis of social networks is suggested as a tool for linking micro and macro levels of sociological theory. The procedure is illustrated by elaboration of the macro implications of one aspect of small-scale interaction: the strength of dyadic ties. It is argued that the degree of overlap of two individuals' friendship networks varies directly with the strength of their tie to one another. The impact of this principle on diffusion of influence and information, mobility opportunity, and community organization is explored. Stress is laid on the cohesive power of weak ties. Most network models deal, implicitly, with strong ties, thus confining their applicability to small, well-defined groups. Emphasis on weak ties lends itself to discussion of relations between groups and to analysis of segments of social structure not easily defined in terms of primary groups.
37,560 citations
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.
Abstract: Introduction - Norman K Denzin and Yvonna S Lincoln The Discipline and Practice of Qualitative Research PART ONE: LOCATING THE FIELD Qualitative Methods - Arthur J Vidich and Stanford M Lyman Their History in Sociology and Anthropology Reconstructing the Relationships between Universities and Society through Action Research - Davydd J Greenwood and Morten Levin For Whom? Qualitative Research, Representations and Social Responsibilities - Michelle Fine et al Ethics and Politics in Qualitative Research - Clifford G Christians PART TWO: PARADIGMS AND PERSPECTIVES IN TRANSITION Paradigmatic Controversies, Contradictions and Emerging Confluences - Yvonna S Lincoln and Egon G Guba Three Epistemological Stances for Qualitative Inquiry - Thomas A Schwandt Interpretivism, Hermeneutics and Social Constructionism Feminisms and Qualitative Research at and into the Millennium - Virginia L Olesen Racialized Discourses and Ethnic Epistemologies - Gloria Ladson-Billings Rethinking Critical Theory and Qualitative Research - Joe L Kincheloe and Peter McLaren Cultural Studies - John Frow and Meaghan Morris Sexualities, Queer Theory and Qualitative Research - Joshua Gamson PART THREE: STRATEGIES OF INQUIRY The Choreography of Qualitative Research Design - Valerie J Janesick Minuets, Improvisations and Crystallization An Untold Story? Doing Funded Qualitative Research - Julianne Cheek Performance Ethnography - Michal M McCall A Brief History and Some Advice Case Studies - Robert E Stake Ethnography and Ethnographic Representation - Barbara Tedlock Analyzing Interpretive Practice - Jaber F Gubrium and James A Holstein Grounded Theory - Kathy Charmaz Objectivist and Constructivist Methods Undaunted Courage - William G Tierney Life History and the Postmodern Challenge Testimonio, Subalternity and Narrative Authority - John Beverley Participatory Action Research - Stephen Kemmis and Robin McTaggart Clinical Research - William L Miller and Benjamin F Crabtree PART FOUR: METHODS OF COLLECTING AND ANALYZING EMPIRICAL MATERIALS The Interview - Andrea Fontana and James H Frey From Structured Questions to Negotiated Text Rethinking Observation - Michael V Angrosino and Kimberly A Mays de Perez From Method to Context The Interpretation of Documents and Material Culture - Ian Hodder Re-Imagining Visual Methods - Douglas Harper Galileo to Neuromancer Auto-Ethnography, Personal Narrative, Reflexivity - Carolyn Ellis and Arthur P Bochner Researcher as Subject Data Management and Analysis Methods - Gery W Ryan and H Russell Bernard Software and Qualitative Research - Eben A Weitzman Analyzing Talk and Text - David Silverman Focus Groups in Feminist Research - Esther Madriz Applied Ethnography - Erve Chambers PART FIVE: THE ART AND PRACTICES OF INTERPRETATION, EVALUATION AND REPRESENTATION The Problem of Criteria in the Age of Relativism - John K Smith and Deborah K Deemer The Practices and Politics of Interpretation - Norman K Denzin Writing - Laurel Richardson A Method of Inquiry Anthropological Poetics - Ivan Brady Understanding Social Programs through Evaluation - Jennifer C Greene Influencing the Policy Process with Qualitative Research - Ray C Rist PART SIX: THE FUTURE OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH Qualitative Inquiry - Mary M Gergen and Kenneth J Gergen Tensions and Transformations The Seventh Moment - Yvonna S Lincoln and Norman K Denzin Out of the Past
26,318 citations
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.
16,708 citations
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
10,978 citations
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