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.
Citations
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TL;DR: In this paper, a conceptual update of the extended self was proposed to revitalize the concept, incorporate the impacts of digitization, and provide an understanding of consumer sense of self in today's technological environment.
Abstract: The extended self was proposed in 1988. Since it was formulated, many technological changes have dramatically affected the way we consume, present ourselves, and communicate. This conceptual update seeks to revitalize the concept, incorporate the impacts of digitization, and provide an understanding of consumer sense of self in today’s technological environment. It is necessarily a work in progress, for the digital environment and our behavior within it continue to evolve. But some important changes are already clear. Five changes with digital consumption are considered that impact the nature of self and the nature of possessions. Needed modifications and additions to the extended self are outlined, and directions for future research are suggested. The digital world opens a host of new means for self-extension, using many new consumption objects to reach a vastly broader audience. Even though this calls for certain reformulations, the basic concept of the extended self remains vital.
1,135 citations
Cites background from "Unit Operations: An Approach to Vid..."
...In The Sims, consumption is the raison d’être for playing the game and includes buying a house and filling it with consumer goods (Bogost 2006; Molesworth 2006)....
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01 Jan 2011
TL;DR: Bryant as mentioned in this paper proposes that objects are dynamic systems that relate to the world under conditions of operational closure and develops a realist ontology, called -onticology-, which argues that being is composed entirely of objects, properties, and relations.
Abstract: In The Democracy of Objects Bryant proposes that we break with the epistemological tradition and once again initiate the project of ontology as first philosophy. Bryant develops a realist ontology, called -onticology-, which argues that being is composed entirely of objects, properties, and relations. Bryant proposes that objects are dynamic systems that relate to the world under conditions of operational closure.
503 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that games are domains of contrived contingency, capable of generating emergent practices and interpretations, and are intimately connected with everyday life to a degree heretofore poorly understood.
Abstract: Games have intruded into popular, academic, and policy-maker awareness to an unprecedented level, and this creates new opportunities for advancing our understanding of the relationship of games to society. The author offers a new approach to games that stresses them as characterized by process. Games, the author argues, are domains of contrived contingency, capable of generating emergent practices and interpretations, and are intimately connected with everyday life to a degree heretofore poorly understood. This approach is both consistent with a range of existing social theory and avoids many of the limitations that have characterized much games scholarship to date, in particular its tendency toward unsustainable formalism and exceptionalism. Rather than seeing gaming as a subset of play, and therefore as an activity that is inherently separable, safe, and pleasurable, the author offers a pragmatic rethinking of games as social artifacts in their own right that are always in the process of becoming. This ...
343 citations
Cites background from "Unit Operations: An Approach to Vid..."
...…in Janet Murray’s (1997) term, its procedurality—this kind of unpredictability becomes a powerful and implicit aspect of computer games, as Ian Bogost (2006) has discussed.8 Another source of contingency is social contingency (MacIntyre, 1984, pp. 97-99, called this “game-theoretic”…...
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Book•
[...]
01 Jan 2011
TL;DR: This book gives Graham Harman's most forceful critique to date of philosophies that reject objects as a primary reality and introduces the term ontography as the study of the different possible permutations of objects and qualities.
Abstract: "Harman's style often evokes that of a William James merged with the spirit of H.P. Lovecraft." Olivier Surel in Actu Philosophia In this book the metaphysical system of Graham Harman is presented in lucid form, aided by helpful diagrams. In Chapter 1, Harman gives his most forceful critique to date of philosophies that reject objects as a primary reality. All such rejections are tainted by either an "undermining" or "overmining" approach to objects. In Chapters 2 and 3, he reviews his concepts of sensual and real objects. In the process, he attacks the prestige normally granted to philosophies of human access, which Harman links for the first time to the already discredited "Menos Paradox." In Chapters 4 through 7, Harman brings the reader up to speed on his interpretation of Heidegger, which culminates in a fourfold structure of objects linked by indirect causation. In Chapter 8, he speculates on the implications of this theory for the debate over panpsychism, which Harman both embraces and rejects. In Chapters 9 and 10, he introduces the term "ontography" as the study of the different possible permutations of objects and qualities, which he simplifies with easily remembered terminology drawn from standard playing cards.
339 citations
Book•
18 Jun 2012
TL;DR: This in-depth resource teaches you to craft mechanics that generate challenging, enjoyable, and well-balanced gameplay in games and learns how to visualize and simulate game mechanics in order to design better games.
Abstract: This in-depth resource teaches you to craft mechanics that generate challenging, enjoyable, and well-balanced gameplay. Youll discover at what stages to prototype, test, and implement mechanics in games and learn how to visualize and simulate game mechanics in order to design better games. Along the way, youll practice what youve learned with hands-on lessons. A free downloadable simulation tool developed by Joris Dormans is also available in order to follow along with exercises in the book in an easy-to-use graphical environment. In Game Mechanics: Advanced Game Design, youll learn how to: * Design and balance game mechanics to create emergent gameplay before you write a single line of code. * Visualize the internal economy so that you can immediately see what goes on in a complex game. * Use novel prototyping techniques that let you simulate games and collect vast quantities of gameplay data on the first day of development. * Apply design patterns for game mechanicsfrom a library in this bookto improve your game designs. * Explore the delicate balance between game mechanics and level design to create compelling, long-lasting game experiences. * Replace fixed, scripted events in your game with dynamic progression systems to give your players a new experience every time they play. "I've been waiting for a book like this for ten years: packed with game design goodness that tackles the science without undermining the art." --Richard Bartle, University of Essex, co-author of the first MMORPG Game Mechanics: Advanced Game Design by Joris Dormans & Ernest Adams formalizes game grammar quite well. Not sure I need to write a next book now! -- Raph Koster, author of A Theory of Fun for Game Design.
192 citations
References
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Book•
01 Jan 1992
TL;DR: In a rented convent in Santa Fe, New Mexico, a revolution has been brewing as mentioned in this paper, where scientists are gathering ideas about interconnectedness, coevolution, chaos, structure, and order, and forging them into an entirely new, unified way of thinking about nature, human social behavior, life, and the universe itself.
Abstract: In a rented convent in Santa Fe, a revolution has been brewing. The activists are not anarchists, but rather Nobel Laureates in physics and economics such as Murray Gell-Mann and Kenneth Arrow, and pony-tailed graduate students, mathematicians, and computer scientists down from Los Alamos. They've formed an iconoclastic think tank called the Santa Fe Institute, and their radical idea is to create a new science called complexity. These mavericks from academe share a deep impatience with the kind of linear, reductionist thinking that has dominated science since the time of Newton. Instead, they are gathering novel ideas about interconnectedness, coevolution, chaos, structure, and order - and they're forging them into an entirely new, unified way of thinking about nature, human social behavior, life, and the universe itself. They want to know how a primordial soup of simple molecules managed to turn itself into the first living cell - and what the origin of life some four billion years ago can tell us about the process of technological innovation today. They want to know why ancient ecosystems often remained stable for millions of years, only to vanish in a geological instant - and what such events have to do with the sudden collapse of Soviet communism in the late 1980s. They want to know why the economy can behave in unpredictable ways that economists can't explain - and how the random process of Darwinian natural selection managed to produce such wonderfully intricate structures as the eye and the kidney. Above all, they want to know how the universe manages to bring forth complex structures such as galaxies, stars, planets, bacteria, plants, animals, and brains. There are commonthreads in all of these queries, and these Santa Fe scientists seek to understand them. Complexity is their story: the messy, funny, human story of how science really happens. Here is the tale of Brian Arthur, the Belfast-born economist who stubbornly pushed his theories of economic ch
1,890 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1996
TL;DR: The Java (TM)Programming Language, Second Edition, is the definitive resource for all serious Java programmers and lets you in on the rationale behind Java's design, direct from the language's creator, as well as the tradeoffs involved in using specific features.
Abstract: From the Publisher:
Co-authored by the creator of the Java technology and an experienced object-oriented developer, The Java (TM)Programming Language, Second Edition, is the definitive resource for all serious Java programmers. This book will give you a solid foundation in Java programming language strategies and techniques. It features a concise introduction to the language; detailed descriptions of Java's commands, constructs, and libraries; and numerous real-world examples that show you how to exploit the language's power, portability, and flexibility. You will find in-depth and progressively advanced coverage of classes and objects, interfaces, exception-handling, threads and multitasking, and packages. In addition, the book describes the Java core library packages, including I/O, standard utilities, language types, and system classes. Thoroughly revised from start to finish, this second edition fully integrate, is the definitive resource for all serious Java programmers. This book will give you a solid foundation in Java programming language strategies and techniques. It features a concise introduction to the language; detailed descriptions of Java's commands, constructs, and libraries; and numerous real-world examples that show you how to exploit the language's power, portability, and flexibility. You will find in-depth and progressively advanced coverage of classes and objects, interfaces, exception-handling, threads and multitasking, and packages. In addition, the book describes the Java core library packages, including I/O, standard utilities, language types, and system classes. Thoroughly revised from start to finish, this second edition fully integrates Java 1.1 into both text and examples. This edition includes the changes introduced in Java 1.1, such as nested classes (including anonymous classes), threading issues, character-based streams, object-serialization, documentation comments, new utility classes, plus internationalization and localization. The book lets you in on the rationale behind Java's design, direct from the language's creator, as well as the tradeoffs involved in using specific features. With these insights, you will have the understanding you need to begin developing Java applications and applets.
1,880 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1996
TL;DR: Elam as discussed by the authors discusses the Decline of the Nation-State and the University within the Limits of Reason, and the Posthistorical University and the Scene of Teaching in the Ruins.
Abstract: Foreword by Diane Elam Acknowledgments 1. Introduction 2. The Idea of Excellence 3. The Decline of the Nation-State 4. The University within the Limits of Reason 5. The University and the Idea of Culture 6. Literary Culture 7. Culture Wars and Cultural Studies 8. The Posthistorical University 9. The Time of Study: 1968 10. The Scene of Teaching 11. Dwelling in the Ruins 12. The Community of Dissensus Notes Index
1,867 citations
Book•
15 Oct 2002
TL;DR: From Tokyo to Helsinki, Manhattan to Manila, Howard Rheingold takes us on a journey around the world for a preview of the next techno-cultural shift-a shift he predicts will be as dramatic as the widespread adoption of the PC in the 1980s and the Internet in the 1990s.
Abstract: From the Publisher:
How the convergence of mobile communications and computing is driving the next social revolution-transforming the ways in which people meet, mate, work, buy, sell, govern, and create.
When Howard Rheingold sneaks off down an untrodden trail, everyone else follows. He is always onto something marvelous no one has seen before. An ever-considerate guide, he navigates this new world with ease, compassion, and grace, and gives you the inside story, with no punches pulled. Tech talk? Howard could get your mother to understand.
From Tokyo to Helsinki, Manhattan to Manila, Howard Rheingold takes us on a journey around the world for a preview of the next techno-cultural shift-a shift he predicts will be as dramatic as the widespread adoption of the PC in the 1980s and the Internet in the 1990s. The coming wave, says Rheingold, is the result of super-efficient mobile communications-cellular phones, personal digital assistants, and wireless-paging and Internet-access devices that will allow us to connect with anyone, anywhere, anytime.
From the amusing ("Lovegetty" devices in Japan that light up when a person with the right date-potential characteristics appears in the vicinity) to the extraordinary (the overthrow of a repressive regime in the Philippines by political activists who mobilized by forwarding text messages via cell phones), Rheingold gives examples of the fundamentally new ways in which people are already engaging in group or collective action. He also considers the dark side of this phenomenon, such as the coordination of terrorist cells, threats to privacy, and the ability to incite violent behavior.
Applying insights from sociology, artificial intelligence, engineering, and anthropology, Rheingold offers a penetrating perspective on the brave new convergence of pop culture, cutting-edge technology, and social activism. At the same time, he reminds us that, as with other technological revolutions, the real impact of mobile communications will come not from the technology itself but from how people use it, resist it, adapt to it, and ultimately use it to transform themselves, their communities, and their institutions.
Author Biography: Howard Rheingold is one of the world's foremost authorities on the social implications of technology. Over the past twenty years he has traveled around the world, observing and writing about emerging trends in computing, communications, and culture. One of the creators and former founding executive editor of HotWired, he has served as editor of The Whole Earth Review, editor-in-chief of The Millennium Whole Earth Catalog, and on-line host for The Well. The author of several books, including The Virtual Community, Virtual Reality, and Tools for Thought, he lives in Mill Valley, California.
1,864 citations
Book•
[...]
01 Jan 1969
TL;DR: Deleuze's exploration of meaning and meaninglessness takes in language games, sexuality, schizophrenia, psychoanalysis and literature as discussed by the authors, ranging from Stoic philosophy to Lewis Carroll's literary and logical paradoxes.
Abstract: This is one of Deleuze's seminal works. Ranging from Stoic philosophy to Lewis Carroll's literary and logical paradoxes, Deleuze's exploration of meaning and meaninglessness takes in language games, sexuality, schizophrenia, psychoanalysis and literature.
1,848 citations