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What Is a Game?—The Changing Face of the American Theme Park

Could some of the rides or attractions at theme parks be considered games? If so, could some of these games be considered video games? We will explore these complex and interesting questions as analyze some expert’s opinions on what makes up a video game.

When looking into what makes a good or even great video game one expert paper really stuck out to me, Studying Computer Games by David Buchingham. Buchingham brings forth how designer Celia Pearce sees how a game is defined with: a goal, obstacles, resources, rewards, penalties, and information. Buchingham also informs us on how Jesper Juul sees the games as: based on rules, have changeable outcomes, different values given to the different outcomes, player tries to reach the outcome they wish, the player is emotionally attached to the result to come, and they have a parallel outcome to consequences for real life.

Another article that I looked upon to get more information on this is What Makes a Great Video Game? By Jeff Gedgaud. According to this article what makes a great video game would consist of the “re-playablilty,” how easy it is to learn the game, the graphics of the game, and the cost of the game. What Gedgaud means when he says “re-playability” is just what it sounds like! That the player can play the game over and over without becoming bored after the second time around. If the game is much too hard to get the hang of, then you will not want to play it again. If the graphics are lame you will not want to see them again. And lastly if you pay too much money for a game then you will be let down at the end of the game, if it is not like what you expected.

After seeing what these experts of games think about all the elements that make up a game, is it possible that some items that aren’t always seen as video games could stand up to these make up of video games? I think so. Let’s take for example Toy Story Mania, found in the ever so popular Disney’s Hollywood Studios Theme Park.

When you start out on Toy Story Mania, you place your 3-D glasses on, climb into the funky looking carts with your partner and get ready to blast off. In front of you, there are sling-shot looking contraptions. The first time I saw these I remember thinking “what in the world is this!?” Then it hit me, that this could be a big factor in the game-play. In Toy Story Mania, the cart you are riding in takes you around Andy’s (the owner of all the toys) room showing you huge screens. On each screen there is a new task that is given to you. Using the sling-shot you will aim, and try to hit as many targets that you possibly can. Each target that comes up on the screen has different point values and different levels of how difficulty to hit them all based upon how high or low their point values. The 25 points are typically easier to hit, and will stay in one place, where as the 500 point targets are the smaller, moving all over the place, and coming straight at you (due to the 3-D effects). There is also a characteristic of this game that separates it from all the others around; it has 4-D effects too! That is you can feel some of the things that are happening on screen. When you hit the target made up on the water balloon, guess what you will feel? Yes water splashing out towards you!

One way that will help get across a better understanding of the experience of Toy Story Mania, would be to take some time and talk to some people who have already been on this ride. We are going to be talking to the Barrick family; made up of Fern, Steve, Haley, Janna (me!), and Emily Barrick. This family just recently spent a visit in all Disney parks this past month of May 2009.

To start off, I asked each of them to tell me what they thought a game was, and surprisingly each of them were pretty different. Haley being the smarty pants said “a game is something that engages your brain and can evoke certain feelings, or reactions.” Fern being a natural mother said “a game is something that you do to interact with certain people, like your family, or friends.” Emily, the baby of the family said a game is “something that brings happiness, and makes you active for a while.” Steve told me that he saw a game as “something that little kids play, and just end up wasting their time.” As for me, you will see.

Fern was the first person I started the interview with. “The first thing I noticed about Disney’s Toy Story Mania was how long the stand by wait was, and then I noticed the fast pass wait. It was much longer than all the other passes we have gotten. Around six hours for this one, whereas the others were only about one or two hours.” When I asked Fern about her experience in Toy Story Mania, this is what she had to say: “It was much more fun to be engaged into it, unlike so many other rides that you just sit there and be strapped in while you are getting ready to be tossed off. There is always the same kind of thing on those kinds of rides whereas while you go around Andy’s room there is always something new to aim your shot at. You want to hit the higher number on the targets so you can beat the person in the cart with you, and that makes it really fun.”

Next I talked to the person who was in the same cart as Fern, Haley. Haley had a similar experience to what Fern had, but she felt that the game was a little over rated. “The wait was over two hours long, just so you could ride around in some cart for five minutes and take a shot at things that were sometimes moving, and sometimes still” Haley said. “Not only that, but it was difficult to keep an aim for the targets, after a while your eyes start to hurt because of how much movement there is on and off the screen.” I would have to guess that Haley would like the mainstream rides that buckle you in and throw you down a steep hill just to get you to feel some kind of rush from it.

Next I talked to Steve, the big scary dad. Steve had a much different experience than that of Fern and Haley’s because his partner was someone that he had never even seen before. He told me that he was expected just to go by himself when all the ladies in his family decided to go with one another. But let me tell you, he was way off on that one! Steve was set up in a cart with a young boy, who couldn’t be older than seven. At first the little boy was afraid to go on the ride with this six foot three man like my father Steve, and I wouldn’t blame him. Steve told me that he didn’t feel like he shot as many targets as he would have if he knew the person in the cart with him, or at least if the person who he was going with wasn’t terrified of him. Maybe if the stranger who was put in there with him wasn’t so scared of him, he would have been more engaged in the game, wanting to get more shots and end with more points than the stranger. I think Steve would have even been more aggressive if he was with one of the members in the family! He is one of those guys who wants everyone to be happy, so he let the little guy in there with him win. . . by a long shot!

Emily is one competitive girl when it comes to games, sports and all that kind of stuff. I got the pleasure to be in the same cart as her. Emily wouldn’t go for the small point value targets. Nope, she would go for the huge ones that were really hard to hit. Emily told me that “it felt better to hit the big ones because they were more of a challenge and I know not that many people would have been able to hit them.” I on the other hand just hit as many small ones as I possibly could. I thought, in the long run that small ones will add up because I hit so many of them. Was I wrong or what!? Emily beat me by around 2,000 point just because she aimed more so for the large numbered targets, and I aimed for the smaller, but easier numbered targets. Emily also said “I wish the game had a shorted line, that way I could ride it all day long, and I could get more and more practice on aiming for the targets.”

For me, I remember one of the first things my mother wanted to go see was Toy Story Mania, and I thought it would be a little kid ride. I remember thinking it would be just like the tea cups that you go on with your little sister just to make them happy. So we got our fast passes, and waited almost all day to be able to go on this famous ride. It was such a long wait we ended up leaving for dinner and coming back just for that ride! Let me be the first to inform you that it was much worth the drive all the way back to the park. Even when the fast pass line was longer than the ones of other rides, I was excited when I saw all the decorations and items on the wall of the waiting area. In our time of waiting I didn’t have enough time to see all the cool things all around me. There were toys, characters, drawings and such all throughout the line! I guess that long stand by wait was worth it with all the interesting things they had waiting in side. When we got closer I realized I needed a riding buddy, so I quickly grabbed my younger sister to ride with me. Then we hopped in and saw it was a shooting game. “Yes” I thought to myself, “I picked my little sister, the easiest person to beat in the family!” But as I have said before, she beat my badly. All the hard targets she hit really added up, unlike bigger number of small point targets in the end. Each time we came to a new screen I was anxious to see what the next one was, and the one after that one. The game seemed to go by so quickly, but it was such a blast. It definitely made my top ten attractions at Disney World.

Thinking back to how the Barrick family described what a game is to them, did Toy Story Mania fall into the game category? Toy Story Mania does bring up feelings that make you want to hit more and more targets, just like Haley said a game would do. It also gave us a chance to bond amongst each other, even when we were sometimes in different carts. After the ride we all talked and talked about how cool it was inside there, and we did bond over that. Even my father who wasn’t with anyone else in the family while on the ride joined in on our talks. Emily saying it is something that brings happiness hit it right on. This ride really brightened our day, and gave us more energy to get back to the car when we were all pooped out from the heat and everything else that happened that day. As for Steve, I would have to say his didn’t connect with Toy Story Mania. It’s just too much fun to be a waste of time! Believe it or not Toy Story Mania also has some of what the experts say make up games. Like Pearce said there is a goal- to get the most points, obstacles- how it got harder to hit the high targets, resources- your good aim, rewards- winning in the end, penalties, and information- hit as many target as you can, using your own strategies. Sure not all of her elements were matched up with something from Toy Story Mania, but it came pretty darn close to it. If there were penalties in it, I think that would just take away from the fun that could be happening. As for Juul’s make up of being based on rules- not keeping your opponent from hitting targets, have changeable outcomes- not always being able to hit the same targets over and over, different values given to the different outcomes- different point values, player tries to reach the outcome they wish- try to beat the other person in your cart, the player is emotionally attached to the result to come- they want the bragging right when they get out, and they have a parallel outcome to consequences for real life- they can see that each target they hit is like them reaching a goal in life. Smaller goals in life are easier to get to like the smaller point value targets, and bigger goals in life are harder to get to like the higher point value targets that are moving around everywhere. Lastly for Gedgaud’s makeup of the “re-playablilty,” how easy it is to learn the game, the graphics of the game, and the cost of the game. Like Emily had already said, she wished she could play it over and over all day long, so they “re-playability” is without a doubt there. This is one of the easiest games there is to learn to play. You get the hang of it after like fifteen seconds of sitting there. The graphics inside the game are neat, as well as the ones that are on the walls of when you first walk in! The cost of the game is just the cost of your normal day ticket to a Disney park, and if you are there already it is free! That makes Toy Story Mania a game that stands up to most of all what the experts say a game should be.

After this mini interview with my family the Barricks, I would have no question that Toy Story Mania a type of game. Sure it might not live up to some expert’s theories of what makes up a great game, or any kind of game, but who says I can’t make up my own theory of what makes up a fantastic game? I think this ride that is a game, and a game that is a ride all at the same time has really helped me to make up a formula that is what makes up a game for me. That formula would be made up of: engagement, strategy, graphics, and being able to play it and get different out comes from it each time. Each of these elements are seen in Toy Story Mania, thus it is a game in my mind. Each person based on who they were playing with and their relationship toward one another affected how engaged they were in the game. How badly they wanted to win was also affected, and how they reacted when they got more and more points as the game continued. The strategies used by each person can be varied each and every time this is played, or gone through. For example each time they are taken to a different screen to possibly play a different strategy. Seeing what is in a game can also make the difference in how it is portrayed. If you have to shoot a cute little baby lamb instead of a bad ugly person who wants to shoot you, that would not be a fun game for anyone who really has feelings for cute baby lambs. And lastly each time you go into Toy Story Mania, there is always a huge possibility that you will get a different score. In fact it would be rather difficult to get the same exact score over and over again. Each time there will be targets that you might shoot and not even know that you are going to hit them!

There are a few things that I would have to say that would make Toy Story Mania a tad bit better. To start off with if you know Toy Story and Toy Story Two (the original movies) you know that when there are certain characters that come about, there are certain things you can expect from them. Take for example Stinky Pete. Something Toy Story Mania could have that really would make the rider remember going on, are smells. And with Stinky Pete, they could have a short lasting stinky smell that would come right after Pete. Another thing that could be an improvement would be the number of people in each cart. Going on with a bigger amount of people would help them to get more of a feeling of bonding. People from families with off numbers of people, like mine, would not have to sit with a complete stranger like my father had to do. The list could go on and on about all the cooler things that could add to the fun at Toy Story Mania, but I feel these two are at the top of my list.

Toy Story Mania might be one of those things that some people won’t know how to classify as. I hope after this essay more and more people will think twice about how they are going to see games, or rides as games.



Work citations:
*Gedgaud, Jeff. "What Makes A Great Video Game". Associated Content. June 3, 2009 .

*Diane Buckingham David, and Andrew Burn. Computer Games. Cambridge: Polity, 2006 w.associatedcontent.com/article/3531/what_makes_a_great_video_game.html?cat=19>.

First Time For FINAL!

What’s a Game to YOU?
So many people have different ways they see a game, and all the things that make up a game. People who take the time out of their everyday lives to play video games, play them for fun and to sort of get away from the regular everyday stress and worries.
When looking into what makes a good or even great video game one expert paper really stuck out to me, Studying Computer Games by David Buchingham. Buchingham brings fourth how designer Celia Pearce sees how a game is defined with: a goal, obstacles, resources, rewards, penalties, and information. Buchingham also informs us on how Jesper Juul sees the games as: based on rules, have changeable outcomes, different values given to the different outcomes, player tries to reach the outcome the wish, the player is emotionally attached to the result to come, and they have a parallel outcome to consequences for real life.
Another article that I looked upon to get more information on this is What Makes a Great Video Game? By Jeff Gedgaud. According to this article what makes a great video game would consist of the “re-playablilty,” how easy it is to learn the game, the graphics of the game, and the cost of the game. What Gedgaud means when he says “re-playability” is just what it sounds like! That the player can play the game over and over without becoming bored after the second time around. If the game is much too hard to get the hang of, then you will not want to play it again. If the graphics are lame you will not want to see them again. And lastly if you pay too much money for a game then you will be let down at the end of the game, if it is not like what you expected.
After seeing what these experts of games think about all the elements that make up a game, is it possible that some items that aren’t always seen as video games could stand up to these make up of video games? I think so. Let’s take for example Toy Story Mania, found in the ever so popular Disney’s Hollywood Studios Theme Park.
When you start out on Toy Story Mania, you place your 3-D glasses on, climb into the funky looking carts with your partner and get ready to blast off. In front of you, there are sling-shot looking contraptions. The first time I saw these I remember thinking “what in the world is this!?” Then it hit me, that this could be a big factor in the game-play. In Toy Story Mania, the cart you are riding in takes you around Andy’s room showing you huge screens. On each screen there is a new task that is given to you. Using the sling-shot you will aim, and try to hit as many targets that you possibly can. Each target that comes up on the screen has different point values and different levels of how easy it is to hit them, all based upon their point values. The 25 points are typically easier to hit, and will not move around, where as the 500 point targets are the smaller, moving all over the place, and coming straight at you (due to the 3-D effects).
One way that will help us to get a better feeling of how it was to be in Toy Story Mania, would be to take some time and talk to some people who have already been on this ride. We are going to be talking to the Barrick family; made up of Fern, Steve, Haley, Janna (me!), and Emily Barrick.
This family just recently spent a visit in all Disney parks this past month of May 2009. Let’s start out this interview with Fern. “The first thing I noticed about Disney’s Toy Story Mania was how long the stand by wait was, and then I noticed the fast pass wait. It was much longer than all the other passes we have gotten. Around six hours for this one, whereas the others were only about one or two hours.” When I asked Fern about her experience in Toy Story Mania, this is what she had to say: “It was much more fun to be engaged into it, unlike so many other rides that you just sit there and be strapped in while you are getting ready to be blasted off. There is always the same kind of thing on those kinds of rides whereas while you go around Andy’s room there is always something new to aim your shot at. You want to hit the higher number on the targets so you can beat the person in the cart with you, and that makes it really fun.”
Now let’s talk to the person who was in the same cart as Fern, who was Haley. Haley had a similar experience to what Fern had, but she felt that the game was a little over rated. “The wait was over two hours long, just so you could ride around in some cart for five minutes and shoot at things that were sometimes moving, and sometimes still” Haley said. “Not only that, but it was difficult to keep an aim for the targets, after a while your eyes start to hurt because of how much movement there is on and off the screen.” I would have to guess that Haley would like the mainstream rides that buckle you in and throw you down a steep hill just to get you to feel some kind of rush from it.
Next I talked to Steve, the big scary dad. Steve had a much different experience than that of Fern and Haley’s because his partner was someone that he had never even seen before. He told me that he was expected just to go by himself when all the ladies in his family decided to go with one another. But let me tell you, he was way off on that one! Steve was set up in a cart with a young boy, who couldn’t be older than seven. At first the little boy was afraid to go on the ride with this six foot three man like my dad Steve, and I wouldn’t blame him (haha). Steve told me that he didn’t feel like he shot as many targets as he would have if he knew the person in the cart with him, or at least if the person who he was going with wasn’t terrified of him. Maybe if the stranger who was put in there with him wasn’t so scared of him, he would have been more engaged in the game, wanting to get more shots and end with more points than the stranger. I think Steve would have even been more aggressive if he was with one of the members in his family! He is one of those guys who wants everyone to be happy, so he let the little guy in there with him win. . . by a long shot!
Emily is one competitive girl when it comes to games, sports and all that kind of stuff. I got the pleasure to be in the same cart as her. Emily wouldn’t go for the small point value targets. Nope, she would go for the huge ones that were really hard to hit. Emily told me that “it felt better to hit the big ones because they were more of a challenge and I know not that many people would have been able to hit them.” I on the other hand just hit as many small ones as I possibly could. I thought, in the long run that small ones will add up because I hit so many of them. Was I wrong or what!? Emily beat me by around 2,000 point just because she aimed more so for the large numbered targets, and I aimed for the smaller, but easier numbered targets.
After this mini interview with the Barrick family, I would definitely consider Toy Story Mania a type of game. Sure it might to live up to some expert’s theories of what makes up a great game, or any kind of game, but who says I can’t make up my own theory of what makes up a fantastic game? I think this ride that is a game, and a game that is a ride all at the same time has really helped me to make up a formula that is what makes up a game for me. That formula would be made up of: engagement, strategy, graphics, and being able to play it and get different out comes from it each time. Each of these elements are seen in Toy Story Mania, thus it is a game in my book. Each person based on who they were playing with and their relationship toward one another affected how engaged they were in the game. How badly they wanted to win was also affected, and how they reacted when they got more and more points as the game continued. The strategies used by each person can be varied each and every time this is played, or gone through. For example each time they are taken to a different screen to possibly play a different strategy. Seeing what is in a game can also make the difference in how it is portrayed. If you have to shoot a cute little baby lamb instead of a bad ugly person who wants to shoot you, that would not be a fun game for anyone who really has feelings for cute baby lambs. And lastly each time you go into Toy Story Mania, there is always a huge possibility that you will get a different score. In fact it would be rather difficult to get the same exact score over and over again. Each time there will be targets that you might shoot and not even know that you are going to hit them!
Toy Story Mania might be one of those things that some people won’t know how to classify as. I hope after this essay more and more people will think twice about how they are going to see games, or rides as games.

Week9

My final project is going to be based upon a game/ride that is found in Walt Disney World, and is known as Toy Story Mania. This is unlike any other kind of attraction that is at the theme park, it is a ride but a game at the same time. My paper is going to be focused on what makes a game a game, and what theorist have to say about what they think makes up a game. I am then going to talk about the ways I see all the components that make up a game. I will also have interviews with my family members who also went on the ride, and see how their experiences are similar or different from each other.

The US Military & Gaming

When I think of gaming, one of the first things that pops into my head is fighting, and violence. Unlike what "U.S. Military Recruits Children: 'Americans Army' Video Games Violates International Laws" by Michael B. Reagan says how the Army makes the games seem to be. The games that the Army uses show "when hit, bullet wounds resemble puffs of red smoke, and players can take up to four hits before being killed." This would make the player less aware, or afraid to get hit by a bullet. "History of Army gaming" by Carrie McLeroy on the other hand sees these games as "an important tool used by the Military to assist in training, analysis and mission readiness." The games have changed a whole lot since when they were first made, and this really has changed the ways that people see the Army. They are now helping to see that Army is more than just fighting and killing people, they show the not so obvious task of the solders "teamwork, coordination and decision-making training." Another article "Military Training Is Just a Game" goes more so with the ideas of Reagan. This article points out that in the Army's video game, "the enemy is defeated, but no blood is spilled, no bullet casings spent." How can they really expect these players to get the real feeling of the Army, if they wont see what they will be seeing if they join? "Wii All You Can Be? Why the Military Needs the Gaming Industry" by Glenn Derene says "the gaming industry is such a huge market." This is one reason why the Army is spending so much money on coming up with these video games, just to get more people to become interested and end up joining. The Army wants to keep up with all the newer things and if making these video games is one of their ways, then so be it. "Atomic Games' Tamte Defends Six Days' Relevance" by Leigh Alexander informs the readers about a video game that was recently put out, and how some people found it to be very controversial. The game was set up "for the world to experience the true stories of the people who fought in one of the world's largest urban battles of the past half-century" says Peter Tamte.


Overall, I think that the Army should have more realistic games, and not try to cover up how war really is. Sure they might be trying to get out other important things you need in war like cooperation, teamwork, and all that, but they also need to add in defense. Not just a defense that will allow a person to live when they are shot up to four times, but a defense of how to get away from being shot, and showing how it would really look if a bad thing were to happen to you. If Atomic Games had a game that was just to teach people about the ways of war that is going on today, then I think that is great. They will be learning about what is really happening in the world, all while they are having fun playing a video game. Video games are way different than what really meets the eye. Sometimes when I am playing some kind of math video game, and I'm doing really good sometimes I think "wow I should be a math teacher!" But could I really be a math teacher just because I am good at playing a game were you have to find cards that add up to eleven? I do not think so. There is so much more that goes into being a teacher than just being able to the math, you have to be able to show and explain it. This has to go along with how after playing the Army video game some people might be tricked into thinking that the Army is the right pick for them. These games give a false face to war and how being in the Army is. It really isn't just a game.

Cheats

When I start to play a game on Webkinz World or on my Facebook account, I just play the game and I have never even thought about cheats or anything to get along farther with. Even when I attempt to play some video games over at someone else's house it never crossed my mind that there were cheats out there that could help me do better in the game. Sure I have heard of them before, but I thought "come on now, who really uses those?" You can imagine my shock after reading Current Analysis and Future Research Agenda on "Gold Farming" by Richard Heeks. Heeks introduces the reader to the idea of Gold Farming being "the production of virtual goods and services for players of online games." Not only can they help the player of these games get more goods on hand, but they can also help them get further on in the game by going in and playing in place of them. There are several jobs that workers do that make this possible, and let me tell you, they make tons of money! Heeks tells us that workers make around $145.00 per month, and there are around 400,000 of these workers so all together they make around one point four billion dollars per year!

"World of development economics Warcraft" by Andrew Leonard goes along with Gold Farming article. Leonard tells us of how his son got a better feeling when he got ahead in game by another player just giving him goods he needed. His son "could have earned that gold himself by killing enemies or selling. . or he could have hooked up with a Gold Farmer." In "To Cheat or Not Cheat: Is That Even the Question?" this young boy peeked at his Christmas present, and got some negative feelings for doing so. He was not as happy for what he got because he already knew what it was going to be. If Leonard's son would have paid for someone to get him farther in the game he was playing he would not have been so proud or happy of doing so. This is just like how this young boy was not so happy because he knew what he was going to get.

"Cheaters: A Special Report" by the Game Reporter Staff tells us that Robert Bowling a Call Of Duty 4 manager thinks of cheating more as "glitching." This is anything in the game that allows other players to get ahead in an unfair manor. Like the author of "To Cheat or Not Cheat: Is That Even the Question?" brings up a good point of how rules make the game worth playing. What is the point of going out and just breaking all the rules to say you are the winner?

"The Jam, All Mod Cons" by Olli Sotamaa tells the reader that "the player becomes a fundamental feature of any game." So the ways the player picks to get around, get through obstacles, and solve problems really does play a big roll. Not only do they have the option to use cheats, they have the option of playing as a real non-cheating player. What's the enjoyment when you know you really cannot win a game unless you get a set of cheat notes along with it?

The last article we will look at for today is called "The Social Network Game Boom" written by Sande Chen. Chen tells us the thing we hear almost every day, that people are using the internet more and more these days. We are playing games on sites that are suppose to be for interacting with other people, sites such as Facebook and Myspace. With these we can play games with our friends, and the other people we have on our friends list. Chen says there are "forced invites" that these sites may make you send to your friends, so they are more like advertisements rather than just games online.

The way I see Gold Farming, is that it is such a waste of money, and cheats aren't doing you any good! Why would someone want to spend their hard earned money just for someone to help them do better in an online game? Sure Gold Farming might be a good thing in some places because there are a low number of jobs, but that makes me think who really has the money to spend on these online games and cheats. If I were to use Gold Farmers I would be scared that I would be robbed, or wake up one day to my credit card being blacked out. Most people feel much more self-worth if they reach something they have been working on for a long period of time. There are rules that help you get along in the game, and if you can't get past one level, will it really do any good to pay someone to get to onto a higher and much more difficult level? If you can't play a game on your own, then you really shouldn't be playing it!
Let's look at it this way: what if someone had a cheat for everything they did in life. They had cheats for driving, cheats for testing, cheats for cooking. . and so on. How would you feel if you were up all night studying for a test while another student was out at a party because they were going to use a cheat on the test in the morning? If people start playing with more and more cheats, I think they will expect other things in life to have cheats, or ways to get around the hard stuff.

Civics/Life and VG

When I think of educational video games, I think “oh my gosh this is going to be so boring! I bet I will fall asleep or something.” But after reading the article The Civic Potential of Video Games, my thoughts were a little changed. Joseph Kahne, Ellen Middaugh, and Chris Evans, the authors of this piece opened my eyes to how “low levels of youth civic engagement and by interest in the potential of video game play, an ubiquitous teen experience. . . can impact youth civic outcomes.” The statics they show to us prove that there are more teens going online to get information about politics when they are with the larger number of civic gaming experiences. There are several important topics they touch on such as the role of parents, youth, educators, game designers, and research that will better the games for civics in the future. If these games make the children, or teens more interested and involved with civics, causing them to do more research on them, then the American Democracy, circa 2000 will be pleasantly surprised. Henry Jenkins and David Thorburn, the authors of this writing were the ones to inform the readers that “fifty percent of internet users under the age of thirty said the Net had affected their vote.” These authors’s main purpose is to show the reader how important it really is to get information online about civics and who is it that you are really going to vote for.

Alan E. Rycroft has brought something new to the table when he writes in Virtual Public Spheres about how the internet really does inform and keep the younger adults in the loop about political issues. Most people are showing “multitasking behavior that illustrates the ease with which a variety of information and personal connections are available. . at anytime.” They can be text messaging while reading an article about some issue in the world, or talking on the phone while doing whatever else.

Brian Whitworth along with Rob Friedman in The Decline of Academic Performance, tells the reader in an unique way how things need to flow in a certain way to become good. Balance, openness, and community focus are a few that I found to be the most important in their writing. This goes hand in hand with what Why Game Studies Now by Dmitri Williams has to say. Studying games has much to do with “what’s happening outside of games, as it does with what’s happening outside of them.” Things need to change for them to become better, and change is just what we need to see in video games for the younger generation to get more into politics and what is going on in our county.

After all these readings I had to take a break and think to myself. Sure, making video games more informative for the younger people about civics and such sound like a good plan and there are some really interesting ways people would go about doing this, but something still feels weird about it to me. It all depends on how each game is constructed, or put together. People can get away with cheats and all sorts of ways to get around the hard things in a video game, so if a high school student got some kind of assignment from their civics teacher for a video game, there will always be a way for them to get out of some of the challenges the game tosses at them. This would not be an equal playing field for all the other kids in the classroom, and I do not think it is something that should be put into the classroom. Not only are there cheats and such, there are those kids who spend hours a day playing games, so they would have another advantaged from those who do not play. The ones who do not play game might have to go out and spend a ton of money getting the equipment that they need to just to finish their homework. Does this sound right to you? It sure does not sound right to me. If there were just game put out there on the market trying to educate the player on civics, I think there would be a small number of games that would be sold. Who really goes out to get a video game so they can learn more outside of the school that they already have to go to? These games sound like a really good plan to get the younger people to get with the system of civics, but I just do not understand how they would make it in the stores, or in the classrooms. A way I think would make it though would be if the people running for office were to post some sort of game onto their websites. These games should allow the person going onto the page to pick what kind of character they are depending on what kind of person they are. Some things they could choose from are how big their families are, where they live, what sort of income do they have, and so on. Depending on what kind of information they tell the game all changes the direction of the game, and would show them how the person running for office would address all the topics that would be most likely to come in contact with the voter. This game would be super cool to see in the future!

Race in VG!

Why I Didn't buy GTA: Chinatown Wars by Jaime Kuroiwa, points out that so many video games, and movies are all centered around the same kind of theme, or stereotype of certain races. Race and Video Games by Tanner tells us that the kind of stereotyping, or racism that we see in a video game all depends on what kind of video game it is. Video games racist, says study by Deborah Jones shows us that some video games "are more popular than movies" so the ways these video games stereotype races really does matter, because that is one big factor that teaches our children to act in a certain way. In Video Games the Bad Guys Come in All Shades of Stereotypes by Lynda Lin, informs the reader that "games speak to its audience interactively. . not like television and movies where stories are being told to you." Opinion: Resident Evil 5- How Does This Make You Feel, 'Partner'? by Tom Cross writes about how the setting of a video game can go much farther than that of what you would expect it to.
Some of these authors I really agree with, and some I am wondering what they are even talking about. When Cross states "West Africa is poor, dirty, and dangerous" and that being the main place the video game takes place, he thinks it is so wrong to do that. When I got to thinking about this, I just thought of how much Africa really does need help because most people there are extremely poor. Who knows, maybe after some got done playing this game they though "oh my, I should go help Africa" or "gosh I should give some money to help people who have to live life like that every day." If this is the affect that is going to be left on the player, then we need more games like that! Lin talks about how Asian characters are looked upon as the ones "who guzzle fortune cookies for power" and "prey on bathing girls, sometimes with chopsticks." I must say that these made me laugh. If we think about it, Asian people are the ones who do eat the most fortune cookies and use chopsticks, I do not see how this is a problem either. They are just using the everyday lives of a certain race to make a video game! Jones thinks that race is one of those things that are over looked when it comes to video games. Parungao was quoted in Jones' writing for saying "the games feature evil gangsters, all of them non-white." When I think of gangsters I get scared, and most of the time when you see a white gangster it is just plain funny! Let's face it, the white guys really aren't gangsters, but want to be gangsters, and maybe that is why they are not seen in these kinds of video games. Let's even take a look at some statistics given to us from the International Game Developers Association. The Game Developer Demographics Report shows us that eighty-three point three percent of players are white, two point zero percent are black, two point five percent are Hispanic/Latino, seven point five percent are Asian, and four point sever percent who picked another kind of background. Maybe we do not see as much stereotyping for the white due to the amount of white people who play video games. The game makers must think of who is most likely going to go out and buy the game they are trying to sell, and by these statistics the majority is going to be white males, around the age of thirty one. Maybe Jaime Kuroiwa has it down because he says "Chinatown Wars does not prove anything. It's just a game." Like he stated in his writing "I don't see it as a particularly new experience" because so many games are the same, with the same stereotypes. Sure some people might think race is a big problem in video games, but they are really just repeats of things we have already seen so many times before.

Gender Roles

Gender roles in video games are similar to others that we see almost every day of our lives. Take for example when the article from Wikipedia titled Feminist Theory when it states that roles of females in the film industry is for "women to function as objects of this gaze." Speaking about the "male gaze" that was mentioned earlier in the writing, the females are looked upon as something that is lower than what they should be look upon. This goes along with the essay Playing With Fire written by Gonzalo Frasca. In Frasca's piece, it is brought to our attention that females in video games are seen as less powerful than the males. When it is stated that Princess "Peach's superpowers are not physical. . . instead Peach fights with an unconventional weapon: her emotions." I found this to be interesting because so many males around today are so afraid to show how they really feel, or have any emotions at all besides "oh I'm such a cool and tough guy." The way I see it is that the powers of Princess Peach are much more useful and powerful than what Mario can do with his "shift sizing." Sure it does make female characters seem "emotionally unstable" but it all depends on the ways you look at how each power of hers works. I am not a video game player unlike so many other people around, but I think her ways of using her feelings to change what she does in the game does go along with some things that have to do with real life. The ways people react to things really does change the outcomes of what is going to happen next, and maybe this is what the makers of Super Princess Peach wanted to get across to the players. That it is okay to feel the ways you do, but in the end the ways you deal with them that will make or break the future.
When in chapter two of Got Game by John C. Beck and Mitchell Wade, the authors point out to us that "men are hulking muscle-bound members of elite tactical units while women are chesty volleyball players" being another stereotype that is seen other video games. In my mind this is not good at all. When video games let the player pick what they look like, or "try on thousands of different outfits, do their hair in different colors and styles, try on shoes" and such they are cause the player to feel like the game is real and make them want to be fake like the characters in the game. How can they Wade and Beck say that video games "are more and more a common ground for the sexes" when they clearly are not. They even point out how women and men have different preferences when it comes to what kind of games they like to play. Males tend to like games that are more focused on "speedy fingers and nerves of steel" while females "were more likely to favor more cerebral arcade, quiz, and puzzle games." I do not understand what they were saying about teenagers going on dates for video games. I am a teenager and I have never even hear of such a thing. What kind of video games would they have on these dates if girls and guys have such a different take on what kind of video games they like to play? Yes I am aware not every female like the "arcade, quiz, and puzzle games" and not all males like the "speedy fingers and nerves of steel " and that every person has different likes and dislikes, but come on now. Video games on a date would be about the worst date ever.
It does not come as a surprise to me that there are not more and more women playing video games. Not only do women have hundreds of magazines telling them that they have to be the perfect size, and perfect hair, and be sexy all at the same time, now video games are started to do that as well.

Grandmothers are cooler than trolls

This article was mostly about the author Gonzalo Frasca informing the reader of his dislike of fantasy centered video games. When The Sims came about he was looking forward to playing it because it had a more realistic kind of feeling. Babyz is another video game, or rather virtual human game that made more and more people get involved with what was really going on in the world. Frasca brings to our attention that some people were "concerned about the lack of handicapped virtual babyz" and others were worried about the "amount of time that people 'wasted' playing with virtual babies while real orphans were starving for affect." Something happens in The Sims that is not quite the way that neither Frasca, nor can I understand. The players in this game go out and do crazy things, such as "divorce a zillion different wives or husbands, modify variables such as age" and so on. These things are nothing like the things you can do in real life, and you can learn as much from them as you can from a fantasy game, because that is what it seems to be here. Not all humans are as "neat, outgoing, active, playful, and nice" as the characters in The Sims are. These characteristics are making the humans like robots, and not do anything like real people would do. Sure somethings in the game would make the characters be happy, but most of the time "it is hard to have fun unless you buy a lot of stuff." This is what a lot of people in our country seem to struggle with as well. If we could learn more from video games like Frasca would like us to about everyday life, just image how awesome everyone would be.

how do we study games?

How do we study games is a very broad, and out there kind of question, so instead of jumping head first into it, let's take a look at how we study other types of things. For example different kinds of writings. We have poems, short stories, plays, chapter books, fiction, non-fiction, choose your own kind of stories, and so on. Is how we read these all different? In some ways yes, but in other ways no. This is a lot similar in how we play video games. There are ones that give the player more room to do what they want without being timed, and there are other games that time you to put more pressure on you to do what they are demanding of you to do. Depending on how much space we are given to play these games, we play these games in different ways. Some of the video games that are played "insists on telling a story, regardless of how the player chooses to play the game"(181). I think these kind of games should be put out and studied in a different ways then the games that do not go on to tell the person playing it a story. There really is no way that we can have playing a computer game such as Spider Solitar, and playing a game with a real character and story in the same category. This also goes along with how fiction and non-fiction books are always separated at the local libraries. They are so different, and go for a whole different kind of audience.
Some things that we should study in video games are the uses of "texture, colour, and light"(3). As in chapter one we were informed that some people see video games more as some kind of art that will come to take a better affect of the people playing them. The usage of almost everything that have in each scene is sort of like a mini drawing, or painting but in the form of a video game. The way I see it, is that video games that are influenced by something that is already exists is not art at all. But on the other hand, if a video game was just thought up, and is unlike anything else that is out, then it is really art. Everyone sees art in a different light, and who knows, maybe all kinds of video games are a kind of art?
If we see video games as art, then they go way beyond just the ways the rules, different outcomes, value of the good or bad outcomes, the player investment to get the outcome that the wish to have, the attachment of the outcome from the player, and the negotiable consequences for real life, from what Jesper Juul defined as the six common features of a game on page six in Got Game. The art of the game would change how the player plays the game, and would make them do things that they would not have thought of doing if it were not for the art. For example if the treasure that the player was looking for was right in front of their nose, but they see a shinny nice looking sea to the far right with what it looks like to be even more treasure on the sand, they will go for the more treasure. It will influence what the player is going to do next, and the real outcome of what is going to happen after they let go of the treasure that they were going to go for, to go get what seems to be an even better prize.
If the art of the game is something like this, then that would be a big part of how we would study it. The player in this case would be mostly in control of his or her actions, and that would be in a different category than the ones that the player must stay on a path for the whole time they are playing if it were up to me.

Readings from week one . . Take two!

To add onto what I have already said on blogger on my earlier post about the readings from the first week of class I am now going to talk about how I feel about each of these topics. Got Game is one of the articles that I forget to mention in the blog that I posted before and it has a good point of how we should not stereotype the videogamers. Like it is stated in this article "game are incredibly complex computer programs that lead the brain to new combinations of cognitive tasks and demand new levels of processing power"(20). Here we can see how games can change how people act in and out of the game. The games that they are playing are leading them into being in control and pick the next needed move. Having people like this in charge of business things would be a good idea because of this. They would be able to come up with new and exciting ideas for business's to go about doing.
The piece by Zimmerman tells us the basic ways to go about making a good video game. The naughty terms he tells us that are needed are play, games, narrative, and interactivity. These things can be different for each and every person, so I do not think that there really is a way that we can tell someone how to make a videogame that will be successful.
Now onto what Montfort would like to get across to us is how to break down the ways of videogames. He had a whole lot to go over, and how each video game has potential to become great. I think however that he goes way overboard with everything he is telling us. Some videogames only go with a few of these topics, and that does not make them any worse of a game! Sure some of these topics would make a video game better, but there shouldn't be something to tell us how to have videogames.
In The Influence of Literature and Myth in Videogames by Douglass Perry informs us that videogames have come to us in a verity of ways. Some come from books, movies, even the Bible! I think this is something that does not go with the ideas that Perry told us. Having it based on something that already was common and known to everyone does not make it new or exciting to anyone. I found it interesting that I have never really seen how many video games are really out there that are based on a movie, until I went to the movie store, and saw with my own eyes. I would like to see videogames go into something that will surprise us, and intriguing the players.
The last article I will talk about here will be Once Upon A Time by William Vitka. Vitka here is trying to inform us of how far videogames will go in the future. Instead of having ten videogames with the same problems, or goals we will have new ones, that will not be the same as every other one on the wall. I think videogames do have a big future, and will be able to grow into something that will help people to make their own stories, or whatever in their own life.

Readings from first week.

The Influence of Literature and Myth in Videogames by Douglass C. Perry, talks mostly about how video games as we know them today are more than what meets the eye. Once Upon A Time by William Vitka informs us of the capability videogames can have for the future. The handouts that we got in class, one by Zimmerman and the other by Montfort are about the structure and make up of video games. Let's jump into how each of these goes along with the others.
The things that influence a lot of video games are books, and tales. I found it interesting how so many of the books that were popular got turned into movies, and then into video games! Like William Vitka said in his essay, each person is a storyteller, and "cannot help but tell stories." Videogames are a type of story, and the player is the one changes how things go in the story. Like Perry points out to us in his essay it will come down to what one has the best story, and what content that a player can get into.
Now off the breakup of how video games are made up, let's take a visit to Narrative, Interactivity, Play, and Games by Eric Zimmerman. Zimmerman points out to us that these three words that make up his title, also make up a video game. Starting with narrative- the videogame must move on or have certain "events" that take place. Next we have interactivity- basically when the player of the game does something there will be a response to it. Play is the next one the list, and it means to have "free space of movement within a more rigid structure." Lastly we have game- this is known to us as having one or more people playing going with the rules to face a problem that has a logical finish.
To put all four of these items together we see that the events that happen in a game will have an effect on what outcomes the play picks, and how they choose to do so while they have to free space in the game to do so. The game as a whole can be described as something that will be affected through the playing process due to the narrative and interacting, and how the player reacts to them all.
Now to go into Interactive Fiction by Nick Montfort who opens the door to how new media in interactive fiction. Montfort talks about story, game, storygame, puzzle, novel, world, literature, problem, riddle and machine all have in influence on how we understand this kind of fiction. Story has to do with the action and adventure that will go in the text. Game would have to do with how a player works toward a goal they set for themselves, and how they are going to get there. Storygame is when a story is better interpreted by images rather than just text. Puzzles get the reader or player to get more involved in what is going on, and help them to better get a sense of what is going on. Novel is just a way to see how long something is suppose to take you to get through on average. World is showing us the importance of a plot that keeps the story going. Literature is the output of text that makes something unreal seem to come alive. The problems are questions that come about to get a solution to something that is going on in the story. Riddles are things that must be solved in order for the story to move along, but they take much thought and understanding. Lastly machine refers to the rules of IF and how it can be viewed. Not only looking at the story or game of something try looking at it how literature and puzzles interact with each other.
As we see here we start with how video games are influenced today, and we move forward to how they should be influenced in the future, and how they should go about making these needed changes.

King of Kong

When we first started watching King of Kong in class I thought it was such a waste of time, and that it was something I could just go make fun of with my friends after class, but this was not the case. There really is more than meets the eye in this movie. It shows that if you work hard enough at something, you can do whatever you want.
Steve Wiebe started to play King Kong when he had more time on his hands. He worked and worked trying to get the highest score he could. When he did get his high score and it was refused, he did not give up! This is something that everyone should learn to do. He shows how much he believes in himself by wanting to face the ever so bold Billy Mitchell. When Mitchell didn't show up to play him several times, I think this made him feel much more pride in himself and what he is doing.
This whole story made me think of the time in my life when I first started out with volleyball. Somehow I managed to get on the varsity team my first year out, and I was super excited to be on the team and learn how to be a better volleyball player. The first day of practice after we were all warmed up and done with peppering, the coach wanted us to get into hitting lines. I had never really gone up for a hit before and it seemed like everyone else did it like it was second nature.
The first girl went up and she hit it into the net. This made me feel a lot better about how I would do. Now the second girl went up to hit, and she hit it over, but not so hard or anything. Now it was my turn. I was nervous and wanted to look good in front of all the older girls. I started my approach and bam! I totally messed it up. The coach made me look like a fool in front of all the other girls, but I knew I could do it after practicing it over and over.
I was determined to hit the ball over and place it just in the correct spot for my team to score. I practiced at our practice timing, with my mom in all the spare time she had, just about any moment I could I was practicing my hitting. Some of the older girls who always started off the games would make fun of how much I was doing it over and over again. This only made me want to be better so I could take over their spots as starting off the volleyball games. Just like how Steve would work harder and harder to beat Billy, and one thing that pushed him into it was because how Billy thought he was the best and how no one could ever beat him.
At our last game of the season I had my hits down! I was so comfortable in hitting, and I knew that I could place it in the best spots for the other team to let it drop. It was time for our coach to tell us the starting lineup. By my surprise I was on the list for starters. I could hear the older girls whisper amongst each other about how this "could not be happening" and that coach must have made "some kind of mistake."
I did not let their comments get to me, in fact it pushed me even more to do the best I could ever do! Just like Steve did not let the comments of Billy or his little spy get to him. Like I believe he said in the video that the crowed that Billy's buddy got around him when he got the blackout on King Kong, was that the crowed got him going, and basically got him more into the game.
Watching this video King of Kong has really opened my eyes to how video games can be more than just something to do after homework. They are games that help you be the best you can. If only everyone in this world could be as committed to something like Steve Wiebe was to getting a high score for King Kong, everyone would be working on something, and get a sense of accomplishment just like Steve in the end.