Class #6 pt. 3 Chapter 34

New Media Reader- Chapter 34- Introduction- VIDEO GAMES AND COMPUTER HOLDING POWER

• Sherry Turkle in 1980s- video games play social and psychological role, allowing people to act out persona they did not express in real life. She wrote the book The Second Self.
• Contrasting a game like Asteroids with a more complex computer games that engage players in a different way.
• People who don't like video games don't like computers in general because of generational disconnect
• Video games are prime example of new human relation with machines, and are key to understanding computer culture
• Video game differ from TV because video games are interactive. They are not simply "mindless", they require skill and thought and concentration.
• Video games not constricted by physical limitations, unlike pinball. This allows designer freedom.
• Arcade game has memory of high scores while pinball you start fresh every time.
• Case study of gamer Jarish. He is used to show how kids really invest in and care about video game stories. Also used as example of how interest in video games transfers to interest in computers and programming.
• Video games, as opposed to a passive Disney ride or pinball game, involves active participation.
• First video game invented in 1960 called Space War at MIT Pong invented by MIT grad who made video games accessible to a lot of people. But Space Invaders started video game culture.
• Newer games will allow greater personalities to emerge from video games, causing better human connection to the game
• Games in which player takes role of character (crossing the line between playing games and being in a movie)
• Will gamers of the future be users of someone else's program, or programmers themselves?
• Rule-driven video games require consistency, "everything is possible but nothing is arbitrary"
• Role playing games, dungeons and dragons, Adventure computer game
• To play video game, you enter an altered state to identify with what's on the screen. Video games require serious concentration, and can help people relax because they don't have to think about anything else. "meditation with macho"
• Video game could go on forever. They are potentially infinite.
• Case study Jimmy wants to play video gams to achieve "perfection" that he cannot achieve in his own life due to birth defect
• Computers make you feel bad about being imperfect
• Video games come with sense of urgency not provided in everyone's daily life. It's a pure test with consequences.
• Children who program their own games experience a second self.