https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HdYhe_lMP4rIZ_gp0i5GXQ_DBU6fgvG8IM84cqMQCYY/edit?usp=sharing
Author: SHAUN
Games, Play and Philosophy
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HdYhe_lMP4rIZ_gp0i5GXQ_DBU6fgvG8IM84cqMQCYY/edit?usp=sharing
everything about this is tentative, much is contained in a separate word file. but this is the project as it develops
Playpen
http://playpen.farbs.org/index.php?title=Main_Page
Playpen is an experimental “game” created by Farbs, in which each screen is an interactive landscape in which players can click to access another screen. However, each screen is user generated, and players create the links between worlds. Naturally, much of the game continues infantile humor and homages or parodies of other video games.
The game’s title Playpen may possible allude to a few key concepts of this game. The game is interactive, but each player only has the creation tools and their own imaginations to create worlds, similar to children playing pretend. Also, the graphics are purposefully crude, the game is on a grid in which players fill in the boxes in order to create low resolution images. Finally, the concept of a playpen invokes the idea of children in an arena from which they cannot interact outside of and are forced to interact with the members of their little world.
Rhetorical Analysis 11/6
This excerpt from What Video Games Have to Teach Us by James Paul Gee attempts to depict the idea of literacy in video games. Rhetorically, it engages the audience directly, assuming attitudes about the reader, sometimes based on reaction to earlier editions of the book. In particular, the piece is careful about using the jargon coined by the author, such as semiotics and design grammar, as it is claimed these terms caused confusion among past readers. Gee also stresses appreciation, which he believes can be achieved through learning about the internal design grammar. This level of critical thinking Gee sees as cohesive to learning and development, proving the value of video games.
Gee also explores the relationship between these semiotic domains and other semiotic domains, noting related forms as being precursors, such as roleplaying among children as a precursor to a video game. Gee wonders if video games can be a precursor to learning in an academic environment. Gee believes that the critical thinking reflected in the design of certain games teaches about important topics such as social relationships inside and out of a virtual environment, and even suggests that it may have a positive effect on social justice.
Annotated Bib
Learning to Play: Exploring the Future of Education with Video Games
Khine, Myint Swe. Learning to Play: Exploring the Future of Education with Video Games. P. Lang, 2011.
This book acts as a critical analysis of trends in educational gaming, while also informing the reader of examples that one might not already be aware of existing. It approaches the subject matter from various perspectives, exploring the latest innovations while looking toward the future. The articles notes the success of video games as a pedagogical tool in the military, while continuing to have a relatively low rate of use in grades K-12. The article also notes potential challenges, such as off-task behavior in students and overemphasis of technology, while praising the social nature of gaming. The author has also written other books on technology and learning, and very obviously takes his work very seriously.
https://books.google.com/books?id=FlC1w66WFIAC&printsec=frontcover&dq=video+game+education&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiR4PnSj6nXAhVKfiYKHdarAU4Q6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q=video%20game%20education&f=false
Super Mario Odyssey
Super Mario Odyssey is the latest installment of the long-running Super Mario series of games. The game has been well received, noting it’s adherence to classic Mario themes while breaking new ground for the series. In particular, the environments are more complex and featuring scenery not unlike New York City. This may have been a conscious choice, as the improved engine allowed by the improved hardware of the Nintendo Switch allows for more immersive environment with more moving parts. Interestingly, as one Polygon article notes, the gameplay does not very often “punish” the player. There are no lives that would result in a game over, and the player only loses a minimal amount of coins. This was an interesting choice, as one could imagine it being less satisfying to win when you never could fail. However, the article argues that the reward value is not lost with the addition of this no-punishment system. You very well may have to attempt a puzzle over and over, but you will not be too harshly punished for your failure, only set back slightly. The triumph is still there, but the player is not discouraged from play.
https://www.polygon.com/2017/10/30/16577534/super-mario-odyssey-moons-coins-reward
Annotated Bib 10/29/17
Anderson, Craig A, et al. “Supplemental Material for Violent Video Game Effects on Aggression, Empathy, and Prosocial Behavior in Eastern and Western Countries: A Meta-Analytic Review.” Psychological Bulletin, vol. 136, Mar. 2010, pp. 151–173., doi:10.1037/a0018251.supp.
This meta-study reconsiders the idea that exposure to violent video games makes one more prone to aggressive behavior. The analysis of the studies exposes a lack of cohesive information confirming this, and uses restrictive measures to identify the relevant information. The document also features a cross-cultural examination, which is missing from many other studies. This feature reveals slight differences in the effects of video games on the participants depending on factors such as age.
Narrative Therapy for Treating Video Game Addiction
Graham, Joseph M. “Narrative Therapy for Treating Video Game Addiction.” SpringerLink, International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 14 Dec. 2014, www.bing.com/cr?IG=90066C71A5D441F2BFBA954E1528228C&CID=263BE62205F86EE42C56ED0604FE6F82&rd=1&h=uKv8-uhk-K99oIn9EKVDBGGxDJfwC–DzlSOZDvCynM&v=1&r=https%3a%2f%2fwww.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov%2fnlmcatalog%3fterm%3d1557-1874%255BISSN%255D&p=DevEx,5063.1.
This article addresses video game addiction and treatment. It notes that video game addiction is defined similarly to gambling addiction, although emphasizes that certain skills translate online and offline. What is interesting is the emphasis the article puts on mental health professionals not to dismiss video games as having value. This is an interesting departure from the popular view that video games are time wasters, but this idea may be fading. The article suggests narrative therapy as a way to recover from video game addiction, which is a type of therapy in which the patient identifies their value and skills to help externalize the problem.
https://link-springer-com.proxy-wcupa.klnpa.org/article/10.1007%2Fs11469-014-9491-4#citeas
Final Draft
narrativeandgaming.wordpress.com
Topic Proposal
For my project I will be working with prompt number 4, “Games and Life.” I hope to prove the value video games for developing life skills, as well as the format’s unique approach to storytelling and the maturity of the narratives of many popular games. I will be referencing the various studies proving video games’ positive effect on critical thinking skills, and noting the mature writing and literary illusions of games such as Fallout 4 and Bioshock. While I expect to run into some trouble exploring the intricacies of such a relatively new format, by narrowing my focus I hope to produce a mature and extensive commentary.
https://sshelco-primo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=TN_proquest921600826&context=PC&vid=WCHESTER&lang=en_US&search_scope=default_scope&adaptor=primo_central_multiple_fe&tab=default_tab&query=any,contains,video%20games%20drugs&sortby=rank&facet=tlevel,include,peer_reviewed&mode=Basic&offset=0
Fallout 4, Bioshock
Super Columbine Massacre RPG!
Super Columbine Massacre RPG! is a role-playing game in which the user assumes the roles of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, the perpetrators of the 1999 Columbine school-shooting. The game understandably attracted significant controversy, but also opened dialogue regarding video games’ role as an artistic medium. The game not only mimics events of the massacre, but also formative moments in the lives of the perpetrators and the media’s perception of Dylan and Eric. The author aims to approach the subject with some serious sensibilities, but only through outrageous satire. The game ends with a press conference mimicking the media reaction to the massacre, depicting a society quick to find a scapegoat — Marilyn Manson, a lack of gun control, and of course, video games. The game itself is made for a both tech savvy and socially conscious audience — the creator seems to know what he’s doing by having Eric and Dylan fight characters from DOOM, which was another cause for the massacre in the eyes of some. The game was made using RPG Maker, a program that attempts to open the art of video game creation to a wider audience by allowing one to make a game with no programming skills.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Columbine_Massacre_RPG!
Weekly Rhetorical Analysis 2
Bully
Rockstar Games’ infamous private school simulator Bully was very controversial upon its unveiling and well past it’s release in 2006. Part of the confusion was from early developmental content that seemed to involve the player controlling a student who bullies fellow students, however this is not the plot of the finished product. Instead, the game involves a new student, Jimmy Hopkins, who aims to rise the ranks socially as well as unite the student population, who are terrorized by certain problem students.
The rhetoric of the early promotional material paired with the title is what gave rise to such controversy. However, the finished product also stirred emotions. The game explores violence amongst youth through a lens of humor and satire typical of a Rockstar game. The game also boldly gives the player the option of either kissing girls, boys, or both. The rhetoric of infamous activist/disbarred attorney Jack Thompson did not help either (Thompson referred to the game as a “Columbine simulator.”) Thus, the game was banned in places such as Brazil, despite its fairly mild content, especially compared to other, legal games. The game is an interesting case of how rhetoric can inaccurately warp public perception.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bully_(video_game)
Grand Theft Auto IV
Ruch, Adam W. “Grand Theft Auto IV.” Games and Culture, vol. 7, no. 5, 2012, pp. 331–348., doi:10.1177/1555412012454221.
This article accomplishes a few tasks. It briefly discusses the difficulty of defining a game, but mostly covers the environment found within Grand Theft Auto IV, the fictional Liberty City. Beyond this, the article attempts to define the blurred boundaries of Grand Theft Auto’s relationship with reality, satire, and modernism. The article references other forms of media and links them to the themes of Grand Theft Auto IV’s, such as relating the stream-of-consciousness writings of Virginia Woolf to Grand Theft Auto IV’s open-world gameplay. The article notes that “For Woolf and the other modernists, it is not the goal to tell better stories with better narratives, but to better capture the experience of life by escaping the concept of narrative entirely,” which is akin to the non-linear aspects of Grand Theft Auto.
http://journals.sagepub.com.proxy-wcupa.klnpa.org/doi/pdf/10.1177/1555412012454221
Rhetorical Analysis Week 1
In “What is Rhetoric?” the author is employing rhetorical strategies for functions beyond the obvious objective of defining rhetoric. In particular, the author attempts to establish her credibility as a member of the academic community, thereby strengthening her authority on the subject of rhetoric.
The author begins by noting the many varying definitions of rhetoric, but authors her own definition, “as a scholar of rhetoric.” While she does link to a Stanford webpage, which now redirects to the homepage, most of her argument stems from her own definition. This implies the authority held by the author on the subject of rhetoric.
Further, the author also replies to feedback, answering questions in definite terms, again implying her authority on the subject. In this instance, however, she interacts directly with her audience, breaking the barrier between author and audience, who she feels qualified to educate.
This article contains many large assertions, such as the definition of rhetoric and its most moral method of use. The very publishing of the article functions to establish the author’s credibility on the subject of rhetoric.
