Category: Project 1

1. Topic Proposal, containing a topic, a working thesis, and at least one primary (game object) and secondary source shared via the weekly blogs, no later than 1159 9/29 (5%) – YES
2. Presentation of topic proposal, in class 10/3 (5 %) – YES
3. Defense of topic proposal  in conference with me no later than 10/3 (5%) – YES
4. A draft project overview with a thesis and and no fewer than 200 words, shared on our weekly blogs no later than 10/6 (5%) – YES
5. Commenting on two other writing projects via the blogs, on or before 10/8 (5%); – YES
6. A draft conference with me, on or before 10/6 (5%) – YES
7. Another draft conference with me, showing a substantially finished draft of the project, on or before 10/13 (5%); – YES
8. A near-final draft, shared/linked from a post on our shared blog, on or before 10/13 (5%); – YES
9. A final round of commenting on two drafts, due on or before 10/14 (5%); – YES

https://docs.google.com/document/d/109d_7ujFstw263glfBYfgFr2kqLNNt5Ap1Jg59DFw6w

Topic Proposal, containing a topic, a working thesis, and at least one primary (game object) and secondary source shared via the weekly blogs, no later than 1159 9/29 (5%) – YES
Presentation of topic proposal, in class 10/3 (5 %) – YES
Defense of topic proposal in conference with me no later than 10/3 (5%) – YES
A draft project overview with a thesis and and no fewer than 200 words, shared on our weekly blogs no later than 10/6 (5%) – YES
Commenting on two other writing projects via the blogs, on or before 10/8 (5%);  – NO
A draft conference with me, on or before 10/6 (5%) – YES
Another draft conference with me, showing a substantially finished draft of the project, on or before 10/13 (5%); – YES
A near-final draft, shared/linked from a post on our shared blog, on or before 10/13 (5%); – YES
A final round of commenting on two drafts, due on or before 10/14 (5%) – NO

Project 1 found here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dzWlqUB0YaTBnyTlC8JFRqrDSnUdu7di02j73cY0iWo/edit

Project 1 process checklist:
Topic Proposal, containing a topic, a working thesis, and at least one primary (game object) and secondary source shared via the weekly blogs, no later than 1159 9/29 (5%) – YES
Presentation of topic proposal, in class 10/3 (5 %) – YES
Defense of topic proposal in conference with me no later than 10/3 (5%) – YES
A draft project overview with a thesis and and no fewer than 200 words, shared on our weekly blogs no later than 10/6 (5%) – YES
Commenting on two other writing projects via the blogs, on or before 10/8 (5%); – YES
A draft conference with me, on or before 10/6 (5%) – YES
Another draft conference with me, showing a substantially finished draft of the project, on or before 10/13 (5%); – YES
A near-final draft, shared/linked from a post on our shared blog, on or before 10/13 (5%); – YES
A final round of commenting on two drafts, due on or before 10/14 (5%); – NO?

1. Topic Proposal, containing a topic, a working thesis, and at least one primary (game object) and secondary source shared via the weekly blogs, no later than 1159 9/29 (5%) YES
2. Presentation of topic proposal, in class 10/3 (5 %) YES
3. Defense of topic proposal  in conference with me no later than 10/3 (5%) YES
4. A draft project overview with a thesis and and no fewer than 200 words, shared on our weekly blogs no later than 10/6 (5%) YES
5. Commenting on two other writing projects via the blogs, on or before 10/8 (5%) YES
6. A draft conference with me, on or before 10/6 (5%) YES
7. Another draft conference with me, showing a substantially finished draft of the project, on or before 10/13 (5%) YES
8. A near-final draft, shared/linked from a post on our shared blog, on or before 10/13 (5%) YES
9. A final round of commenting on two drafts, due on or before 10/14 (5%) YES
10. The quality of the finished project, due on 10/16 (55%) YES

Final found here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bIYVdnPLafhTgNY3-N7rC0dcs0MTNyQEIPUJWiQacxA/edit?usp=sharing

1. Topic Proposal, containing a topic, a working thesis, and at least one primary (game object) and secondary source shared via the weekly blogs, no later than 1159 9/29 (5%) YES
2. Presentation of topic proposal, in class 10/3 (5 %) YES
3. Defense of topic proposal  in conference with me no later than 10/3 (5%)YES
4. A draft project overview with a thesis and and no fewer than 200 words, shared on our weekly blogs no later than 10/6 (5%) YES
5. Commenting on two other writing projects via the blogs, on or before 10/8 (5%); YES
6. A draft conference with me, on or before 10/6 (5%) YES
7. Another draft conference with me, showing a substantially finished draft of the project, on or before 10/13 (5%); YES
8. A near-final draft, shared/linked from a post on our shared blog, on or before 10/13 (5%); YES
9. A final round of commenting on two drafts, due on or before 10/14 (5%); YES

Front Page

Insert Coin

1. Topic Proposal, containing a topic, a working thesis, and at least one primary (game object) and secondary source shared via the weekly blogs, no later than 1159 9/29 (5%)
2. Presentation of topic proposal, in class 10/3 (5 %)
3. Defense of topic proposal  in conference with me no later than 10/3 (5%)
4. A draft project overview with a thesis and and no fewer than 200 words, shared on our weekly blogs no later than 10/6 (5%)
5. Commenting on two other writing projects via the blogs, on or before 10/8 (5%);
6. A draft conference with me, on or before 10/6 (5%)
7. Another draft conference with me, showing a substantially finished draft of the project, on or before 10/13 (5%);
8. A near-final draft, shared/linked from a post on our shared blog, on or before 10/13 (2.5%)  (it was a near-near-final draft)
9. A final round of commenting on two drafts, due on or before 10/14 (5%)

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dzWlqUB0YaTBnyTlC8JFRqrDSnUdu7di02j73cY0iWo/edit

Final found here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bIYVdnPLafhTgNY3-N7rC0dcs0MTNyQEIPUJWiQacxA/edit?usp=sharing

 

personalityandplay.wordpress.com

Interactive Fiction As Games

Here is the final draft of my website: Gaming, Literacy, and Dominance.

Process Points:

1. Topic Proposal, containing a topic, a working thesis, and at least one primary (game object) and secondary source shared via the weekly blogs, no later than 1159 9/29 (5%) YES
2. Presentation of topic proposal, in class 10/3 (5 %) YES
3. Defense of topic proposal in conference with me no later than 10/3 (5%) YES
4. A draft project overview with a thesis and and no fewer than 200 words, shared on our weekly blogs no later than 10/6 (5%) YES
5. Commenting on two other writing projects via the blogs, on or before 10/8 (5%); YES (commented on Elliot and Domenico’s projects)
6. A draft conference with me, on or before 10/6 (5%) YES
7. Another draft conference with me, showing a substantially finished draft of the project, on or before 10/13 (5%); YES
8. A near-final draft, shared/linked from a post on our shared blog, on or before 10/13 (5%); YES
9. A final round of commenting on two drafts, due on or before 10/14 (5%); YES (commented on James & Alexa’s projects)

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DuYZ3bUHQMDHLB_7_aAlJfelBR0L721epMMscILD7DY/edit

 

Play and Life

1. Topic Proposal, containing a topic, a working thesis, and at least one primary (game object) and secondary source shared via the weekly blogs, no later than 1159 9/29 (5%) – 5%
2. Presentation of topic proposal, in class 10/3 (5 %) – 5%
3. Defense of topic proposal  in conference with me no later than 10/3 (5%) – 5%
4. A draft project overview with a thesis and and no fewer than 200 words, shared on our weekly blogs no later than 10/6 (5%) – 5%
5. Commenting on two other writing projects via the blogs, on or before 10/8 (5%); – 5%
6. A draft conference with me, on or before 10/6 (5%) – 5%
7. Another draft conference with me, showing a substantially finished draft of the project, on or before 10/13 (5%); – 5%
8. A near-final draft, shared/linked from a post on our shared blog, on or before 10/13 (5%); – 5%
9. A final round of commenting on two drafts, due on or before 10/14 (5%); – 5%

Since its inception in 1999, the NBA 2K gaming franchise has grown to be one of the highest selling sports games in the world. With millions of copies being bought every year with the annual release, NBA 2K has evolved from the simple competitive play of battling it out on the hardwood against your friends, to being able to play online against someone on the other side of the world in real life time. One of the most distinct feature which has risen to prominence in the 2K gaming franchise, would be the addition of the career mode, which gives the player of the video game the ability to create their own avatar and follow the path to become an NBA legend. With this distinct feature, comes a unique situation that can be examined when looking at a type of play that allows a player to make an avatar that looks like how the player conceives them selves, acts and/or plays like how they may play the real-life version of basketball, and enter into a computer generated game which follows along a fictionalized storyline inside the constructs of the NBA lifestyle and basketball gaming aspects such as practicing and playing in a NBA game against the digitalized versions of real-life NBA stars. What I look to examine, would be this type of play I’ve described and how the player of this type of play interacts with their avatar, making them better in certain basketball attributes and/or customizing them to how they would see them selves if they were in the role of an NBA star and how these two types of style of play differentiate from one another in a rhetorical standpoint.

When first starting the game, the user is asked to design an avatar of there own and customize the looks of their basketball player within the realm of options of height, weight, skin tone and physique. The player may also go through the steps of changing how the face looks by sculpting different aspects of facial features such as the cheek, nose, ears, eyes, and mold them how the user sees fit to them. Then, the user is able to choose from different styles of hair and facial hair along with different colors for the hair choices. The user is able to then pick and choose different accessories and clothing items for their avatar to wear during gameplay on the court and within the realm of the story mode. Though the basis of the customization is required when beginning the game and the story mode, many players can be found within the realm of the online story mode that have gone beyond the basics of the clothing and accessories you begin with and bought, using the NBA 2K currency, clothing and accessories that further customize the look of the avatar. When examine this aspect of the game, it becomes evident that though not all users customize a close to life like representation of them selves with their avatar, many decisions regarding customization are made on the personal connection between user and avatar that result on the user gaining a positive feeling from the ability to make a character that represents ones self.

In the same aspect of spending virtual cash to purchase the aesthetics of the users personalized avatar, the players of the game may use the same currency to boost the actual basketball playing aspects of the character. When looking at this side of the myCareer mode of the game, the player is first started off with several options that lay the ground work to the particular playing style of your avatar and how they will exceed in the actual gaming aspect of the game; whether that be either following the story mode or playing online with fellow users of the game in a street ball style of play, the user can explore different options of playing styles at the traditional basketball positions and/or cross the boundaries of the various hybrids of positions that can be seen in todays NBA players. When progressing through the various game modes, the user will accumulate the currency that 2K gives to its users and can use it for a variety of measures. With regards to the use of this currency to the ability to better the users avatar in the basketball skills aspect, the user may pick and choose what skills they feel are needed to be improved on to raise their character to the status of all-time great.

Having worlds of computer problems today, so my site is currently a mess. Fingers crossed that I can figure this crap out so I’m not scrambling for Monday.

 

personalityandplay.wordpress.com

I remember my first console: Playstation 2. I remember my first favorite game: Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus. I remember the first game that I ever played online with friends: Call of Duty: World at War. I also remember the first Xbox controller I broke from throwing it on the ground in rage. I was quickly lectured by my very angry father but I can wholeheartedly say that I have learned from my situation and never broken a controller since. Besides learning the value of a $60 controller, from all of my gaming experience I have learned so much from playing video games contrary to my father’s belief.

Games have taught me cognitive skills ever since I could hold a controller. I’ve learned about problem-solving, spatial awareness, and motivation more from playing games like Sly Cooper for an hour than playing baseball for a decade. I still learn new things from games now. It may seem like I’m just playing a game but after reflecting on the gameplay I had just experienced, games are much deeper than I perceive. Games like Assassin’s Creed have taught me about history and culture, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice has taught me about mental illness, and games like Minecraft have taught me about creativity. With the new advancements in the video game world, games should be as complex as their operating systems and most of the time, they are.

 

“Using sources from class, talk about what makes a game then transition into my game analyses.”

 

The game franchise that has since blown up continually teaches players about history and culture in a way that any high school history teacher cannot. Assassin’s Creed follows the Assassin Brotherhood as it evolves through different eras and locations. The first installment followed the third Crusade in Jerusalem, the second followed the Renaissance in Italy, the third followed the colonization of America, and so on and so on. The best thing about this franchise is the way it follows history and also creates their own history. This teaches the player about the history revolving around the setting of the game while also creating a quasi-fictional world and story to draw the player in. Kurt Squire quotes a fellow writer Loewen in his book, Video Games and Learning: Teaching and Participatory Culture in the Digital Age, “Loewen begins his book “Lies My Teacher Told Me with ‘High school students hate history. When they list their favorite subjects, history invariably comes in last….Bor-r-ring is the adjective they commonly apply to it’(p.12)” (111). History lessons need a reboot and I can entirely relate with these surveyed children.

History has always helped put into a good mid-school nap. But once I came across the wonders of Assassin’s Creed II, I fell into a historical hole regarding Leonardo Da Vinci. Your source of technological and weapon advancements in the game revolves around Leonardo Da Vinci. Ask any person about Good ol’ Leo and they’ll immediately respond with something about his paintings. Leo’s character in AC2 doesn’t even reference his paintings because, what many people do not know about him is that he was also a master inventor. Leo actually sketched what is believed to be the first helicopter, he invented the parachute, and he invented the giant crossbow. All of this learning was inspired from my first mission where I meet Leo and he crafts my hidden assassin blade, something a boring, hour-long history lecture couldn’t have done for me.

Kurt Squire also writes about using Civilization 3 as a teaching outlet for kids. He found the children learned about the resources or certain advances of the respective regions in Civ3 without knowing it and then Squire and the teachers capitalized on those lessons by furthering their new-found knowledge. One kid said, “Location is important. Playing in America was easier”. To which Squire explained the player acknowledged the importance of scientific discovery  and how America’s role in scientific discoveries helped their play in the game. Other players liked playing in Egypt because of their surplus of gold where the teachers then taught the players about the importance of the Nile River and the Egyptian and their reliance on gold. When reflecting on his tests, Squire explains, “We tried many teaching approaches, but found the most success when teaching and learning activities were in direct response to game play challenges” (138). So when these teachers combined a lesson with the game, it helped solidify all of the information those children learned through playing this video game.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DuYZ3bUHQMDHLB_7_aAlJfelBR0L721epMMscILD7DY/edit

Click here to go to my WordPress website.

 

Games and Life

 

https://rhetoricofgaming.digitalwcu.org/customizingidentity/

 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dzWlqUB0YaTBnyTlC8JFRqrDSnUdu7di02j73cY0iWo/edit

I remember my first console: Playstation 2. I remember my first favorite game: Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus. I remember the first game that I ever played online with my friends: Call of Duty: World at War. I also remember the first Xbox controller I broke from throwing it on the ground in rage. I was quickly lectured by my very angry father but I can wholeheartedly say that I have learned from my situation and never broken a controller since. Besides learning the value of a $60 controller, from all of my gaming experience I have learned so much from playing video games contrary to my father’s belief.

Games have taught me cognitive skills ever since I could hold a controller. I’ve learned about problem-solving, spatial awareness, and motivation more from playing games like Sly Cooper for an hour than playing baseball for a decade. I still learn new things from games now. It may seem like I’m just playing a game but after reflecting on the gameplay I had just experienced, games are much deeper than I perceive. Games like Assassin’s Creed have taught me about history and culture, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice has taught me about mental illness, and games like Minecraft have taught me about creativity. With the new advancements in the video game world, games should be as complex as their operating systems and most of the time, they are.

When it comes to analyzing the rhetoric of games, one must go beyond the visual and auditory. As Bogost points out, the imagined systems the player inhabits are explored procedurally “by imposing sets of rules that create particular possibility spaces for play”. In a sense, the freedom of play is defined and facilitated by the rules and restrictions that create the play space.

Ostensibly, each of the original Metroid titles tell the same story. Bounty hunter Samus Aran is contracted by the Galactic Federation to investigate an alien threat. Isolated in an alien world, she fights for survival as she explores endless interconnected labyrinths. Obviously, these are not the same games, but why? The answer, as I will explore, comes from how the game allows the player to play. Though each of the games looks nearly identical–even the 8-bit NES version draws from the same inspiration—and the formula untouched, each game feels different.

Horror is a tone aspired for in each title, but the way it is conveyed varies. In Understanding Video Games as Emotional Experiences, Aki Jarvinen Identifies the ways in which game systems ellicit emotions from the player. This is in part because the outcome of play is unknown to the player, creating tension. For Super Metroid, this tension comes largely from exploring unknown territory. With no direction, the player must make their way through the game on their own. This sense of being lost creates feelings of isolation and confusion. Fusion is much more linear though. The level design is much easier to navigate and your progress is facilitated by waypoints on the map and a narrative largely told to you by a computer that briefs you on your missions. This “on rails” gameplay removes the suspense created from getting lost in exploration, but allows for new emotions to be elicited. As stated earlier, the parameters of a play space define the experience of playing.

Proposal: I propose that the advent of ubiquitous (pervasive) play goes hand in hand with transmedial discourses, as both have real world distinctions. Though ubiquitous gaming is still continuously being defined, it harbors a blurred line between created reality and actuality, often incorporating a mix of both to sufficiently and mimetically create the most interactive game possible. However, this hybrid play has fueled modern escapism, and the potentially undefined boundaries this genre could parallel the likes of recent sci-fi horror (I, Robot, The Terminator series, Ex Machina, etc). Though real world consequences might not currently be so exaggerated, the lack of cemented lines has already influenced contemporary society, and therein a game becomes reality. The network that this dual united front creates eradicates the tacit understanding of play being a gateway leading to an anti-ordinary life, and therefore creates a paradox between the codes of play, and the necessity of reality. Using examples of well known transmedial and ubiquitous games, I will investigate this ongoing complexity and its potential consequences.

Overview: This investigation will involve free roaming games such as Pokemon Go, along with inter-medial texts such as the Hive Propolis Transmedia Project, to goal oriented traveling interactions such as Geocaching. The break between the ‘false’ and the ‘real’ with be the main focus of this piece, with not just the potential consequences of each discourse being highlighted, but also the role that the player themselves take within said gameplays. When a concrete divisions is purposely muddled, how do said blurred lines exist both negatively and positively. Contemporary peer reviews and academic papers alike both feature aspects of ubiquitous play that add to the ever growing influence this game culture is amassing. Therein, transmedia acts as a tool, one that allows ubiquitous play’s effect to be further heightened. However, this hyper mimetic atmosphere could create a sense of lost self within the universally given avatar construct; when one is their own chess piece, how does that impact the player and the gameplay. Are these games and cultures the future of digestible media? What will even be considered a game in the future? How will media alter, and the digestion and creation thereof evolve alongside? How will this two constructs connect- will they one day be irrevocably intertwined?  

Thesis: The culture surrounding video games has been heavily altered and continues to evolve with the inter-connectivity of transmedial discourses and ubiquitous play. Along with the boundaries of what play even is, I will further discuss the role the player themselves enacts within said gameplay. The thin membrane between the virtual and the non-fictitious is ever thinning, and this membrane continues to be punctured via cross referencing literature that adds to the mimetic aspect of modern games. Along with the loss of a singularly anomalous avatar, how do the constructs of gaming currently exists and influence.  

 

Since its inception in 1999, the NBA 2K gaming franchise has grown to be one of the highest selling sports games in the world. With millions of copies being bought every year with the annual release, NBA 2K has evolved from the simple competitive play of battling it out on the hardwood against your friends, to being able to play online against someone on the other side of the world in real life time. One of the most distinct feature which has risen to prominence in the 2K gaming franchise, would be the addition of the career mode, which gives the player of the video game the ability to create their own avatar and follow the path to become an NBA legend. With this distinct feature, comes a unique situation that can be examined when looking at a type of play that allows a player to make an avatar that looks like how the player conceives them selves, acts and/or plays like how they may play the real-life version of basketball, and enter into a computer generated game which follows along a fictionalized storyline inside the constructs of the NBA lifestyle and basketball gaming aspects such as practicing and playing in a NBA game against the digitalized versions of real-life NBA stars. What I look to examine, would be this type of play I’ve described and how the player of this type of play interacts with their avatar, making them better in certain basketball attributes and/or customizing them to how they would see them selves if they were in the role of an NBA star and how these two types of style of play differentiate from one another in a rhetorical standpoint.

http://alexafurcon.digitalwcu.org/ENG400/

The three games I plan on examining are The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines, and Fallout 3. I plan to explore immersion using a game’s playing on a player’s sense of morality (using Vampire and Fallout), the engagement of the player with the story (using Vampire), and with the player’s engagement with the world-space (using Vampire and Skyrim). The main aspect’s I’ll be looking at with each of these topics is believability (https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/4e2b/c7e3730273f8ef669aaea57a0e590a1957d7.pdf#page=96 deals with all three games I’ve listed) and level of player interaction (ie, how much control does the player have over their own actions? How much does their actions affect the world? Is the player given a solid reason to care about the world?). I’m planning on creating a webspace on wordpress and using gameplay videos (either of my own making or else taken from the internet) to augment and expand upon my points. I also should be able to provide plenty of screenshots of my own.

Thesis: Through an immersive play-space driven by story, world, and sense of morality, video games can engage the player to the point where they mentally transfer consciousness from the real world tot heir character in the game space, creating an escape from the present reality to another one.

I intend to explore the idea that video games provide an outlet for each player to construct, observe, and alter versions or reflections of their own self/subjectivity/ego through the realization of their in-game avatar.  This realization includes character creation/customization (designing the avatar), in-game choices/decisions, prioritized activity, speech (personality, style, dialect, etc.), internal dialogue over imaginative processes, performance of player-type characteristics, and so much more.  Simultaneously, and arguably inevitably, I will also examine how players construct and critique the subjectivity and identity of other players by encountering their avatars in the game, so that all players are intersubjectively perceiving representations of each other through their interactions.  I expect to use mostly role-playing video games (especially online ones) in my endeavors with this project.  One game that I’ll use is RuneScape, an MMORPG (fully online).  Another game that I’ll use is Dark Souls (both single player and online).  And, finally, I’ll use Oblivion (TES IV) as my single-player example.  In the realm of theory that I’ll use to back my assertions, I plan on using Jean-Paul Sartre’s Being and Nothingness for its utility in the field of subjectivity/intersubjectivity as it relates to meaning-making, essence-placing, etc.  This should provide the rudimentary basis for my arguments, but I will expand on this with “Player Commitment to MMORPGs: An Integrated Model” by Junghoon et al, other scholarly, peer-reviewed articles within a similar vein, and (why, yes, of course) my own original thoughts.

For this project, I will argue how different personality types influence different aspects of gaming and the types of interactions and fulfillment that individuals look for when they choose to play games. The main personality type test that these arguments will be based on is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, which splits people into 16 different types of personalities. These personalities are based on introversion or extroversion (I/E), sensory or intuitive (S/N), thinking or perceptive (T/P) and perceptive or judgmental (P/J).

After focusing on the different things that each personality type looks for in a game–board game and video game–then I’m going to shift focus to how different personality types may play a similar game. Specifically I’ll be looking at how different personality types may be apt to play role playing games and sandbox games, in this case Skyrim, Dungeons and Dragons and Grand Theft Auto. In order to better explain the decisions that different personalities make in these games, there will be an incorporation of scholastic texts and articles in order to better understand different rhetorical appeals and understandings of definitions of play. By defining what play is, or could be, one will better be able to see what ways an individual seeks out games that invite and encourage their definition of play.

Thesis: While different games obviously have appeals to different people, the following that games gain is based on how they appeal and are able to appeal to varying personality types. These different appeals manifest through differing definitions of play which are directly related to the personality type of an individual. 

For my project, I will be using prompt #2 to discuss the relationship of play and player when looking at popular sporting video games, and the game modes that involve a creation of a personal player and the playing of that player in game modes that have you build your character to become a hall of fame caliber player. Though in the game modes, one will usually tend to creat players that look at even play the sport like they feel they play as, I would like to point out that the overall goal of the player of the video game would be to construct the greatest version of them selves and creating a more than ideal version of a life they create in the game. I will be looking mostly at the NBA 2K franchise, as well as the Madden games.

Since the introduction of digital gaming in 1958, video games have expanded the space of play, forging a strong relationship between physical and digital worlds. With the increasing dependence on technology as a whole, it certainly follows that we can now look to technological spaces for personal development and growth. Theoretically, the mental aspects of play-through-gaming can develop the mind in ways that traditional learning spaces cannot, because players have to, for example, learn to think quickly and critically in short periods of time in order to complete a certain task. However, “games are [also] an active medium that requires constant physical input by the player: action, doing, pressing buttons, controlling, and so on” (Galloway 83). Therefore, this combination of mental and physical engagement creates a foundation for growth in many different types of literacies. Games teach us visual, critical, technological, and linguistic literacies that further help us to develop not only how we play games, but how we enjoy play. Furthermore, Jonathan Alexander makes a brief suggestion in his article that people may not necessarily be addicted to the video games, but to play itself (36). Although the word addiction may be a bit ambitious, Alexander is getting to a valid point. The literacies learned from games help the player to enjoy play more because they are actively understanding both the technological, linguistic, and visual spaces within the game, which then gives them governance within the game. These literacies can also certainly carry over into the real-world, providing players with advantages in school, career, and relationships. Furthermore, the more technologically literate an individual is, the better equipped they are at operating within our technologically dependent society.

Thesis: Therefore, it is the literacy-aspects learned through game play that breed competence, allowing the player to expand understanding of technology, mature linguistic practices, and garner critical skills which allows for success not only within the game but within the real world as well. This gives meaning to play while fulfilling one of the most important psychological aspects of play: dominance.

For my first project, I want to focus on literacy and gaming. There are a lot of resources that suggest that gaming promotes a variety of different literacies, which is an important component of gaming that is most often defended by those who encourage gaming as a tool for learning outside of the classroom. I want to look deeper into the types of literacies that games promote; not just reading and understanding texts but using them as tools/guidelines for understanding play and manipulating the landscape/storyline of the game itself. Games teach us visual, critical, technological, and digital literacies that further help us develop not only how we play games, but how we enjoy play. Furthermore, Jonathan Alexander makes a brief suggestion that people may not necessarily be addicted to the games, but to play itself (“Gaming, Student Literacies…” 36). The literacies learned from games help the player to enjoy play more because they are understanding both the technical and linguistic aspects of the game which gives them dominance within the game. But, also, these literacies can certainly carry over into the real-world, and give players an upper-hand in school, career, relationships, and life in general. If gamers are reading and understanding texts outside of their normal linguistic spaces while applying this understanding to the game, and, at the same time, developing critical thinking skills which help them to succeed and achieve goals, these literacies will undoubtedly fulfill a type of self-realization and power.

Therefore, I want to argue that it is the literacy-aspects learned through game play that yield addiction to play, because these literacies allow the player to expand understanding, gain knowledge, and ultimately succeed not only in the game but in the real world as well. This gives the play meaning and fulfills the player’s desire for dominance (psychological aspect of play), while also giving them real-world skills which may enhance their lives.

Primary Sources

Murray, Janet H. Hamlet on the holodeck: The future of narrative in cyberspace. MIT press, 2017.

Gee, James Paul. What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy. Macmillan, 2014.

Secondary Source

Alexander, Jonathan. “Gaming, Student Literacies, and the Composition Classroom: Some Possibilities for Transformation.” College Composition and Communication, vol. 61, no. 1, 2009, pp. 35–63. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40593514.

Potential Games

DDR

Nancy Drew (PC game)

For Project 1, I plan to explore how games provide a significant space for the self’s interaction with itself. Specifically I want to explore the role of ignorance and knowledge in the area of play, and how knowing more or less about how to play a game influences the enjoyability of the player. The philosophical question thus posed by this is when is ignorance bliss, and when is it not? This question can be answered not only by gamers, but also by politicians and films, which will be used as reference points and analogies. I also want to find/conduct surveys in order to provide statistical analysis for the hypothesis as well.

Thesis: It may seem that one’s ability to enjoy an interaction with a game is based on how a game relates to one’s preferences in game style and design. However, it is actually related to one’s level of ignorance in regards to the game, as well as their personality type and emotional desires.

 

Primary text:

Myers, Steve. “Myers‐Briggs Typology and Jungian Individuation.” Journal of Analytical Psychology, vol. 61, no. 3, 2016, pp. 289–308. Print.

Secondary text:

Sitzmann, Traci, and Stefanie K. Johnson. “When Is Ignorance Bliss? The Effects of Inaccurate Self-Assessments of Knowledge on Learning and Attrition.”Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 2011, pp. 192-207. Digital.