Timo Sutton

Marshall McLuhan's essay, "Games - The Extensions of Man" attempts to show the reader, through a series of examples, that games are much more than a past-time for youth. McLuhan theorizes that games are an integral part of society, in that they are a "collective, social reaction to the main drive or action of any culture". It is through games that a society presents its ideals, its social structure, and it philosophies.

McLuhan relates games to art. He does not say that games are a form of art; rather he presents the idea that games are the epitome of artistic expression. Societies follow games in a way that they do not when it comes to literature, cinema, and art because games are interactive. The outcome is not determined ahead of time. Rather, it is decided by the skill levels of those playing. The audience (and the players) feel involved in the "story" of the game in a way they cannot with any other media. A good example could be the fan who screams him/herself hoarse cheering his/her team on while watching them on television. McLuhan also uses the television game show scandal of the late 1950's to further his point. The public reaction to the discovery that many of these quiz shows were rigged was as big as any political scandal. The directors and producers were charged as con men for baiting the viewing public.

In its games, society reflects itself. Hence the bond between player and audience. McLuhan illustrates this by comparing baseball with the Mechanical Age and football to the Electric Age. The Mechanical Age is marked by the Industrial Revolution, where workers were assigned specific roles within a system. The worker did not deviate from the assigned role and only acted when his/her duty was called upon. The American public easily identified with baseball, certainly one of the slower popular sports today. The modern day world however, has pushed into the Electric Age. And with it has come a new set of ideals and beliefs. While a social hierarchy is still very much in place, the roles within those social levels has changed. Football, with its interchanging roles and constant state of flux, embodies this age in a way that baseball never could. McLuhan says that: "Perhaps there is, just for this reason, a desperate need for games in a highly specialized industrial culture, since they are the only form of art accessible to many minds." In other words, society uses games to re-enforce the structure of itself within the minds of its people. Games are accessible to all social levels, so they are the most logical tool to use.

The game is the only form of art where we expect the ending to not be predetermined. Much like our own lives, we do not want to think that someone is controlling us. Our desire for "freedom" is reflected in the response of a public outraged at being duped over a game. Our society wants it life to be unscripted and its future to be determined by no one else.

Your mother always told you not to sit too close to the tv because it would ruin your eyes. Personally, I think I had to get glasses because both of my parents had poor vision. We've been given nuggets of wisdom like this our whole lives. Very little is based on any fact, but that doesn't stop them from being spread. Another popular "theory" is that video games will rot your brain, rob you of your imagination, and turn your children into socially inept lumps who fear the outside world.

But a new study suggest that playing online games actually help children learn about economy, teamwork, and leadership. Scientists at Brunel University's School of Sport and Education in West London spent the last three years studying 13-16 year-old gamers who played the MMO "Runescape". Unlike solo games, MMO's like Runescape require the play to rely on teammates to succeed. In an age where parents live in fear of their children being the victim of violence, environments that only an MMO can offer have become increasingly attractive. The child is in no real danger and is encouraged to problem-solve and experiment. Online they can freely explore ideas of "gender, race, and ability" which can be applied to the self.

In a world where online gaming is considered childish to some, taboo to others, and a danger to youth to still more, Dr Simon Bradford says "At a time when emerging technologies such as the Internet, and computer games in particular, continue to be subject to suspicion and concern, it is important that we also recognize the benefits of what is an increasingly popular and important activity for our young people."

It is studies such as this they could help break the social stigma around online gaming and help educate older generations to it's benefits. Although I'm sure your mother won't want you to sit too close to your monitor....

(original article: CNN.com "Learning to be Leaders" by Matthew Knight)

In Mark J. P. Wolf's "Abstraction in the Video Game", he attempted to show the similarities between games as an artistic medium and traditional forms of fine art. Earlier games were much more representational and abstract. This was due to programming limitations whereas abstract art evolved from explorations of self-expression. Despite the difference in origins, Wolf points out the large number of similarities between the two mediums; namely its use of interpretation and interaction to involve the audience in some way.

The original Battletank, complete with periscope
viewer. The viewer was eventually abandonded to
allow people who were not playing at the time to
see the screen.

Battletank , released by Atari in 1980, was one of the first games to utilize vector graphics to simulate a three-dimensional space. This particular style was known as "wireframe" due to the fact that the images were comprised of lines with no solid shapes present. The game relied on simple geometric shapes to represent terrain, enemy vehicles, even the moon. Far from photo-realistic, Battletank required some interpretation from the user to make sense. To make the game feel even more immersive the original arcade system came with a viewer the used looked through. This paired with the first-person visual style, was to help the user feel as if he/she was inside an actual tank. The player-character is implied by the cross-hairs found onscreen. Some have argued (and with good measure) that Battletank was the first "virtual reality environment" ( see the Wikipedia entry on Battlezone ).

Sadly, games such as Battletank have mainly gone the way of the dodo. They can still be found on emulated systems available online, but that are preserved more for the sense of nostalgia they bring. Like the abstract art movement, abstraction in gaming is only appreciated by a small audience. To appeal to the masses game companies have focused on realism over abstraction.

Information used came from course reading "Abstraction in the Video Game" by Mark J. P. Wolf, found here and from Wikipedia here. Image also taken from Wikipedia. Photo taken at University of Michigan Center for Information Technology Integration by Jim Rees, March 21, 2001.

Man, about to leave the house for class and I realize this was supposed to be posted....

I'm a little torn between two games to study for midterms. The first is the MMO-World of Warcraft. I have been playing this game for about a year now and think it would provide ample material to present. Tomorrow I will be transferring to a new server.

The other game I am interested in is Final Fantasy 1. Mostly for the nostalgic value. This was the first videogame I ever "beat". The ending blew me away as a child (I never had thought about the cause and effect nature of time travel) and I've been hooked on RPG's ever since.

I will mull these around a little longer and write another post with my decision. Any thoughts?

Yesterday, Blizzard announced the addition of a machinima section to it's World of Warcraft website. Upon release it has tips on making films, a resource section, and a section to house machinima that Blizzard finds exceptional.

Videogames (especially online games) have begun to officially encourage fan-created content based on their franchises. This is a surprising departure from how the United States traditionally approaches intellectual property. Game companies like Microsoft have even go so far as to allow user-generated content to be available for download onto the XBox360. Sony has also been getting into fan-generated content as early as the PS2 when it released the game Alien Hominid which was originally developed in Flash and was playable on Newgrounds.com.

As of now game companies in the U.S. still reserve the right to make a profit from their property. Countries like Japan are quite the opposite. While Japan has copyright laws similar to the U.S., game companies ignore (indeed encourage) fan-generated content (dubbed "fandom") in many different mediums. This fandom is usually sold for a profit but companies turn a blind eye towards it. Why? Because it is viewed as free advertising. Who better to spread the word about a game besides a rabid fan?

I can't help but wonder when the U.S. will catch up with the rest of the world not only in it's approach to fandom, but in it's views of videogames in general.

Here's my pic from Half-Life 2
Man I really wish this game was available for mac. Playing yesterday got me hooked. I forgot how much I enjoyed the original one. Half-Life 1 is the only FPS I've ever completed.