One of the interesting parts of Bogosts is that playing is exploring the possibility space with in the procedure. All which is centered around human practice. Looking at the games released throughout the years, I understand that there are ideologies being perpetuated. Such as the damsal in distress ideology, that is the driving force to the plot for many games. It's hard to imagine that games I play are rhetorical. I understand when discussing games like Animal Crossing, Bully, Sim City, etc. how each reflect some human practice and that allows for critique or exposing ideologies. Are all game arguing something? Are there any games that don't have arguments? Even if games do or do not argue, they all have procedures that allow the player to explore a possibility space. I don't think early game developers would ever imagine that video games would be used to argue or critique or even be rhetorical.
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Video Games
While I don't consider my self a "gamer," I do enjoy playing videogames. I remember my first encounter with console play, when I was 4 years old playing "Super Mario World." Of course since then, each time of play was limited because my parents felt that too much playing wouldn't be beneficial. If only they knew it would eventually be a suitable career. Even today after there are so many professional gammers and Youtube personalties that have taken gaming as part of there career, the way Ian Bogost discussed the view of "play" as a trifle and a distraction, something childish, still holds true today. This career choice or even lifestyle, to me is still looked down upon, especially by the older generations. I feel sentiments as, "get a real job," are still thrown around because of the views of play. This is going to change as the "gamers" of today become the parents of tomorrow, understanding the concept of play.
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Alex, I love your phrase "as the 'gamers' of today become the parents of tomorrow"! That has already occurred, in fact, as the average age of today's gamer is estimated to be somewhere in the 30s. One good read on this subject is Jesper Juul's A Casual Revolution, about the recent surge of casual/social games (and how they appeal to an older demographic with fewer long and uninterrupted time blocks with which to play).
ReplyDeleteAs for your ending questions, it might help to distinguish between explicit and implicit game rhetoric... certainly, most game developers don't create a game with the intent to argue something specific, but even games that are just supposed to sell, or be fun, or cater to a niche audience end up making claims about how the world works.