Research - Essay BA1

Some brief notes on the websites I looked at whilst researching for my essay for critical studies. The notes BELOW each link involve a quote from the site I found useful or relevant or some brief comments on the site from me.


http://www.macworld.com/article/162503/2011/10/the_app_culture.html

This website looks into how Apps have changed over the past 5 odd years, and how the new 'sandboxing' of Mac Apps will effectively change the way apps run in the near future. I think that this article raises some interesting points about how Mac users and now the wider populus have allowed Apps to become part of their everyday lives. It is this 'App-Culture' that allows the open-minded creativity in this part of the industry to thrive!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_game
The first game that was pre-installed onto a mobile phone was a Tetris game in the Hagenuk MT-2000 device from 1994.^[1][2]
Three years later Nokia launched the very successful Snake on selected models in 1997.^[3] Snake and its variants have since become the most-played video game on the planet and embedded in more than 350 million devices worldwide.^[4]

Over 90% of smartphone users play a mobile game at least once a week.

http://woorkup.com/2011/01/09/is-the-apple-mac-app-store-the-beginning-of-a-cultural-revolution/

Short article discussing how the app store has allowed individual game developers to produce market and release for sale games completely without the need of publishers/development companies


http://www.macworld.com/article/162504/2011/10/app_sandboxing_risks_eroding_the_macs_identity.html
http://windonaleaf.net/post/8780784020/thoughts-app-store-reviews-culture-entitlement
http://www.macstories.net/stories/sandboxing-and-app-culture/

Thoughts on the new regualtions over security and access by Apps on your Mac

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/video-games/8303173/Angry-Birds-the-story-behind-iPhones-gaming-phenomenon.html

After winning over iPhone and iPad users, the game was rolled out onto other smartphones last October, where it was downloaded one million times in the first 24 hours, and to PCs and Macs last month. Now Rovio is busy working on console versions and promising future Angry Birds permutations.

In total, the game notches up 200 million minutes of play time every day, which is close to the number of minutes viewers in the United States spend watching the average prime-time television programme.


http://www.latimes.com/health/boostershots/la-heb-video-games-brain-addiction-20111115,0,7840130.story

An interesting but short article on how recorded brain activity in young gamers shows similarities with other brain activity linked to addiciton. Only loose ties however - the interesting factor I took from this was that such studies are being carried out.

http://www.cio.com/article/514413/IBM_Consumers_Demand_More_Interactivity

"It's a smarter consumer out there today, one who is really willing to engage with the retailer," said Shannon Miller, a business development lead for IBM's Global Business Services.


http://medgadget.com/2011/08/new-journal-for-review-of-science-of-gaming-in-healthcare.html

A few examples of health related gaming here.

http://medgadget.com/2006/05/addicted_to_vid.html

Addicted to Video Games? Become a Surgeon!

http://www.neilstoolbox.com/bibliography-creator/reference-website.htm#

Great Havard Referencing Tool

Work on CALLIOS

Caillois states:
A characteristic of play... is that it creates no wealth or goods, thus differing from work or art. At the end of the game, all can and must start over again from the same point. Nothing has been harvested or manufactured, no masterpiece has been created, no capital has accrued. Play is an occasion of pure waste: waste of time, energy, ingenuity, skill, and often of money...
As for the professionals – the boxers, cyclists, jockeys, or actors who earn their living in the ring, track, or hippodrome or on the stage ... it is clear that they are not players but workers. When they play, it is at some other game. (Caillois: 1962: p.5)

I disagree with Callios because although play may be time consuming, some of the most valuble ideas have come about as a result of play. When a person engages in play (as Callios mentions earlier) they lose themselves to the game and are mentally transported to another place ande time. This process of being lost allows a player to free up their mind from the everyday prblems and constraints of the wider world, thus giving them access to a freer way of thinking. Only truly inspired ideas can come from such a base form of consciousness nd therefore they often are the most sucessful (and profitable!)

Although from the outside play seems like an utter waste, if you lok a little deeper you find an almost meditational practice allowing a busy mind to see clearly. Even in present day many occupied businessmen use casual games to give them a quick mental break - allowing them to think clearly and work more proactively even if they are 'wasting' time playing a few games of solataire each day.(1)

(1) Source: Reality is Broken - Jane McGonigal - Jonathon Cape, Random House 2011
 "Chapter 3 - More Satisfying Work"

*** Interestingly I find that my dad and his partner also use this tactic of casual play to break up their work when having to do a lot of paperwork at home for example. When I asked my dad why this was he said that playing a few quick games of solitaire refreshed his mind and allowed him to look at his work again with a different perspective. I like to think that such a practice is much like a professional taster of food drinking distilled water between foods in order to fully appreciate the next dish exclusively of anything they had eaten previously. ***

I Have No Words I Must Design

Below are notes on quotes taken from the paper: "I have no Words, I must Design." by Greg Costikyan

 http://www.digra.org/dl/db/05164.51146.pdf

1. "Games change with the player's actions in contrast to 'static puzzles'"
   The definition of how games differ to puzzles is an interesting one. I find that as I play games I do not consciously feel the gameplay changing around me due to my actions in some of the games. To me it seems like a natural course of events which I am part of. However in other games I feel that I am the centre of attention, single handedly dictating the gameplay, master of all. It is interesting how some games place more of an emphasis on the players actions being a fundamental of the game and others merely including a players actions along the way as part of a much larger plot.
2. "A light switch is interactive....At some point you will be faced with a choice (when using an interactive object/game etc.) You may choose to do A or B and the state of the thing will change depending on your decision"A prime example of a decision being fundamental to gameplay is when you nearly reach the end of Fable 2 and you have to make a decision between your family, everyone, or all the money you could imagine. When I reached that point in the game I truly felt the weight of what I was having to choose between. The choice between the ultimate sacrifice for the greater good or the selfish sacrifice of innocents just so I could keep my family alive. The while experience changed for me from being recreational to important and that is what made it a game for me.
3. "What makes a thing a game is the need to make decisions."One could argue that decision making in a game could be as simple as choosing to walk at your character or run, blue eyes or green; and they would be correct- those are all decisions. But what makes a game really special is when it makes the player ask questions about themselves as to how they will make such a decision. Will they save the innocent or kill the innocent for personal gain!?
4. "Excellence in Decision making is what brings success"
5. "Character improvement is a key concept; "Proof that we all want to improve ourselves in real life. In this sense our in game desires are transferred from our subconscious desires in reality. It motivates the players through the game constantly endeavoring to better themselves. Eg levelling up.
6. "The politically correct attack games as being 'competitive' and therefore bad."This is so wrong about games and indeed life itself as it is the element of competition which has dredged us up out of the tar pits of evolution to the splendour of which we boast today. competition is not only healthy, it is natural and character building. Without competition we have no motivation.
7. "Making something difficult makes it more enjoyable? That's not how we view everyday life..."I personally feel that if we could view everyday life like a game we could bring some of the enthusiasm and drive that we feel when we are challenged by a game into how we tackle everyday tasks too.
8. "Games are structures of Desire"Makes games sound like a whorehouse? I don't think that's a necessarily a bad thing as desire is another emotion which propels us forward and inspires us to work harder.

Personal Reflection

Write a piece on the first simple game you played...

"Well the first game that I played which had very simple gameplay was Space Invaders. I have a feeling it was at a friends house and I used a joy stick to control the shooter scooting along the bottom of the screen, and the satisfyingly red button on the top of the joy stick to shoot at the incoming invaders. The greatest emotional tool of this game was indeed the soundtrack it was given, much like the later used theme from jaws, we all know that if we don't speed up killing these aliens there will be impending doom! I find the music in a game affects me greatly and I do tend to start to panic if the music suggests urgency or anticipates danger, and so when the music began to speed up as the aliens lowered themselves and sped up, naturally I would begin to panic and the game went one of two ways; I would either gear up my game and begin to concentrate harder and would successfully get rid of all invading Ships, or I would panic and make silly mistakes and die quite quickly. Though this fear and panic that the game instilled in me did not put me off trying again and again to beat my score and save the world against Alien Invaders!"


Describe the emotional reactions you felt towards a game you have played recently....

"The most amazing feeling of pride and accomplishment when you become king. The rising sense of responsibility of the power you've gained. The feeling of hard work paying off. Then comes the catch, your success is short-lived. Your spirits fall as you realise the real challenge is yet to come."
Fable III - Becoming King