An additional Research Post

Just found this interesting infographic;

http://dsc.discovery.com/pdi/files/2012/03/Neurology-of-Gaming.png

Further Transmedia Research

TRANSMEDIA STORY-TELLING

On a visit to Toys'r'Us I decided to take some photographs of transmedia story telling and marketing. In particular items which had started off as games, or solely internet brands which have now crossed over into a vast range of media. Things like Annoying Orange and Fruit Ninja show a bleeding effect from digital media to mass marketing - in particular plushie toys.

The second group of images I took were of learning games and interactive equipment looking at how they advertise their educational elements in  a fun package. A lot of these were made in the form of memory games and learning and repeating facts or times-tables for example. This shows how elements of repetition are synonymous with learning from an early age.

CS Presentation Research

My CS question is:

"How coherent is the relationship between Game and Real Worlds with regards to Brain-Training and Educational Games?"

Supplementary questions to be covered in my talk are;

A) "How does a Game's Design make it an Effective Learning Tool?"
B) "Can Games change Real Life for the Better?"
C) "Why are Games Designed for Learning?"

Here is the annotated Bibliography of my CS Research;


These websites are linked to my research for Supplementary Question B;

Lumosity Introduces The Human Cognition Project. 2012. Lumosity Introduces The Human Cognition Project. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.lumosity.com/blog/lumosity-introduces-human-cognition-project/. [Accessed 13 November 2012].

Lumosity - Account - Cookies Test. 2012. Lumosity - Account - Cookies Test. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.lumosity.com/purchase/products. [Accessed 13 November 2012].


Lumosity.com - YouTube. 2012. Lumosity.com - YouTube. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/user/lumosity/videos?view=0. [Accessed 13 November 2012].

This TED Talk by Jane McGonigal explores the topic of how by channelling the skills and enthusiasm of world wide gamers into solving the planet's problems we can create a better world. The second TED Talk by her below showcases her ramified website program - 'SuperBetter' - which encourages members to use her site and motivate themselves to achieve life goals through 'playing on the site'. Below that talk is a link to the SuperBetter site.

Jane McGonigal: Gaming can make a better world | Video on TED.com. 2012.Jane McGonigal: Gaming can make a better world | Video on TED.com. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_gaming_can_make_a_better_world.html. [Accessed 10 November 2012].

Jane McGonigal: The game that can give you 10 extra years of life | Video on TED.com. 2012. Jane McGonigal: The game that can give you 10 extra years of life | Video on TED.com. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_the_game_that_can_give_you_10_extra_years_of_life.html. [Accessed 10 November 2012].

SuperBetter . 2012. SuperBetter . [ONLINE] Available at:https://www.superbetter.com. [Accessed 10 November 2012].


I actually have been using this website personally to try and make sure I exercise regularly when spending time at the computer. I found that if I was using the website regularly I did remember to exercise more and take breaks from the screen - though if I did not have the website open I soon slipped back into bad habits. So how can a game affect our world when not in direct contact with the player? Can a brain training game re-wire our thinking, or merely train it to the game and not life?

On the topic of Jane McGonigal, I looked at a few sections of her book 'Reality is Broken' which cover how games can make a player happy and how the games' design harnesses this.

McGonical, J, 2011. Reality is Broken. 1st ed. California: Vintage.

Another book I have looked at for research was Koster's wonderful book;

Koster, R, 2005. A Theory of Fun. 1st ed. Arizona: Paraglyph Press.

The Chapters I looked at were; 

- CHAPTER TWO: How the Brain Works  - Page 12

- CHAPTER FOUR: What Games Teach Us - Page 48

- CHAPTER SEVEN: The Problem with Learning - Page 110

- CHAPTER ELEVEN: Where Games Should Go - Page 172

Donovan's book has influenced my research by encouraging me to look back at how games have influenced their players in the past. In particular 2 instances; Page 317 'Learn from Lei Feng Online' a 2006 Chinese game created with the intention of teaching it's players to be like Lei Feng who was championed for his devotion to Maoism. 

Page 338 - How the launch of the DS brought with it a new era of brain-training gaming and with them, a new demographic of a more mature gamer than seen before for hand-helds.

Donovan, T, 2010. Replay: The History of Video Games. 1st ed. Sussex: Yellow Ant Publishing.

Below are some links to news articles I read in research of the above questions.

http://kotaku.com/5010861/msus-meaningful-play-call-for-papers
http://kotaku.com/352828/new-leapfrog-handhelds-go-online
http://kotaku.com/5024594/games-and-the-future-of-learning
http://kotaku.com/5157878/microsoft-bankrolling-games-for-learning-project
http://kotaku.com/5646278/teaching-our-schools-to-up-their-game
http://kotaku.com/5060843/microsoft-want-to-use-games-to-teach
http://kotaku.com/179584/brain-age-does-common-sense
http://kotaku.com/5520975/yet-another-study-brain-training-games-dont-improve-intelligence
http://kotaku.com/5632523/yes-kinect-is-getting-a-brain-training-game
http://kotaku.com/158696/japanese-hospitals-using-brain-training
http://kotaku.com/5022155/there-will-be-no-more-brain-training
http://kotaku.com/260861/more-brain-age-in-europe

Notes on Jesper Juul Article

"no genre or form can be outside the narrative."
I think this is because we use narrative to rationalise a lot of life. one example could be how we use narrative to explain a concept through analogy or anecdotes.


" So the title suggests a simple structure with a positive state broken by an external evil force. It is the role of the player to recreate this original positive state. This is, of course, a sequence often found in folk tales: An initial state, an overturning of this state, and a restoration of the state."


" narratives can be split into a level of discourse (the telling of the story) and the story (the story told). The story-part can then be split into two parts, existents (actors and settings) and events (actions and happenings). (Chatman p.19)"


" Cut-scenes typically come in the form of introductions and scenes when the player has completed part of the game."

" that are commonplace in narratives (three years of the hero's life summed up in two sentences of a novel or in a few shots of a "frequentative" montage in film, etc.). More basically, it invites us to consider that one of the functions of narrative is to invent one time scheme in terms of another time scheme. (Christian Metz, quoted from Genette 1980, p.33)"


" In this way, the game constructs the story time as synchronous with narrative time and reading/viewing time: the story time is now. Now, not just in the sense that the viewer witnesses events now, but in the sense that the events are happening now, and that what comes next is not yet determined."

I think that this is one of the reasons that games are so exciting. the power to steer the narrative as you wish means that no two players narrative experiences of the same game will be exactly the same. They will most definitely be similar but not same.


" games almost never perform basic narrative operations like flashback and flash forward.[6] Games are almost always chronological."

I find this comment a little outdated. As game development has advanced, many games use flash backs extensively such as CoD Black Ops.


" But how can computer games be abstract and without points of identification, and yet be interesting? - No matter how variable or even absent the protagonist in computer games, the player is always constant. The reader/viewer need an emotional motivation for investing energy in the movie or book; we need a human actant to identify with. This is probably also true for the computer game, only this actant is always present - it is the player. The player is motivated to invest energy in the game because the game evaluates the player's performance. And this is why a game can be much more abstract than a movie or a novel, because games involve the player in a direct way."


This is an interesting question and point. When a suitable anthropomorphic avatar is not available we categorise ourselves and said avatar. This is how abstract games like 'flow' or 'tetris' can be vastly popular and yet have no 'protagonist'. This time investment point also references how players psychologically rationalise their in-game spending in many mobile games; "I have spent extended amounts of time playing this game, therefore this game is worth my time, therefore it is worth my money also." [ idea from Ted talk by ..............]

" The idea of using experimental narratives to answer the opening question suffers from the problem that the very emphasis on interpretation and ontological instability that would make the narrative more immediate and thus closer to the game, in itself would make a game unplayable.[10]"
"1) Games and stories actually do not translate to each other in the way that novels and movies do. 2) There is an inherent conflict between the now of the interaction and the past or "prior" of the narrative. You can't have narration and interactivity at the same time; there is no such thing as a continuously interactive story. 3) The relations between reader/story and player/game are completely different - the player inhabits a twilight zone where he/she is both an empirical subject outside the game and undertakes a role inside the game."

GTA San Andreas Analysis

Questions to answer on a chosen game from the Action Genre;

1) How is the game structured? Does it have levels?

2) Do you have to follow a set path to complete the game?

3) How much freedom do you have to explore the game world?

4) What does the game look like; art style, influences, feel?

5) How do the visuals affect the player?

Below is the Powerpoint Jess and Shaun created and we all wrote and spoke about;

SLIDE 2 : Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, was the third instalment to the GTA Franchise, released in 2004 by Rockstar North. It is the best selling game of all time on Play Station 2. The game is set in the semi-fictional state of San Andreas, containing three cities which are based on Los, Angeles, San Francisco and Las Vegas. It is set in 1992 and based around the character Carl 'CJ' Johnson. The game was released with a rating of 'M' for its mature content, with the obvious violence but the addition of sexual scenes.

Slide 3 : San Andreas is an open world action/adventure game, third person shoot-em up and driving game.The game has a similar structure to theprevious in the series but Rockstar made certain changes to the way that it was played. There are no loading screens between transits, therefore you can/must drive across the entire 'map world' to reach your destination as it is an open world. The game is mission based and all of them can be completed at your own leisure. You must complete these missions to progress as a character (within San Andreas you can improve skills such as driving, fire arms, stamina etc.) But you must complete these missions to complete the game.You can explore the world as you wish, but certain areas must be unlocked as you progress within the open world. However once unlocked you are not restricted. There are also certain missions that are level based, for example: the stadium side missions.

Slide 5: Rockstar has emphasized the personalization of the main protagonist by adding many role playing video game elements [1]. An additional feature that has become common in follow up GTA games is the customisation of the character. It is a very prominent feature is San Andreas to be able to Customise your character, both with their skills as mentioned earlier and their appearance. You can go have hair cuts, buy new clothes even get tattoos. This element brings a whole new sense of freedom and exploration to the game as you are able to create a unique character in all aspects of play.

Slide 6 : Visually the game is not entirely realism, almost representing comic books or pop art. An interview with Rockstar Norths art director Aaron Garbut on 'what will make San Andreas the definitive game of its generation: its style. From the buildings to the lighting, from punks hanging in alleys to the half-mile mountain, Garbut rules the look and feel of it all.' "There’s so much depth to the experience of simply sightseeing in this game – there’s so much to see, and all of it is interactive. It’s not a set to race through; it’s a fully realised, compelling world." "Lighting has always played an important role in the look of our games, and this is one of the main areas we focussed on. We now have a complete different set of lighting for day and night. The entire map slowly shiftsfrom one to the other, neon bleeds onto the streets, streetlights light buildings, the shadows from the sun fade to moonlight. There’s a great deal more richness to the lighting.

...We now have a complete different set of lighting for day and night. The entire map slowly shifts from one to the other, neon bleeds onto the streets, streetlights light buildings, the shadows from the sun fade to moonlight. There’s a great deal more richness to the lighting."We’ve used various compression techniques to up the detail of all of our models, from the map to the cars and pedestrians. We’ve also made the game a lot sharper, adding to the weather effects and crammed the game with as many special little touches as we could manage, and then added some that we couldn’t…" "With the new lighting system it has been possible for us to get a much more coherent-looking light into the game. There are now obvious areas of shadow...' [4]

Creating Coherent Worlds

Below are my lecture notes from our first Contextual Studies Session this year. Our latest brief is titled: Creating Coherent Worlds.

Some of the topics we will cover in research are;
- How different genres of games are put together and what characteristics are associated with those genres?
- Narrative, structure, story world.
- What position is the player in when playing the game?
- How are people involved / immersed in the game?

Tips for your research work;
- How have you linked your research to your final work; show confidence in your understanding of your subject.
- Be discerning in your research and make sure it is all relevant and linked to your ideas / brief.

Authors to look at;
- Henry Jenkins
- Jesper



Some examples of genre;

- Alternate Reality Games; (No Hope Left - resident evil) 'playing puppet master' real time stories who's content is controlled by game designers. Often multimedia and social networking online resources are usedas trans-media story telling devices.

- Augmented Reality Games; (Drive AG) where images or gameplay is literally projected onto reality, often thought the use of a camera.

- Beat em Up; (Scott Pilgrim vs the World) Emphasises raw combat over gameplay components.

- Platform; (Puzzle Pirates)
Demand that players explore, negotiate and then conquer the gaming environments. Regardless of setting puzzle games always keep their core values.

- Racing; (Burnout) Regardless of character, gameplay is based on close combat racing environments. You are almost always racing right next to your opponent.

- Rhythm and Action; (Just Dance)
players coordinate their physical movements or button presses (sometimes both like on the Wii remote)

- RPG & MMORPG

- Shoot em Ups

- Sports

-Strategy


Questions to answer on a chosen game from the Action Genre;

1) How is the game structured? Does it have levels?

2) Do you have to follow a set path to complete the game?

3) How much freedom do you have to explore the game world?

4) What does the game look like; art style, influences, feel?

5) How do the visuals affect the player?

JJ Abrams - "Mystery Box"

In our first CS lecture we watched JJ Abrams TED talk on his idea on "the mystery box" as a plot device among many other things. Below are some notes on how he made such an enigmatic and successful talk in about 15mins.

- He starts with a joke, he clearly knows exactly who is audience is.

- He uses anecdotes and personal connections in an autobiographical style to draw the listener in and make the whole talk seem more of a personal conversation than a lecture.

- He asks rhetorical questions of the audience to remind them he is looking for them to think over what he is saying. This engages the audience and helps them to think 'in his shoes'.

- He uses props to further illustrate his idea (other than images on the slide show)

- Due do him knowing his audience so well he is able to use examples that he knows his audience will be able to relate to furthermore including them.

- He illustrates his ideas in a variety of ways and is constantly changing them to drive home his ideas and to keep the audience interested.

- He uses defeatist jokes to make him seem more vulnerable as a person on stage, he makes himself an equal in the audience do that everyone is more relaxed.

- An overarching theme is used so that although he clearly has a distinct train of thought, he keeps diving back down to his original point to the talk to show that everything is relative.



An interesting point that he made in terms of the "mystery box" was that it can easily be applied to video games. You want the player to find their way through a narrative without knowing the whole plot in advance. You don't want to mystery box opened before the right time.
Abrams is closely influenced by Speilberg's work and so continues his trend of exploring the relationships between children and parent and family.