Interesting links, questions and discussions

Subject: electronic games

Chapter Five explores the multi-facetted world of electronic games in all their incarnations, from handheld to arcade, from console games to computer versions.

The key insight developed in the chapter is that the game as a commodity has been very successful at constructing an environment where the player has the sensation of producing their game each time they play. This embodies the general ethos of new media cultures: the will-to-produce. Games have been designed to house that near-universal desire and become one of the most dominant cultural forms in contemporary culture.

Any particular game has a correlative online site. Whether you are looking for Quake, Tombraider, or Neopets these are locatable in some version online.

There are many other sites devoted to reviewing games or critically investigating games. Here is a brief sample when you venture to find out more about electronic games in contemporary culture:
Game Research provides an industry perspective on the design of computer games.

Spong is also an industry source for developments around all the game platforms. The Entertainment Software Association is an industry representative body that also compiles statistics on users as well as very interesting press releases on issues of concern. Another industry source is the IGDA or the International Game Developers Association.

Gamespy is a consumer source for reviews and critical commentary. It blends advertisements with information about the latest releases. Csports for instance provides rankings for online gamers. Gamespot is also a very useful consumer site.

In terms of history, some of the books that are listed in New Media Cultures’ bibliography are very useful. On the Web, you can find a videogame timeline that has some very basic information. Useful sites for looking at what early video and computer games looked like can be found in a number of sources. A brief history of video games (up until 1996) by Sam Hart is also a good source. An image of the first videogame (basically a computer with radar) can be found at the America Department of Energy site under R&D Accomplishments. Another site is devoted to classic gaming and in its archive section and features has many screen shots of a variety of games – its current director is Martin Goldberg.

The academic study of electronic games has mushroomed across the planet in the last five years. A journal entitled Game Studies should be one of your first ports of call as you work through what has already been developed about games. The journal M/C has also devoted an issue and more to the idea of play and games. Ludology.org is also a site that is focused on the theory of video games and provides a wealth of information about related conference and activities of fellow game researchers.

Questions/Discussions:

Try to isolate on the difference in game play between electronic games and non-electronic games. What are the pleasures of the new forms?

What are the gender differences in playing games? Can you develop some patterns of use and play that identify any clear demarcations in online or off-line gaming?

Develop a personal history of your game use from early childhood up to the present. Conduct similar personal histories with your parents and grandparents (or people of similar age).

Media ownership has been extensively investigated in other media forms. Develop a political economic reading of electronic games. Can any insights be drawn from these ownership patterns?

Set up a local area network, or group in an online game and organize the playing of a particular game among a particular group. Discuss the experience of playing.