Gaming Cultures:: Spring 2006: Graduate Student Forum Abstracts
Dan
Super Smash Bros. Melee is a Gamecube sequel to a two-dimensional N64 fighting game named Super Smash Bros. The series, by developer Hal Labs, is the first of its kind, providing gameplay based on the old favorite Nintendo characters that have been the backbone of Nintendo's video game franchise. While many characters come to SSBM just as players remember them (Link, Mario, Samus), many others were never featured in games or were never controllable as character personalities (Fox McCloud, Captain Falcon, Pikachu). So while nostalgia plays a key role in drawing players into the game, it doesn't FULLY account for the associations that gamers have for their favorite characters, often characters who had never been available for play.
At a base-level, Smash is about control.control of your own character, control of your opponent and control of the momentum of battle. The game draws players in by providing nostalgic characters to fight with, and keeps interest with a complex engine for simulating the kinematics of these virtual heroes and villains. The gameplay, which is based on a very simple moveset, allows characters to travel as they look like they should.Bowser lumbers like a dinosaur, Samus jumps softly in her anti-gravity space suit and Mario springs into the air as he always has. So even though players may not have played as Captain Falcon, the F-Zero pilot, his gameplay instantaneously characterizes his awkward and close-range movement by contrasting it with tremendously fast and accurate top speeds, much like the rocket-powered race car that he drives. Impressively sensitive and versatile controls allow players to move freely in full analog walking and running speeds, jumping trajectories and fall-rates. Advanced techniques reinforce this free movement, allowing players to dash forward and backward while facing the same direction, among a myriad of other techniques instrumental to the mind game of drawing out the defenses of an opponent. This push for the control of a battle's momentum reaches its pinnacle when a combo begins.all freedom is relieved of the victim as s/he panics, fumbling for an opening to counter-attack or take up a defensive position.
The unique properties of the gameplay in Super Smash Bros. Melee make for an environment that is qualifiably different from other video games in the fighting genre. Without individually tailored character physics, free-roaming movement in arenas and perpetually dynamic combat, there would not be a way in which one could connect an individual's video game persona with an innate fear of domination. This is how Smash is fundamentally different from other games.player and character individuality is fused in such a way that a struggle for control extends not exactly from the character to the player, but more closely from the character to the player's subconscious.
Given Smash's elaborate background, in this presentation, I will explore the subliminal processes of Super Smash Bros. Melee players when they are subjected to combos while fighting. The game is notorious for strong negative reactions that players have to their own failed defensive measures, but the strength of reactions to combo attacks belies a simple explanation like the player's disappointment when losing. I argue that the frustration of being combo attacked in Smash originates from something deeply rooted in the subconscious, something that stems from a combination of video game nostalgia, gameplay characterization, freedom of movement and an innate human fear of domination.
Elmer
MMORPGs and Electronic Gaming
Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPG) are a genre of electronic gaming in which a player creates an avatar and travels around a digital game space alongside numerous other players. Role-playing games in general reference games in which character development and immersion in an environment or persona are emphasized. MMORPGs are a new genre, having become popular only in the past seven years, with the advent of Everquest. They have their roots in the early digital architecture of the internet, and various MUDs (Multi-User Domain/Dungeon), which were text-based games of the same theme.
Once Everquest sparked interest in the genre, and proved that it could be profitable, the industry began innovating and inventing, creating a multitude of other products. Both Horizontal and Vertical product differentiation effected the burgeoning MMO market, as new models of game were introduced, and Everquest launched a premium service providing upgrades to content and more .live. adventures. The industry started as a monopoly, but sensing opportunity, the market was soon deluged with imitators. In addition, an entirely new concept for video game purchasing was marketed, with an ongoing fee being instituted.
My presentation will answer several questions, including: what impact has the birth of a product supercategory had on the video game market in general? What can these reactions tell us about further growth in not only the MMORPG supercategory, but also about the electronic entertainment market as a whole? In addition as a more .social. style of gaming emerges, what effect does this have on gaming society?
Amanda & Jackie
Surprisingly, terrorism remains a frequently overlooked element of many video games that, as it is often used as propaganda, can have a vital affect on both gamers and non-gamers alike. The qualities that are associated with the general image of terrorists as a whole do not reflect the individual but instead perpetuate a general ideology or image that we, as Americans, have created. It can then be said that a video game's portrayal of the appearance or qualities of one terrorist does not alone need special consideration. Instead, what needs to be examined are the generalizations created by the repetitive homogenization of terrorists within video games.
Video games are used by researchers to understand youth and pop culture, so we feel that it is important to look at video games as a reflection of our society today. In this sense, video games reinforce our society's limited understanding of foreign cultures. By assessing what terrorism is and who terrorists are, according to our post 9/11 American beliefs, we can see how the images that society has associated with terrorism have become increasingly narrow. The constricted scope of what Americans believe to be representative of terrorists becomes especially clear through video games in particular.
In our current political state, it would appear that there is much to gain from perpetuating these stereotypes as it takes focus off of many other important global issues.
Before 9/11, threats to the United States were superfluous enough that it would be impossible to single out the most threatening enemy. Since the attacks on the World Trade Center, the focus has been put on Al Qaeda and Middle Easterners, thus creating both an identifiable enemy and a market that profits off of the ensuing pain and anger of the American people. These stereotypes post 9/11 give us a "face" to put on an enemy that the American people can unite in fighting against as a whole, whether it is by literally joining the army or fighting the enemy in video game form.
Essentially, this becomes especially relevant in assessing the ways in which this affects people's political and personal views and to what degree, either as regular or non-regular gamers. This leads one to ask: to what degree do media outlets other than video games affect and contribute to this same stereotype of terrorism existing among the general public? As such, what notions have already been established and reinforced in gamers' minds due to these other sources?
Walton: "DNA and Code: Replicating the Organic in a Digital Medium"
In a living organism, the DNA structure determines the entirety of the organism's foundation. Likewise, video game programs can be broken down into binary code. As theorists like Lev Manovich in _The Language of New Media_ have argued, binary code and the reproducibility that stems from that code is a fundamental element of new media. Binary code itself is a collection of ones and zeros; DNA can be broken down into a series of four amino acids. In both DNA and binary code, the underlying code provides the basis for the organism's basic functioning. Therefore, the binary code used in a game character is analogous to a living organism's DNA. Like DNA, the binary code of a video game character determines the background for the character in the game. From this background information, games add complexity and further shape the characters through elements analogous to real world social norms. Games do so through by adding and configuring elements like narrative, visual representation, and world structures.
By connecting code and DNA, video games afford the possibility to examine current concerns within a more simplistic simulated environment. In creating a form of life analogous to carbon-based existence, video games allow players to interact in a life-like environment that continues some of the existing real world philosophical and religious concerns. This paper will argue for the connections between code and DNA and then show how those connections can best be examined in order to show how the Alien/Other is both represented and evolves within emergent game systems.
Sarah B.
In The Sims 2, the player simulates real life by controlling his or her Sims. However, many aspects of the game are in and of themselves unrealistic, such as men giving birth to alien babies or creating robots that you can fall in love with and marry. The players willingly participate in an unrealistic reality, with some players making their environment more unrealistic than others. These breaks with reality aid in making The Sims 2 an enjoyable game, instead of just a life simulator. This is not unlike other types of games that have realistic graphics but preposterous storylines and unrealistic amounts of blood (like Half Life 2 and most fighting games). Because of the ease of modification, some users choose to create custom content and hacked items for The Sims 2 as well, either closing some breaks with reality or widening them even further. However, at the basic level of game play, The Sims 2's realistic type of game allows for (and truly requires) greater breaks with reality to make the game enjoyable. In this presentation, I first cover some basic background on The Sims 2. Then, I will explore the differences between simulations and games in terms of reality and unreality as presented in The Sims 2.
Franklin
The gaming industry in the United States has continued to grow at an alarming rate. It is hard to believe that only around two decades ago, the most impressive video game consisted of an 8 bit cartridge, with game characters in a simple pixilated form. These archaic arcade-type games, with simple objectives and AI, paved the foundation for the social and competitive nature of the games. Since then, as technology grew, the games evolved into massive online games played on sophisticated home computers or powerful consoles. As technological limits are pushed, the gaming industry has flourished by providing increasingly realistic products into the market. Particularly in the United States and marked by the recent introduction of the XBOX 360, concentration on lifelike portrayals are at the forefront. The market is flooded with a variety of games that offer CGI and FMV captures comparable even to high-tech special effects found in the film industry. This method of production seems to leave players with the same diegetic effect as film as well. As the ability to create lifelike characters and settings continually approaches fruition, it seems that so does the public's desire for escapism found in the manifestation of these games. However, in doing so it seems that other methods of production have been left behind. With the framework for gaming set in place, little room is left for other methods of experimentation or advancement in the field.
Cell-shaded games, for example, sell considerably less than the "realistic" CGI games, even when such games are recognized highly by critics. Games featuring animated shorts and clips are almost non-existant despite the fact that some of the most critically acclaimed RPGs feature this technique. Trends have shown that games utilizing such alternative techniques seem to be frowned upon and do not sell as much gross product, even in instances where the game is part of a larger franchise. This is not to say that any particular technique is more beneficial than any other, nor that the intricate CGI-based games are inherently flawed. The issue, instead, is that one method has clearly become dominant in the industry and this domination has lead to a singular focus, one which does not allow for other considerations or experimentations on gameplay. Therefore, this presentation will analyze the escapism fixation with realism in gaming that runs rampant in the US gaming industry. In doing so, I study the effects of this seemingly one-tracked industry approach on other types or methods of production.
Jess
Rules govern nearly every aspect of daily life. Some of these "laws" are purely descriptive; they help explain the world, but people and societies do not generally act upon these. The laws of physics fall into this category. Other rules, like the laws of each government, are enforceable. They require, with certain penalization, all of the members of any particular society to act a given way. Both of these sorts of laws can be found in games. However, of most interest to scholarly debate are those rules which are neither descriptive nor enforceable. These are the unwritten rules, the unspoken codes or ethics by which the players of a game are expected to abide.
These unwritten rules are critical to the formation of a gaming culture, and are the backbone of the social and competitive/cooperative aspects of gaming. While these unwritten rules do little for one player games, in the multiplayer arena they move to the forefront. Found in virtually all sorts of games . from board games to card games to the most massive online computer games - unwritten rules help establish Huizinga's Magic Circle of Play and help regulate game play. While the intention of the written rules associated with every game is to control the circle and make play fair and progressive, this could not be achieved without the commonly understood unwritten rules which further influence how we play games.
Given recent advancements in technology and game development, in this presentation I explore the unwritten rules in multiplayer video games - especially those where all players are physically roximate, such as in four player Game Cube games. In doing so, I shed light on the larger social aspects of the video gaming community, including its code of ethics and etiquette.