Digital Games

Videogame Content: Game, Text, or Something Else?

by Mia Consalvo

PAGE PROOFS from my chapter in: The International Encyclopedia of Media Studies: Media Effects/Media Psychology, First Edition.
Edited by Angharad N. Valdivia and Erica Scharrer.
© 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Published 2013 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

This chapter surveys the most recent scholarly work done on videogame content. It identifies several lines of research... more This chapter surveys the most recent scholarly work done on videogame content. It identifies several lines of research that have emerged in this area, including debates over the best methods for studying game content, representation-based versus gameplay-based approaches, and theoretical foundations for studying games. In addition to providing a broad overview of recent work in such areas, the essay also provides a more detailed account of how such research works, through an examination of the author’s past videogame
studies. These include studies that have examined titles such as The Sims and Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, among other examples. These studies demonstrate how theory may and may not be useful in studying games, how methods must be adapted to best scrutinize dynamic content, and the many meanings that can be taken from contemporary games. The essay ends with a discussion of how future research on games should proceed, and the identification of the areas most pressing in terms of investigation.

ConsoleGBL-Pedagogy_GROFF-HOWELLS-CRANMER

by Jennifer S. Groff

Co-authored with Cathrin Howells and Sue Cranmer

The main focus of this research project was to identify the educational benefits of console game-based learn- ing in... more The main focus of this research project was to identify the educational benefits of console game-based learn- ing in primary and secondary schools. The project also sought to understand how the benefits of educational gaming could transfer to other settings. For this purpose, research was carried out in classrooms in Scotland to explore learning with games played on games consoles, such as PlayStation, Xbox, and Wii. Interviews were carried out with school leaders, classroom teachers, and students in 19 schools and followed up by a series of lesson observations in four of these schools. Findings include significant impact on students’ performance and engagement, as well as strong support from participating teachers and school leaders.

Swalwell The Early Micro User FINAL

by Melanie Swalwell

CFP: Undead in the West: They Just Keep Coming

by Cynthia Miller

Digital Image: Simulation of "Self" or Reductio Ad Absurdum

by Zeynep Gungor

Apparel is the primary material that a person consulted while creating and identity which is not only who actually he... more Apparel is the primary material that a person consulted while creating and identity which is not only who actually he is, but also who he wants to be. In his social life or working life, people dress for impressing others because of mmany effective reasons, or pretending someone else or just to get what he wants. Thus he tells something about himself and over these images the society relates the look with his life-style. Basically, fashion refreshes itself for this deceptions. Human being is able to cover himself in any surroundings even he is most visible in. So, he is influenced by what, in a virtual world where is the most available atmosphere to hide “self”? While he is creating his digital identity called avatar, does he follow his own example or draws a sample of the simulation of a person he wants to be? In this case, it’s studied that; what criterions the gamers take in their costume and image selections during the creation of their visual characters and also this consciousness or underconsciousness is being understood by other gamers in the digital games like The Sims, The Sims Social, Second Life by questing the gamers in several ages, occupations and genders. Finally, it’s been highlighted the importance of apparel in the process of creating a digital ID.

Puzzle Art in Story Worlds: Experience, Expression and Evaluation

by Veli-Matti Karhulahti

Presented at The Philosophy of Computer Games Conference, Madrid 2012.

This paper discusses the aesthetic value of a specific video game challenge, the fiction puzzle, though cases such as... more This paper discusses the aesthetic value of a specific video game challenge, the fiction puzzle, though cases such as L.A. Noire, Grim Fandango and Leisure Suit Larry. The discussion is carried out through John Dewey's pragmatist aesthetics.

Women self-identifying as digital game addicts: How interpretations of power play a part

by CarrieLynn Reinhard

This is a paper I wrote in 2007 for a graduate studies seminar on qualitative methodologies. The study represents a preliminary analysis of interviews on video game addiction. I hope to expand this preliminary analysis and theorization with further empirical work.

Doing Gender in Cyberspace - the performance of gender by female World of Warcraft players

by Lina Eklund

This explorative study focuses on the performance of gender and sexuality in World of Warcraft (WoW), an online game,... more This explorative study focuses on the performance of gender and sexuality in World of Warcraft (WoW), an online game, following Butler’s performance theory. Through interviews with female WoW players, gender and sexuality is analysed. The article argues that we cannot study gender online without also looking at sexuality. Gender performances are discussed within the framework of four themes: the avatar; strategies; sexuality, and the contextual importance of WoW. Results show that gender identity construction in WoW is an ongoing process highly dependent on the social context of play. The women interviewed created gendered and sexualized identities constrained and empowered by the rules of the game and the opportunities it offers as well as of their social relations. Although a heterosexual norm rules, there are possibilities hitherto unrecognized for queer performance within the gendered role play in WoW and the game offers the possibility of multiple and alternative performances of the self.

Time to play: the rationalization of leisure time

by Lina Eklund

Co-authored with Fatima Jonsson

This study explores how rationalization logic and rationalization processes influence digital gaming by looking at how... more This study explores how rationalization logic and rationalization processes influence digital gaming by looking at how players value and manage the time they spend on games. The study is framed in a discussion of leisure time, critical theories of computation and rationalization theory. Qualitative interview data is used in an inductive and phenomenology inspired approach.

The results show two frames of understanding of gaming. First, games are perceived as media products and playing as a waste of time. Secondly, digital gaming is a hobby, a social activity highly valued within the framework of a rational time economy. We conclude that even though we are seeing a rationalization of leisure time in gaming, that rationalization process must be understood in the context of individualization within the new network society. This means that players are involved in a 'rational individualization' process where their management of leisure time and gaming activities are part of an ongoing identity project.

New New Babylon

by McKenzie Wark

co-authored by Ali Dur.

On Constant's New Babylon, reimagined in New York City. Constant's work grasps the implications of the digital as the... more On Constant's New Babylon, reimagined in New York City. Constant's work grasps the implications of the digital as the architecture of the control society and its negation. His New Babylon proposes a conceptual architecture for realizing Marx and Engels administration of things and Johan Huizinga's homo ludens at the same time. This paper also includes a friendly dialogue with the work of Bernard Stiegler.

Mobile Gaming: An Engineer Puts an Arcade Cabinet on Wheels (Popular Science)

by Garnet Hertz

Popular Science (February 2012). Story by Gregory Mone. Photographs by Jeff Newton. Edited by Doug Cantor.

In the late 1980s, millions of arcade-addicted kids sat in the faux racing seats of Sega's OutRun videogame, grabbed... more In the late 1980s, millions of arcade-addicted kids sat in the faux racing seats of Sega's OutRun videogame, grabbed the rubber-covered wheel of the imitation Ferrari Testarossa, pressed down on the pedals, and imagined they were roaring down the street. Twenty-five years later, one of those kids, Garnet Hertz, has realized that fantasy, modding an 1,100-pound arcade machine to ride on pavement.

sparkinfosys

by Deepti Seosem

Beyond Play: A New Approach to Games

by Thomas Malaby

Games have intruded into popular, academic, and policy-maker awareness to an unprecedented level, and this creates new... more Games have intruded into popular, academic, and policy-maker awareness to an unprecedented level, and this creates new opportunities for advancing our understanding of the relationship of games to society. The author offers a new approach to games that stresses them as characterized by process. Games, the author argues, are domains of contrived contingency,capable of generating emergent practices and interpretations, and are intimately connected with everyday life to a degree heretofore poorly understood. This approach is both consistent with a range of existing social theory and avoids many of the limitations that have characterized much games scholarship to date,in particular its tendency toward unsustainable formalism and exceptionalism. Rather than seeing gaming as a subset of play, and therefore as an activity that is inherently separable,safe,and pleasurable,the author offers a pragmatic rethinking of games as social artifacts in their own right that are always in the process of becoming. This view both better accords with the experience of games by participants cross-culturally and bears the weight of the new questions being asked about games and about society.

Hypersexualized Females in Digital Games: Do Men Want Them, Do Women Want to Be Them?

by CarrieLynn Reinhard

This is an International Communication Association 2006 conference paper version of my master's thesis.

The digital game industry recognizes that women play fewer video games than men. One hypothesized reason for this is... more The digital game industry recognizes that women play fewer video games than men. One hypothesized reason for this is the sexualized portrayal of female game avatars, which may
dissuade women from identifying and wanting to engage with them. Such hypersexualism is hypothesized as being designed to entice men, who are thought to be attracted to such portrayals. In a 2x3 design of participant gender by avatar body shape, this study investigated how men and women perceive and react to female avatars that embody the hypersexualism body shape of big breasts, thin waist, and long, thin limbs. One-hundred and twenty men and women from a Midwestern university participated in the study. Contrary to industry and academic arguments, it was found that men indicated more engagement with the game when playing as a curvy character while women indicated more engagement playing as the hypersexualized character. Also, identifying with the character during game play was the only consistent predictor of engagement, and this was true regardless of the player's gender; thus, men were engaging in cross-gender identification, possibly due to the conditions of playing the game.

The Aesthetics of Early Adventure Games: A Reflection of Film History

by Veli-Matti Karhulahti

This paper examines the artistic potential of videogames by concerning the early aesthetics of a genre generally referred to as adventure games. The main argument is that the development of adventure game aesthetics correlates with the aesthetic development of film. The argument will rest on two technical turning points that took place within the initial stages of videogame and film industries: the use of voice as a sonic and the use of color as a visual component. Whereas in the history of cinema those technical improvements represent the shift from silent film to film with sound and color, for adventure games they meant text-based interactive fiction stepping aside for graphic adventures with voice-acted characters. The paper will focus on examining the corresponding impacts that this technical development had on their methods of artistic expression.

The International Journal of the Arts in Society Volume 6, Issue 2, 2011, pp. 31-38, more The International Journal of the Arts in Society Volume 6, Issue 2, 2011, pp. 31-38, http://www.arts-journal.com, ISSN 1833-1866

© Common Ground, Veli-Matti Karhulahti, All Rights Reserved, Permissions: cg-support@commongroundpublishing.com

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People, Places, and Play: A research framework for digital game experience in a socio-spatial context

by Wijnand IJsselsteijn

Crawford, G. & Gosling. V.K. (2008) ‘Freak Scene? Narrative, Audience & Scene’, [Player] conference proceedings, Copenhagen: IT University of Copenhagen.

by Garry Crawford

It is always a lot of fun!: exploring dimensions of digital game experience using focus group methodology

by Wijnand IJsselsteijn

With Karolien Poels and Yvonne de Kort
FuturePlay 2007

Games & tools i.f.v. techniekonderwijs (basisschool)

by Ive Hapers

Dutch paper for combining ICT & technics in the classroom.

Making sense of game-play: how can we examine learning and involvement?

by Jo Iacovides

Iacovides, Ioanna; Aczel, James; Scanlon, Eileen and Woods, William (2011). Making sense of gameplay: how can we examine learning and involvement? In: DiGRA 2011 Conference: Think Design Play, 14-17 September, Hilversum, the Netherlands.

It has been argued that there is a need for more “rigorous research into what players do with games (particularly... more It has been argued that there is a need for more “rigorous research into what players do with games (particularly those that don’t claim explicit status as educational), and a better
understanding of the thinking that is involved in playing them.” (Squire, 2008, p.167). This paper introduces a set of methods developed to explore these issues via a multiple case study approach, including; game-play observation, cued post-play interview, the collection of physiological data and the use of gaming diaries over a three week period. An examination of the strengths and limitations of the approach adopted is presented with reference to two particular methodological issues (i) how to identify breakdowns and breakthroughs that occur during game-play; (ii) how to identify learning occurring beyond game-play. The paper will conclude by emphasising the importance of taking both micro and macro level experiences into account when it comes to capturing learning and involvement within this context.