I have posted a URL which can be used to download my PowerPoint Presentation: http://www.drezkill.com/COSC460 Assignments/CFergusonII_COSC460_Presentation_RacismInGames.ppt
These articles talk about the game designers and maintainers of Alternate Reality Games (ARGs) and Live-Action role-playing-games (LARPs). These designers are referred to as “puppet masters.” The players are the puppets, who are given a set of instructions and told to go somewhere and / or do something (as was the case with the famous August 24 2004 incident in the ARG I Love Bees). Sometimes when these games conclude, the Puppet Masters (or Pms) will reveal themselves through the use of credits on the game's website or elsewhere. This is usually the case for professionally-run ARGs. The PMs for more amateurish games may never reveal themselves. Rarely are PMs known before the games begin. Other than setting the goals and ideas of the game world, PMs are supposed to remain invisible, completely transparent to the players, and their influence subtly or never felt. This is vastly different from the GMs (Game Masters) and DMs (Dungeon Masters) of MMOs and pen-and-paper RPGs. DMs and PMs are never invisible, and their presence is clearly seen and felt, as are their actions. The players can see the direct influence the DMs and GMs have over their games. This works fine in MMOs, and is even necessary in pen-and-paper games, but with ARGs, the presence of the PMs would negatively affect the playing of the game, and might even ruin the way the game is supposed to be played. Such games depend on the free will and open interaction of the players themselves. The PMs set the basis for the game world, and even advance stories or plots from time to time, but the players themselves are shaping the game world and driving the games forward. PMs may think they have control of game situations, but they can never predict just how the players will act and react. The articles also describe other experiences of PMs in designing and running ARGs and LARPs that needed to have truly involved player interaction, and evoke real emotions and honest acting. The LARP A Measure for Marriage, which was used to disguise a real marriage proposal, had to emotionally and mentally involve players to the point where they became their characters. These players became so entrenched in their characters that the classic, traditional happy ending became a real event that was shocking when one of the main designers broke character to propose to his real life girlfriend, which was the whole reason he created the game in the first place. Other articles discuss different approaches to designing and running LARPs and ARGs, and the unique approaches of PMs.
This series of articles was somewhat interesting. I've never really cared for LARPs and ARGs, but it was interesting to read about how PMs go about designing such games, running them, and having them be played out. The interaction between them and their real-life players was somewhat fascinating. It was also interesting to see the different uses for LARPs and ARGs, such as the case of A Measure for Marriage being used to cover up a real-life marriage proposal. It was also interesting to compare and constrast the functions of PMs with their counterparts, GMs and DMs. I personally don't see the appeal of playing such games, but it does seem slightly fun to design and run these types of things. Using the actions, reactions and experiences of real-life players would be an interesting and even fun experiment. I'll stick to my video games, but it was helpful to finally see an inside view of the world of ARGs and LARPs.
This article starts off by comparing and contrasting the different viewpoints between the merits of reading and the merits of playing video games (or rather, the lack thereof). The author brings an interesting scenario to light, explaining a fictitious but interesting (and even humorous) situation in which video games have been the storytelling, information-dispensing medium that had been around for centuries, and reading books was only a recent craze. In this alternate reality, those who studied the effects of society's accepted forms of media had only bad things to say about the effects of reading, while describing the virtues of playing video games. In essence, the views of video games and switching have been reversed from how they are in real life. The author goes on to point out that even in this fictitious scenario, it is wrong to judge one medium by the criteria used to judge the other. Both books and video games have things they specialize in, and it is wrong to compare the two. The article goes on to dispel myths and common misconceptions about video gaming. For example, he points out that, contrary to popular belief, video games are not about mindless, instant gratification. Rather, they make you work hard, think hard, are often times not fun, and finally, seem to be all about delayed gratification. As the author says in his own words, the gratification may be so delayed that one might wonder if it will ever show. The author delves into even deeper reasons as to why video games can be so appealing to kids, especially when they deal with subjects that would bore them to death if learning about them in a classroom. It does not seem that interactivity alone is the answer, because if kids were only attracted to the interactivity, then they would absolute abhor television, which is an extremely passive medium. Its not the sex and violence either that attracts audiences, because the best-selling games have mostly been completely without sex or violence. The article goes on to look at all the possible reasons as to why people play video games, and why they are considered to be such rewarding experiences, and finally what kind of social benefit gamers are getting from games.
This article was extremely interesting to me. It really got me thinking about why I myself play video games. To me, this is a question I've never really asked myself before. It's always been my main purpose in life, ever since my mother got me hooked on video games when I was too young to have memories of my life. I've been doing it since I was a toddler, and it's always been something I figured I would always do for as long as I live. I never stopped to think about how much fun I was having playing video games, or the great deal of information and learning I have gained from video games, and how playing games has shaped me as a person. I've also always been a big reader of books, and it was always a joy when the two cross paths and I end up reading a novel that has to do with the video games I play, like the Halo novels. I never found one to be the bane of existence to the other. They were both two different forms of entertainment. I could learn and grow from both equally, just in different ways. It has always bothered and even offended me when the general public has dismissed video games as a waste of time, or blamed video games for desensitizing kids to violence and sex and causing them to commit crimes. I see books and storytelling as a form of art, and I consider video games to be even more so. Like the author of this article, I do believe that books and video games have two different uses, and they both have their strengths. They are both equally worthwhile. As I consider the reasons why I play video games, I realize that since I intend on becoming a professional game developer, I must keep these things in mind when designing and programming games for my future audiences. They may share a lot of the same reasons I have for playing video games, and they may have very different ones. I found this article to be a very interesting and insightful look into the nature of video games and what attracts people to them.
These three articles present very different viewpoints of the OLPC program. The 3rd article is a formal review of the laptop by a 12-year old kid. This review praises the laptop for how capable it is at its intended job. It's easy to use and functions well. The only issues are the low battery life, the failure of the laptop to notify the user when the power is about to run out, and the slow processing speed. The Next Generation article talks about the OLPC program, and how game developers can use it as a effective platform for distributing serious games, and the challenges of doing so. The 2nd article is a sarcastic view of the OLPC program, discounting it as a waste of time to make the designers of the program and the laptop feel good about themselves, while the program itself will ultimately be a failure.
I found these articles to be very interesting. Starting with the 3rd article, I must admit that I myself was very surprised to read about how well the laptop work. As a high-end computer builder and user, I discounted the OLPC laptops as slow, weak pieces of trash that won't be of any good to anyone. While I do realize the laptop is not intended to run games like Crysis or Unreal Tournament 3, and that it won't be used to crunch complex mathematical algorithms for research, I must say that for its intended purpose, it seems to get the job done. Surfing the Internet and writing papers can be easily accomplished on this machine. It even has a webcam, and can prove to be entertaining for its users. This is where the first article on serious games for the OLPC platform comes in. Children learn best by playing, and nothing will be more effective than children learning by playing fun games on their OLPC laptops. I find that I do not share the same view of the OLPC program's alleged effectiveness as the author of the second article. Of course, it may be hard for me to identify with this person since I did not grow up in the same environment and conditions. However, I still think the OLPC program has the potential to really take off and make a difference. It seems to be a pretty ingenious idea. For underdeveloped 3rd world countries lacking money, these cheap but effective laptops will just what it is needed to kick-start the educations of these countries' youth. It will be their first step to joining the tech-savvy world.
This article discusses an idea that centers around the use of the audience as an active participant in theater shows. At the beginning, one scenario is discussed: a play about a cheating man whose illiterate wife finds out about his unfaithfulness. The article details the way the audience interacted with the shows actors, giving out plausible scenarios for how the wife should deal with her unfaithful husband, which the actors then acted out. “This form of theater creates great excitement among the participants and starts to demolish the wall that separates actors from spectators” (Boal 342). This is referred to as “First Degree: Simultaneous Dramaturgy.” Another method, called “Second Degree: Image Theater,” causes one participant to “model” the on-stage actors into poses that reflect that the participant has in mind concerning a particular subject of discussion. The participant must manipulate the actors without speaking. “This form of image theater is without a doubt one of the most stimulating, because it is so easy to practice and because of its extraordinary capacity for making thought visible” (Boal 344). “Third Degree: Forum Thearer” involves the use of participants telling a story about a social or political problem, and the actors playing it out. Afterwards, the audience and participants are asked if they accept the actors' solution(s) to the problem. If they do not, the participants are free to re-direct the same scene, changing it in ways they see fit, and even stepping in to replace the actors when needed. The article goes on to describe other novel versions of performing theater, such as the “Invisible Theater,” which is a form of acting among the general public without the people around realizing that what they are witness is really a show, an act. The use of such “experimental” forms of acting could be valuable in educating people about important social and political issues.
This article shows us that it is much more important to engage the audience, allowing them to become participants, in order to relay an important message to the audience or educate them. They learn best by being involved in the creative and acting process. The author of the article writes that the audience member “must too be a subject, an actor on an equal plane with those generally accepted as actors, who must also become spectators” (Boal 352). Involving the audience might indeed be an effective strategy to impart knowledge upon the audience members about the subjects being discussed.
Work(s) Cited:
Boal, Augusto. From Theater of the Oppressed.
The first article centers on the idea of using video games as a medium to promote political candidates. In this way, video games become a form of virtual campaigning. Former governor of Vermont Howard Dean was “the first candidate to use a video game as endorsed political speech” (Bogost 233). The game was available to play for free on the candidate's website. It was successful in terms of audience, having “reached 100,000 plays in the month before the Iowa caucus, a very respectable number considering its novelty and the fact that is was launched during the holidays” (Bogost 233). The game focused on reaching the “fence sitters” who were not entirely onboard for supprting Dean. The game was about communicating the power of grassroots outreaching. The article goes into detail describing the challenges of making such a game, and dealing with obstacles such as limited development time and limitations of the platform the game would be released on (in this case, Flash-based game played through a web browser). This game had an extremely short, pressurized development time of only 4 weeks from concept to launch, and was set to be launched right before Christmas 2003.The article goes on to describe the multiple ways the game's developers attempted to identify with the audience – everything from resorting to consensus' taken of Iowa's population to create suitable names from the game's NPC name generator, to appealing to the type of audience that is computer-savvy in this digital age. The Political Activism article deals with uses role-playing has towards being an effective canvasser.
Using video games as a form of virtual campaigning seems like a good idea. In particular, if you want to reach the younger, more technologically-savvy crowd, the use of the Internet and video games is the way to go. The Howard Dean game used an effective approach, being available to play for free from the candidate's website. The number of plays the game received shows how effective this strategy was. Interactive informational learning proves to be more effective with the younger crowd than having them just read about political issues or discussing it with them. Having them participate in the campaigning process in a digital manner proved to be both fun and effective. I'm not sure how many people were convinced to support Dean after playing the game, but at least it generated more interest in his campaign and more traffic to the website. The game's developers should have thought of this much earlier, which would have caused them to avoid a rushed development schedule and allow them to make and even more fully-featured game. I wouldn't be surprised to see more political candidate's taking this approach in the future.
Work(s) Cited:
Bogost, Ian and Gonzalo Frasca: Video Games Go to Washington: The Story Behind The Howard Dean for Iowa Game.
Whelan, Kevin. Political Activism: Bending the Rules.
