Threefer
May 1st, 2008 Billy
Looking over the past blog entries I have written I have noticed that most of my posts relate a specific videogame I have played for class to concepts from the readings. Something that I mention often in my posts is the concept of flow, starting with my first post on the videogame Flow. A reason I mention it a lot is that it seems like it is one of the main things that makes a videogame a videogame. A good videogame captures player’s attention causing the player to get lost in the game world, so it seems like an important thing to consider when interpreting any videogame. Also I noticed in many of my posts I have attempted to find the reason the games were made and what the intentions of the creator were. So in a way I seem to look at the games as a type of art since I attempt to find out what the artist/creator’s intentions were when developing the videogame.
One way my blogging has changed is at first I seemed to be more focused on interpreting the details of the videogame rather than the larger topics that were related to the game. However as time went by I believe I was better able to use major concepts and ideas from the readings and from class discussions to make more in depth comments. However I do not know if that is because the way I was blogging had changed or whether it was the type of videogames that we were playing. From simple games without many messages like Pac-Man or Flow to games like September 12th and McDonald’s videogame where there clearly is a message and a lot to write about. Also at first I was only trying to relate videogames to narratives or stories (such as with Passage, and Façade), but during my later posts I tried to interpret the videogames as art, especially in my last post about countergaming where I argued that countergames are basically interactive art.
An idea that I see worth revisiting is how game play and political messages fit together in videogames. For example I wrote that the game September 12 had a clear political message but was not big on game play. On the other hand, instead of focusing on a single political message, McDonald’s Videogame tries to send too many messages at once in order to create a more complex game with more interesting game play
I value the game journal because it has given me an opportunity to understand topics that I have been confused about. Many times I would begin a post with a certain view on a subject, but after writing for a while I would see something I had not seen before which would completely change my view on the subject. After writing out my ideas and reading other people’s ideas, I had a better understanding of the subject.
Entry Filed under: Game Log
