CCT300+Lab1

CCT300 First Assignment

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Aarseth's article poses an essential question that is yet to be answered: how should game studies break free from the gravity of an inter-disciplinary presumption and develop it’s own autonomy. On one hand, video games can be regarded as a compilation of various fields: film, cinematography, visual arts, literature, computer science, sociology and many more, on the other hand, no other media can give audiences the same kind of pleasure as video games do. They are a genre of their own. No other forms of entertainment could replace them. ======

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The most unique feature about video games that set it apart from other media is its infinite potential to engage its players within an interactive community. In addition, some games (ex: Sims and Spore) offer players the tools to showcase their own creativity. In Sim 3, players can customize almost every single aspect of the game: from the look and feel of furniture to Sim character’s appearance, personality and relationship with other Sims. Players can upload their designs to an online community where other players could download and integrate them as part of their own games. Leading game developer at Electronic Arts, Will Wright, proposes that the future of games entail playing and building a game simultaneously; a player’s creation is uploaded to the server and immediately incorporated as part of the world or content of the game. (Wright, 2008) ======

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Despite the fact that video game may be inspired from traditional media, there are increasing evidences indicating video games’ burgeoning influence over mass media in recent years. Popular TV shows such as The Big Bang Theory often depicts and references gaming culture, acknowledging its importance within the geek demographics and use it as an effective tactic to appeal targeted youth audiences; comics “Scott Pilgrim” by Brian Lee O’Malley, now a major motion picture, incorporates gaming interface and player’s experiences as part of the story narration – creating an oddly humorous, paradoxical, inter-textual reality that most readers find fascinating. ======