Notes from this week's lecture:
- The 1960's marked the introduction to the first computer game 'Space Wars' which was a simple moving dot
- Pong made it's appearance in 1972 with 2 paddles and one ball. This game was 2-player
- In 1972 came the first console system 'Magnavox Odyssey'
- The first side scrolling game came along in the early 80s, 'Defender' which had improved graphics along with the Atari 2600
- Pacman was released in arcades in 1980 then in 1982 on personal computer called Vic20
- 1982 saw the Commodore 64 hit the scene which had a 'whopping' 64meg, and the 16bit Nintendo
- Piracy became the norm in the late 80s once the Commodore Amiga hit the stores. Programmers and hackers were keen to show off what they could accomplish. All games were on cartridge and were quite easy to duplicate. 80-90% of games were pirated!
- Portable game devices like the Gameboy came out in 1990
- 1993 was a great year for gaming with the release of 'Doom'. Doom was a first person shooter game and the first to offer user generated content AND a LAN so other players could play at the same time
- MMORPG = Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game
- MMO = Massively Multiplayer Online game (not necessary role playing)
- Game Worlds are games which offer virtual worlds with rule systems, goals and levels, e.g. World Of Warcraft
- Social Worlds are multi user spaces without game mechanics - a 'social' rather than 'goal' oriented, eg. Second Life
- Stereotypically the gamer is accused of being a fat, lazy teen who lives in his parent's basement. This is far from the truth. The average gamer is 34yrs old and the gender ratio is 60% males versus 40% females with the female statistic increasing every year!
- Gold farming = paying another player to take your game character and play with it to increase it's level (strength, etc) for money. There are gamers in struggling economies who accept money to play games for other players
- The newest arena to the gaming industry is 'Social and Casual Gaming' where casual games include Angry Birds and social games including Farmville
- Angry Birds is low difficulty, offers high feedback, has interruptible play (you can play for 3mins or all day and still increase levels). It has had over 700 million downloads and boasts a huge franchise of clothing and accessories.
- Farmville is considered a social game because it relies on social networks like Facebook and utilises your existing friends to progress. This game is competitive, however you can't win. There is no end - you can only keep playing and you end up spending real money to advance or save your crops. It sucks time and money! The average Farmville player is middle aged women
- FourSquare is similar to a game in that it offers rewards for 'checking in' to businesses. Some businesses offer a free cup of coffee after so many check-in's for example
- We spend 3 million hours per week playing games. In game worlds – we become the best version of ourselves. We are willing to get up and try again after meeting obstacles. It is so much more satisfying being in game worlds than the real world (McGonigal, 2010)
- The average gamer will have spent 10,000 hours gaming by the age of 21. We can expect another 1 billion more gamers in the next decade (McGonigal, 2010).
Reflection:
I always knew that gaming was good for us. Watching Jane McGonigal's video proved it. We are our better selves whilst gaming and game worlds are more satisfying than the real world. Now I know why kids these days disappear into their computers and devices...self satisfaction. As Jane McGonigal states, "Gamers are super empowered hopeful individuals – they are individually capable of changing the world." True dat!
References:
McGonigal, J. (2010). Gaming can make a better world. TED Talks. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dE1DuBesGYM
No comments:
Post a Comment