McGonigal: Gameness of games

McGonigal states that we have taken games into our culture and use it in our language.  She mentions that we use the words 'game' and 'player' in our everyday language. Other terms such as "Don't play games with me" and  "This isn't a game" are all things that I along with friend, family and other people that share in the same culture as me have used. (McGonigal 2011, pg: 19 & 20)  "This admonishment implies that games encourage and train people to act in ways that aren’t appropriate for real life." I think that McGonigal is making a valid point here, when we think about it we are actually aware of what we may become due to playing games. Even though these metaphors so not 'reflect' what it means to play a well-designed game, they are just reminders of our 'worst fears' about games. (McGonigal 2011, pg 20)


Gaming is becoming more and more popular year on year. "Games today come in more forms, platforms, and genres than at any other time in human history." (McGonigal 2011, pg: 20) There are many forms of games and gaming platforms in the 21^st century. There are many forms of gaming around like video games, board games, internet games, arcade games and much more, too much to mention really. This just shows the sheer size of the market for gaming. A game invites the ‘gamer’ to come up against needless hurdles which involve hard work and optimistic engagement. McGonigal believes there are four defining traits of games. They are the goal, the rules, feedback system and voluntary participation. (McGonigal 2011, pg: 21)

McGonigal points out to us that ‘winning’ and ‘competition’ are features which enhance the gaming experience. However, they are not considered as defining traits of gaming. The defining traits are broken down;

The Goal: The end achievement, the purpose of starting the game there must be a triumph

The Rules: The restrictions that the gamer must obey to get to ‘The Goal’

Feedback system:  A personal/unique reflection of the gamers performance which include levels and scores, unlocked items etc.

Voluntary participation: The gamers ability to follow the above traits in order to play the game correctly

Games have lots of benefits like being a form of physiotherapy, improve hand-eye co-ordination, induce decision making, team building and communicating, enhance creativity and can teach you problem solving, motivation and cognitive skills. I agree with gaming for all the above benefits but not all is so positive. Gaming can encourage violence, crime, alcohol and drug misuse as well as that it can effect academic studies and can even lead to addiction.

 

 

New Media: A Cyborg Encounter

Consumers and technology are being seen as one in the post human, cyborg age. The consumers are considered as cyborg because of the continuous nonstop consumptions and interaction with technologies.  An Australian performance artist, Stelarc suggests that "human evolution is aided and determined by technology"(Shaw D, 2008. Pg: 82). Cyborg is a human who has certain physiological processes aided or controlled by mechanical or electronic devices.

Norbert Wiener thought up the term Cybernetics, Cybernetics speaks of the relationship between mechanism and its environment. Essentially it likens humans to machines. In Norbert’s theory he explains how we humans are made up of patterns much like technologies are made up of codes. The human’s codes or DNA is the pattern Norbert refers to; it is the carrier of genetic information and defines physical characteristics. Our personalities are shaped by the environment we expose ourselves to as individuals.  Wiener considered what would happen if humans were to transmit themselves. Much similar to the same way radios and televisions transmit patterns of sounds and light. Through New Media technologies humans can ‘transmit’ themselves. Online dating sites allow humans to create online profiles of themselves that we see through our Smart Phones, Tablets and Computer Screens. (Shaw D, 2008)    

  

  The age of New Media has introduced the combination of humans and technologies to create what some theorists are referring to as ‘cyborgification’. In today’s age we use technology to enhance our experience of life. With social networking sites like Twitter we have the ability to communicate with our idols which we could not have done previous to this invention.

In my eyes the consumers have two choices, to see technology as a threat or an extension of the body as such. "Machines are not simply prostheses that we 'add on' to our minds or bodies in order to facilitate and extend our capabilities but part of the environment out of which we produce ourselves" (Shaw D, 2008. pg:92) The cyborg culture is when human and technology work together as one. It can be said the us humans are using machine parts of us like to do what would be considered as analogue tasks in a digital way. In one sense it could be said that New technologies and media aren’t taking over but helping us communicate and gain information. On the other hand it could be said that it is effecting us in our traditional socialisation and dumbing us down through the ease of which we can access information.   

Bibliography

Shaw, D 2008 'Technoculture: The Key concepts' Oxford Berg Press

The Language of New Media: Transcoding

In 'The Language of New Media', Manovich dicusses a principle of transcoding as, "the most substantial consequence of media's compterization." (Manovich, 2002: 63). Computerization is the process that converts media into computer data. This is highly significant in today's culture.

If we look at the world as having two layers, a computer layer and a cultural layer, it would be logical to say that each layer could affect the other (Manovich, 2002). For example, take our use of mobile phones. Before the invention of the now common mobile phone, people in general had to either remember or write down phone numbers in a personal phone book. Now with our mobile phones having phone books within them we culturally do not need to remember phone numbers.

There are many ways in which the computer layer affects the cultural layer and "as hardware and software keep evolving", (Manovich, 2002: 64) so do our cultural uses of them. Take our encyclopedias, homes used to have, and some still do, a collection of print encylopedias that could be used for referencing various topics. As computers became more efficient, encyclopedic software was created, like 'Encarta', this was a breakthrough as it meant that you could search the entire content for key words which made referencing much easier. Although currently we do not need such software as the internet has all of our information on sites such as Wikipedia, IMDB and even Google. Culturally it is normal to look up anything that we are quizzical about on these websites without a second thought.

A simple database used to just store and organise data, but now we can look at it being transcoded into video games, like 'Football Manager'. This unintentionally caused many effects on people, in addiction and behavioural patterns. Comedian Jason Manford was rude to a Manchester City player because he turned up late for training in his game (Nakrani, 2013). Fans of the game have applied for Football Manager jobs in real life, using the game as a work reference. One was successful (Burke, 2012). This is a extreme example of how transcoding affects our cultural behaviour, although an important one. Both the computer layer and cultural layer walk hand in hand and as one wants to change, so shall the other.




Bibliography

Nakrani, S. (2013) Football Manager craze has matured into a full-grown national obsession, Guardian, 21 August [Online]. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2013/aug/21/football-manager-craze-lionel-messi (Accessed: 16 October 2013)

Manovich, L. (2002) The Language of New Media (Cambridge, Mass: London MIT Press)

Burke, E. (2012) 21-year-old with 10 years' Football Manager experience becomes manager at FC Baku, SiliconRepublic, 22 November [Online]. Availbale at: http://siliconrepublic.com/digital-life/item/30360-21-year-old-with-10-years (Accessed: 16 October 2013)