Digital Gaming and the Media Playground Chapter 3

Digital Gaming Digital Gaming—combines text, audio, and moving images and also allows interaction with aspects of the medium in the context of the game (deciding character actions, controlling the direction of the story) The U.S. Supreme Court granted digital gaming First Amendment freedom of speech rights, ensuring its place as a mass medium

The Development of Digital Gaming In their basic form, digital games involve users in an interactive computerized environment where a desired outcome is strived for Evolved from their simplest forms in the arcade into four major formats: TV, Handheld devices, Computers, and the Internet Come in many different formats and will reach a predicted $91 billion in worldwide revenues in 2015

The Business of the Gaming Industry Today about 72% of households play computer or video games Expected worldwide revenue in 2016 : $99.6 Billion, with $36.9 going to mobile gaming for first time in history (Global Gaming Report) Women are 46% of gamers 51% of U.S. household have a video console 43% play games on smart phones 37% play on a handheld player Social aspect: 62% play games with others (in person or online)

The Penny Arcade Leisure machines known as the penny arcade were introduced in the 1880s Found in train depots, hotel lobbies, bars, and restaurants; spawned ideas for future mass media and one of the first arcade games: Pinball Machine

The First Video Games The first video game patent was issued Dec. 14, 1948, to Thomas T. Goldsmith and Estle Ray Mann for the “Cathode Ray Tube Amusement Device” --Featured the key component of the first video games: the Cathode Ray Tube (later provided images for TV and computer displays) The first home TV game was Odyssey; developed by Ralph Baer and released in 1972 by Magnavox Atari: formed in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell Created Pong, which allowed players to bounce a white dot back and forth and made noises when the ball hit the paddles Pong quickly became the most popular video game in arcades 1975: Atari introduced a personal version of Pong Atari folded in 1984, but other companies like Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft entered the market, transforming the video game business into a full-fledged industry  

Arcades and Classic Games By late ‘70s and early ‘80s, games like Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, and Asteroids competed with pinball machines and filled arcades and bars To play classic arcade games, players used joysticks and button controllers to interact with the graphics on a video screen Pac-Man introduced the avatar (a graphic interactive “character” situated within the world of the game), which quickly became the most common figure of player control Today the avatar has been represented as first person, where the player actually “sees” the virtual environment through the eyes of the avatar

Consoles Devices specifically used to play video games Atari, Nintendo, Sega Genesis, Sega Dreamcast, Nintendo Wii Three major console makers: 1. Nintendo (since the 1980s)—Wii (2006) 2. Sony (Playstation-1994)—Playstation 4 and Playstation Move 3. Microsoft (Xbox-2001) Xbox Live (2002) and Xbox One

MMORPGs, Virtual Worlds and More MMORPGs --set in virtual worlds requiring users to play with an avatar of their choice and allow users to reach large groups of players, much like mass media --Most popular MMORPG—World of Warcraft Virtual Worlds: Second Life—a 3D social simulation game set in real time features social interaction, where players build human avatars and use real money to buy virtual land and trade in virtual goods and services Games for children: Club Penguin, Webkinz, Woozworld Online Fantasy Sports games: assemble teams and use actual sports results to determine scores in online games; 34 million people played fantasy sports in the U.S. and Canada in 2012 Social Media gaming: Bubble Safari, FarmVille 2, and Words with Friends Facebook reported that in 2013, over 260 million people play games on its social network site

Trends and Issues in Digital Gaming Gaming has had an enormous effect on our culture Fantasy League sports—draft specials on ESPN, regular podcasts and even a comedy on FX called “The League” Movies: Super Mario Bros, Lara Croft, Tron---some movies have also inspired video games (and vice versa) Comic books and video games have been formed from one another

Advertising Very prevalent in digital gaming Advergames: games created solely for promotional purposes In-game advertising (integrated as billboards, logos)

Regulating Gaming… The gaming industry founded the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) in 1994 to institute a labeling system in order to warn parents of content not suitable for children; determine game ratings

Ownership and Organization of the Industry Two major components of gaming industry: 1. Console makers: The largest three makers are Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft Leading consoles today: Sony’s Playstation 4 (2013), Microsoft’s Xbox One (2013), and Nintendo Wii (2006) 2. Game publishers: Console makers also make games as well, some proprietary (only work on their consoles) Independent publishers

The Future of Gaming Video games will move beyond entertainment… Gamification: Describes how interactive game experiences are being embedded to bring competition and rewards to everyday business processes Games are already used in workforce training, in classrooms, health facilities, and in journalism

Virtual Reality Oculus Rift (Facebook) Sony Project Morpheus HTC Vibe The Void –Vision of Infinite Dimensions virtual reality play park