Video Games - Excerpt from The Second Self LCC 2700: Intro to Computational Media

Video Games in 1984 Arcades were a huge industry Many were frightened by the “holding power” games held over people Tron – people get sucked into the game The History of Arcade Games http://users.tkk.fi/~eye/videogames/arcade.html

Holding Power Turkle conducts a psychological investigation into what was so absorbing about video games They are something "you do to your head" something "you become” Changes perception of reality People enter the computer

Altered States and Different Realities Jarish describes D&D as having a greater reality than "regular fantasies" such as playing house. It is more defined allows for more exploration of rules and structures Supports more imaginative approach Do games still provide differing levels of “reality” What about them causes that?

Body and Mind Integration The use of the controller becomes “muscle memory” The body and mind synchronize to coordinate the playing of the game Challenges of the game become a means of proving oneself in the outside world

Metaphysical Machines Video Games, and the computers that allow them, take on magical properties. Infinite games. Expanding past our own comprehension takes on religious properties. Mastery of the game is an emotional struggle.

Video games reflect the computer within Computational Specificity: games are created using a specific logic. All of the dimensions of the game happen within that logic, and players inhabit that world and become a part of it. Games are a model for our "new intimacy with machines" that the computer offers.

Video Games Today What are the fears of today’s video games How are they different from 1984? How have video games adapted and changed?