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As an aspiring Game Designer, and current Computer Science student, I find myself appalled at the lack of intellectual debate and discussion regarding the artistic/socio-relevant facets of the Game industry.
Video Games today are much more than what they were just a few years ago. Instead of being a simple means of entertainment, I believe that video games have serious potential to be an artistic medium for social and cultural discussion, community building, and technological advancement. Video games today are what film was just a few decades ago, a high potential medium that is widely socially dismissed due to stereotypes and stigmas surrounding it.
I would like to see more academic thought and discussion regarding all facets of video games, from production to development; gaming reviews to industry opinions; gender-related gaming debates to psychological studies.
I recently posted a thread on the Broodwar section because of this very reason. I think that the community of gamers should be taking proactive steps to create dialog beyond the typical "mainstream" topics (ie: flaming, fanboys, poorly written reviews, console vs pc debates, etc.)
What about the recent development of the OnLive service and its implications for both the software and hardware gaming industry? or the increasing popularity of steam-esque cloud-based services? or the role of women in gaming and how social norms play out in multiplayer games and in social perception?
There are allot of very legitimate and very intriguing subjects arising within "gaming." The discussions, unfortunately, just aren't happening.
I'm thinking of creating a site dedicated to this very purpose, a forum that allows honest game designers/enthusiasts to have intellectual discussions regarding the game industry, and digital media in general. I think that the state of gaming today demands such services.
but what do you guys think?
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we talk about all this stuff and more in my program at USC
i'm getting an MFA in Interactive Media here (basically game design++). considering applying?
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United States47024 Posts
The discussion's there, its just that it takes place in relatively small pockets of academia (like Day[9]'s program). The problem is that the type of people that treat Video Games as a serious artistic medium are a very niche minority. There simply aren't enough of those types that video games can afford to be marketed as such. In a way its like the comic book/graphic novel medium. There are certainly academic treatments of graphic novels here and there, but its hardly a part of mainstream academia just because there aren't enough people in the general populace who take it seriously. Granted, the academic treatment of graphic novels is much more diverse than video games, but thats because they've been around longer.
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Just checking, but you know gamasutra?
Also you know of David Sirlin, game designer/balancer/Street Fighter champ (lol or not depending)? His blog/forums on game design are here. He has a few strange opinions and predictions to say the least, but at least he takes the subject seriously.
edit: yeah it's not really academia though.
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On March 30 2009 11:42 Day[9] wrote:
we talk about all this stuff and more in my program at USC
i'm getting an MFA in Interactive Media here (basically game design++). considering applying?
I am hoping to apply for that I got into the undergrad program but I couldn't afford it.
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On March 30 2009 11:42 Day[9] wrote:
we talk about all this stuff and more in my program at USC
i'm getting an MFA in Interactive Media here (basically game design++). considering applying?
Im actually enrolled at NYU as a comp sci major right now (im trying to get into game design through the programming side and/or just be a game programmer. I might apply for my grad school.
On March 30 2009 11:58 Myrmidon wrote:Just checking, but you know gamasutra? Also you know of David Sirlin, game designer/balancer/Street Fighter champ (lol or not depending)? His blog/forums on game design are here. He has a few strange opinions and predictions to say the least, but at least he takes the subject seriously.
I know about gamasutra, and gamedev.net But I didn't know about David Sirlin, thanks for the link. It's rather encouraging to see that there are those here at the TL community that do take this subject seriously.
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Oh, by the way, in case you've played ICO and missed this, here is probably the most serious analysis of a game I have ever seen. It also goes into the subject of games as (not) art. Actually if you haven't played ICO, you should just go ahead and play it anyhow. It's a great example of breakthrough game design, that's also really fun.
edit: ICO essentially develops a very simple narrative with minimalistic game design elements (no lifebars, in fact no HUD, a very washed-out visual aesthetic, etc.) and about a page worth of dialogue for the whole game. And the so-called plot/story guide I linked is 200 KB of text.
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I actually have yet to play ICO, although ive heard of it quite allot. Once again, thanks for the link.
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I'm currently taking a sociology class on this subject.
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really? what specifically?
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I imagine that that kind of thing is discussed almost exclusively within the marketing and strategy meetings of game companies.
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Physician
United States4146 Posts
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Physician
United States4146 Posts
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On March 30 2009 13:01 HyoSang wrote:
really? what specifically?
Cyberspace sociology
It deals with information technologies in general, but there's a lot of it about video games and how they affect social relationships.
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EPT
