VideoBiblioAwesome-Ography

Here's some stuff about awe and games and stuff:

Working Thesis:

Videogames have followed the path they have not just to play to adolescent male power fantasies, but to serve that purpose of channeling and preserving the public's awe at advanced computing technology. The escapist, fantastic, and violent aesthetics within games are ultimately a result of the residue of this original purpose of the medium, and as the medium grows more into a mode of expression separated from the restraints and potential of the technologies it is bound to, videogames will depart ever further from fantasy and escapism to delve into more realistic and thematically mature content.

Annotated Bibliography:

Bissel, Tom. Why Video Games Matter. New York: Random House, 2010. Print.

This is a former Wall Street Journal writer's book on his perspective on videogames in culture. He talks a lot about the maturation of the medium and the move from "spectacle" to "message." He also makes smart comparisons to the histories of other mediums that could be useful to me.

Bills, Paul. This Storify story I curated on art and videogames might prove useful.

Bogost, Ian. How to Do Things With Videogames. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2011. Print.

Another source I've used before. He has a whole chapter on reverence that is a totally unique perspective on games and links well with how games can inspire awe based on their unique blend of narrative and technology.

Egenfeld-Nielsen, Simon, Jonas Heide Smith, and Susana Pajares Tosca. Understanding Video Games: The Essential Introduction. 2nd ed. New York: Routledge, 2013. Print.

This is my textbook for my IHUM class on games and play right now. It gives a great overview of the history of games that I can use.

Graets, J.M. "The Origin of Spacewar." Wheels.org. Web. 21 Mar 2014.

This is an article written by one of the guys who made Spacewar! the first modern videogame. I've already quoted from it extensively in my first five pages. 

Kirkpatrick, Graeme. Aesthetic Theory and the Video Game. New York: Manchester UP, 2011. Print.

I got this book from the library in blind hope that all the matching words with my paper title would mean it was useful to me. It turns out it is! He talks specifically about how game controllers help us to feel like we're carving something out the raw potentiality of the computer. Gorgeous, and exactly what I'm going for.

Koster, Raph. A Theory of Fun for Game Design. Scotsdale: Polygraph Press, Inc., 2005. eBook.

This is a very often-sited game design primer from an industry legend. He has a big section on where games should go that I should be able to use.

McGonigal, Jane. Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World. New York: Penguin, 2011. Print.

This is a major work in the field of videogames that I've used often. However, it serves the purpose of this paper because it outlines why videogames are so attractive to players over "real life" and emphasizes the reason is because it connects people to grand, epic narratives and purpose--to awe. 

reddit.com subreddit "True Gaming." This community on reddit is dedicated to "meaningful, insightful, and high-quality discussion on all topics gaming." I'm sure there's some threat buried in there I could use.

Reinerman-Jonesa, Lauren, Brandon Sollins, Shaun Gallagher, and Bruce Janz, "Neurophenomenology: an integrated approach to exploring awe and wonder." South African Journal of Philosophy 32.4, 2013. 295-309. Web. 21 Mar 2014.

This nuerophenomenological study proves that simulations can induce real awe and wonder in the human brain.

Tavinor, Grant. The Art of Videogames. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009. Print.

This is a book written by an art professor about games. He has a whole chapter on emotions in videogames that I could pull from. 

Van Cappellen, Patty and Vassilis Saroglou, "Awe Activates Religious and Spiritual Feelings and Behavioral Intentions." Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 4.3 223-236, 2012. Web. 21 Mar 2014.

This interesting psychological study talks about how awe makes us believe in something greater than ourselves and helps us to connect and feel one with others, a phenomena videogames definitely take advantage of.

Valdesolo, Piercarlo, and Jesse Graham, "Awe, Uncertainty, and Agency Detection." Psychological Science, 2014, Vol.25(1), pp.170-178, 2014. Web. 21 Mar 2014.

A psychological study that shows that when we are in awe, we are more likely to believe in the supernatural and to view events as driven by agency. Videogames take advantage of this phenomenon to help "humanize" computers and make us believe they are more than just algorithms running really fast.

 Next steps:

Write it! Really, that's it, though. I have a pretty solid outline and I know where I'm going to pull from all of these sources, so I just have to dig in. Oh, yeah, and it might be good to know a page range/limit I'm aiming for. That's been ambiguous in this class.