Game Changer Episode 1: My Wife Maddie

Sorry this took me a couple days--I left right from our final to family Easter/sister-in-law mission homecoming festivities, but finally here's my video: http://youtu.be/qpEPi1jdWGA

Thanks for a great semester everybody!

Submitted! Journal of Games Criticism

I'm happy to announce that I submitted a version of my final paper to the Journal of Games Criticism.

Wohoo!

How Videogames and Awe Met and Made a 15-Page Paper Together

The idea for my final paper actually came last semester as I was in Dr. Burton's digital culture class and looking forward to this semester's Literature of Awe class.When this semester started, I got a bit of a special head start on my paper as Dr. Burton gave me the awesome opportunity to present to the class a few games that I thought really inspired awe. In selecting games and moments to highlight, I really considered what about games can inspire awe, which I started to explore in a follow-up post to my presentation.

That led directly into outlining the specific attributes of games I thought created awe, then a list of emotions that videogames could bring at awe-inspiring levels perhaps better than any other medium. In putting together a post about different presentation formats, I came again to a video I had watched before by Chris Franklin about how technology influences the content of videogames. This led me back to the idea I had last semester, and when it came time to give a preliminary outline, I had two strong ideas, but ultimately, feedback from classmates led me to pick the second idea, which was the idea I had last semester. My paper went through some drafts, and the annotated bibliography really helped me gather some solid sources. I asked Chris Franklin for some feedback, but unfortunately never got any (yet). Finally, for my final draft I added a lot more specific treatment of awe itself via Burke and some psychological studies, which really helped define and drive my argument throughout the rest of the paper, which I refined in light of those additions.

I've never written a paper quite this long before, and I think it shows, but overall I'm happy with it and I do think I make some interesting points that add something significant to the study of videogames.

Final Version of Tech, Awe, and Videogames Paper

Here it is! My final draft of my paper on the relationship between technology, awe, and videogames.

Find it here.

Thanks for reading!

First Full Videogame, Tech, Awe Paper Draft

Yay! I made it to 15 pages! Go here to see my latest iteration of my paper:

Find it here.

Some improvements this time around is much more real theoretical background about awe, that really helped point my paper, actually. I also added more specific treatments of individual games, and actually wrapped everything up in a conclusion with a big "So what" section.

Yay!

Fan mail: Asking for Help with Videogame Paper

I know I didn't actually mention this guy as a target expert/enthusiast for my paper, but I decided to email Chris Franklin for feedback on my paper. I'm using his video on how violence shows up in videogames as much for technical reasons as market drive as a big basis for my argument (and it was a huge inspiration for my paper, really), so I emailed him and asked him what he thought. Below is the text of the email I sent him. So far, no response.


Hey Chris,

My name's Paul Bills and I'm a fellow videogame writer studying English at Brigham Young University. I'm working on a long paper right now tracking how videogames' connection to technology has guided and shaped their aesthetics.

Basically, my claim is that games are so often fantasy and science fiction because those genres have the conventions to best channel awe, and videogames since Spacewar! have served the ancillary purpose to mediate people's awe at technology and give them a way to feel in control of something they really don't understand or know how to control. Graetz said that his team made Spacewar! to give people something to look at and play with when they came to the computer, and my argument is that games have kind of just kept doing that.

Tech, Awe, and Videogames (v. 0.4)

Here's my latest update to my paper on technology, awe, and videogames. I'm up to 9.5 pages, but looking back at my original outline there's a lot I haven't worked in there yet that I'd still like to be there, and the whole paper feels a little loose.

http://1drv.ms/1gS0A7A

The Ghost of Awe in the Machine of Videogame Aesthetics (v.2)

Here's my second draft of my paper on tech, awe, and videogames.

http://1drv.ms/1gS0A7A

I've added more sources and removed the "throat clearing" Dr. Burton talked about in class.

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. 

First 5 Pages of "The Awesome Ghost in the Machine of Videogame Aesthetics"

So, my creative prototype is already up, but my work on my paper was falling behind, so here's a link to my work in progress of a paper (the final paragraph is something I cut from the intro but didn't want to totally get rid of):

http://1drv.ms/1dcdxyy

Let me know what you think!

Two Ideas on Awe in Videogames: Paper Treatments

So, ever since Dr. Burton met together and came up with my creative project idea, I've kind of been lost on my paper topic, but I think I've come up with something that will work and that I can get published. I just need to pick which of two angles to take.

FIRST ANGLE

Basically, I want to write a theoretically grounded, detailed look at the specific ways game designers can elicit awe in players. Rather than just listing the ways games can inspire awe, I want to get deep into the techniques used and the psychology employed. I'm inspired by Greg's more theoretically-grounded posts and I want to follow that example more. This paper will read as much like design advice as it will a scholarly paper. I plan on including analysis of specific techniques employed by different games and how those techniques function. Here's an outline of how I expect it to go:

1. Intro
1. Art and awe-discussion on how awe is associated with great art and expression
2. What is awe? How is it elicited? How do games elicit awe?
2. Definitions of awe
1. Theoretical definitions of awe
2. Reasons we've developed awe as an emotion
3. Mechanics of awe
1. Theoretical strategies for developing awe in an audience
2. Examples from other arts that are often cited as great at eliciting awe
4. Videogames and awe
1. Re-examination of theories of awe in light of videogames
1. What strengths does the videogame medium give designers specifically in creating awe in the player?
2. What weaknesses does the medium present, and how can they be compensated for?
2. Examples
1. Wide range of examples of innovative games that have elicited awe in their respective moments, and how they did it--could include work from emotions post here
3. Technology's role
1. How dependent is the medium on its technology to create awe?
1. Examples of games that have caused awe with technology
2. Games that have inspired awe despite technological limitations
4. Story
1. Strengths and weaknesses of telling stories in videogames
2. Strategies for successfully producing awe in videogame narratives, with examples
5. Reasons to cultivate awe in and through videogames
1. Awe, when done right, is both intellectual and emotional, and that's exactly the spot games need to hit to continue expanding their audience and importance
5. Conclusions
1. Summary of given strategies and arguments
2. Final statement of importance of continuing progress of the medium to the wider world of art and culture.

SECOND IDEA

This other idea is actually a paper idea I had last semester while anticipating this class and had gotten really excited about, then completely forgotten until I sat down to write this outline post. I don't know which idea I should go with, though, so I'm giving both of these and asking you all to help me pick.

This paper is specifically on the connection between awe caused by advancing videogame technology and to what extent the actual content of the game is meant to inspire awe. For instance, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim was perhaps the most technologically advanced game ever made when it came out, and at the same time, it had an epic storyline involving fighting dragons, saving cities from death, and travelling all around the world. My argument is that so many videogames stories use tropes and conventions of awe because they are also trying to inspire awe through showing off their technology. This is an alternative explanation to why games are so focused on fantasy and violence and escapism--because those things inspire awe, and awe has been an implicit fundamental goal of the medium ever since its inception.

1. Intro
1. Outline argument: videogame content is determined in large part by the implicit fundamental goal of videogames to inspire awe through innovative technologies.
2. Brief history of videogames
1. Give a background on goals and drives in the early videogame industry to show how that created a certain mindset about the purposes and potentials of the medium that still influence designers today
2. Spacewar! and early games--meant to justify computers
3. Pong and the rise of arcades--meant to draw players back again and again through both mechanics and novelty
1. This is why graphics mattered, the novelty enhanced the fantasy, which drew revenue
4. MUDs, the text adventure, and online gaming--first time story was emphasized over technology (no graphics), but introduced idea of online muliplayer gaming, promising awe scales of participation (good for both revenue and player engagement)
3. Modern games have inherited this legacy and continue to push technological boundaries to increase player engagement
1. Each try to couch that technology within the proper epic storyline to merge form and content into an irresistible "mind-blowing" experience that gamers can't avoid.
1. Examples (Skyrim, Shadow of the Colossus, GTAV, etc.)
2. MMOs--blurring lines of fantasy and reality to further inspire awe on both technological and narratological levels
1. Examples (World of Warcraft, Halo community challenges, Destiny, DayZ)
4. The converse is also true
1. Rise of "nostalgia" and "retro" game design techniques has actually inspired the downgrading of the storylines as well
1. Examples (Papers, Please, Rogue Legacy, Braid)
2. This is why "art" games often de-emphasize graphics, because it lets them pull back to realistic and grounded "human" stories that the traditional art crowd has always loved
5. Therefore, the reason game narratives have so often taken the shapes they have is not simply teenage power fantasy, but the tropes of awe that have always been present and a tacit requirement of the medium to justify itself and the technology it's built upon
1. Games beginning to recognize this and break trend to serve new goals
1. The Last of Us, grounded human story, mind-blowing tech, goal of "art" on every level
1. Gone Home similar track (tech not as impressive, but meant to appear realistic)
6. Prediction: as games become less dependent on constantly improving technologies (especially graphics), the medium will break further from the constant power fantasy as the medium will become less concerned with justifying and showing off its underlying technology.
1. Comparisons to film--follows same pattern of epic technology, epic story, had similar pattern of first films having to justify and explain film itself, then were set free to exlore whatever they wanted, now you can make a film about anything
7. Conclusion
1. There's more to the content of games than just power fantasies and ruining our children. The history has dictated a lot of patterns, but the medium will break free from those patterns, and in many ways has already begun to do so.

There are my two ideas. If you made it this far, you already deserve my thanks. Thanks for reading. Also, if you made it this far, please take the extra couple seconds to leave on a comment on which idea you think I should pursue.

Possible Venues

All of the venues I scoped out for my previous possible venues post would be appropriate for either of these papers. If I did the first idea, I would add Gamasutra, a site specifically geared at game designers. If I do the first idea I would likely send a shortened version there. However, I think the venue I will most focus on as I write is Journal of Games Criticism. It has the level of sophistication I'm aiming for as well as the subject matter, and they're pretty new so my likelihood of publication is higher.

Next Steps

I now just need to figure out which idea to pursue. If I do the first idea I'll have to do a lot of research into theoretical backgrounds of things. For the second idea I'll also need to research, but I have a lot of resources readily available on a lot of those things, especially vidoegame history.

Game Changer: Creative Prototype

Here's my video I showed in class as a prototype for my creative project:

Project Outline: People, Meet Games

For my project of awe, I’d like to do a YouTube channel show (tentatively) titled People, Meet Games. The object of the show is to take a kind of person that normally doesn’t play or like videogames—ideally, they should think they’re useless or pointless or something—find someone that fits that type, talk to them, and then find a game for them that could give them a good experience with videogames and hopefully produce some kind of positive emotional reaction, even awe. Each episode would then be the story of one such encounter, with a different kind of person covered in each episode.

The goal of the show, then, is to provide some solid videogame criticism for a general audience, but in a different light. By nature of how the show is designed, it would always have to be accessible to non-gamer audiences, and thus it would serve the function of widening both videogames’ appeal and understanding in broader culture. Most non-gamers tend to have an antagonistic perspective on videogames, thinking they’re simply a waste of time or overly violent, messing with our brains and such. People, Meet Games would be my attempt to show the world that while many games fit their mold, a great many more do not. It has been my philosophy for a while now that yes, some people play videogames far too much, but most people don’t play them nearly enough. In a world increasingly dominated by algorithmic systems and advanced technology, videogames are the medium born of that world meant to help us understand and embrace that world. Neither the industry nor the world as a whole can afford the stereotypes and misunderstandings to continue any longer. People, Meet Games would be my contribution to that change.

           

Here’s a typical layout of how an episode would go:

1.      I’d introduce the kind of person we’re looking at this episode (e.g. Moms, Lawyers, Gamer Wives, Grandmas, Game Violence Skeptics, etc.) and discuss a little of the history of that group’s typical objections to games. Alternatively, we could look at a specific issue many people have with videogames each week, e.g. Violence, Waste of Time, Kills Attention Span, etc.

2.      I’d introduce the specific person we’re interviewing for the show, and we’d have a brief chat about their experience with videogames (ideally very minimal) and their opinions on videogames, and specifically why they hold such opinions.

3.      I’d introduce the game we’ve picked for the person and talk about why this game is successful and smart (some quick criticism, basically) and then explain why I chose this specific game for this specific person/issue.

4.      Show me and the person playing the game together. We wouldn’t have to play the game for very long, and what we’d actually show could be pretty short, but the point of this part is to see the person reacting to the game and capture their reactions/interactions to watch how they respond and if they’re opinion changes at all by playing the game.

5.      We’d end the show with a little post-game chat about what the person thought about the game and if their opinions have changed at all from when we began.

6.      Finally, if we convinced the person that games are useful and/or relevant and helped clear up their misconceptions/prejudices, I’d end the show by giving the project a point, and each episode we’d show our current “score” of how many people we’ve convinced out of how many attempts.

I would imagine and hope that these episodes are not long at all, perhaps 10 minutes at most.

Here’s a quick overview of how the first episode might go, “Mom, Meet Games”:

1.      A lot of moms in the world are scared of videogames and the effects they’re having on their kids. They’re scared their kids spend too much time with them; they’re scared they’re too violent; they’re scared they’re running their attention spans. In fact, Moms got so worried that parents in California tried to ban the sale of violent videogames altogether, leading to a landmark Supreme Court decision declaring videogames as a form of expression and therefore protected under the First Amendment of the US Constitution. (And some other stuff, but that’s a sample.)

2.      Growing up, my Mom didn’t let us have any videogame consoles and very limited computer games. Recently, she’s loosened up a bit on videogames and let a Wii into the house and helped me get my Playstation 3, but she still doesn’t play much herself. (I’d then interview what my mom thinks about videogames now, why she doesn’t play any, if she’s worried about kids playing games, etc.)

3.      The game I’d probably pick for my mom is Flower. She’s mostly worried about playing videogames herself because she doesn’t know how to use a controller. Flower has the lowest threshold for controller literacy imaginable. Also, it’s a very relaxing and organic experience, and uses technology to actually make us think about nature, which I think she’ll really enjoy. (And some more on the game.)

4.      Some shots of the controller in Mom’s hands, some footage from over the shoulder as we sit and play together, some footage of her actual playthrough with her voiceover reactions.

5.      After playing, I’d  chat with my mom about what the game made her think about, how she felt with the controller, and how she thinks kids might react to the game. I’d then ask her opinion on games in general and if it’s changed at all after Flower.

6.      Of course I’m going to be able to convince my mom; People, Meet Games now has a score of 1 out of 1.

Possible Venues for Writing/Video on Videogame Awe

So I'm still not totally sure what form my final paper is really going to take, but I do know it'll be about videogames, so that's enough to go on!

Here's some places I could go to with my final paper:

Ontological Geek. I was recommended to submit to this site by the guy I worked with to get published on First Person Scholar. It's a site for "people who like to think about the games they play" started by a "bored philosophy student" that has grown considerably. I could definitely produce something to fit this niche.

Medium Difficulty. Also a recommendation from the FPS guy, this site is "interested in critical examinations of games and related cultural phenomena." Also right up my alley.

The Escapist. This is a site I've found and often come to for the content I read that inspires the kind of stuff I write. They are open to submissions, so they're a definite candidate. And they have the benefit of being quite popular as well.

Destructoid: Bloggers Wanted. This is another site I found while poking around on other videogame sites. They have a monthly "bloggers wanted" assignment around a certain theme. This month's is on "the past, present, and future of videogames" which I could definitely work any of my ideas into.

Journal of Games Criticism. I found this by Googling "video game criticism submissions." It's a brand new "non-profit, peer-reviewed, open-access journal" surrounding videogames. They have links to First Person Scholar in their submission guidelines, so they seem like a good candidate for my kind of writing.

Unwinnable. Unwinnable is a site I found in this article about where to find videogame criticism. (I also discovered in this article that Critical Distance, a game criticism aggregator that featured my stuff last year, is apparently a super big deal, so that makes me feel good.) They accept pitches the first week of every month, and they focus on higher criticism rather than just simple reviews, so my stuff should fit in.

There's a lot of talk about videogames going around in the world right now.

Getting Ideas Out There...With the Help of Videogames/Anime

Videogame criticism is in the perfect sweet spot culturally right now that it demands both substantial ideas as well as mass-market appeal. This turns into some very interesting videos and presentations crossing back and forth over that line in very interesting ways. Here are some of my favorite:

While not actually about videogames, this first video talks about Roland Barthes and the "death of the author" in relation to an anime series:

This next video gives a great overview of feminism and videogames, then gives some solid theoretical background and thoughts:

The End of Art and Awe: Hegel in the Digital Age

From the title, you are perhaps expecting this post to be a depressing, cynical attempt at tearing down our modern notions of art and wonder, and if that's the case, then I have to apologize: this will surely disappoint. To understand what I really mean in saying "the end of art" or "the end of awe," though, we have to have a foundation in German Romanticism and, more specifically, in the art
istic philosophies of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel.

Hegel is perhaps best known for the eponymous Hegelian dialectic, which suggests that through the recursive struggle and interplay of thesis and antithesis--of action and reaction--mankind has, at various times, been able to arrive a state of synthesis or resolution, wherein he is able to achieve real progress. In his Introduction to The Philosophy of Art, Hegel applies the dialectic to the progression of art, stating essentially that the highest form of art is that in which the sensuous form (the work of art itself) and the spiritual form (the ideas conveyed by the work of art) find harmony or resolution. "[T]he perfection and excellency of art," he writes, "must depend upon the grade of inner harmony and union with which the spiritual idea and the sensuous form interpenetrate" (376). Hegel suggests that in lower forms of art, such as sculpture or architecture, the thesis and antithesis of spiritual and sensuous forms have yet failed to reach an equilibrium. The highest form of art--the end or aim of art in Hegel's view--is in poetry, wherein the art itself is capable of conveying the full import and meaning of the spiritual or philosophical idea. This was not to imply, however, that art had or would come to an end or that poetry represented the final destination of human expression and artistic representation. Rather, poetry was the degree of synthesis to which mankind had climbed up until that point.

More Emotions from Video Games

+Paul Bills posted recently about video games' potential to evoke emotional response from players, and this was something that I wanted to touch upon a little bit. I've played video games almost all of my life; my family got a SuperNintendo when I was like three, but even before that, my dad had an old Commodore computer with such thrilling adventures as pixel Olympics or, later, Frogger. Now, we have stunning, million-dollar productions with complex themes and characters, stunning scenery, moving soundtracks, and design teams in the hundreds and thousands. The point I'm trying to get at, though, is that games have come a long way in the past twenty or so years. They still have "a lot of growing up to do," as Grant Tavinor puts it in The Art of Video Games, but they are coming into their maturity and are becoming a powerful tool for influencing the human psyche and emotional state.

Paul mentioned a number of emotions, and I wanted to build on his list in contributing what I feel to be paramount pieces in the history of video games.

1. Longing - Final Fantasy

First off, I'll admit that I've played only five or six of the games in the Final Fantasy series (there have been, as I recall, something like 15 *Final* Fantasies to date), but they have nonetheless had a profound impact on me and on my development as a gamer, a thinker, and a creator. In my mind, these games are the most emotionally complex and evocative games on the market, conveying a diversity of profound messages about humanity and the world. For me, though, the most powerful of emotions in the series is that of longing. I don't know that I can pinpoint exactly what it is that so draws the player into the Final Fantasy realm--a rich and immersive world, a profound sense of connection to the divine, a strong ideal of personal agency and potential to change the world, or just sheer awesomeness in fighting monsters and calling on arcane magics--but the longing for that world, for its vitality, is very real. The series has been the subject of an enormous volume of fan fiction, and deviantArt is plastered with thousands upon thousands of examples of art inspired by the fantastical and beautiful world of Final Fantasy. I honestly feel like Final Fantasy is responsible for the aesthetic and thematic qualities of the JRPG genre as a whole and has served as a model for most major modern story games.

When Videogames Win

So I already did a list of what aspects of videogames are truly "awe"-some, but now I want to do a list of emotions that I feel videogames can evoke more or better than any other medium. Essentially, this is a list of emotions that videogames can evoke at awe-inspiring levels.

1. Loneliness

A screenshot from Dear Esther

I just played Dear Esther for the first time this week, and ended up going through it twice. Essentially (maybe--the game's kind of ambiguous), it's a game about a man dealing with the loss of his wife, and that sense of loneliness and longing is recreated by the game itself as you walk along an island totally alone, not even seeing your own reflection to reinforce the presence of humanity in the game's world. To make it worse, the game has 10 "ghosts" that only show up extremely briefly or when you're not looking directly at them, taking away any other human presence right as it's noticed--or even before it's noticed, as most players miss most of the ghosts entirely. No piece of media has ever made me feel so lonely. I actually found myself obsessively searching for the ghosts the second time I played because I didn't want to have to walk through the island all alone again. It's simply awesome to me that the game didn't just communicate that someone else was lonely, it made me lonely in a very real sense.

2. Triumph

This one's obvious, perhaps, but so essential to the medium. Jane McGonigal helped popularize the term "fiero" as the specific word for the feeling of triumph after you've tried something over and over and finally perfected a skill. Essentially, she argues, videogames give this feeling stronger and more reliably than any other activity on Earth. Ultimately, she argues, this trait of videogames should be incorporated into reality as much as possible.

I felt this myself recently as I played through Guacamelee!. The game itself isn't terribly difficult if you're familiar with basic conventions of action and platformer videogames like Super Mario Bros; however, to unlock an alternate ending to the game where you actually save the girl, you have to work ten times as hard to collect five orbs that come at the end of extremely difficult sequences. I spent the better part of a Sunday going through just one of these sequences to try and get it right, but when I did it the sense of relief, triumph, and accomplishment was so tangible it was awe-inspiring.

Yes, vidoegame accomplishments aren't "real," but they're so satisfying and passionate that no other medium even comes close to delivering the same experience.