Category Archives: Links

Gender’s Influence on Gaming

Today’s discussion touched upon the identity of Chell and the effect that it has on the game. Specifically, we briefly discussed how the fact that she is female has an effect on the story and potentially the gameplay as well. This wasn’t a major theme for the class, but in case anyone wanted to do some further reading on the topic, there is an article I came across yesterday which specifically addresses how a person’s in-game gender can have an effect on how he or she plays (sometimes regardless of the player’s own gender).

The author found that many male gamers played as female characters in online multiplayer games not because of the enticing view but because of how other players treated them. Whereas, male characters tend to appear as brutes capable of not much more than fighting and destroying, female characters are often expected to have more of a personality, subtlety and the ability to think. Thus it can be an attempt to come off as more than a brute to other players in the game that men will sometimes take on a female avatar. Nevertheless, there are still many players who do choose female characters because of their often-exaggerated shapeliness.

Videogame “Docudramas”

A docudrama is defined as a “fictionalized drama based on real events” (dictionary.com). The past few classes we’ve been focusing on what we’ve categorized as documentary style games, but I think that it is important that we differentiate between the documentary games and what I would view as these “docudrama” style games. Although they seem rather similar, I think that the implications that they have can have very different impacts. Molleindustria, who created some of the games that we have played, such as Unmanned and Phone Story, take on this idea of a docudrama, in which, they create very real scenarios based on actual events. In Unmanned, the soldier doesn’t necessarily represent one soldier in particular, but rather one who represents all soldiers and their struggles in everyday life. Documentary style games I think are more like the JFK Reloaded game in which the historical details are finely tuned and paid very close attention to.Take for example however, the Flight to Freedom game. This game is a direct representation of a narrative of a fictional, although very realistic character, attempting to escape slavery in America. In this game, one of the characters is a true historical figure who actually lived and aided in the freeing of runaway slaves. This game blurs the distinction between actual historical recreation and a dramatization, and thus documentary and “docudrama” style games.

The reason I find it important to attempt to distinguish between the two is to understand the impact that these games can have that are different from one another. “Docudramas”, much like the ones on TV and the like, can give us an idea of something that is occurring, or has occurred, without taking us there necessarily. One great example of this that I’d like to introduce is Food Force. This game occurs on a fictional island, but presents all of the ideas that are crucial to our society in this time including civil war, famine, and global warming. However, it doesn’t take place in a real environment. Darfur is Dying however, informed us of the actual crisis going on in Darfur by placing us in that location, although with a fictional family. I think the fundamental distinction between these two games is their ability to make these locations real in our consciousness. Without the realism of location or storyline, it’s hard for the games to have the same impact in making us concerned or aware of the particular issue as it is meant to be viewed.

Marketing for the Sexes

Branching off from Bogost’s chapter on sex in videogames, I would like to discuss a common theme within many games I have played or seen.  The theme is marketing for the male audience.  The video below points something out; why is it that we often see male heroes running around in full armor (unless they choose otherwise), while the female versions of armor are often like metal lingerie?  Even female armor that features enough coverage, typically the armor is shaped to her body (molded around the boobs, waist, hips) rather than resting on top.  In reality, either form of armor for women would not be comfortable or very helpful.  The message here is clear; although the women’s armor in the game isn’t a selling point of the game, it may add more appeal to the game for straight male gamers, and may turn female players away from certain games, viewing it as the objectification of women.  So does this help limit the game industry, or is the industry just giving the majority of players what they want to see?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTGh0EMmMC8

Promotion in Video Games

http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-500397_162-699689.html

I was really interested in the chapter in Bogost’s book on Promotion.  I feel that he really didn’t go that in depth with the last type of promotion he mentioned, advertising in games.  This article, although a little old, mentions how  some companies are getting into advertising in video games.  The article mentions how IGN entertainment and Massive Inc. are companies that can manage game advertising.  The market for advertising in games is always increasing.  It is very easy for game developers to input pictures into billboards in games.  It is also easy for them to plug in a speech reference for non player controlled characters.  The companies just need to express their interest in wanting to advertise in games.

From the early 2000’s until recently, I had only seen advertising in sports games.  These games would feature billboards at stadiums or on the sides of race tracks.  Even so, these sponsors would only be related to the game, like the game developer, publisher, or companies involved with the production. Maybe when playing a football game you would see a corporate sponsor advertising for halftime reports or bringing you the player of the game.  It has evolved so that other companies are getting into advertising in games.  This is a great way to help game developers help pay for producing their games, and allows the companies advertising to get a good deal, as millions of people will probably be playing the game and see that ad.  There is also a whole new twist on in game advertising brought about by apps, which seems to have also caught advertisers attention.

Sexuality in Games is Changing?: Sexual Theme Elvolution in the Mass Effect Series

Disclaimer:

To begin, I would like to state that I am sorry for posting five videos, but it is hard to show what I will be talking about without using all five. The game series Mass Effect is based around the choices you make, and is pretty free in letting you make those choices. Thus, actions taken in these videos are only several of many possibilities that can occur in these games, but they are as graphic as they will ever get. Also, if you don’t want to watch them, you don’t have to, as they are “sexual” in nature. So enjoy the commentary and the videos. I highly suggest the games, they are fantastic.

Cheers,

Matthew Short

Actual Post:

As discussed in class, chapter 15 (Titllation) of How to do things with Videogames by Ian Bogost , sex and sexual themes are becoming a very strong force within the gaming culture. One of the genres of games at the forefront of this battle over sexuality is the RPG genre, and the ever-growing “epic story” branch of the genre. A game series that I have been addicted to since it first came out is the Mass Effect series, which just concluded with its third installment, released over spring break (so you can imagine that I did nothing more than waste hours of my life playing it, haha). In the game series there are over 3000 variables (if loading data from the first game to the last) that have a profound impact on gameplay and story as you play the game. While there is currently a debate going on right now about the game—the ending of the game has sparked a huge fight between developers and gamers that has cause the whole meaning of “games as art” into question again—the first round of controversy that Mass Effect causedhas been the “sex” scenes it shows throughout.

The first two videos are from Mass Effect (2007), with one having the player have sex with a female human and the other with a female alien (as a side note, the female alien’s whole race is female and they all look like her). Now when this game came out, as Bogost mentions, there was uproar over the second sex scene (the one involving the female alien). While both scenes show a surprising amount of nudity for a video game, they still follow the basic rules that one would expect for a PG-13 movie. Nudity is only shown for very few seconds and does not include frontal nudity. At the time, this was ground breaking, and caused uproar from the more conservative branches of the videogame culture. However, at the time, you could not have any homosexual relations in the game, and you could only have “sex” with the alien (which looks like a human female) only if you were male. This is despite the fact that there were major male alien characters in the game, and the player could be female.

We then come to the second game, Mass Effect 2 (2010), where I chose a scene with a different female human from the one in the first game. What I find interesting in this scene is that if you compare it to the first two from the first game, this is somewhat more conservative. The developer of the series, Bioware, seems to have been more conservative regarding what they allowed to be shown in the games during sex scenes. This might have been a response to the backlash they got for including the scenes in the first game; however, in Mass Effect 2, they add more aliens with which a character could have a “sex” scene (this included male aliens for female characters). So, if this was a response to the backlash, then why have more possibilities? In my opinion, it is that times and culture had changed since the first game came out. While one could argue that this was a reversal in how sex was portrayed in video games, the fact the player was given more options and the actual “sex” scene is longer and more provocative seems otherwise. While homosexual relations were still not allowed in this game, the leaning towards a more “liberal” outlook on sex in games seemed, to me at least, beginning to take hold in video game culture around the time of this game’s release.

Finally we arrive at the last two videos, one of a scene with the female human from the first game, and the other with a male player and a male human. Both of these videos are from the last game in the series, Mass Effect 3 (2012), which is the epic conclusion to the trilogy. I would like to start by comparing the first video from Mass Effect to the first video in this section. They both feature the same characters, and, as far as I can tell, with many of the same choices having been chosen throughout the game. Howeve, each has a difference in its sex scenes. Although we’re talking about two different games, this demonstrates how just a few years can change what is accepted in the game culture when it comes to sex. We moved from flashes of nudity here and there, to outright “undy tumbling” in the last game. That is a major shift, it shows us what is tolerated by us as a culture; however, the real proof in the argument is in what is shown/suggested in the second video from this game. Mass Effect 3 was the first widely publicized and world-renown game to allow and show homosexual relations in it. While the previous games in the series originally had plans in them to allow it (files can be found in the data to suggest it) they were never implemented in complete form. My reasoning is that we and the videogame culture were not ready for such a display. We needed maturing. We needed to be built up with normal to slightly alien sex scenes, to more and more “alien” (aliens that don’t look like blue women) sex scenes, and finally to the endless possibilities that can happen in the final game. By the time we reached the third game this year we were ready, because we had matured enough to see every side of the coin when it came to “sexual” relations.

In the end, what I am trying to show in this seeker post is that the Mass Effect series is not only ground breaking regarding its ability to make characters come alive and make one feel and experience every “relationship” he or she may have, but that it is a series that has helped us as a videogaming culture grow in what content we accept. In 2007, it would have been financial suicide to put homosexual relations into the game, as there would have been a major push back from the conservative side of the spectrum. Now we are ready, and Mass Effect 3 has opened the gateway to what I see as a new “norm” for sexual relations in video games. While all three had M (PG-13/R) ratings, I would not be surprised if in another few years games showing the exact same thing got T (PG/PG-13) ratings instead. Our culture is changing in what it will accept, and Mass Effect captured that change in sexual aspect perfectly.

 

Sex Scenes in Video Games

I had originally thought that there would be more discussion during Tuesday’s class about the chapter in Bogost’s book about titillation. Bogost gave numerous examples of graphic games that explicitly showed acts of intercourse. These examples perplexed me enough to search YouTube for them, and I was disturbed by what I saw. My initial reaction was something along the lines of, “Who on Earth would make games like these?” While video games are certainly not limited to a particular age group, they tend to be targeted more toward younger audiences. Sex is typically a very controversial topic to discuss among children and adolescents, and I was appalled that video games as graphic and uncensored as these would be made for anybody (young people in particular) to play.

I personally believe that sex should be censored to some extent in video games. Bogost mentions the game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and how a hidden sex scene aroused much controversy. Having played that game, I never saw the scene in question but did see similar scenes, which were not nearly as vulgar as the gameplay of Custer’s Revenge or Beat ‘Em and Eat ‘Em. In fact, most of the sex was off-screen, with the only clear indication being the dialogue. This is the kind of censorship that I think makes sex scenes in video games acceptable for younger players. To be fair here, the game does have mature ratings for multiple reasons, including the sex scenes. However, that certainly doesn’t mean that younger players can’t get their hands on the game and play it.

A more appropriate (or what I think is appropriate, anyway) example of a sex scene in a video game is in one of my favorite games of all time, Assassin’s Creed 2. During a cutscene near the beginning of the game, the player character, a young and charismatic Italian male named Ezio Auditore, sneaks over to a girl’s house and climbs through her window. The game allows the player to mash a few buttons, which—if tapped quickly enough—will cause Ezio to kiss the girl, remove her shirt (at which point the point of view changes so that no cleavage is seen), and coax her into bed. Everything that happens thereafter is off-screen, but the player is well aware of what is happening. There is a time jump to the next morning, at which point the girl’s livid father chases Ezio out of the house. The entire cutscene lasts for approximately a minute, but the entire thing is censored in such a way that the player knows what is happening but yet is not suddenly presented with inappropriate visuals. The link to the video is provided below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jicW7t_RvkM

Stereotypes within Genres

Bogost’s “pranks” in video games can refer to a satire about certain genres. The game Syoban Action that we played for this week for class was joke about anticipation and repetition of the original Mario game (just taking those aspects to the extreme).  Many games incorporate unbelievable physical aspects to the game that make the game more, for lack of a better term, playable (user-friendly and enjoyable).  Many Role-Playing Games (RPGs) do just this with regard to the interaction of your character and other characters.  College Humor has done many videos poking fun at some of these unbelievable, yet readily accepted, oddities in games.  In class, we discussed how types of media would resort to referencing their own media once many of the good ideas have already been taken.  However, with videos like these, someone who plays games can find humor in a reference to something they know through a different outlet (I’m not sure where “Youtube Videos” would fit as media, but it certainly isn’t under “Video Games”).  As video games have become more mainstream, references to them in other media was inevitable and “pranks” are not limited to just other video games, I feel, but could be anything from a webcomic to a video or even a blog.

A new focus in videogames: Seeker

All of our recent discussion of the usefulness of videogames is very interesting for me. I spent much of my childhood trying to justify my gaming addiction to my parents whose standard punishment was to ground me from playing my games that they claimed were rotting my brain. Even now, I look back and can’t help thinking of the “more useful” things that I could have spent my time doing. This issue however, may done away with in the near future. Not only are there the various uses for videogames that we have read about and discussed in class, but this article suggests that videogames may even be able to cure ADD. This is an especially interesting claim because of all of the time I have heard people argue that modern technology, especially videogames, are responsible for causing ADD through their quick paced overstimulation that causes people to demand immediate gratification and makes them unable to focus.

http://mentalhealth.about.com/cs/biofeedback/a/videoadd.htm

Seeker: Assassin’s Creed and Reverence

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaPONUm9K14&hd=1

This clip, from the highly popular Assassin’s Creed series, combines a lot of the aspects of videogames Bogost describes in the introductory chapters of his book.  The protagonist, Ezio, stands atop one of Rome’s most famous buildings, the Casetl Sant’Angelo, looking out over an artistic computer-generated rendering of Renaissance Rome.  The city glows with light despite the dark night sky and subtle, but emotional music plays in the background.  This is art, in the sense that art attempts to capture aesthetic beauty.

Reverence also plays a major role in this scene, as it does throughout the entire series.  Ubisoft, the game’s developer, has put a lot of effort in creating believable open-world models of famous cities, including Jerusalem, Venice, Florence, Istanbul, and Rome.  This process of rebuilding a period-accurate and fully explorable representation of cities and their major landmarks has been a trademark feature of the Assassin’s Creed games since the beginning.  It is this feature that gives the player a chance to become intricately familiar with many of the world’s most famous landmarks.

Lastly, there is even an achievement for parachuting off the top of the Castel Sant’Angelo, something that is likely only possible in a videogame.   The name of the achievement is a reference to a song by the Steve Miller Band, “Fly Like an Eagle,” a sort of easter egg prank much like those Bogost describes.

The Treachery of Sanctuary- Art

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2kZdl8hs_s

This video is of an exhibit in Creators Project San Fransisco. This work of art uses kinect motion sensors to match viewers movement. It makes art interactive (although all art is interactive in its own way) and puts the audience in control similar to a videogame. Also, similar to videogames, the viewer can only control the movement of his or her shadow and not what happens around it. There is still a limited boundary of movement which is easily visualized in this piece. The interesting part of this peice is that in the first “painting” the birds attack your shadow. And in the last painting, you, the viewer, are a bird with wings. By doing this it presents the work from different prespectives. Also, the viewer is placed into the body of the creature that attacked them in the first painting.