Category Archives: First Readers

The point in essence, of both the articles was that video games are powerful teaching tools.  In the first article the authors made the argument that video games train the people to kill people.  While people might gain skills, such … Continue reading →

The issue of writing and re-writing history appears to have always been a point of interest.  On one hand, there is a saying that we must learn from our past as not to repeat it in the future. However, as … Continue reading →

In his article Reality Play on so called “documentary games” or games that retell real life events through a game format, author Joost Raessens tackles the debate of whether these games can truly represent real life.  His conclusion is that … Continue reading →

In Simon Penny’s article “Representation, Enaction, and the Ethics of Simulation”, he writes about how interactive entertainment has caused violence to increase, especially with younger kids who play these games. These games, he states, which are also used for simulation … Continue reading →

Although he declined to talk about it, Galloway made reference to the “Columbine theory” in his chapter on Social  Realism. He defined it quite simply: games plus gore equals psychotic behavior. This topic is also addressed by Simon Penny in … Continue reading →

Simon Penny seems to articulate that games, as simulations, train users in skills that would be helpful to violence. Raessens also mentions the connection between simulation and reality before dropping to to go to his main point of documentary games. … Continue reading →

I remember playing metroid prime and swearing my robot was a man because the suit had the broad shoulder look going on. The metriod prime/girl topic brings me to think about how we judge a character by the way they … Continue reading →

Yes the title is correct and yes I am a dude.  But I did find the feminists reaction to the Tomb Raider game very interesting.  The quote I liked best was “Some feminists view Lara the female Frankenstein monster as … Continue reading →

In Schleiner’s article about gender and gender-roles in video games, she points out early on that before Tomb Raider, characters were “almost exclusively male, with the exception of the princesses offered as battle trophies…” and while Lara Croft is most … Continue reading →

Once I got past the initial control awkwardness of Façade I was fascinated by the game. In the game the player controls a friend of a couple who has been invited over for an evening. The couple starts to argue, … Continue reading →

Montfort’s notion that works of IF are not games because they can not be beaten is especially true for Aisle.  Certainly the end of the frame in which you view the story of the man’s life is not the end … Continue reading →

When I played the three IF games for the first time I was struck by the differences in the games’ writing styles. The first game, Aisle, differs from the other two because it contains live dialogue. I don’t know if … Continue reading →

Warning – spoiler for the game Shade In the work by Nick Montfort Toward a Theory of Interactive Fiction he says that “Many IF works have a goal that is explicitly presented or that becomes clear during interaction.” The game Shade … Continue reading →

I have never played an interactive fiction game before. Interactive games require the player to think out their actions before actually acting them out. The game will also tell the player that they cannot complete a certain action or that … Continue reading →

Before reading Nick Montfort’s article, I watched his video explaining Interactive Fiction. I thought it was fascinating- the idea of having a machine smart enough to recognize text rather than pre-programmed controls was very interesting to me. It seemed to … Continue reading →