Background would help..

I, like my fellow students, found myself quite surprised when I was actually able to digest a portion of the Galloway reading.  Specifically, the beginning of the section ‘The Dromenon’ was familiar because of our prior readings.  Unfortunately, my understanding of the reading ranged from, “well yeah, that makes perfect sense!” to, *stare blankly; reread; Google terminology; reread; reread; stare blankly…*.

Aside from the technical jargon that hindered my understanding, I found that my ignorance of videogaming was probably holding me back.  Although I could often break down and at least logically understand what Galloway was writing, it was likely that my potential understanding from experiencing the games and terms he discussed would have been greater.

The first quadrant is about the machinic phylum and the vitality of pure matter.  Consider Yu Suzuki’s Shenmue.  One plays Shenmue by participating in its process.  Remove everything and there is still action, a gently stirring rhythm of life.  There is a privileging of the quotidian, the simple (8-9).

Although this made sense, I didn’t fully understand it because I am completely ignorant of the game Shenmue.