Video
Games and Cultural Analysis
Start
of Semester Survey
15
out of 22 Respondents
1. What gameplay genre(s) do you prefer and/or are most
familiar/comfortable with? (check your top three)
Genre
|
Number
|
Percent
|
WRPG
or PC RPG (Dragon Age, Fallout, etc)
|
11
|
73.3
|
Action
Adventure (The Legend of Zelda, Secret of Mana, etc)
|
9
|
60.0
|
First-Person
Shooters (Halo, Half-Life, etc)
|
7
|
46.7
|
Fighting
Games (Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, etc)
|
6
|
40.0
|
2D
Platforming (Super Mario Bros, Braid, etc)
|
5
|
33.3
|
JRPG
or Console RPG (Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, etc)
|
5
|
33.3
|
3D
Platforming (Psychonauts, Alice: Madness Returns, etc)
|
1
|
6.7
|
Point-and-Click
Adventure or Graphical Adventure (The Secret of Monkey Island, The Chzo
Series, etc)
|
1
|
6.7
|
The
number of you that favored WRPGs over JRPGs is reflective of the decline of
JRPG sales in the West over the last few console generations. This would be a
good point of discussion when we discuss Japanese culture and video games,
especially given the recent controversy surrounding Fez creator Phillip Fish’s
comments to a Japanese journalist (http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-03-07-fez-creator-phil-fish-declares-modern-japanese-games-just-suck).
The
(sadly, in my opinion) low number of people interested in the classic
Point-and-Click adventure game in also reflective of the genre’s decline or as
Ron Gilbert puts it the lack of growth in the genre (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=re_LWmRJK-g).
When we discuss games as art and the craft of game development Gilbert’s
discussion with Tim Schafer on the subject would be a good starting point.
2.
What narrative genre(s) do you prefer and/or feel most comfortable with? (check
your top two)
Genre
|
Number
|
Percent
|
Fantasy
|
13
|
86.7
|
Science
Fiction
|
9
|
60.0
|
Survival
Horror
|
4
|
26.7
|
Historical
Fiction
|
4
|
26.7
|
When
picking example games in future, I will try and lean towards fantasy games,
especially for bonus posts.
However,
even though survival horror ranked low, I wish to add Slender to our
discussions since so many of you expressed interest when it was brought up in
class. I may still add it as a bonus game.
3. What social theories/issues are you most interested in?
(check your top five)
Topic
|
Number
|
Percent
|
Narratology
(the dissection of narrative to its basic and universal components)
|
12
|
80.0
|
Games
as Art
|
12
|
80.0
|
Trans-
and Post-Humanism (how technology is affecting our bodies and our status as
human beings. Think Deus Ex in the real world)
|
9
|
60.0
|
Gender
Theory
|
6
|
40.0
|
Fan
Studies (how fan groups or 'fandoms' operate)
|
6
|
40.0
|
Embodiment
Theory (how the body - real or digital - affects our way of thinking)
|
6
|
40.0
|
Reader
Response Theory
|
5
|
33.3
|
Postmodernism
|
5
|
33.3
|
Marxism
|
3
|
20.0
|
Education
in Games
|
3
|
20.0
|
Ludology
(the study of games of all sorts from cards and boards to video and virtual)
|
2
|
13.3
|
Structuralism
|
2
|
13.3
|
Deconstructionism
|
2
|
13.3
|
New
Media Studies (the study of computer-related media, communications, texts,
etc)
|
2
|
13.3
|
Queer
Theory
|
0
|
0.0
|
Other:
1 Response
I'm
interested in all of these honestly.
I
want to cover all of these topics but I realize that we simply do not have the
time. I will focus on the three primary topics you chose and try to touch on
the rest in class discussion and/or bonus assignments.
·
Narratology
(the dissection of narrative to its basic and universal components)
Traditionally
narratology has been at odds with ludology (the study of gameplay both
traditional and digital) primarily because games theory has been done by people
coming in from different disciplines. Academics from already-established arts
like literature or film would analyze the plot without the gameplay and
computer programmers would analyze the technical aspects of gameplay without
considering their narrative purpose.
We
will be taking a long look at why this is, why it is harmful, and several more
holistic methods for analyzing games.
·
Games
as Art
This
is not a topic we covered last time I taught this class primarily because I
find the arguments against games as art to be, shall we say, more politically-driven
rather than academic. After all, if everything from a urinal to a glass of
water on a shelf can be art, what logical reason is there to exclude games?
Still, it would be useful to explore how games operate differently from
traditional media and the politics that is hindering games from being openly
accepted as art.
·
Trans-
and Post-Humanism (how technology is affecting our bodies and our status as
human beings. Think Deus Ex in the real world)
As
technology continues to influence the ways in which we think, researchers and
theorists have tried keeping up with how our reliance on and integration with technology
is changing our cognition. We’ll be reading several theoretical works on the future
of the human condition and how our machines are changing the way we think.
4. How experienced are you with writing a blog?
|
Number
|
Percent
|
I
have barely or never done a blog specifically, but I feel I know enough about
e-publishing/ web publishing/ the internet to write a blog.
|
7
|
46.7
|
I
have never done a blog and I am somewhat concerned about creating/maintaining
one. I would like a tutorial on basic blog maintenance.
|
6
|
40.0
|
Very
experienced! I don't anticipate any issues writing/maintaining a blog.
|
2
|
13.3
|
Because
of the number of students that are concerned with the technical aspects of
maintaining a blog, I will be adding a page to the class blog on how to craft
and maintain a proper professional blog.
5. Would you be interested in a page/widget on the class
blog that lists all student individual blogs?
|
Number
|
Percent
|
Yes,
that would be very convenient
|
11
|
73.3
|
Neutral/No
Preference
|
4
|
26.7
|
No,
I don't like the idea of linking my blog to the class blog
|
0
|
0.0
|
Already
implemented a list of blogs on the class blog.
6. Several students from the spring semester have expressed
interest in continuing in the field of game theory. Would it be alright for
them to join us at our voluntary coffee meetups?
|
Number
|
Percent
|
Yes,
the more the merrier.
|
11
|
73.3
|
Yes,
so long as they are there to help us with the class and not socialize.
|
4
|
26.7
|
No,
let's keep the meetups restricted to this class only.
|
0
|
0.0
|
I
will be sending a formal invite to past students and asking them to join in on
our conversations.
7. Please list your top five favorite games.
8. This is probably the most important line of questioning
I'll ask you this semester: why?
These
two questions obviously have much longer answers and I will be compiling them
shortly.
Your
answers were very personal and if you would like for me to not post them, let
me know via email.
I
will actively incorporate games from your favorites list in examples in class.
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