Action Reaction

McLuhan states that "We have had to shift our stress of attention from action to reaction. We must now know in advance the consequences of any policy or action, since the results are experienced without delay. Because of electric speed, we can no longer wait and see" (63).  

I feel as though many games today follow this same pattern he is noticing. There are many games that choose to base the game play on your choices. What you do effects the ending. Sometimes, people don't like that at all and they will search out guides that will tell you how your choices will affect the outcome. 

Andrew Hardin states that "different people become immersed in games in different ways. Several people I work with find games unexciting no matter what kind of game, or how good. They will probably play few games in their life, and wouldn't even if they died and went to gaming heaven. Many people don't want to play anything besides a party game, and some will play just about anything. It's not a question of theme, it's a question of how that theme immerses you in the game. It's not a question of mechanism, it's how that mechanism immerses you in the game."

I feel as though the appeal to games that give you different outcomes based on your choices rely mostly on mechanics. I have play a variety of these types of games and they might have some similarities in theme, but the mechanics in the game is what makes these games interesting. 

In order to get the player immersed in the game, these game designers are choosing to make the player choose their game. Some really good examples of this type of game play are Mass Effect, Telltale's The Walking Dead, and the Stanley Parable.

In Mass Effect with each conversation you are given choices to respond with. Some are actions, but most are  dialogue options. The more you talk with people, the more they trust you as a commander, if people don't trust you, you might not be able to save them. The right choices will save certain characters. There are various endings to the game and even more ways to get there. Your choices carry on from game to game so a choice in the first game, might create certain characters to not appear in later games. 

In the Walking Dead game, you have similar dialogue and action choices. However, in this game, you have a time limit. If you don't say anything, then that character will remember it. There are also quick time events that require your action as well. Telltale even tracked player's choices to help write further installments of the game.  

In the Stanley Parable, your choices are a little more subtle. You have a dialogue wheel to help see what all the choices are. If you stand around deciding, the narrator will notice and say something about it. Simply going through the right door instead of the left will give you a different ending. This game has about 20 different endings.

In all these games, choices matter. Our actions cause reactions that we can see almost immediately. These games all have different themes to them like saving the galaxy, surviving the zombie apocalypse, and figuring out what's going on in your office. However, they all have the game game mechanic of choosing your story. The game becomes yours. Each play through could be totally different than the last. Players become so immersed in the game. Some players will actually seek out guides to know what their choices will decide so they can get the play through they want. 

Going back to McLuhan, he says that these types of games have become popular because of the aspect of choosing. I know from experience, I wanted to know what I needed to say in order to keep characters alive in Mass Effect. I wanted to say all the right things to get the ending I wanted. I didn't look for guides and I wound up getting the perfect ending (in my opinion). I did keep multiple save games in case something went wrong. I believe that McLuhan is absolutely right when it comes to video games since more and more of these types of games are coming out. 







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Guns, Drills, and Portals

"[t]he instantaneous world of electric informational media involves all of us, all at once. No detachment or frame is possible" (52). Discuss -- with examples -- how the user interfaces of video games you're familiar with either support or work against McLuhan's assertion, and why.


First off, lets figure out what exactly user interface is. In video games, User interface is the ways that players can interact with the game. The user interface is usually based around how interactive it might be and what concepts the game has. Things like graphics and story line influence this quite a bit though.  

I would have to say that I agree with McLuhan. Video games are designed to be interactive. If a video game is not interactive enough then the video game becomes more of just watching a movie. You will often see cut scenes in a video game to push the story along, but more the most part it is interactive. I think first person shooters are a great example of involving all of us, all at once. 

Just int he name, first person shooters involve us in ways that other games don't. The camera angle in the game is first person so you see what the character sees. You become that character. With third person games, you constantly focus on seeing that character and playing it. You can still get into the game and "become" the character, but you have to put more effort into it. 

I wanted to talk about three of my favorite game series that reinforce this idea, Halo, Bioshock, and Portal. 

A way that video games interact with the player is through the Head-up Display, or the HUD. Most video games have a HUD, it tells you your health, your score, your items, and various other things. When games creatively use HUDs, that's where they really draw you into the game.

Let's start with Halo:

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Here we see a typical scene in Halo 3. What I really like about this HUD, is it gives you all the information you need while keeping you involved in the game. You have your health, your grenades, your ammo, and a map. You see through the eyes of the character. But what this adds, is the element of seeing the outline of your helmet. I'm not sure why but I helps me really get into the character. I feel like I really am Master Chief blowing up things to kill grunts.

Next up, Bioshock:

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Again, here we see the essentials which are needed in this game. But very often in Bioshock 2, you see your own helmet around the corners of the screen. If moves around with you as you move. It makes me feel like I really am wearing a helmet with my giant suit and drill.

lastly, Portal:

Source

In this game, we can see a lack of a HUD. This game doesn't have bullets, grenades, health, or anything like that. You simply have your portal gun. The character in this game doesn't have a helmet or and eye piece, or anything else that might provide a reason for projecting a HUD on the screen.

What all these games do well, is get you into the game and keep you there. In halo and Bioshock, the HUDs give you that constant reminder that your in the game being that character. It never goes away. In Portal, even though it has a lack of a HUD, it still brings you in and keeps you there through the design of the game. In these games, very often the cut scenes don't change perspective like other games do. You keep looking through the eyes of the character. So overall, these games are interacting with us constantly. There is no detachment.

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College Kids

Money in college is a very strange thing. Everyone likes to talk about the stereotype of poor college kids. But with student loan interests going up and tuition costs rising as well, it makes sense that college kids would have no money. When college kids do get money, they have to pay bills, buy food, buy books, and for some college students, buy beer for the party this weekend. While there are a lot of factors to being a poor college kid, I find myself in a very different situation than many students. 

I don't come from a rich family, so I don't have my parents paying for everything. My first year at WSU, I barely got any scholarships, so I did need to take out a lot of loans just to live in the dorms on campus. Since I was forced by the university, I wasn't able to live in an apartment my first year, which would have been advantageous in the long run. Needing money to pay for school, I looked for part time jobs and found one. It wasn't great, but I was able to have a little pocket money. After that, I found an opportunity that would save me a lot of money. I applied to be a Resident Assistant in the dorms on campus and I got hired a semester early. The RA position gives me a room to myself in a door for free and also give me around 1200 dollars a semester in RDA for food. With that, I also was hired for a different part time job this year with work study. So with room and board paid for, all that was left was tuition. Again, I got very lucky and I received enough grants and scholarships that I didn't need to take out loans at all this year.

After all that, I have looked at money in a very different way. Even though I don't have a lot of things I need to pay for right now, I still make money on the side and try and save it for the future. I don't have to think about paying electric bills or anything like that. I rarely have to budget to make money for food last the whole semester. I don't drink so I spend my extra money on going bowling with friends and buying video games. 

Obviously, I can't go out and buy myself a car, or look at buying a house. There are just some things that a college kid just can't buy because it's no impractical. I don't even really spend that much money on myself. I don't go out and buy a bunch of clothes or go out to dinner every night. My minimum wage job doesn't give me the same money a salary of a professor would. 

I look at money as something I need to save, not so,etching I need to spend. If I need to spend it, it's going to be on something practical or something I can really justify buying. Sometimes, I'll make a little extra and go out to dinner or buy myself something nice. But all in all, I feel my view on money and the way I gain and spend money differs from many other students on campus and people living in Pullman. 

With that, I leave you with the one song I couldn't stop thinking about while writing this post. 

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


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