Widget Crazy

I have added a lot of new functions to the Blog, some maybe useful, some may die a death... depends what you find useful and what you will use.

I have added

• A button so that you can send and view contents of the blog on your 3G mobile phone/iphone
• RSS feed
• A widget so that I can upload the powerpoints from the sessions to slide share and they show up on the blog
• A function so you can receive updates to the blog via email (if you subscribe).

I have also converted the PA2 form to my server space as a .pdf and linked to it in the links section in case you need a digital copy of it or additional copy. Only time will tell if these new functions work and will be helpful to you all.

(If you know of any other additions you want for the blog just add them to the comments section of this post, URL's to the widget etc. sites would be helpful if you have any suggestions or comments)

A Short and Simple Definition

I wanted to write a post to share the link to the .pdf of the paper we looked at in class so that you all had a digital copy of it as well as the printed copy I distributed. I think that some of the debates that were raised within the session where very useful, but when we review the text again next week I think we need to keep more closely to arguments drawn from the text, this will help us to learn more from the work and how to read a text.

Esposito, N. A Short and Simple Definition of What a Videogame Is, DiGRA 2005 Conference: Changing Views – Worlds in Play, 2005

I would like to pose a few questions for you to think about when you look at the paper for Thursday, you don't have to answer them but it might help you think about the text.

• How do you feel about the definition? Is it too rigid, too loose, does it work?
  
  
• How useful is it to have a definition of what a videogame is?
  
  
• On page 4, there is a quote from First Person that states “Game designers are much less interested in telling a story than in creating a compelling framework for play.” As game designers how do you feel about this statement?
  
  
• Within the conclusion Esposito states that “…knowing what a videogame is, [it] is obviously very useful to know what a good videogame is.” What do you think of this? Do you think this is true, I would pose that having a strict definition is very useful to know when a videogame is good at being a videogame but can not tell you if it is a good videogame. This might seem like semantics but I think that this is a very key point.

Semiotics: in and out of a game space

Thursday’s session will focus on structural linguistics, semiotics, semiotic structures and semiotic domains in video games, we will be looking at a couple of texts to help us understand what semiotics is and what it might offer you in terms of game analysis.

One of the main texts we will be using is “Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art” by Scott McCloud which we will be going through in the session. Hopefully it will help us crack the nut of what semiotics is and how it works.

One of the sections we will be looking at focuses on a piece of art by René Magritte entitled Ceci n’est pas une pipe (trans. This is not a pipe)

You can view these pages online here

You might be interested in this page as well which is a very short piece by Michel Foucault about Ceci n’est pas une pipe which might be useful in helping you further understand the picture.

McClouds book has become a seminal writing in the practice of sequential arts (comics) and looks at how we understand comics, investigating the structures and tools of the comic book to open up the realm of the sequential arts.

Some more of the book that we are using can be found here (which is a power point presentation on digital comics)

I have dug out some interesting links for you that you might like to look at for further understanding of the book

How comics can invigorate your storytelling

iFanboy – video review of the book Understanding Comics

Further Reading on Games and Semiotics

Chandler, D. - Semiotics for Beginners

Lindley, C. - The Semiotics of Time Structure in Ludic Space As a Foundation for Analysis and Design computer game research , Game Stdies, Volume 5 Issue 1, October 2005

Behrens, J. Frezzo, D. Mislevy, Kroopnick, M. and Wise, D.- Structural, Functional, and Semiotic Symmetries in Simulation-Based Games and Assessments

Friedman, T. – Semiotics of SimCity

Lemke, J.- MULTIMEDIA SEMIOTICS and DIGITAL GAMES

Neiva, E. and Romano, C. - The Semiotic Immersion of Video Games, Gaming Technology and Interactive Strategies, The Public Journal of Semiotics Volume I No. 2 July 2007

Ludology VS. Narratology

As part of the Module requirement you will need to present an argument to support either one of the two of the schools of thought within game studies, either Ludology or Narratology. We looked at some defining quotes in our first session and tried to sketch out a sense of what these words mean. As the module progresses we will discuss some of the standpoints on these two fields of research. I think it is important to lay out the battlefield for this argument and see where we all stand in what has been described as a “polemic” argument or “binary” positions (an argument with two defined apposing sides).

There has been a lot of work looking at these two schools of thought and more recently work done to try and find a middle ground through approaches such as looking at games through spatiality (games as a space) such as Henry Jenkins Game Design as Narrative Architecture in The Game Design Reader (which has been photocopied for you as part of the Narratives Module with Vee Uye) and Peter Bergers There and Back again: Reuse, Signifiers and Consistency in Created Game Spaces in Computer Games as a Sociocultural Phenomenon.

BUT…

We need to focus on the Ludology vs. Narratology debate.

Here are some links that you might find useful; as you scour the internet for useful resources it would be good to share your links with the group. If you post comments with URL’s we can start to share our resources and research. It would be good if you could drop in something along with the URL so we know what to expect from the link (and maybe an opinion on the content)

Blog Posts:

Game Studies: Narratology v. Ludology

Ludology v. Narratology: it lives!

"No Justice, No Peace": No Truce in the Narratology/Ludology War

N&L: I Can’t Take it Anymore!

Articles and Papers:

Juul Jesper “Games Telling stories? -A brief note on games and narratives”

Frasca, Gonzalo “Ludologists love stories, too: notes from a debate that never took place”

Cavazza, Marc; Pizzi, David "Narratology for Interactive Storytelling: A Critical Introduction"

Gomes, Renata "The Design of Narrative as an Immersive Simulation"

Kücklich, Julian "The Playability of Texts vs. the Readability of Games: Towards a Holistic Theory fo Fictionality"

Lindley, Craig A. "The Gameplay Gestalt, Narrative, and Interactive Storytelling"

Mateas, Michael; Stern, Andrew "Build It to Understand It: Ludology Meets Narratology in Game Design Space"

Pearce, Celia "Theory Wars: An Argument Against Arguments in the so-called Ludology/Narratology Debate"

Tronstad, Ragnhild "Defining a Tubmud Ludology"

Murry, Janet “The Last Word on Ludology v Narratology in Game Studies” – A damning of the binary.