Blog 7

Blog 7

So we are back again after an awesome long weekend.
Ok I’ll start with the lecture!

Are video games are waste of time?
Today we looked at how people have approached studying video games. We learnt that video game studying is actually a very important business.

Video Games Studies includes the following types of games: Arcade Games, Consoles, Computer Games, MUDs, MMOGs
Video Games have been working together with computer games since Spacewar was first developed in the mid-1960’s.

Approaching Video Games in an Academic Way: Some Theoretical Considerations include:
Media Effects and Games;
The Persistence of Effect;
Games and Utopia;
Thinking about video games as a new form of cultural practise...
In the same way we now think about old media like newspapers, radio, television, films...
What are some ways to approach thinking about games that might be unique to this genre?
Are there questions that are specific to video games that don't apply to any other form?

Narratology vs Ludology
Narratology is the study of video games from the perspective of them being stories or literary works.
Janet Murray who wrote the book 'Hamlet on the Holodeck' is a good example.
Ludology, is not concerned with the story elements of games but rather with the Game Play elements.

Obviousely, however there is more to video games then just the gameplayTechnical Sense- the term computer games has come to light.
Communication- Video games can be a means of communication; early video games contained elements out of movies however the act of actually playing the games was different.
Semiotics- Video Games can be viewed as a media.

However Video Games are just that- GAMES!!!!!!
Should we be studying the game or the player itself? Or should we balance both of them? Factors which come into consideration include:
Fun concept, design emphasis, are games virtual worlds?, what is real and what is virtual?

Tutorial Task

Microsoft Word

I found this exercise quite basic. I did however learn about mail merges which I did not know before. Most of the tasks I had learnt in high school computing, but it was refreshing doing it again. This software will definitely be useful to me if I were to work for a company which uses World.

Microsoft Excel
Again, I found this exercise basic as I had studied it during high school computing. It was good however, to refresh my brain since high school! I use Excel now to budget my finances. I love it. It is so easy to observe where the money is saving (or going) on one sheet of paper.

Well, I’m off to work on my assignment!!!!!
Chow xxxx