Week 10.2 Censorship

                                 Week 10.2 Censorship   

Since the dawn of video games, a lot of video games have been produced with different genres and theme all which deliver a new and different experience than the other. But every game has different content that is appropriate for variety of audiences which is why a rating system is needed. America has a system of rating its games, called the ESRB while Australia has something called the Australian Classification system. But they say Australia has the strictest rating system in the world with its Refused Classification (RC) rating. Australia is treating video games as if they are toys for kids when they are not. Not allowing adults to purchase and play the games that they want contradicts with their policy of being a free country with the allowance of free decisions. Older video gamers should have the option to select whatever video game they wish play, like of course some games that are banned it is understandable why they are banned, but the RC rating is just plain ridiculous. Australia has the biggest list of banned games in the whole world, but the thing is, if a lot of video games are always being banned why not ban other media like film/television. Video games is also a form of entertainment for everyone not just children so people shouldn’t treat it as a toy for kids. Every single video game should be rated fairly not matter how explicit the content is, the classification Refused Classification shouldn’t even exist. Responsibility in steering children away from videos which contain content that is not appropriate for their age should be put on the parents it is their responsibility to be able to read the classification system and to follow it appropriately, and their irresponsibility shouldn’t have to hinder other appropriate aged players from being allowed to purchase these games.  But  Australia’s classification system is really treating Australia’s gaming community like children which is really isn’t fair for them as video games are a medium for people of all ages to enjoy.

References

http://www.refused-classification.com

https://pirateparty.org.au/2015/01/16/classifications-board-continues-to-treat-adults-like-children/

http://www.gamesradar.com/top-18-banned-video-games/

http://www.smh.com.au/national/censorship-and-the-games-people-play-20130705-2phnp.html

http://www.gameplanet.com.au/features/g51d5115802299/Censored-Australian-videogame-ratings-versus-the-world/

http://libertus.net/censor/isp-blocking/au-govplan-refusedclassif.html

https://www.alrc.gov.au/sites/default/files/pdfs/publications/10_refused_classification_category.pdf

http://www.refused-classification.com/censorship/games/a-to-z-listing.html

http://ncac.org/resource/a-timeline-of-video-game-controversies/

http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0610/08-beattie.php

http://motherboard.vice.com/read/how-to-get-your-video-game-banned-in-australia

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-02/keogh-banned-games-a-scary-statistic-with-a-banal-explanation/6589668

http://www.classification.gov.au/News/Pages/25June2013SaintsRowIVfirstcomputergameRefusedClassification.aspx

https://www.alrc.gov.au/sites/default/files/pdfs/publications/10_refused_classification_category.pdf

Week 6: Genre in Video Games

                   Week 6: Genre in Video Games  

The video game industry has grown substantially over years since its time of creation, what was once an industry which had only a handful of simple video games and game genres, that is until one being a very simple game called Pong then started a boom for the video game industry. Pacman started the boom for arcade videos as game similar to Pacman started to be developed and arcade games evolved from there bur arcade games and Pong gave birth to many other genres that it had to be put into categories that we know today, Action, Adventure, Fighting, RPG and many more. Since there are so much genres that are available nowadays it is extremely difficult for players to select which one that satisfies them the most so as a result a lot of different types of games are played cause people like to try a different variations of things to experiment. Genres are like chronological description for the different varieties of games that are out there it helps define the game, genres are used in the same application as they used for books, and games have their genres assigned to them according to their key mechanics or key aim and goal of the game similar to how genres are assigned to books according to their subject etc. like for example if a game involves a player in having to defeat the opponent in one on one hand to hand combat it is labelled a fighting game. Genres are a way of helping the player or buyer of the game what the video game is about it basically briefly describes the video game. Genres also help people analyse a video game in an in - depth and intelligent manner as it gives a foundation and sense of direction for analyzation. As different styles of video games are being developed due to the many ideas of young developers, new genres are also being created to label these new video games as a conclusion as long as new ideas are being developed new labels will keep on being invented to assign to these new ideas.

References

http://www.gamepeople.co.uk/genres.html 

 http://www.robinlionheart.com/gamedev/genres.xhtml 

https://www.jesperjuul.net/ludologist/genre-in-video-games-and-why-we-dont-talk-about-it  https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/bitstream/handle/2142/47323/057_ready.pdf?sequence=2  http://static1.1.sqspcdn.com/static/f/702523/25822221/1420425846237/201501-Anderson.pdf?token=l2%2FLx0JmL%2BnoJweS8OaJmcP8lGw%3D    

 http://eprints.qut.edu.au/82070/7/82070.pdf  http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2012/12/27/tracking-the-popularity-of-videogamegenre.aspx

Week 5: Ludonarrative Dissonance/Ressonance

                              Week 5: Ludonarrative Dissonance/Ressonance

When people play games sometimes people play for story or sometimes just for the mechanics of the games, other times they play it for both elements. A game with a good story is in reality extremely hard to make but there are some games out there that actually have a good story and gameplay. Story can play a very big part into how a video game is shaped out especially if it has a good narrative. A game with a good narrative can really help make a player more immersed into the gameplay.  But although sometimes developers want to develop a game which has a good story, the publishers of the developers usually stop the developers from creating such a game because usually a game based more on story rather than the game mechanics doesn’t really sell well. But that’s not always the case as they are some games that have both great game mechanics and great story examples of games are the Metal Gear Solid series, which has extremely simple stealth mechanics but it has an outstanding story but immerses the player other games also like this are the Kingdom Hearts series and games from the game company Telltale Games. But overall most games that have more story than game mechanics fail miserably in the video game market but this shouldn’t stop video game industries from trying something new.

References

 http://scholars.unh.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1069&context=honors   http://xgalatea.blogspot.com.au/2011/09/ludonarrative-resonance.html  http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.389092-Essay-Ludonarrative-Dissonance-Explained-and-Expanded

https://haraldthehagen.wordpress.com/2013/05/17/an-unsung-spectrum/  http://theageofgaming.tumblr.com/post/55281781136/the-language-of-videogames-part-5-narrative

http://resonancefrequency.net/2014/01/06/ludonarratives101/   http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Toh_Weimin/publication/276939006_Proceedings_of_DiGRA_2015_Diversity_of_play_Games__Cultures__Identities_A_Multimodal_Discourse_Analysis_of_Video_Games_A_Ludonarrative_Model/links/555c6c1308ae91e75e76f7ff.pdf  

http://scholars.unh.edu/honors/70/

 https://curve.carleton.ca/system/files/theses/27648.pdf  

Week 10- The Wonders of Virtual Reality

Technology is evolving and it will continue to evolve for the years to come, virtual reality what is it? It is an attempt of replicating reality itself using the latest computing technology available but how was virtual reality started, where did it began, what are the origins of it? First concepts of virtual reality is actually movies which are designed for people to enjoy as entertainment but people wanted more thrill they wanted a more immersive experience so experimentation on VR started in the 1930s with the View Master which showed images in a more immersive way but because of the advancing technology ways of tackling VR has gotten much better and people are coming up with better ways to improve the VR experience. VR really began to take up shape in the 1990s-2000s when video game companies started to create headsets for a better video game experience examples are like the SEGA VR headset which had a sound system with it. In the 2000s onwards the latest form of VR technology is the Oculus Rift DK1 which was designed and released in 2014 because it is somewhat the best it is the most well-known. The Valve Corporation is currently working on a VR headset called HTC Vive which is apparently going to have a full release in 2016. VR tech are being used in other ways too, not only to improve the experience of entertainment, it can be used for functions such as for education purposes, training, construction planning But even with all this technology virtual reality can still be bettered further developed and improved. But when one can say that virtual reality has reached its final stage of development it is when the player can interact, feel and perform in the gaming environment as if they are the character or avatar, that it what virtual reality should be and meant to be. As a conclusion although the concept of virtual reality is still in its primitive and developmental stages it can be further improved as it will be in the future as mankind becomes more and more advanced in technology and that it should be a concept in which it could enhance the experience for man in many different forms of media, virtual reality itself is indeed a wondrous concept.

Week 8- Violence in Video Games

Since the dawn of video games in the 1980's the amount of violence and aggression in video games has increased dramatically and it eventually became a normal part of games. Violence in video games are being blamed by a lot of critics for the violence that is happening in reality, but statistics are saying otherwise to these accusations. Between the dates 1995 and 2008 arrest rates have decreased by 49.3% while game sales have risen significantly, if what the critics are saying is true then violent related juvenile crimes should have risen exponentially. What these critics do not get or take in is the fact that a lot or the majority of the offenders behind major shootings like the Sandy Hook shooting that occurred in 2012 had other small things that contributed to them that allowed that shooting to happen like for instance the offender had a mental disorder for his whole lifetime also in addition to that weaponry was easily accessed and wasn’t secure enough and he didn’t really play any violent video games even though he had access to them. These so called critics should really do some major or further research into these issues instead of putting the blame on video games for being the major influence for these shootings. Also another thing is that these critics are in fact not putting such blame on the parents for being irresponsible and letting their children to have access to games they do not approve of. Also to fortify the point that violent video games does not contribute to real life violence a research conducted by the U.S Secret Service comparing the amount of homicides or rather shootings and the relation of offenders being influenced by violent video games the result was that they found that only one-eighth of offenders were actually interested in violent video games and less than other violent materials like books, films etc. the report in the end showed that they found no relation between violent video games and school shootings. So in the end violent video games doesn’t really contribute that much to the violence that’s happening in the human society or does it have much influence in making a person more violent more rather it depends on the individual themselves if they are going to commit such violent acts. 

Week 9- Blog: Video Game Addiction

Video game addiction is becoming a major issue in children to play video games usually those that are ages 8-18 sometimes there’s a risk of people that are older than that age range to be addicted to video games. When it comes to video game addiction it is very controversial issue. Statistics show that most gamers that are addicted to video games are mostly pathological gamers who are aged within the age listed above or, people who find it difficult to adjust to reality or have major mental issues or disorders like anxiety, depression and what not and people can’t just accuse these people who are experiencing these very difficult situations that they are addicted to games in reality they are using games as a way of escape from the harsh reality of real life. But using this group of people as a basis for the general accusation of video game addiction doesn’t seem that logical and accurate, rather the main source of video addiction usually comes from people who decide to become addicted on their own, more of trying to find ways of escaping school work or procrastination. It seems very illogical though that people so called highly educated doctors or scientists are putting the blame on the video game developer companies or parents who put the blame on companies that they are “corrupting” their child by making them addicted yet what they do not know is that the developers themselves need to also gain themselves a living by creating these games and that their children’s addiction is that of their own choice. So as a conclusion video game addiction isn’t automatic and can be stopped by the person who is addicted, video addiction depends on the decision of that person and it is not the fault of the game or video game company

Week 7- Gender in Video Games

                                          Week 7- Gender in Video Games

When it comes to video games  a lot of the times the characters in games are highly stereotypical especially when it comes to females in games. Females in games are normally depicted as vulnerable characters usually in need of assistance of the main character or as the damsel-in-distress. Appearances of female characters usually depicts them with barely any sort of clothing on, which kind of shows that female characters are meant to be shown and interpreted as sexual objects. Male characters on the other and are usually shown as the main characters, strong, brave and dominating characters being the focus of the whole story. In terms of people playing video games 71% of gamers are over the age of 18, 52%  are males while 48% are females as statistics show that there are nearly as much of female gamers as  there are male gamers, so why is there so much sexism? Since the 1990's the percentage of females characters as side characters or main characters has been staying at 15% and since then not that much  has been done about that. Only now in the modern-age of gaming are we seeing female characters getting bigger roles  in  big AAA games and are not being depicted as being the damsel-in-distress like they used to be shown as but instead being shown as strong willed fighters as are as much of a importance as the male character a example being  the AAA game The Last of Us. Metroid is also another example of a video game depicting a female character of being the game's heroine and main character.  But for the most part only 4% of main characters in the top 25 selling games of 2013 where the characters are female. Nevertheless the video game industry is finally understanding and acknowledging the female characters and are starting to treat them with the same respect as male characters they are slowly involving female characters in bigger and more respected roles in video gaming. Hopefully this trend goes on in the future of video gaming and future AAA games, women are respected in reality so hopefully in the future games female characters are treated with the same respect so that gamers won't get deterred from how to treat women  in reality.