VIDEO GAMES

WHAT IS A VIDEO GAME ?

A NEW TYPE OF MEDIA: Challenges theories of entertainment.

ACT PRODUCE

> USER BECOMES THE PROTAGONIST OF THE STORIES, AND ACTS IN FIRST PERSON, CHANGES EVENTS. > IMMERSION : INSIDE A PARALELL WORLD.

A BRIEF HISTORY.

HERITAGE : ARMY SIMULATION

CATHODE RAY AMUSEMENT DEVICE SPACEWAR

RALPH BAER : ODYSSEY HOME VERSION PONG / ATARI SPACE INVADERS PACMAN DONKEY KONG GAME BOY SONY PS1 THE SIMS RELEASE OF STEAM MOBILE GAMES

1948 1962 1972 1974 1979 1980 1981

1982 : SECOND CRISIS

FIRST CONSOLE FIRST SUCCESS

1977 : FIRST CRISIS

ARCADE : 1 BILLION $ IN ONE YEAR

1989 1995 2000 2008 2008

POPULARIZATION OF HANDHELD GAMING

BEST SELLING GAME EVER

RALPH BAER

4 CRUCIAL PARADIGMS
- Entry of video games into the arcade sector - Development of the home console - Entry of independent game-publishers that made the industry a two-tiered one; - Development of massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) that changed the way games are played.
Zackariasson, Peter Wilson, Timothy L. Competitiveness Review, Volume 20, issue 2

TODAY
Sony: Playstation 2 (2000); Playstation 3 (2007); Playstation Move; Playstation Vita (portable); Outperforms PCs Most successful console for a long time Microsoft: X-Box; X-Box Kinect Nintendo: Wii (now most successful platform); 3DS (portable); Wii U (forthcoming, 11/18/2012)

Billions of dollars made by Year, source : ESA

60 billion of annual profits... VS 12 billion for Hollywood !

ART ?

TOMORROW
MOBILE PENETRATION IN 2007 : 84% OF THE US POPULATION MOBILE GAMES : PLAYED ANYWHERE, ANY TIME. A NEW MARKET OF USERS BUT CONSIDERABLE DECREASE OF GRAPHIC QUALITY AND UNIVERSE RICHNESS.

WHATS THE NEXT BIG THING ?

POWER ? THE 3D TECHNOLOGY ? POWER OF IMMERSION ? MORE ONLINE GAMES ? LEVELS ? ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ? CONTROLLERS ? SERIOUS GAMES ? BRAIN INTERFACES ? SOCIAL NETWORKING ?

WHO PLAYS GAMES ?

50% of all Americans 29 y/o average age 39% female players 49% ages 0 to 6 have a console/ home 10% have it in their room

WHY DO PEOPLE PLAY VIDEO GAMES ?

Games are designed to deliver perfect packages of challenge, achievement, and reward, which is what makes them powerful enough to offer intense experiences
(Milehem, 2008: Powering Up. Are computer games changing our lives)

Nick Yee : Facets of Motivation for MMORPGs. Achievement - Desire to become powerful. Casual Socializer Helping other players and chatting with them. Serious Socializer discussing real-life problems. Immersion - Desire to immerse in a make-believe construct. Competition / Grief - Desire to objectify and use other players for ones own gains. Escapism Avoiding thinking about the real world. Exploring Learning as much about the game world or mechanics as possible.

> BEFORE: SHORT MOMENTS OF FUN. THE VIDEO GAME IS A GADGET > NOW : CONNECTED NETWORKS: VIDEO GAMES ARE PARALLEL REALITY.

BLURRING THE LINE BETWEEN REALITY AND FICTION

THE REPRESENTATION OF SELF IN VIDEO GAMES

THE VIDEO GAME WORLD AN EXPERIMENTAL UTOPIA (Sylvie Craipeau)

SEARCH FOR SOCIAL REGULATION. EGALITARIAN WORL, WHERE EFFORT MEETS RESULTS. TO REPOSESS A WORLD THAT FITS US AS A REPLY TO AN INCREASINGLY HARD WORLD. (Vanessa Lalo, psychologist.)
A CONFORTING PLACE FOR THE FRUSTRATED SELF

AVATARS AND THE NEW SELF RISE OF MMOS : WE ARE SOCIAL CREATURES. DEEPER JOY IN AFFECTING HUMANS RATHER THAN MACHINE. HUMANS GATHER AND INTERACT THROUGH THEIR AVATARS A NEW SOCIETY WHERE THE SELF IS AN AVATAR.

STRONG EMOTONAL CONNECTION

LI KOVACS

THE ALIENATED SELF

HAPPINESS FACTORY

VS

ADDICTION FACTORY

FORMS OF TECHNOLOGICAL DEPENDENCY :

49% 44% 37%

VIDEO GAMES COMPUTER MOBILE PHONE

THE REPRESENTATION OF THE OTHER

VIOLENCE.
MAJORITY OF GAMES = VIOLENT CONTENT. Smith et al. (2003) : in the first ten minutes of 60 games 4.59 violent actions/minute occurred in T and M games. Boys 8-18 playing about 40 minutes a day of T and M games on average will be exposed to about 180 violent interactions daily, 5,400 monthly, and 64,800 yearly. Violence is justified and rewarded without punishment Death of others : mostly serve as a reward function

MALE SUPREMACY
> Gender unequal representation / frequency 81 % of characters are male. 14% are female. 5% of video games offer to play both genders. > Gender stereotyping 64% male characters versus 17% female (Children Now, 2001) Female characters: sex objects, victims Male characters: hyper masculine, heroes YOUNG EXPOSURE = Affect girls self-perception and boys perception of girls. A real social problem, video games may forge perception.

WHAT IF WE APPLIED THE BECHDEL TEST TVIDEO GAMES ?

WHITE SUPREMACY
MAIN OPPONENT IN WAR GAMES : The oriental man. (Digital Arabs: Representation in video games- Vt Sisler) Middle east : favourite battle background. Schematized attributes for arabs : turbans, loose clothes, dark skin. US : humanized by their nicknames, specific visual characters.
Delta force : Land Warriors - Arabs team together into several organizations to take over the world with terrorism.

> Michael Moore

CONCLUSION