Visual Culture Collective

Presenting...

The Visual Culture Collective website.

Which world am I in?

I agree with Heather's earlier post abou this article. I really agreed with the statements that the person "becomes" the avatar at certain moments during the game. I talked to you guys earlier about having a real-life stalker in my life about four years ago that I had to get a restraining order against. Well, within the first five minutes of me playing WOW, I had a guy following me where ever I went. He wouldn't leave me alone, no matter how mean I was to him. Just like the guy in real life. SO then when I wasn't playing the game, I was very paranoid about who was around me, who was following me, etc. It took me four years to get over all of those feelings, and the game brought them all back! Crazy, huh?

Changes in Technology

In Manovich's article, he states
Because of the limited bandwidth of the 1990s Internet, virtual world designers have to deal with constraints similar to and sometimes even more severe than the games designers two decades earlier. In online virtual worlds, a typical scenario may involve an avatar – a 2-D or 3-D graphic representing the user — animated in real time in response to the user’s commands. The avatar is superimposed on a picture of a room, in the same way as in video games the sprites were superimposed over the background. The avatar is controlled by the user; the picture of the room is provided by a virtual-world operator. Because the elements come from different sources and are put together in real time, the result is a series of 2-D planes rather than a real 3-D environment. Although the image depicts characters in a 3-D space, it is an illusion since the background and the characters do not “know” about each other, and no interaction between them is possible. (p. 8)

It is amazing how virtual worlds have changed! In the 90's, avatars could not interact with their environments. But in virtual world games of today, the foreground and background do interact together. Where do you forsee the gaming world headed next?

Dr. Strangelove War Room

Computer Holding Power

In the newspaper this morning, there was an article about virtual reality pain therapy. I was intrigued by the article and did a little online research today. Here is an interesting link to check out and see pictures and articles. This program is a prime example of the controlling power that computers can have over the human mind. We have heard about the negative affects of virtual reality programs, here are two positive influences on our human population.

1.) The title of the project is "Snow World." It was designed to take a severe burn patient's mind off of his or her pain during wound cleansing treatments. The virtual reality program takes the viewer through a snow world, complete with music. There has been huge success with this program in the trials that have been run thus far.

2.) The other virtual reality therapy program, "SpiderWorld" has been designed for arachnaphobia. Those afraid of spiders confront their fear and even touch life-like spiders during the program.

What other positive virtual reality therapy programs do you think will, or have been, created?

Interesting article

I found this article I read very interesting. It's a backlash to technology that we're currently experiencing.

http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/article3172037.ece

A New World

I was very interested in Manovich's article discussing the creation of worlds rather than games. It makes me think of how we could use video games for educational purposes. Students could interact tith other cultures through a video game, thus learning about other parts of the world from those living there and what's going on socially, culturally, and politically. Further, it made me think of how museums could use gaming to make themselves more accessible for those who may not get to visit the museum or even as a pre and post visit material for schools who will visit the museum. However, I do wonder if by using gaming and new media objects inside the classroom if we are becoming elitist. Not all schools are able to have computers or other facilities to logistically serve all of the students in such a way. What is your opinion?

Video Game Addiction

I think we're experiencing much ado about nothing when it comes to the "controversy" over whether video games are addictive. What can't be addictive? How much t.v. does the average person watch? How often does the average person gamble? Come on, anything can be addictive and I don't hold video games at a higher level than anything else. It depends on the user rather than the substance itself.

The Game behind the Game

As someone who has never been interested in video games,I found Jarish's accounts in Turkle's article very enlightening. It seems that in order to be very good at video games you have to be interested in learning the hidden rules of the game and developing strategies to manipulate or overcome those rules. Can these skills be applied to anything other than computer programming?

All But One

These two essays on Gamming illustrate how computer games incorporate all the issues of media we have discussed in class. Manovich gave a much better account of data spaces that Bill Viola, Turkle’s 13 year old cyborg was enlightening and Jarish’s account is an example of edutainment to some extent. The only topic that gamming does not cover directly is Political Activism. Do you think this is a possible avenue yet to be explored by computer games or is it happening already??

World of Warcraft Addict

Related Video

Addiction

Taking it one step further than holding power...

I wanted to discuss the addictive properties of video games, especially MMORPGs, like World of Warcraft.

Here are a few articles on the topic.

Two fanatic gamers die

Baby dies from neglect while parents play WoW

Support Website for WoW Detox

Clinic Addresses Video Game Addictions

I think that addiction is partially a personality trait. Why has it so prevalent with video games?
What do you guys think? Is this just getting blown out of proportion because of the game's popularity. Is addiction to video games a serious problem? How is it affecting our society?

Doom

I wonder what the historical significance is of Doom encouraging players to expand the game and create new levels? (“The producers define the basic structure of an object, and release a few examples and the tools to allow the consumers to build their own versions, shared with other consumers” (1)) Assuming that history repeats itself, this concept brings to mind Early music where the score was only the basic structure and performers were expected to elaborate on this structure. This concept is now returning with aleatory music, for example. Is Doom just an example of a shift in attitude that is not specific to technology?

Holding Power

I used Turkle's article a lot in my cultural interface paper. I thought that her ideas about the holding power of video games related closely with my experiences in the WoW.

Turkle started her article by describing an angry young girl who is playing video games. I found that playing WoW often left me feeling angry and irritated. Because I was in a constant state of defense, I often left the game feeling strained and exhausted. During game play, I was very grumpy and hated to be interrupted. Did anyone else experience an emotional effect of the game?

I also found it difficult to come back to reality after being absorbed in the game for long periods of time. When leaving Marquis hall, I often expected a monster-being to jump out growling and attack me. It usually took a few minutes for these feelings to dissipate.

Turkle also discusses how video games are something the player "becomes". When playing the game, I felt that I was my avatar. When my boyfriend tried playing, I felt uncomfortable watching him control the actions of my character and determining her fate within the world.

If you want more of my connections to the article, read my paper. Otherwise, did anyone else find something they related to with their WoW experience in this article?

gaming appeal

Building on what Anne was saying about acting and feeling in control, I identified with Turkle's idea that some people are attracted to video games because of a feeling of control and consistency. I think that one of the reasons I love video games is because they are rule-based, and if you figure out the rules of the video game world, you can make the "right" decisions and succeed. Anne has said she prefers questions where there is no right answer -- maybe that is where we differ and why I find video games so appealing. I enjoy solving the puzzles, finding the one right answer, and receiving my reward - whether it's points, a level up for my elf, or some new ability within the game. I guess that would be the "holding power" of video games for me. That, and they're super fun! What attracts (or repels) you all about video games?

data spaced out

Continuing from where I left off in this post about the Aspen Movie Map and Google Maps, I think I'll add some examples from the Manovich article. I found this, part 1 of 8 of Vertov's A Man with a Movie Camera, and although the original is silent this has a score put to it. It takes a while to get through the credits at the beginning. I especially like the part right around 4:30.



I was also curious about Shaw's Legible City, and though I couldn't embed it you can watch it here.

And finally, here is a video about Waliczky's The Forest.

Thought this would help in order to visualize some of the navigable spaces Manovich discusses.

Future of Video games

Turkle and Manovich talked about the advancement of technology and gaming.  Turkle writes:  "The changes have been rapid and disquieting.  We are ill at ease even with our children, who are so much at ease with a technology that many of us approach at arm's length."  I have observed this as my mom, who is over 70 years old, rarely uses a computer (and only for word processing and genealogy)...she's only sent me 2 emails within the past 10 years.  

So what is the next wave of technology and gaming?  What technology advancements are we going to be afraid of when we are over 60?  I believe that virtual reality gaming will be a norm...holographic  gaming...I don't know, fun to surmise though...

The Original Human SPACE INVADERS Performance

This is a tribute to Anne, as she has posted many times... "we are the machine." :)

It seemed to me that Turkle was mentioning the duplicity of video games, involving skill, yet commenting on their destructive addictiveness. "There is nothing mindless about mastering a video game. The games demand skills that are complex and differentiated...If there is a danger here, it is not the danger of mindless play, but of infatuation with the challenge of simulated worlds."  I have to ask, what is the end result of video games?  If truly the positive reinforcement is your "initials" to mark you identity as the "high score" or an "altered state" then I wonder, is this a lasting and (more importantly) fulfilling reward? Seems empty to me...however...

I say this, knowing FULL well I am prone to a video game’s "addictive holding power." I'm just glad WoW wasn't around when I was in high school.