Photo Opportunities

My first article with PopMatters is up right now. You can find "Photo Opportunities in Video Games" right here. I stumbled upon the topic after playing around with Afrika, a sort-of safari simulator that lets players take photos of gazelle and other various wild animals.

Some of the missions in this game are actually pretty fun. I really enjoy the idea of approaching the animals from new perspectives, trying to capture rare moments. Unfortunately, a large portion of the game is spent being railroaded to a particular location, primed and ready for just the right photo. This can make the game feel very artificial, though I still enjoy the experience.

Naturally, this got me thinking about why I was taking these photos and ideas of collection and ownership. I contemplated photography as a possessive act in which I imprison moments and subjects in time, which seems strange considering all the animals in Afrika are already imprisoned within the game disc. After awhile, the idea of taking photographs in games seemed very strange to me.

So I went to the library, dipped into film theory, and here we are. I think the article suffers from some of the problems that arise in certain film theory articles - mainly, thinking in such a distanced manner makes it hard to believe our conclusions can be true. Thinking in this way can feel unnatural. Regardless, I had fun exploring the concepts. Let me know your thoughts in the comments section.

Also, if you missed Scott's article from last week on PopMatters, check it out.

EXP Podcast #97: Language Lessons

Warning: This podcast contains more adult language than usual. This podcast might be NSFW all thanks to Austin Ivansmith, who recently wrote an interesting article on swearing in videogames. Join us this week while Scott and I discuss the ethics of curse word construction, artistic integrity and avoiding offensive language, and the types of games that just might pull off an "F Bomb" with aplomb. As always, you can find the original article in the show notes below. We also encourage you to leave your thoughts in the comments section and let us know what you think.

Some discussion starters:

- Can language be just as stylized as violence, and therefor be more acceptable?
- Is adding "bad language" toggle option an artistic betrayal or a helpful feature?
- What games include good use of adult language and which do not?

To listen to the podcast:

- Subscribe to the EXP Podcast via iTunes here. Additionally, here is the stand-alone feed.
- Listen to the podcast in your browser by left-clicking the title. Or, right-click and select "save as link" to download the show in MP3 format.
- Subscribe to this podcast and EXP's written content with the RSS link on the right.

Show notes:

- Run time: 26 hr 2 min 24 sec
- "Why all the swearing?," by Austin Ivansmith via Carrot v Stick
- Music provided by Brad Sucks

Playing the Fool

People are always on the lookout for games that can move us to tears. Personally, I’ve always been more interested in the problem of creating tears of laughter rather than tears of sorrow. Comedy is a delicate, difficult art; one that few games aspire to create.

This is what I used to think, but now I realize I may have been looking at things the wrong way. I’m most used to digesting comedy via literature and through performances in which I am an audience member. In video games, my role as the player casts me as both a performer and an audience member, which changes the way I perceive and experience humor.

To a large extent, all comedy is situational: watching a joke unfold with the privilege of being outside its area of effect lets us laugh at all kinds of situations. I love watching The Three Stooges, but I’m not so sure I’d want to be them:

Is it possible to play the part of a buffoon while still finding humor in the buffoonery? Are practical jokes still funny when you’re always the target? Where is the line between comedy and cruelty?

Funny games seem to be few and far between, but perhaps it’s hard to see humor when you’re a part of the joke?

EXP Podcast #96: Portal Pedagogy

For many folks, September means having to relinquish the last strands of summer and head back to school. However, trading the couch for the classroom doesn’t mean you have to abandon video games. This week, we are pleased to welcome Michael Abbott of The Brainy Gamer and Wabash College to the show. Michael is in the process of launching “Enduring Questions,” a course “devoted to engaging students with fundamental questions of humanity from multiple perspectives and fostering a sense of community.” In addition to more traditional texts, some sections of the course will have Portal on the syllabus. We were thrilled to learn this and invited Michael to join us in discussing the course, how video games function as academic texts, and the challenges involved in teaching games.

Some discussion starters:

- Have you ever taken any classes in which video games were on the syllabus? What games would work well as teaching tools, and for what subjects?

- Establishing gaming literacy is challenging. How is critical playing best taught? How did you learn to analyze games?

- What kinds of challenges arise from using games in the classroom? How do we overcome things like generational stratification in regards to certain genres or games in general?

To listen to the podcast:

- Subscribe to the EXP Podcast via iTunes here. Additionally, here is the stand-alone feed.
- Listen to the podcast in your browser by left-clicking the title. Or, right-click and select "save as link" to download the show in MP3 format.
- Subscribe to this podcast and EXP's written content with the RSS link on the right.

Show notes:

- Run time: 1 hr 2 min 28 sec
- “Portal on the booklist,” by Michael Abbott, via The Brainy Gamer
- “Portal and the Deconstruction of the Institution,” by Daniel Johnson, via Gamasutra
- “In Search of History’s Best Video Games: Canon Fodder, Season 2,” by Stephen Totilo, via Kotaku
- Music provided by Brad Sucks

The Mysteries of Minecraft

When I was a child, I wanted to be a paleontologist. In fact, all through high school I envisioned a career of digging through dirt in search of hidden fossils, carefully reconstructing a monstrous form in a laboratory and revealing its enormity in a museum for all to see. Even throughout high school, I seriously considered uncovering prehistoric remains professionally. Alas, it was not to be. Yet the desire remains, and is being fed continuously by Minecraft.

On the off chance that anyone reading this blog is not intimately familiar with Minecraft already, it is a sandbox game currently in alpha. In the normal Survival mode, players appear on a desolate island in which everything, from the sand and trees to the roaming livestock, is composed of blocks. In most cases, these blocks can be dismantled from their component parts and put together again to form whatever your heart desires. These parts can also be used as components to create other objects, like stairs, glass windows, swords, and pick-axes. These tools must be put to good use, and quickly, because if players do not have a well-lit shelter by nightfall, monsters will appear and kill the solitary individual.

Although I know what every block in the game looks like, the experience still generates a great deal of mystery. As Gerard Delaney of Binary Swan says of Minecraft in his excellent post on the game, “Minecraft grows into a thing of beauty, creating a gameplay storytelling loop where I am constantly creating new narratives within a growing ecosystem. And it is all my own.” As night creeps in upon my small and insignificant sanctuary, I cannot help but explore the story’s unknown origins. How did I come to arrive at this island alone? Have I been shipwrecked here? If this island is uninhabited, why are there domesticated animals roaming about? Why do monsters, some of whom were perhaps once human, come out at night and roam the darkness? Although I am familiar with most aspects of the game, the strangeness of the environment hides potential. Would I be surprised if, when spelunking underground, I chanced upon a tribe of Fraggles? I don’t think so.

There are mysteries in the land itself. The entire landscape is randomly generated, meaning my chain of islands and cave systems are entirely unique. When I cross a bend to find a hidden lake, tucked away between two cliff sides, I experience a feeling I consider an echo of the those felt by Ferdinand Magellan or William Clark. The excitement I once envisioned in excavating fossilized remains of a pachycephalosaurus is recreated when I find precious ore deep in the crevices of the earth. Even more exhilarating, and even frightening, is when I accidentally dig into a vast cave system. The darkness ahead is completely unknown. Sometimes what I think to be a small indent into the side of a wall opens up into a labyrinthine network of rooms, underground lakes, lava flows, and sheer drops into the inky black. Even with torches to light my way, and a secure knowledge of the game’s mechanics, I feel enveloped by mysteries, all hidden beneath the crude polygons of the surface world.
Knowing Minecraft is in alpha, and therefore liable to change day by day, creates a very different experience as well. When I log into a new version, I can entertain the idea of new hidden treasures hidden away in lakes and caverns. Perhaps Markus Persson, the creator of Minecraft, has placed some Undine maiden in the sea, waiting for me with a fabled sword. Or perhaps I will come upon the charred remains of another island inhabitant. The game itself is an emergent creation. I recommend you get it while it’s still a hot shifting mass of unexplainable delight. Can you dig it?

EXP Podcast #95: Masters of Mastery

Scott and have once again ventured into the frigid north - Canada. This time we return with Chris Lepine of The Artful Gamer, who brings with him some marvelous insight into "mastery" as an aspect of fun. Continuing last week's discussion about the "fun factor," we delve deeper into one particular notion of enjoyment. Along the way we chat about poetic play, the dangerous of neurotic mastery, multiplayer mastery, and the joys of griefing. If we stir up your thoughts along the way, we encourage you to share them in the comments section below. You can also find a link to Chris's original article and more of his work in the show notes.

Some discussion starters:

- In what way does the pursuit of mastery of a game affect your experience? How can we best describe the joy that comes from mastery in a positive way?
- How does mastery in a single-player game differ from a multiplayer game?
- Are mastery and "poetic play" contradictory? Is shifting from one style of play into the other jarring?

To listen to the podcast:

- Subscribe to the EXP Podcast via iTunes here. Additionally, here is the stand-alone feed.
- Listen to the podcast in your browser by left-clicking the title. Or, right-click and select "save as link" to download the show in MP3 format.
- Subscribe to this podcast and EXP's written content with the RSS link on the right.

Show notes:

- Run time: 63 min 23 sec
- "The Neurotic Joy of Gaming," by Chris Lepine of The Artful Gamer
- "Mad Skills," by Nels Anderson of Above49
- Music provided by Brad Sucks

Lara Croft On A Mission

How many people really like having their shortcomings flaunted in front of them? Generally, I would prefer my failures be kept a secret, even from myself. Considering the amount of information games manage to track, there is no end to the amount of embarrassing failures with which to taunt me. Lara Croft: Guardian of Light is an example of game that taunts me repeatedly, so brazenly in fact, I feel even more compelled and excited to confront its tasks.

Lara Croft lists all the bonus missions and achievements available during the stage, and there are plenty. There are always three high point scoring targets, ten red skulls to collect that are hidden throughout the stage, a time-limit under which you must complete it, and myriad of others - destroy all the urns, knock an enemy’s shield off with truck explosion, disable a trap quickly, even cross a river without touching the water. The game reminds you of some of these tasks while you play, and again at the end of the level. They are also accessible in the menu, in case you forgot the list.
Rather than turning me away, the amount of achievements in each stage calms me. It is simply impossible to accomplish all the goals in one play through. Thus, each particular goal is not terribly important since I can always come back and try again. If I miss one opportunity, I know there are other achievements I can still acquire. Strangely, while the number of missions trivializes each particular task, they are overall more valuable to me personally. Instead of demanding stressful tasks, Lara Croft offers optional excursions.

These side-quests also break up already short levels into even more manageable chunks. If I get bored holding down the fire-button against waves of enemies, I can instead backtrack and try to find more red skulls or attempt a puzzle in a slightly different way. At the same time, the time-limit missions remind me to keep progressing as long as the glimmer of success is still feasible. The missions in Lara Croft, rather than distract me from the game, actually maintain a fast but non-stressful pace.
All that being said, I do not think I would so eagerly return to these missions after I have beaten the game if it were not for a second player. My failures and accomplishments are not just my own. All the tasks seem significantly more attainable with a buddy and thus the challenges significantly more exciting. It also does not hurt that Lara Croft offers some of the best couch co-op gaming available on XBLA. The game also does not require me to collect all the skulls over again when I play through a second time, allowing me to permanently solve the missions add them to my list of accomplishments. With a witty and scattered approach to optional missions, when Guardian of Light displays my deficiencies it is not an insult but an invitation, one I gladly accept.

EXP Podcast #94: Post PAX Podcast

While we weren’t able to make it to PAX this year, the magic of the Internet allowed us to vicariously experience one of gaming’s best conventions. This week we’re taking advantage of the still-present PAX afterglow by talking about some of our favorite news from the show. We touch on the importance of expectations and nostalgia, the quiet innovation of some of the smaller games, and the general evolution of the conference itself. Since PAX incorporates everything from huge announcements (like Duke’s return) to low-key indie premieres (like The Witness), it’s almost impossible to catch everything, so feel free to jump into the comments to share what stood out to you.

Some discussion starters:

- For those of you who made it to the conference, what were your overall impressions? What would you like to see from PAX in the future?

- What is your reaction to Duke Nukem? Are you interested in the game and does the franchise have a future?

- SpyParty was a pleasant and unexpected surprise for both Jorge and me. What unexpected games impressed you?

To listen to the podcast:

- Subscribe to the EXP Podcast via iTunes here. Additionally, here is the stand-alone feed.
- Listen to the podcast in your browser by left-clicking the title. Or, right-click and select "save as link" to download the show in MP3 format.
- Subscribe to this podcast and EXP's written content with the RSS link on the right.

Show notes:

- Run time: 27 min 53 sec
- Music provided by Brad Sucks

EXP Podcast #93: Funvestigations

There is a grand project being conducted right now - an effort to catalog why we love the games we love. After propositioning a broad array of players to describe what makes particular games fun, Michael Abbot of The Brainy Gamer has put together a catalog of descriptions for us to peruse. Join us this week while Scott and I discuss wonder and possibility, exploration, special snowflakes, luck, British apprenticeships, and nostalgia. We encourage you to leave your comments in this shred. For the full catalog and to contribute your own ideas of fun, check out Michael's link in the show notes.


To listen to the podcast:

- Subscribe to the EXP Podcast via iTunes here. Additionally, here is the stand-alone feed.
- Listen to the podcast in your browser by left-clicking the title. Or, right-click and select "save as link" to download the show in MP3 format.
- Subscribe to this podcast and EXP's written content with the RSS link on the right.

Show notes:

- Run time: 35 min 48 sec
- “Fun Factor Catalog," by Michael Abbot via The Brainy Gamer
- Music provided by Brad Sucks