My bold padlet by Christian Garza

Context Inside the Game

christiangarza3 — 2023-11-05 07:08:48 UTC

Games are large, complex works that have multiple aspects. It might be impossible to cover all aspects within one paper. It is important to state the aspects that are important to the paper early on. It is also important to relate how the aspect interacts with the larger game. This also helps show what aspects are going to be neglected.

Context Inside the Game

christiangarza3 — 2023-11-05 08:01:47 UTC

I am reminded of a lesson about English, I learned back in middle school. The reason run-on sentences are looked down on is that it does not give the reader time to breathe. If I tried to cover every aspect of the game in one paper, it would go on and on, not giving the reader time to breathe. It also gives common sense to how we are to break down the aspects, and how to fill in the gaps.

Context Inside the Game

christiangarza3 — 2023-11-05 08:06:09 UTC

While on paper this only applies to video games, this has applications to other papers and life in general. In papers, if I am covering a book that covers different topics or multiple stories, it would make sense to give the surrounding context. In regard to life, this felt like a reminder to take a step back. It felt like I got a reminder to breathe, break it up into chunks, and to understand how my problems interact with other problems.

Game Genre

christiangarza3 — 2023-12-11 07:26:52 UTC

Game genres are useful to organize and recognize characteristics and conventions. With that said, it is difficult to classify them. This is because a term can be broad and be applied to contradicting games. To list out the ways one can classify them, you can: classify them by formal characteristics (families, or rules), conventions (like point and click), context of the game(casual games), and the fictional world (like zombie games). Ultimately, just be mindful of what term you are using.

Game Genre

christiangarza3 — 2023-12-11 07:42:48 UTC

To compare this to genres in literature is much more complicated. The Dewey Decimal is a standardized classification system that can be found across every library. The fact that video games have existed since the 1970s baffling how we do not have a system yet.

Game Genre

christiangarza3 — 2023-12-11 07:51:50 UTC

For video games, it is that we need to create a standard system like the Dewey Decimal system. The fact that there is no standard system yet feels like a failure of the gaming industry. Outside of video games, this makes me want to be more careful with the systems we have. I remember the platypus and how we classify it as a mammal, yet it lays eggs. I will try to examine things in more detail and try not to generalize as much going forward.

Technological Context

christiangarza3 — 2023-12-14 10:07:42 UTC

This is a basic component of the analysis. This is important because different ports may differentiate because of hardware and software limitations. It may also take away key features found in these games. Also, certain games may have to wait until the technology is ready. It will also tell us if the aesthetic of the game is a choice made by the developer or if it is one born of necessity.

Technological Context

christiangarza3 — 2023-12-14 10:14:53 UTC

This is something I did not think about, but it makes sense. While certain games could be made after a certain point, a lot of games would have never been able to be made on older consoles. I am reminded of 'The Last of Us,' and I do not think that game could have been made on any 16-bit console. Games would not have been able to last the amount of time necessary for the story to develop and be good.

Technological Context

christiangarza3 — 2023-12-14 10:26:37 UTC

While this is mainly applicable to games, it does have several applications beyond just game analysis. I am reminded of cartoons and films from the early half of the 1900s. One colorization was introduced, but before black-and-white productions were done away with, you would have to research this information to know. Also, it makes me interested in how the lack of computers or typewriters influenced the length of papers or stories.

Socio-Historical Context

christiangarza3 — 2023-12-14 11:15:13 UTC

It is important to note the information of when the game was made, released and played. It is also important to note what era the game is set in or is made to reflect. How the game shows the intersection of cultures is also important. This can be seen in the localization of the game.

Socio-Historical Context

christiangarza3 — 2023-12-14 11:25:35 UTC

The most important thing that I noticed was when you played the game it was also considered important. It has given me perspective on how when you play a game influences your playthrough. It allows people to compare games that were released later and see how they may have influenced future games. It also helps us see if the game needed to wait until the technology caught up to the game they wanted to make.

Socio-Historical Context

christiangarza3 — 2023-12-14 11:32:55 UTC

This has made me want to expand this approach to other analyses beyond video games. It makes me want to pay close attention to when the story is set versus when the story was created. Likewise, see where the story is located versus where the story was made. This will help me understand how the people reacted to the clash of cultures and times.

Relations to Other Media

christiangarza3 — 2023-12-14 11:41:13 UTC

One thing to keep in mind is that a video game is a different medium than books or film, so being completely faithful may be detrimental. There is a difference between adaptions and transmedia storytelling, where the fictional world is seen through different mediums. A game could be a tie-in or merely inspired by a previous work. You can also use other games to influence your video game. Also, games can share characters between different genres.

Relations to Other Media

christiangarza3 — 2023-12-14 11:46:50 UTC

The fact that something can be transmedia storytelling without being a straight-up adaptation is interesting to me. I never thought of it like that, but then I remembered this game, 'Sonic and the Black Knight.' It reused the world of King Arthur and had several characters from the tales, but it was not a retelling. Instead, it used them to tell a story about King Arthur becoming corrupt and it is up to the player to save the kingdom. I guess that would be transmedia storytelling.

Relations to Other Media

christiangarza3 — 2023-12-14 11:50:10 UTC

Now knowing this, I will keep an eye out as I consume media going forward. I will apply this not only when I discuss video games, but also when I watch film and other media that is not the original. It will be interesting to see if it is just a copy of the original or if the new piece will do something with it. This also inspires me to use this in my final paper.

Number of Players

christiangarza3 — 2023-12-14 11:57:03 UTC

The number of players and how they interact with the game and each other is important. The different types of interactions are single-player versus game, multiple-player versus game (no cooperation), player versus player, multilateral competition (free for all), team competition, unilateral competition (one versus many), and lastly cooperative play. It is important to know if the players are together or remote, how do the players connect, and how do they communicate with each other.

Number of Players

christiangarza3 — 2023-12-14 12:01:23 UTC

This is something to note because this is the biggest distinction between this medium and the rest of them. In other mediums, you do not interact with the game, and while you can experience it with a group, it is hard to connect with the other viewers because you are not fully participating with them. Traditional books for example do not allow themselves to explore the fictional world together.

Number of Players

christiangarza3 — 2023-12-14 12:04:16 UTC

I will keep track of this when I analyze games in the future. I now know that the way you interact with the game and others through it will influence your experience. I am curious to see how games they can be played both solo and coop would compare experiences.

Rules and Goals of the Game/Game Modes

christiangarza3 — 2023-12-14 12:10:12 UTC

It is important to know what constraints and things you are allowed to do in the game. Summarization in a proper analysis is key here; you do not have to reference every rule of the game. Knowing the goal of the game is important to understand as well. It may or may not indicate how to finish the game. It may also be meaningful in the story of the game. Lastly, it is important to know the modes of the game, and how they might affect the rules of the main game.

Rules and Goals of the Game/Game Modes

christiangarza3 — 2023-12-14 12:14:03 UTC

I am reminded of a phrase I once heard in a video. "Restrictions breed creativity." Not being allowed to do everything you want to, changes how one would go about solving an issue. I will also say that knowing what someone is supposed to do is critical for the game. Without proper information, one might get stuck without progressing the game at all. I am reminded of the game I'm playing and how that happened to me when I first started.

Rules and Goals of the Game/Game Modes

christiangarza3 — 2023-12-14 12:16:25 UTC

I will pay closer attention to the rules given to me, not only in video games but in real life. I will also make sure that I always understand what my goal is because otherwise I might get stuck without any clue that something is wrong. Having gone through that experience once is good enough for me.

Game Mechanics

christiangarza3 — 2023-12-14 12:21:16 UTC

A distinction that is to be made between the rules of a game and the game's mechanics is this: the rules tell you what you cannot do, but the mechanics tell you what you can do. An easy way to find out what the mechanics are is to count the verbs of what the player can do. It is also important to know what the core mechanics of the game are, and what are the ones that appear less frequently. It is also important to know how the player performs the action (what buttons they press, etc.).

Game Mechanics

christiangarza3 — 2023-12-14 12:25:26 UTC

This now feels like what the technical side of the game is like. What specific things the player can do, how they do them, and the rate they appear when playing are important to know. It is the difference between getting a pizzeria simulator game and getting a horror game that lets you run a restaurant to ramp up tension.

Game Mechanics

christiangarza3 — 2023-12-14 12:28:49 UTC

This tells me that I need to be the most careful when I discuss this section. If I explain poorly the actions that are available to the player, then the rest of the paper will be thrown off. I will also use the count of the verbs in any future game analysis that I will do in the future. Lastly, knowing the exact way I perform the actions in the game is just as important as the available actions.

Spaces of the Game

christiangarza3 — 2023-12-14 12:35:25 UTC

There are five basic spaces: rules-based space (the mathematical rules that set up the game, like audio), mediated space (the presentation of the game), fictional space (how the player imagines the place to be), the play space (where the game is being played, including hardware), and the social space (how the players interact with each other and the space created for that). It is also important to know: if the game is 2D/3D, how does the player view the game (first person, etc.), how does the player move around the space, how other things move in that space, and how is that space set up.

Spaces of the Game

christiangarza3 — 2023-12-14 12:36:53 UTC

I had never considered how many spaces a game occupies. I have always just considered the mediative and fictional space of the game. Going forward, I will consider this when I interact with games. I am going to take a closer look at the play space and social place in future analyses. I will also consider how I move about these spaces, and how the things within the game move about.

Spaces of the Game

christiangarza3 — 2023-12-14 12:44:27 UTC

Besides examining this for video games, I will apply this to other analyses. The concept of movies where we only see specific imagery that cuts off other aspects, makes me want to look closer at that. Also, knowing how the objects and people move within them will tell me more about the media I am consuming.

Fictional World of the Game

christiangarza3 — 2023-12-14 12:48:55 UTC

A fictional world is where the game takes place. It helps us identify the theme, what happens in the game, and how the story or tropes might influence the player. It also helps us understand the genre of the game. There is a degree of independence between the fictional world and the rules of the game.

Fictional World of the Game

christiangarza3 — 2023-12-14 12:54:03 UTC

I have always considered the world of the game to be separate from the genre and themes of the game. This might be because of how I was introduced to the subversions before I knew the originals. I grew up learning about the world of H.P. Lovecraft, so when I think 20s-30s, I think of monsters pulling the strings before I think of normal gangsters. The theme is also interesting because a lot of stories have themes that are not immediately noticeable when you look at the surrounding world. I see "Fallout's" world and I do not immediately think of fighting the man. Yet, it helps set up the theme.

Fictional World of the Game

christiangarza3 — 2023-12-14 12:56:16 UTC

Going forward, I will pay closer attention when I examine fictional worlds. I will try to see if there is any symbolism or how the location might set up story beats. I will also, for video game analyses, look at how the player slots into the world.

Story

christiangarza3 — 2023-12-14 13:03:53 UTC

The story of a game can be defined as the story of the fictional world, and the story of the player. The fictional world can be subdivided into the events before the game began and gameplay that is reliant on learning about the story (for example a detective game). The player's story can be subdivided into embedded storytelling (where the story was planned by the developers), and emergent storytelling (the story is created when the player interacts with the world of the game). It is also important to note what parts of the story are you unable to interact with, and what parts are you able to.

Story

christiangarza3 — 2023-12-14 13:07:52 UTC

I am not someone who plays video games all that often, so I never really think about the interactive elements of a story. But it is a little like fate versus free will. Embedded storytelling is where in older media, we read about the prophesied hero who will defeat the beast because that has already been declared to happen. Emergent, meanwhile, is how a player just casually walks into a situation that has no guaranteed outcome and you can change how it goes.

Story

christiangarza3 — 2023-12-14 13:14:20 UTC

I will keep a closer eye on the things that I can interact with in games and what I cannot, for that might be the story. I am also curious what the Stanley Parable and other games have to say about free will and the allusion of choice. This feels like something that video games are able to interact with more than any other medium.

Gameplay Experience

christiangarza3 — 2023-12-14 13:26:29 UTC

While the gameplay experience can be the focus of the paper itself, you need to move beyond the concept of good and bad. The focus should be instead, "What does the player do?" This building block is subjective, but that needs to be taken into account. Make sure to discuss the attitude to the game, how the player responds to the challenges, and how the interactions take place.

Gameplay Experience

christiangarza3 — 2023-12-14 13:54:05 UTC

This is a big difference between video games and other media is how we interact with the game. I can create a paper that focuses on my experience with a video game, but it would not be appropriate to do that with the "Divine Comedy". However, I am curious about what kind of papers could be made if you were to write papers about classical literature and the reaction of the author to it.

Gameplay Experience

christiangarza3 — 2023-12-14 14:23:22 UTC

I will make sure to be careful when I write from my perspective. I will make sure to mention the attitude the game invokes in me in my writing. I will make sure to mention the interactions that will take place between the players.

Difficulty Levels/Game Balance

christiangarza3 — 2023-12-14 14:30:03 UTC

To understand the difficulty of a game, one must take into account the number of obstacles and how often they show up, how long a level is, and what skills are needed to play the game. There is a sweet spot between challenge and skill where a player enters the flow. Other things to remember are their specific settings to change the difficulty, how much wiggle room the game gives you, does the game expects previous knowledge, or will it teach the player, and how the game becomes more difficult.

Difficulty Levels/Game Balance

christiangarza3 — 2023-12-14 14:34:01 UTC

As someone who is a novice to most video games, I have concluded that the games I have played are not that balanced regarding leveling and game balance. With the game I am playing for the class, I for several days of playing the game, did not know how the leveling system worked. the game was presuming pre knowledge, and I did not have it.

Difficulty Levels/Game Balance

christiangarza3 — 2023-12-14 14:39:50 UTC

I will be more critical about how games explain the way I progress in the future. Going into the future, I will also ask about how I progress in the workplace so I can have explicit information. If I do not have clear information, I will not be able to move forward in my career.

Representation and Identity

christiangarza3 — 2023-12-15 06:47:42 UTC

There are two types of a character that you can play. The first is the player character (a pre-designed character), and the other is the avatar (a blank slate that a player can change). It is also important to know if you are playing multiple characters, and how the gender, ethnicity, and sexuality of the character affect the world of the game.

Representation and Identity

christiangarza3 — 2023-12-15 06:57:08 UTC

In a world where a person's identity matters more and more, it is important to understand how the character can be identified. While not every story will use themes of gender, race, age, or sexuality, it is important to at least understand. It is also important to understand how one uses other characters in the game is important.

Representation and Identity

christiangarza3 — 2023-12-15 07:31:29 UTC

It is important to not only understand the decisions characters have and the options available to players. It will also be important to remember that this is something that will apply to other work. Learning the identities of the characters is important to other pieces of work. We live in a world where writers are exploring these themes in literature, movies, and plays.

Choice Design

christiangarza3 — 2023-12-15 07:47:16 UTC

Choices in a game have five phases: the current game state, the choice is presented, the player makes a choice, the choice is inserted into the system, and the results are revealed to the player. the number of choices differs between games. A choice that does not matter is an example of the allusion of choice. Some games will reward certain choices and not others, and in other games, they may not even be obvious.

Choice Design

christiangarza3 — 2023-12-15 08:28:17 UTC

Games are the best medium to explore choices. I am reminded of one movie that presented a choice to the audience, but the movie never actually recorded the alternate scene. While it worked for the film, with video games we can have the other seen. I had stated this in a previous post, but video games are the best at showing the allusion of choice and I want to see games play with free will in the future.

Choice Design

christiangarza3 — 2023-12-15 08:40:52 UTC

Whenever I play a game in the future, I will look into what choices are presented to the player. I want to also observe what are choices that are hard to observe. It would be interesting to look at what a game considers important and how it might be ignored by a player. Also, looking at the amount of choice in the game will be interesting to see how much the player can interact with the game.