yeah well. from now on, I'll use this blog for academic purposes and see how that goes!

e.e.cummings says
(now the ears of ears awake
and now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

Well, after gigantic researching activity, I may or may not have pinpointed the similarities between computer games and hypertext literature. We shall see. There seems to be no where else to go now, in terms of research, so the place to go is RMIT to write up my hypertext academic essay.

Gonzalo Frasca -
However, it is possible that this “noise”, understood
as misinterpretation, could be conceived by the
author not as a problem but rather as a goal on
itself. Again, it is important to keep in mind that this
“noise” is in the reading of the work, not in its
interpretation. This is what happens in Michael
Joyce’s hypertext Afternoon, a story. The text
implies a game structure: the reader wants to
discover what really happened to the protagonist
family, because they may have died in a car
accident. However, the text sabotages the reading
by promising a resolution but never offering it.
Afternoon, a story is a very unusual kind of ludus: it
has a rule of ludus, but the system does not allow
the player –reader- to achieve it. It is a riddle with
no solution, a game designed to deceive its
players. What makes Afternoon, a story very
original in videogame terms is that no game that
we know has ever tried to convey confusion not
through its contents but through its playing. Of
course it would be possible to create a videogame
based on the same structure – think of it as
Sisyphus’ game- but it would probably generate
rejection from the players, who are used to
consume products that do have an ending and can
be solved.

Gonzalo Frasca -
Aarseth complements the concept of cybertext with
the one of “ergodics”. Instead of using the vague,
but in vogue, term “interactive”, Aarseth prefers to
describe these texts as ergodic literature, defined
as texts where “nontrivial effort is required to allow
the reader to traverse the text” (Aarseth, 1997). By
nontrivial, he means active participations -like
clicking or typing- rather than the traditional actions
associated with reading - like turning pages-, which
does not modify the shape of the text itself.

The second and most popular approach to
date, is Janet Murray’s Hamlet on the Holodeck
(1997), where she describes the computer as a
new medium for the old practice of storytelling. Her
analysis includes videogames along with other
artifacts such as hypertext, web serials and
interactive chat characters. She distinguishes three
main qualities in the medium: immersion, agency,
and transformation. By immersion she understands
the power of the medium for helping the user to
construct belief, rather than just suspending
disbelief. Agency is the capacity of the medium to
allow the user to perform actions that have
consequences on the representation. Finally, by
transformation she means the ability to morph into
multi-perspective, simulated worlds that can
enhance the two previously described
characteristics. Murray views the computer as a
medium that allows storytelling expanding towards
new expressive possibilities. Murray expands the
concept of storytelling –which she calls
cyberdrama-, that includes both traditional
(literature, film, drama) and interactive forms
(videogames, hypertexts, chatting robots such as
Eliza).

Gonzalo Frasca
" A voluntary activity or occupation executed within
certain fixed limits of time and place, according to
rules freely accepted but absolutely binding, having
its aim in itself and accompanied by a feeling of
tension, joy, and the consciousness that it is
different from ordinary life. (Huizinga, 1968)

Many elements emerge from this definition. Firstly,
that it is an activity that the player volunteers to
perform and, therefore, she is able to quit at will.
According to this definition, play has both time and
space constraints. Rules appear as essential
elements and the whole activity is described as
being performed by acknowledging it as different
from reality."

Gonzalo Frasco wrote his thesis titled "VIDEOGAMES OF THE OPPRESSED - VIDEOGAMES AS A MEANS FOR CRITICAL THINKING AND DEBATE"

His Summary Intro:

This thesis examines the potential of videogames
as a medium for fostering critical thinking and
discussion about social and personal problems.
This analysis focuses on simulation as a
representational form, which unlike others such as
narrative, creates models that not only display the
characteristics of the source system, but also
reproduce its behavior by means of a set of rules.
Therefore, videogames have the potential to
represent reality not as a collection of images or
texts, but as a dynamic system that can evolve and
change.

Remediation: Understanding New Media
Jay David Bolter & Richard Grusin

Chapter 4. Computer Games

The term "computer game" covers a range of forms,
including violent action games, strategy games,
role-playing and narrative games, erotic and frankly
pornographic applications, card games, puzzles and
skill-testing exercises, and educational software.
Some of these forms are clear repurposings of early
games. Some computer games restage famous
boardgames from Monopoly to Trivial Pursuit; others
enact war games (including reenactments of World
War II, the Civil War, and so on), which were first
introduced and are still played as intricate board
games. There are digital versions of every popular
American sport from golf to football, which
remediate on at least two levels. Computer games
are delivered on a variety of platforms, which are
themselves multiply remediating artifacts: arcade
machines; video units that connect to a television
set; CD-ROM (or DVD) applications for desktop
computers; games sites and servers on the Internet
to be received by desktop computers or televisions
with settop boxes; and portable games units. In all
their forms and with all their modes of delivery,
digital games remediate earlier genres and media.

Gonzalo Frasca says that "most video games are interpreted through a narrative paradigm. Narrative generally serves as a statement. A video game where a concentration camp prisoner may or may not die is not stating humanist values. The object of a narrative is the fait accompli: the actions that have already happened in the past (even if they are narrated as if they were happening now). While the computer can obviously serve as a medium for narrative, its true that potential is in simulation (the act of modelling the behaviour of a complex system through a simpler system). Narrative is about what happened; simulation is about what could happen."

where is my page? i have lost it, yikes

Well, I am getting the hang of the blog, it's all coming together. Thank You. Whilst finishing my New Weekly Crozzle, I am cleaning my email account, as well as hanging out for computer stuff. Having decided that The Sims are terribly corrupt items of the capitalist regime, I still will write the essay on them. Things need to be written. Don't they?

I am confused as to where my description shows up on the blog page, I see that "Beethoven was Deaf", but then that's it! Confusing.

I have just been to a Ted Nelson site, although as an information program it sounds satisfactory, there was no computer game theory.

Happy Chappy.
Today I had my first real career interview. It was with the ABC! Nevertheless, now I am checking my email, and readysteadying for some serious study. Once again I am on the cruisey lookout for computer game theory, and perhaps I'll read through my emails to get some idea about where to head to. I'll keep myself updated as I go (dur - too confusing). Great mate.

Yeah! Now, I shall use this blog as my 'whereabouts' web log! Yeah!
Ok, so at the moment I am at TROPICOand learning about this game. Gonzalo Frasco's blog told me to go there (or was that ME telling me to go there? It is difficult to pass blame here in computer space) and as I need to research computer games and theory at the moment, that's just what I am doing!!!
In theory (or is it reality?) I am at my parent's house in the country, using their Extra Big computer screen.
OK, good bye now.