Communication and Technology in the Wild

For the Communication and Technology in the Wild assignment I decided to go to Boxcar Barcade. I had never heard of it before and after hearing people talk about it in class I thought I had to go because it sounded really fun. I went with a couple of my friends that I usually go to bars with who also had never been before. I wasn’t very sure what to expect but when I got there it looked just like an arcade. There were games all around the room on the walls that were facing inward and then there were a couple of games on the inside like an island that faced outward. This set up made it kind of like an oval that you could move around in or gather in. I expected it to be very dark and extremely noisy inside whenever I got there like bars usually are but it actually was not. There was definitely some steady background noise going on but it was not nearly as loud as the usual bars that I go to. Also it was very lit up in the room unlike most bars. I was surprised at how many lights were on but I think that the only reason I noticed it was because I was purposely paying attention to my surroundings for this assignment. Although both of these aspects of the room were different from what I am used to it did not seem to hinder the experience I had at Boxcar. I think because of these contextual details that the medium is meant to be consumed more so like an arcade than a bar. I feel like the only way that it is similar to a bar experience is the alcohol that can be consumed. You have to walk up the stairs to get to the bar as well whereas I had imagined the bar being in the same area as the arcade. I thought that it was going to be more about drinking than playing actual games but I was very surprised to see that lots of the people were playing the arcade games.

They also had a pretty large array of games. It varied anywhere from Pacman to Dance Dance Revolution. They also had lots of options when it came to individual player games and multi player games. The employees around Boxcar did not do much when it came to the arcade part. They were mostly there for the drinks because they would take drink orders and bring people their drinks. They did have a free popcorn machine which I thought was really cool. The employees occasionally took care of the popcorn machine and made sure that it was always filled up for people to take some. I thought it was a good idea that they offered free popcorn because then it almost made it seem like an interactive movie theatre where you got popcorn and then walked around and watched as others played the arcade games. I initially thought that it would be set up where you had to pay a cover fee that would cover all of the prices for the games like it usually is at a bar. But instead it is free to get in and you pay for each individual game like at an actual arcade. It was also fairly cheap for each game which I thought was really nice. I think most games were around a quarter to play whereas some of the bigger games like Air Hockey and Dance Dance Revolution were around a dollar to play.

I think that most of the unwritten rules that went with Boxcar were just common courtesy. Most people played each game like once or so and then moved onto the next games. The way that the barcade was setup also aided how easily people flowed from game to game. They almost moved in an oval motion like how the games were positioned. When my friends and I were at Boxcar we never ran into a problem of one specific person playing one game for way too long which was really nice. There was occasionally a long line for some of the more popular games. The line did not bother me that much because even if you had to wait in line you could get drinks or popcorn and watch the other people playing as you wait or you could talk to whoever you came with. Another thing that the employees did was sweep up or clean up the floor because since it was a bar as well it got pretty gross at times. Maybe there was more behind-the-scenes work going on but I was unable to see it if so.

I think the conditions and setting of Boxcar tell us that it is seen as a social event and that it is also a very big place for younger or older adults to go to for a good time. You may initially think of an arcade as for children but I would compare it to Dave and Buster’s and say that they are both similar ideas. They are similar in the fact that they are both remediations of something that is already around for children, for example, Chuck E Cheese’s or an arcade at a boardwalk on the beach. Both of these were originally meant for kids so someone came up with the idea to have an “adult version”. The adult version simply consists of the same exact things, games and everything, plus alcohol.

I thought it was very interesting that skeeball is so commonly seen in both kids and adult arcades. After researching I found a brief timeline of the history of arcades that said that skeeball was in fact the first arcade game ever that was developed in 1909. I think it is really cool that even though it is the oldest and a very simple game to play that no matter what arcade you go to you will always see it. I also learned that they did not have coin operated machines until the 1930s. I also found that originally arcades were most often found in either bars or porn shops during the early 1900s. I think this was the most interesting thing that I came across because I’m not sure about anyone else, but when I think of an arcade I initially think of children. I never would have thought that they started out in those places. I am curious as to what caused the change in setting for arcades and is it going back to how it was originally?

The history of this medium is represented through the arcade games that are all over for us to play just like it would be in a kids’ arcade. The medium seemed to stay the same as it was in the past. A lot of the arcade games that are around now or that used to be around when they first had an increase in interest are considered more popular the older they are. According to Laura June an arcade is not actually an arcade if they sell food, booze, and if it isn’t dark and loud. I would disagree with Laura and argue that the arcades setting does not play as large of a role as does the people who are there and the games that are set up. I thought it was interesting that at Boxcar they had all different games available to play. They spanned anywhere from Giant Jenga, AirHockey, and Foosball to Mortal Kombat, Frogger, Guitar Hero, and Donkey Kong. It really seemed like it was a place for all kinds of gamers. I felt as though it was more of a laid back place where inexperienced gamers would go to get drunk and have a good time playing video games with friends. Boxcar also has different specials and themes occasionally as well for their nights. Also, there are different tournaments that happen throughout the week and people can win things at the end.

In my research after attending Boxcar, I found that arcades are thought to have been going in a downhill direction due to lack of interest. Places like Chuck E Cheese and mall or bowling alley arcades were getting less and less popular in the 80’s. Although they were still around they were definitely not around as much as they were in previous times. It was in the early 90’s that when new games like Street Fighter II, Mortal Kombat, and Tekken were released and caused the boom of arcades to surge again. After the new games were released arcades did not pop up all around like they had in the past, but they mostly showed up in bigger cities where many people would be able to go like New York City. People also do not think of arcades in the same way as they did in the past. In the past they were mainly frequented by hardcore gamers not just casual people who wanted to do something different for a day. Today, arcades are most typically used as fun hang outs for people of all ages.

Through doing this assignment I kept thinking of how Boxcar Bar + Arcade was connected to communication and what the point of it was. I think that it is meant for people and gamers to use communication as a ritual instead of to actually solve some problem. I think that people go to Boxcar to communicate friendships and events with other people where they have a good time. It is used to communicate that you have shared beliefs with others which is why communication as a ritual is often related to religious events but I think it could also be thought of as a social event as well. People do things just to go out and have fun. For example, birthday parties are a ritual that we take part in all the time but they serve no true purpose besides the fact that you are celebrating someone’s birthday. I think the social status of the medium is why Boxcar is seen this way.

I really enjoyed this assignment for many reasons. It was really cool to have to go out and find something to be able to attend out of all of the options that were given. I wish that I could have attended one of the events that are not available for me to go to year round but maybe another time will arise that I can go to one of the others. I thought Boxcar was great for this assignment because it shows how something that may have been going out of style like arcades is coming back into style in a fairly new way. I enjoyed how it made me think about something so simple, like a night out in a different more complex way than I ever would have before.

Works Cited

Carey, James. (1985). Two Views of Communication: Transmission & Ritual. Communication as Culture. Web. 22 April 2016. Retrieved online.

Chmielewski, Brad. (2013). Craft Beer, Pinball, & the Rise of the Barcade. 17 June 2013. Web. 22 April 2016. Retrieved online.

Galloway, A.R. (2006). Chapter 1: Gamic Action, Four Moments. Gaming: Essays on Algorithmic Culture. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1–38.

Huhtamo, E. (2005). Slots of fun, slots of trouble: An archeology of arcade gaming. In J. Raessens & J. Goldstein (eds.), Handbook of Computer Games Studies. Cambridge, Mass: The MIT Press, 1–21.

June, Laura. For Amusement Only: the Life and Death of the American Arcade. The Verge. 16 Jan 2013. Web. 22 April 2016. Retrieved online.

Parkin, Simon. (2013). Drink and Revive: The Rise of Barcade. Polygon. 26 Feb 2013. Web. 21 April 2016. Retrieved online.

Saucier, Jeremy. “CHEGheads Blog.” » Coin-Op Century: A Brief History of the American Arcade. 9 May 2013. Web. 21 April 2016. Retrieved online.

Taylor, T.L. and Witkowski, E. (2010). This is how we play it: What a mega-­‐LAN can teach us about games. FDG ’10. Montery, CA, June 19-­‐21. Available online at: http://tltaylor.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/TaylorWitkowski-ThisIsHowWePlayIt.pdf.