Blog Post 3!!

Everything in the world around us continues to advance as technology gets better and better. I have not previously thought about how much video games have changed over the years. Not being much of a gamer myself, I never was itching for the new gaming council to be released; but I do know that many many many people look forward to the dates that new games and gaming councils are released. In the panel presentation and in the article The History Of Gaming: An Evolving Community, they talked about how video games started with such simple games and basic graphics and now have extremely good quality and can be played in your homes with people around the world. Chikhani said “During the late 1970’s, a number of chain restaurants around the U.S. start to install video games to capitalize on the hot new craze” (Chikhani). I had never thought about video games in restaurants, bars or bowling alleys as video games. To me they were always just games. I remember when I was a kid I was always so excited when my parents would finally give me money so I could play the games at the restaurants because I didn’t own anything like it at home. When I was younger I never made the connection that I was unable to own these video games in my home because they were very expenisve to purchase. All I knew was that when I saw a Pacman machine I was going to beg my parents to let me play it.

In addition to gaming consoles becoming popular in commercial centers and chain restaurants in the U.S., the early 1970s also saw the advent of personal computers and mass-produced gaming consoles become a reality (Chikhani).

I was surprised to see tha Chikhani and the group talked about how home gaming became a reality as early as the 1970s. The very first video game that we had in my house was the PS2 and at the time I thought that this was like the only one on the market. Clearly I was wrong. This article and the presentation really opened up my eyes about all of the history behind gaming that exists in which I had not previously not even acknowledged because I was so young. To me at a young age I did not realize the significance that these video games were making, but to the inventors it was essentially their whole lives.

I found many parts of the groups presentation to be very interesting and many aspects that they talked about, I didn’t even know that they existed. What was most mind blowing to me is when they talked about how in certain movies the image that you are seeing in the movie was not actually filmed but rather it was created with video game technology. Now I am curious as to how many movies I have watched and not noticed that a video game was actually used to create or enhance the scenery. I will defiantly be watching for this in the new movies that I watch. Another interesting aspect that the group talked about is that people are now receiving a full ride scholarship for playing video games. This is also something that I was previously unaware of.

To mention the video that we also had to watch, I hadn’t really ever thought of a video game as being an “art form” such as novels and films and that great video games will tell a story throughout them. In the video, it talks about how games are made up of many different elements to communicate an idea or an experience to the gamers. The elements are the visuals, sound, the narative and the game play speak to the gamers. This made me really think about how novels communicate the story/ narative but lack the visuals, sound and the game experience. Where films have the visuals, sound, narrative but lack the game playing experience. Where video games have all of these aspects in each game. This makes sense as to why video games seem to be more of a pass time than reading books or watching movies because some video games are essentially combining the aspects of movies and novels into their games. This whole video was based around the idea of how games speak and to learn the language of design. When I read that title of the video I initially thought that the video was going to be about how gamers have a certain language. I know that this video did not talk about this type of language but I think it is also very noteworthy. If I were to walk into a room of a bunch of people playing the same video game all working together to beat it, I know for a fact that I would not be able to fully understand the words and ideas that they are communicating to eachother. So although games may speak to many gamers, games also allow gamers to speak to other gamers.

Chikhani, R. (2015, October 31). The History Of Gaming: An Evolving Community. Retrieved October 13, 2017, from https://techcrunch.com/2015/10/31/the-history-of-gaming-an-evolving-community/

Credits, E. (2017, July 26). Retrieved October 13, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=c06uoVVFZd4&app=desktop

Nelson, Chpt. 8: “Intellectual Property Pong: Three Classic Matches that Affect Your Play Today” (Play/Write)