January 13, 2006
EL250: Video Gaming Portfolio 2
Since taking EL250: Video Gaming, I have an expanded knowledge of a phenomenon that I never really "got into." In exploring New Games Journalism, I reviewed Half-Life 2, the type of game I thought I would never touch. As irony would have it, I found the game very enjoyable. This made me redefine what I consider fun. Through investigaing the topic of fun, I learned that fun can vary from not only person-to-person, but day-to-day. While reading the Utopian Entrepreneur, I found that I disagreed with Laurel's angle. So I applied a new lens to the issues she raised in A (Mini) Postmodern Critique of Utopian Entrepreneur. My close reading of Madrid sparked the interest of my classmate, Leslie Rodriguez, who felt that the game can be applied to more than terrorism.
With my close reading of September 12, I examined the issues raised by the game and compared them to the famous cartoons by Joel Andreas. I found the two anti-miltarism messages very similar and very refreshing (for a pacifist, at least). In Trans-medial Appropriations: Putting the “Orc” in Zork, I explored how elements of media can transcend their medium. In it, I took a close look at how some elements from the Lord of the Rings can be found in the text-adventure game Zork.
My Bibliography for Zork struck a chord with my professor, Dr. Jerz, who said he "particularly enjoyed browsing the page of advertisements." Dr. Jerz also pointed out my assessment of Jesper Juul's methodology in the required reading Half-Real. I praised Juul for his fair and astute scholarly reading of video games. I also sparked a thoughtful discussion about video games, violence and who's to blame.
This topic was debated passionately with different perspectives coming into play. I argued a case for society being the ultimate source of violence and offered solutions to the pervasive problem of teenage violence. I found from reading the article the problem of journalism reporting on science and related it to the book It Ain't Necessarily So.
In an attempt to build relations with people outside this blogosphere, I offered my encouragements to a concerned mother. I feel that it is imperative that we not critically analyze in the case of the mother, but rather show compassionate thinking and offer suggestions rather than analyses. Thus, I feel my blogging builds community, yet challenges at the same time.
I feel my efforts have not only enhanced my experience, but also the experiences of my peers. I look forward to writing the final term paper in which I will look at the aesthetics of interactive fiction.
Posted by EvanReynolds at January 13, 2006 12:09 AM
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