Social impact of video games
The power structures hindering the growth and progress of game industry include the technological, cultural and commercial power structures which have lead to a status quo which does not consider the needs of the players such as non-gamers and women who are, in fact, the minority. The commercial structures involve the production environment where the industry is not actually diverse in terms of interested people and computers generally. The industry consists of majority men as programmers since there is a tendency for men to liking programming more than women (Fron, Fullerton, Morie &Pearce, 2007). Another indication of a narrow industry is that Games are created by white males for the same white males. Regardless of the fact that hiring should be based on skills, personality and ethics, qualification in game leaves out people experienced in related areas such as entertainment media and educational software(Fron, Fullerton, Morie &Pearce, 2007).
The technological power structure involves the play technologies where there is shift in power and role of product vs. player. Videogames dictate the rules and enforce them automatically by use of software unlike other types of games where the players are given the power to determine how to play. The videogames also determine the play styles shall be favored and skills set to be valorized. A lot of mystery digital games involve ability to defeat computer it its own terms. This represents a disadvantage for someone who is unable to do so or is not interested. The games Hardware technologies tend to favor some kinds of play and marginalize others. The cultural power structure involves the positioning of the play and players culturally (Fron, Fullerton, Morie &Pearce, 2007). This is indicated by the way the video games are characterized by a sensibility of adolescent male, which tend to transcend physical age to embrace male fantasies for domination and power, hyper-sexualized, women objectification, racial discrimination and stereotyping. In general the three power structures becomes drivers for certain norms and values related to the game play which seems to ghettoize and subordinate the minority players and the associated life styles. The trend in game development has shown increased cases of power structures display. The games are still developed with the both violent and non-violent themes with high hyper-sexualized videos that tend to show women as sex objects of gratifying male fantasies for power and sex gratification. There is still high misrepresentation of female gender in comparison with male gender in the programming and production process (Fron, Fullerton, Morie &Pearce, 2007).
The five analyses of videogames include the game, player, culture, ontology and the metrics. The game analysis involves observing the games and coming up with a description of their structure and how certain techniques are applied in terms of aspects such as representation of the player in game world, reward for the player. This I aimed at achieving paler experience targeted by game designer. This kind of analysis is preferred by people with comparative literature background or aesthetic field (Egenfeldt & Smith, Tosca, 2016). For instance, Line Rider game analysis aimed at determining the scale, air resistance and how friction works (Lewis,Trinh& Kirsh,2013).
The analysis on players considers the games’ playing activity as being of more importance than the games. The aim for the analysis is to understand how games are used by players as a medium type or social space. It is normally preferred by ethnographers and sociologists (Egenfeldt & Smith, Tosca, 2016). An example is Starcraft: Brood War game analysis which analyzed the players’ actions with an aim of determining their capacities that bring make them succeed (Hunicke, LeBlanc & Zubek, 2004).
The culture analysis focuses on the broader culture which forms part of the game. The aim is to explore the interaction between the gaming and the game with broader cultural patterns. The methodology of such studies often uses secondary sources such as advertising and social media (Egenfeldt & Smith, Tosca, 2016). An example is analysis of Tomb Raider in order to relate it to theory on social activity (Sunnen, 2000).
Ontology on the other hand seeks to assess the games’ philosophical foundations and aims at presenting general statements which touch on all games. They help in understanding aspects such as the relationship between fiction, rules and the participating player. The studies are based on logical analysis that is essentially founded on firm examples but have no interest in personal titles in themselves (Egenfeldt & Smith, Tosca, 2016). An example is a study on game design and research that looks into Mechanics, Dynamics and Aesthetics in various videos.
Metrics analysis involves research design which is driven by data. It measures the behavior of the player quantitatively and also assess the connection between that behavior and the design of the game so as to, for example, assist the developers in improving the experience of the player (Egenfeldt & Smith, Tosca, 2016). An example is a study done on kids, civics and video games (Lenhar, Kahne, Macgill & Vitak, 2008).
Video game studies fall into two categories which include the studies based on humanities and those based on social science. Social science games studies examines the ways in which game and gaming impacts on people and how they make sense and interact with such games. Games studies based on humanities looks into the context and meaning of the games themselves in relation to the created narratives and probably developed by video games, or by special chances for analysis shown in the way video games interact (Egenfeldt & Smith, Tosca, 2016).
The various stages of video development include the conceptual, design, production and testing stage. The conceptual stage involves the formulation of the concept o the game so as to communicate the main game idea and related features like concept art at times and platform. A game proposal is then created by the designer with aim of attracting possible funding and for actual production planning. Activities involved in this stage may include market analysis and budget projections. The design phase involves detailed description of specifications, both technical and functional. The functional specification offers enough information about the game features and the manner of interaction between the player and the game while technical specification provide information on how the desired design will be achieved at the technical level. Such designs cover aspects such as objects in a game. The production phase involves the actual writing of the codes for the game and the creation of various game elements such as the sound and graphics. The individual elements are then connected as the beginning step. The testing stag involves assessment to spot the problems that may arise. It is done on the beta version of the game where real gamers are invited and who are close to targeted users as much as possible. The players play for a given tine and report the arising problem or may offer suggestion (Fron, Fullerton, Morie &Pearce, 2007).
References
Egenfeldt, S., Smith,J., Tosca, S. (2016).Understanding Video Games: The Essential Introduction. Routledge. 2 Ed.
Fron, J., Fullerton, T., Morie, J., Pearce,C.(2007).The Hegemony of Play Published in Proceedings, DiGRA: Situated Play, Tokyo, September 24-27:
Lenhar,A Kahne,J., Macgill,A. Vitak,J.(2008)Teens, Video Games, and Civics . Teens’ gaming experiences are diverse and include significant social interaction and civic engagement . Retrieved from: http://www.pewinternet.org/files/old-media/Files/Reports/2008/PIP_Teens_Games_and_Civics_Report_FINAL.pdf.pdf
Hunicke, R, LeBlanc, M.Zubek, R. (2004).MDA: A Formal Approach to Game Design and Game Research
Robin Hunicke, Marc LeBlanc, Robert Zubek. Retrieved from
Sunnen,P(2000).Making Sense of Video Games. A Textual Analysis of Tomb Raider II. Retrieved fr https://orbilu.uni.lu/bitstream/10993/7704/1/sunnen_diss.pdfom:
Lewis,J.,Trinh,P., Kirsh,D.(2013).A Corpus Analysis of Strategy Video Game Play in Starcraft: Brood War. Retrieved from: http://www.cogsci.ucsd.edu/~josh/starcraft.pdf
