I Like this Blog: Tolstoy, Art, Divided Brains and Roleplaying Games - What Games Are

Excerpt:

"I had the pleasure of attending a talk by the founders of Bioware at BAFTA. It was about whether games are an art and if so, how. Starting with a definition from Tolstoy, they explained that the ability to create key choices and moments within games to evoke emotion is what they consider art. They then invited members of the audience to share their own emotional play experiences.

However something bothered me about the definition and its application. Both speakers and audience were equating art with player emotion, beauty and experience and that’s not really what Tolstoy meant. It can’t be denied that many players of roleplaying games feel that their play experience should be regarded as art, but is it? Or are they actually searching for validation?

This is a post about definitions of art, emotional validation, the duality of play, Iain McGilchrist and whether roleplaying really is what its proponents think it is.

Tolstoy Said…
Here is the key Tolstoy quote that Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk (of Bioware) used, from the book ‘What is Art?’:

To evoke in oneself a feeling one has once experienced, and having evoked it in oneself, then, by means of movements, lines, colours, sounds, or forms expressed in words, so to transmit that feeling that others may experience the same feeling - this is the activity of art.

Art is a human activity consisting in this, that one man consciously, by means of certain external signs, hands on to others feelings he has lived through, and that other people are infected by these feelings and also experience them.

The phrase that many game makers (and the BAFTA speakers and audience) hone in on here is the evoking of feelings. Often times games are thought of as a way for players to self-express and create their own stories, and so in a sense the game designer is the provider of possibility. By creating a world such as the universe of Mass Effect, he nudges the player toward interesting moments and emotional attachments. And since this is evoked emotion, it’s art.

At least that’s the idea, and one that I have previously discussed and largely dismissed. It hinges on the idea that a player is telling a story to himself, is the hero of his own tale and so forth, but it’s just not true.

The player is in the world, but as herself. She acts, but as herself. She frequently plays in an optimal fashion, and roleplaying games are full of functional asides like shops and looting and character optimisation for that purpose. She also tends to treat dialogue sections like a permutation exercise. In short, a lot of play is really about winning and being an agent of change, and while the game may be beautiful and the joy of winning is exuberant, that’s not what art is...."

read more here:

http://www.whatgamesare.com/2011/11/tolstoy-art-divided-brains-and-roleplayin...

Smart Post & Discussion on: When Narrative Turns Creepy [Tomb Raider] - What Games Are

Really interesting post on whatgamesare.com & read the discussion thread:

Excerpt:

"...So the setup for the new game is that of a prequel. You play a young, more realistically proportioned, Lara trapped on an island fighting for your survival. You're caught in a very tough predicament, with a variety of bad guys chasing you and many other hazards to overcome. So far it sounds like a straightforward action adventure game.

My problem with it started at E3 2011, where the original presentation for the game showed a young girl beaten, bloody and terrified, yelping, screaming and otherwise really very afraid. All while being relayed thoroughly dispassionately by the hosts. I thought to myself that perhaps this was within context, that conferences tends to be bloodless, and the game could be much like some movies or survival horror games Though it made me feel uncomfortable maybe that was a part of the art of games. Maybe it was a challenge to me, the player, to think differently.

Fast forward to this year and it's more of the same (limping, bleeding, crying etc) and the threat or inferrence of rape. What really pushed it over the edge for me was some interviews that I read with the game's makers talking about how this was all intentional, that the idea is to bring some reality into games, to really make the player want to protect this young girl, and so on.

Depending on who you are this sounds either highly avant garde or the subject of appallingly crass male fantasies. It also sounds highly equivalent. In a few debates on the subject this week, for example, I have encountered many opinions that state that the level of violence is no different than many movies. This is true. Similarly that if the character was actually male I would have no issue. This is false. Male injured characters in games are rarely portrayed as actually terrified or threatened with sexual violence. ...."

read the original post & discussion here:

http://www.whatgamesare.com/2012/06/when-narrative-turns-creepy-tomb-raider.html

J.K. Rowling's Wonderbook: Book of Spells to have new wizarding world poetry, history

Excerpt from snitchseeker.com:

'Russell Harding, director of the upcoming release of Sony's Wonderbook: Book of Spells, written by J.K. Rowling and exclusively sold for Playstation 3, revealed new tidbits about the interactive book, including the fact that the Harry Potter author wrote five extra poems related to the wizarding world in the book itself. Details of the wizarding world, including a history of spells, reveal themselves as the owner of the book and PS3, who have the Playstation Move addition that acts as a magic wand to cast spells, apparently against magical foes featured in the book.

Wonderbook: Book of Spells is set to be released this December in North America, and in November throughout Europe; it can be pre-ordered here on Amazon.com....'

Wired Catches Up With Caine's Arcade | GeekDad

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Excerpt:

In April of this year, Caine’s Arcade became a viral phenomenon; Nirvan Mullick’s short film has so far gathered almost 3 million views on YouTube and more than that on Vimeo. It seemed that everyone was fascinated by the story of the inventive 9-year-old and his cardboard arcade. I got Mullick on the phone for a short conversation to follow up on what’s happened with Caine and his arcade since the story broke.

Jim MacQuarrie: I thought we should do a follow-up since I know there have been a lot of appearances and awards; can you tell me about some of those?

Nirvan Mullick: Caine spoke at the USC Marshall School of Business; the youngest entrepreneur ever to speak there, a lot of well-known entrepreneurs have preceded him. He went up to Sacramento and got the Latino Spirit Award. His arcade was taken up to the Exploratorium in San Francisco; he also went up to the Maker Faire and led a workshop with kids, teaching kids how to make their own cardboard games. And we’ve started a foundation, the Caine’s Arcade Imagination Foundation....

!!!. Rumours abound that the Higgs Boson has finally been found (Wired UK)

Excerpt from WiredUK:

'One of the biggest debuts in the science world could happen in a matter of weeks: The Higgs boson may finally, really have been discovered.

Ever since tantalising hints of the Higgs turned up in December at the Large Hadron Collider, scientists there have been busily analysing the results of their energetic particle collisions to further refine their search.

"The bottom line though is now clear: There's something there which looks like a Higgs is supposed to look," wrote mathematician Peter Woit on his blog, Not Even Wrong. According to Woit, there are rumours of new data that would be the most compelling evidence yet for the long-sought Higgs....'

read more here:

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-06/21/higgs-boson-possibly-finally-f...

PlayStation's Harry Potter game 'Book of Spells' director interview - Story - Entertainment - 3 News

Book of Spells game director Russell Harding

Excerpt from 3news.co.nz:

By Daniel Rutledge

One announcement at this year’s E3 event hoping to excite Harry Potter fans was PlayStation’s upcoming title Wonderbook: Book of Spells.

Developed by the SCEE London Studios in collaboration with JK Rowling, Book of Spells is an augmented reality game that aims to turn players into Hogwarts students learning to cast spells.

I caught up with Book of Spells game director Russell Harding at E3 to find out more about the game.

3 News: We have a lot of Harry Potter fans in New Zealand who are sad the books and movies have come to an end. Is Book of Spells the next step for them?

Harding: Well I think the Book of Spells explores the wizarding world further. It’s full of unique spell descriptions written by JK Rowling herself, so giving some of the background behind some of the famous spells, she’s created some really fun stories around how those spells were discovered....'

Read more: http://www.3news.co.nz/PlayStations-Harry-Potter-game-Book-of-Spells-director...

'To honor Alan Turing, we built a simple LEGO Turing Machine...'

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Built by

Jeroen van den Bos (CWI/NFI)
Davy Landman (CWI)

"To honor Alan Turing, we built a simple LEGO Turing Machine, to show everyone how simple a computer actually is. Primary goals were to make every operation as visible as possible and to make it using just a single LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT set. The LEGO Turing Machine is part of the exhibition Turing's Erfenis at CWI...."

Like. ‘…it’s better to burn out than to fade away’ – has higher education reached a punk moment? | Peter Bryant

Great post by Peter Bryant:

Making connections, keeping connections, growing connections; all of these processes are fundamental to human interaction and social co-operation. In music, connections are the small pieces of scaffold that inspire and encourage people to create, share and perform art and songs that mean something to them and to their audiences. Some call it rock family trees, some call lineage. Whatever you choose to call it, the Beatles were inspired by the music coming out of the US in the late 50s and early 60s. Punk rebelled against the music of the time and took their inspirations from the blues, the sounds of Detroit or simply from each other...

read more here:

http://peterbryant.smegradio.com/?p=206