In the first article “A Theory of Fun for Game Design” Chapter 1, speaks on how some games can entirely boring after mastering them. And a game can also become boring if it’s too difficult. The author spoke about how some kids get tired of the game because they outgrow them. I believe young kids are the ones who’s more into console gaming and some older kids are more onto console gaming. I believe kids outgrow handheld gaming and move on to console gaming because it’s more interactive, as you can meet more people online and play with friends and chat with them.

In the second article “16 trends that will define the future of video games” the author specifies that parents are advocates for video games because they grew up loving video games as well. And of course children are going to follow most of what their parents do. It can also make their relationship stronger because that may be what they do to bond with each other. I don’t think there is nothing wrong with playing video games. However, there is a problem with how you manage your time, playing video games. Being interactive with other gamers can definitely take up a lot of your time and being a competitive gamer can take up even more of your time.

I don’t believe handheld gaming is more popular than console gaming although I haven’t done the research. From what I know and from my experience, most of my friends are all about console gaming including myself. It’s way more fun than handheld games. I would only play handheld games on my phone if I’m on a long train ride or on a long trip, other than that I’m most likely listening to music. Handheld games are more for the young ones and believe it will maintain like this until console games are more easier to use for the younger children. That is the reason why younger kids are more into handheld games because they understand it much more.

The Future of Gaming

I believe the future of video gaming is going to involve more physical involvement. Many video game consoles feature a motion sensor where it involves the game consumer to make movements. Video game consoles like Nintendo feature games like bowling, boxing and golf that forces people to get in the game. In reading Keith Stuarts and Jordan Erica Webber “16 trends that will define the video game era” I found it interesting how he brings up the fact that more families play video games then in the past. As generations get older those who once were growing up during the video game era have something to common. Mobile devices will also play a major factor as many apps are being released that have similar game concepts as the video games consoles. In the future I believe video games for mobile devices will be just as 3 dimensional as consoles like the PlayStation for and Xbox One. Video games will soon be purchased through apps limiting game sharing in the future. I believe games will only be accessible to those who purchased the game.

Electronic Games and Entertainment – Where are they going?

Upon the emergence of gaming, it’s structure was relatively tedious and straight forward.

In comparison to gaming in the past to now, we are given a vast array of playfield, stories and force projections as seen in the diagram above. ie. note the comparison to space invaders and scrolling shmup.

As stated in the article  “How a Videogame God Inspired a Twitter Doppelgänger — and Resurrected His Career”,  “Up to that point, most game designers saw themselves as something like film directors” ; it was through the creative mind of Peter Molyneux that led to the gateway of out of the ordinary gaming, where story lines are endless and the roles of the gamer are non-conforming.

With all this being said, I feel that electronic games and entertainment through our present technological advancement  gives power to game designers to create the unthinkable while also inspiring the audience to be in tune with their creativity. Unfortunately, there are corporate and prevailing barriers that limit both the designer and the gamer.
The article “A Theory of Fun for Game Design” – What Games Aren’t / Raph Koster takes note of such barriers as stated “Games are largely about getting people to see past the variations and look instead at the underlying patterns. Because of this, gamers are very good at seeing past fiction.” 

Consequently, games tend to focus on the technicalities of its structure as oppose to the significance of a story line.

Also noted in the article “By and large, people don’t play games because of the stories. The stories that wrap the games are usually side dishes for the brain.”

I don’t blame the gamers for having such mentality, mainly because through mainstream media they aren’t given enriched games that sets emphasis on stories. This is mainly caused by the companies the solemnly in focus on creating a universal game that favors exaggerated content such as violence, or fancy power armor, and free roaming etc. I enjoyed reading the article that spoke highly of Molyneux; mainly because it spoke of the oppression and limitations that designers have in creating something out of the ordinary, iIt’s unfortunate that such designers have to become independent in order to do so. Games and entertainment have the potential to enhance a great wave of creativity and expression to both the designer and gamer, just as long as they set emphasis on artistry. Once that is achieved soon games will have a respect as movies have.

The first reading spoke about the 16 trends that will define video gaming in the future. It started off by stating that 75 percent of today’s parents play video games with their children and that children aged 10 and under take most of their gaming ideas from their parents. I can agree with this because like all children, their minds are very one-dimensional so anything their parents do they will follow. I also feel that the reason why parents play games with their children is because that can sometimes be the only way that they can connect with their children. It also spoke of this new transparent game design trend where game designs are transparent and shorter. The weakness of that would be that game would not last and it will not be an attraction to the casual gamer. Casual gamers love games that are not too long and not too short because they want their moneys worth. Transparent game designs is also a good aspect because casual gamers love special effects and and animations that look “cool”. One last trend the article spoke about is the gamers becoming creators themselves. This is a pretty cool concept because gaming has evolved and gamers want to feel as if they are creators themselves especially with how quickly technology expands.

The next reading spoke about Videogame God Paul Molyneux inspired a Twitter Doppelganger and resurrected his career in the process. At first, it talks about Molyneux history with gaming and that he has been been in the gaming field since 1984. Then it gets interesting when it gets to his history in the 00s. He began to stumble in mid 2011 according to the reading his work was a funk. It seem to me like he wanted out of microsoft because he probably didnt feel true or devoted to his work anymore. I can relate to this because I go threw a similar scenario and everyone does. Everybody gets tired of the same scenario so they want change. Luckily for Paul, since he has been in the gaming industry for over 30 years, it is very easy for him to regenerate his life or just simply retire.

The transition from console gaming to handheld gaming affects people by making the video game experience more personal and less affected by reality. The fact that handheld devices force users to look down consistently cuts them off from reality; users are not aware of what’s happening around them. Handheld devices can have custom designs and can be incorporated with fashion. Console gaming can be personal as well; however, it invites others in the room to want to play. For example, a console might be good for a family with multiple children and handheld games better suited for an only child. Handheld games have a more personal experience.
The article “A Theory of Fun for Game Design,” by Raphael Koster, gave insight about his book “A Theory Of Game Design – What Games Aren’t.” This article is comprised of appreciation letters to the countries that admire his work. He created a language that all game developers could understand. The concept of games is that they should be fun. Part of what inspired Koster to write the his book are his children and the concept “Games that are too hard kind of bore [him], and games that are too easy also kind of bore [him] (Koster,2013.)” Asking the question, why do we play games? Similar to learning a child learning a language, games are something that we naturally learn and capture our interest.

The article “16 trends that will define the future of video games”, by Keith Stuart and Jordan Erica Webber, gave perspective on the directions of the video game industry; in reference to annual developer conference. The videogame industry is expanding, leading to more ways to increase revenue and its role in popular culture. make money and increasing its role in popular culture. For example this is the first generation of parents, who have grown up playing video game, playing games with their children. “Through a recent survey of UK families, the channel found that 75% of parents they surveyed now play video games with their children, and that children aged 10 or undertake most of their gaming recommendations from their parents (Stuart & Webber, 2016).” Nintendo has been dominant in this field of gaming interest; however, the industry expects companies to test the field.

I grew up with video games in my household, my parents were advocates for video games and would play with me as a child. Troubleshooting games when they would not work along with modifying video game console hardware allowed me to have an essay transition into working with computers and different software. These early experiences allowed me to make an easy transition into audio engineering and now video production and engineering at Lehman College.

What stood out to me the most from the readings was “16 trends that will define the future of video games” article from The Guardian. One of the major future trends of video games that really get my attention is number 4 “Blurred lines between games and social media”. After previous class discussions about music and video streaming platforms I began to think, “what would keep consumers interested in these media platforms for longer?” I believe a cross between video games and social media would be a massive success. I can name Soundcloud which is a music streaming service which is also a social media platform where people share music and podcast, as well as comment and follow other users. Some games on Facebook such as candy crush and Farmville are interactive and have a social media platform working along with these video games. “Angry Birds” is also mentioned because of its viral twitter trends and positive response from users. I see the future of all media platforms including video games being combined social media.

I first read 16 trends that will define the future of video games by Keith Stuart & Jordan Erica Webber. This was a pretty informative read, They started of talking about games that got parents involved and then merged to games that got physical, to me that meant that the gamer is not just sitting down all day receiving any physical activity which could prevent health problems in the future. When Ismail talked about trolling it made me think that companies might do away with the aspect of “The Customer is always right.” Players being able to create their games could be a good thing as far as competitiveness goes, if I’m not mistaken it has been done but imagine the ability to create a board and sit back and watch people challenge your creation. Mix that with social media replays and it could be a dope move.

In the reading of what games aren’t I kind of agree with the author when he spoke about death race and said that the game isn’t solely about running over people. I kind of thought of Grand Theft Auto and came to the conclusion that the game isn’t just about shooting people in the head and getting it in w/ prostitutes, there is another story line that the game is actually about. Going a little deeper if you do kill someone on the game or break the law, the police will chase you and try to arrest you. When this happens whatever mission you are on is put on the back burner while you attempt to get out of trouble; kind of like in LIFE!

How A video game god…….

This was very interesting, this man never lost focus even though he had many fails. I actually played “Theme Park” and the game gave me the feeling of responsibility. I then started think about how back in the day when I or people I knew would ask our parents for a dog and they would say “Your not responsible enough.” If there was a game that would simulate a real pet on screen that you had to take care of and show you a diagnostics check on the animals well being that would measure if you were a good fit or not, that would have taken a lot of excuses away from parents, and at the same time cut down on neglected pets.

In General

I’m really not that much of a gamer ever since NCAA Football ceased production but I do remember the sense of responsibility that I felt when I would have a dynasty team and I didn’t discipline them when simulated NCAA violations came up. My team ended up getting banned for 2 years from any bowl games, a loss in scholarships and I ended up taking over another college team after that year. I felt a little bad for some reason. I ended up starting the whole dynasty over and reprimanding players that broke the rules. I bought madden back in the day just because you could draft college players from NCAA. The reason for this was; one year I had a running back that was bigger than my full back BUT he was the fastest on the team. NO I did not create him! I just remember trying to ask my friends that had madden at the time to take my memory card so this player could continue his career. Yea I know that sounds crazy but hey……..

Don’t forget to check out my Youtube Channel “Mr Orchard Beach”

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCu7WBJtzSONNdiQ48xMgsJQ

Modern games can be an example of digital media product. Modern Video games as a source of entertainment has being extremely impressive as far digital media is concern. Unlike previous years where video games were codified on some memory cartridges, today video games are made in high definition (3Ds), second life and can easily be downloaded or access over the internet.

Keith Stuart and Jordan Erica Webber’s “16 trends that will define the future of video games” (The Guardian) touches several areas in modern video games I do also share similar opinion with them. For in instance, modern games create a social platform to sharing information among each other in an increasable pace. People with common goals and ideologies can come together to pursuit such common goals. For example, “smeet”. “A community is a group of people that is larger than a family or other small group and is held together by common resources, desires, interests, needs or beliefs. In the past, communities were almost always determined and limited by geography, i.e., they consisted of people who lived near each other. With the advent of the internet, however, people from different parts of the world have been able to form communities by sharing a virtual space!” (https://en.smeet.com/glossary/community/community)

“How a Videogame God Inspired a Twitter Doppelgänger — and Resurrected His Career” by Jason Tanz also gave his version about how each and every gamer have some sort of control or jurisdiction over his or her own affairs. “A game where if you touch the floor you die. The only way to progress is to kill enemies and use their bodies as platforms.” (Perter Molydeux, tweeter Nov 07 2011). This is an example as gamer how you choose to live whiles playing. In such games, your own live depends on you. Whatever you do determines your fate.

Personally, I think video games aside being a great source of entertainment in our daily life, it is also serving as a great educational device especially the youth. Even though, there are other areas that typically doesn’t associated with digital media. For example, health, schools, government etc. but now, all these areas are using the technologies that have some so sort of connection with games. Hospitals uses instruments that are designed similarly like a tool in a videogame etc. This is how far games is changing our lives daily. One adverse point I want to touch base on is the high rate of obesity. Excessive gaming without any other physical activity is causing a lot of health issues especially people living in developed countries like America. I think parents owe it a duty to check up with theirs kids to also connect to both spaces for a balance.