Transcript ENGR 101/HUM 200: Technology and Society

ENGR 101/HUM 200:
Technology and Society
December 1, 2005
Agenda
• The Diamond Age wrap-up
• Lecture: Copyleft, Open Source Software,
Computer Games
Free Culture
• Innovation and piracy
– Record industry as a kind of piracy (p. 55)
• Necessity of paying for the score or for public performance
• What about using a recording device to record from memory
in your home?
• “Imagine the injustice of the thing. A composer writes a song
or an opera. A publisher buys at great expense the rights to
the same and copyrights it. Along come the phonographic
companies and companies who cut music rolls and
deliberately steal the work of the brain of the composer and
publisher without any regard for [their] rights.” Senator Alfred
Kittredge
• Compulsory/statutory licenses
– Key terms set by law
– “covers”
• Music vs. written works (Beatles v.
Grisham)
• Radio pays composer not recording artist
• Cable tv
– Didn’t pay broadcasters for content they
carried, even when they charged
Pathways to Commercialization
• Technology innovations are separate from
an economic profit model
• First one hundred years of the US,
America did not honor foreign copyrights
Complexities of Piracy
• Download instead of purchase
– Industry claims CD sales declined, but 20% fewer
CDs released since 1999; 803 million sold, 2.1 billion
downloaded
• Download to sample
• Download for sharing
– Stuff that is no longer available: publisher or
distributor decides no economic gain to making it
available. Copyright holder doesn’t profit: analogue to
used books stores
• Access content not copyrighted or that owner
wants to make freely available
Overkill?
• Banning or declaring illegal the
technologies that enable one type of
online sharing (downloading instead of
buying) also make it impossible for other
kinds of sharing to take place
• Napster was able to block 99.4% of
“illegal” activity. Not enough. District court
said they needed 100%. What about
VCRs, photocopiers, guns?
Copyleft/Open Source
• Open to all and open to modification
• Ensuring the derivatives of a work remain
freely accessible
Games
» (games?)
Play?
Defining the Field
• What Are Games?
– Genres and Platforms
• Who Plays Games?
– Genre, Frequency and
Duration
• Why Study Games?
– Localization, Community,
Media Consumption,
Serious Games
Game Genres
• Casual games
– Card games
– Puzzle games
– Word games
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First-person shooters
Real-time strategy
Sim games
Story games
• Multi-player role
playing games
• Sports games
• Fighting games
• Educational games
• Advergames
• Alternative reality
games (ARGs)
• Serious games
Card Games
Puzzle Games
Word Games
Casual Games
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Redefine “Gamer” and “Gaming”
Greater numbers of women players
Tied to portal development
Instrumental to growth of advergames
Easily adaptable to mobile devices and
other small screen environments
• Gaming as multitasking: new patterns for
growth of gaming? “Interruptible space”
Educational Games
Education
• Math Blaster
• Oregon Trail
Simulation Games
Real-time Strategy Games
Using Games to Teach
• “Educational” games vs. Commercial
games (COTS)
• Bloom’s taxonomy and games
• Fun educational games
• The ideology of games and impact on
classroom integration of COTS
• RTS and national identity issues
Fighting Games
First-person Shooters
Interface and FPS, Fighting
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Task-oriented screens
Time-sensitive
Immersive
All information must be on screen
FPS: real-time chat integrated
Novel documentation and information
display techniques
Avatars and Representation
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Race and Ethnicity
Gender
Age
Customizable
First- vs. third-person point of view
Issues similar to RPGs
Localization
• First-level localization (User interface issues)
• Second-level localization (Legal and cultural
issues)
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Return to Castle Wolfenstein example
Color of blood
Level of violence
Acceptable iconography or historical representations
Blending?
Racing Games
The Question of Realism
• Immersion and presence
• Representational approaches
Narrative Games
Role-playing Games
Immersive Worlds
• Games as stories (literature?)
• Social interaction and RPGs
• Avatars (politics of representation; T.L.
Taylor)
• Online communities (offline versions, too!)
• Blurring of real and virtual boundaries
• Economics of virtual worlds
(Playmoney/Ultima Online; EQ and Ebay;
Second Life)
Arcade Games
Dance Games
Games as Part of Social Space
• Game arcades as standalone social
spaces
• Dance games as school physical
education activity
• Health issues
Alternative Reality Games
ARGs and the NBT
• Majestic, The Beast, I Love Bees
(examples)
• Blurring of real and virtual space (RPGs)
• Subjectivity and identity issues
• Power and control of/over technology
• Convergence
• Mobile gaming
Sports Games
Fantasy Sports Leagues
• Online games echo social interaction and
cultural engagement of fantasy sports
leagues
• Not an isolating activity
More Genres…
• Advergames
• Serious Games:
– www.seriousgames.org
– www.gamesforhealth.org
– www.seriousgames.org/gamesforchange
Game Platforms
Place Matters
• Geography determines play interactions
• Audience construction hinges in part on
where games can be played
• Community or individual activity
• Domestic sphere or public sphere
Who Plays Games?
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34% under 18 years (2004)
46% 18-50 years (2004)
17% 50+ (2004)
59% male (2004)
39% female (2004)
54% games rated E (2003)
31% games rated T (2003)
12% games rated M (2003)
Why Study Games?
• Localization (Blending)
• Community formation and player
interaction
• Serious games (Games4D)
• Games and media ecology
Resources
www.watercoolergames.org
www.gamestudies.org
terranova.blogs.com
www.game-research.com
www.digra.org