LaPensée says that her game, Thunderbird Strike “doesn’t judge” the player through its gameplay. In the game, players can control a fantasy bird of thunder to either destroy things that remind of the tyranny of humans over the environment, or create through restoration of animal populations. Whether players choose to destroy, save, or a mixture of both,…
Today, my news feed updated me with something I hadn’t really expected. Jalopy, an indie game I have been following for years now, was finally going to come out of “Steam Early Access” and release its 1.0 build. For those unfamiliar the concept, Early Access is a category of games available on Steam that are…
The definition of play is to take on the role of a character or object in a situation. The player becomes the character or object and is responsible for making decisions to advance within the game. In order to be considered playing, the player must have an active role in the game. They must be…
Two criteria that are important to assessing the game Blackbar are the objectives of the game and the role of the player. The objectives of the game are the goals of the game and what the player is trying to accomplish. The role of the player is how the player relates to the character. The…
Growing up, I played Pac Man on an arcade console. It would be a fairly mindless exercise and even when I played it again for the first time in a while this weekend, I just relied on instincts to avoid the ghosts. Needless to say, I have never been very good. Then I began looking into…
Before the beginning of the semester, playing a game to me was inserting yourself into the shoes of the protagonist and making sure they (they also being you) reached their goal. Though I understood that some people played for fun, I thought the purpose of play in relation to games was always to put yourself…
Is Pokémon Go racist? That depends. There are two definitions of racism: one societal, the other individual. Societally speaking, racism is the oppression of one race by a dominant race(s). Individually speaking, racism is discrimination based on race. Pokémon Go is racist in the first sense– none of the developers (presumably) meant to make their…
(This post was a response to an exam question.) The Last of Us is a game I find interesting based on two criteria: the use of vulnerability in the storyline to create a deep emotional connection between the player and the game characters, and the use of an inventory system that reinforces the desperate circumstances…
Two criteria I believe to be important when discussing Undertale are the depth of complex characters and the games emotional impact on the player. When speaking about the complexity of characters, I will focus on how well the characters come off as people you should care for instead of useless NPCs . When speaking about…
Re: Describe your previous understanding of “play,” one game from this semester, and how that game effected your understanding of play. Before this semester, my definition of play as it pertained to videogames would have been centered on interacting with a game in a way that is fun. Also, playing would have at least required…
