Computer Gaming John K. Bennett

Transcription

1 Computer Gaming John K. Bennett

2 How many hours per week do you spend gaming? A: None B: Less than 5 C: 5 15 D: E: More than 30

3 Games have been around for a long time Senet, circa 3100 B.C. 麻將 (mahjong, ma-jiang), ~500 B.C.

4 What is a Digital Game? a software program in which one or more players make decisions through the control of the game objects and resources in pursuit of a goal (Dignan, 2010) 1.Goal 2.Rules 3.Feedback loop (extrinsic / intrinsic motivation) 4.Voluntary Participation McGonigal, J. (2011). Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World. Penguin Press

5 Early Computer Games

6 Alan Turning & Claude Shannon Early Chess-Playing Programs In 1948, Turing and David Champernowne wrote Turochamp, a paper design of a chess-playing computer program. No computer of that era was powerful enough to host Turochamp. In 1950, Shannon published a paper on computer chess entitled Programming a Computer for Playing Chess *. The same algorithm has also been used to play blackjack and the stock market (with considerable success). *Programming a Computer for Playing Chess Philosophical Magazine, Ser.7, Vol. 41, No March 1950.

7 OXO Noughts and Crosses PhD work of A.S. Douglas in 1952, University of Cambridge, UK Tic-Tac-Toe game on EDSAC computer Player used dial control to select appropriate square

8 OXO Noughts and Crosses

9 EDSAC (1949)

10 Tennis for Two Tennis For Two (1958) by William Higginbotham, Brookhaven National Laboratory Demonstration of trajectory calculation Based on analog, rather than digital computing

11 Tennis For Two (1958)

12 Spacewar! Spacewar! (1962) by Steve Russell, MIT Demonstration of PDP-1 computer Huge success, Spacewar! later installed with every shipped PDP-1 Spread around ARPAnet

13 Spacewar! (1962)

14 Text Based Gaming Gregory Yob (1972), Hunt the Wumpus (Basic) William Growther (1976), Adventure (PDP-10) Marc Blanc & Co. (1980) Zork (Apple II, TRS- 80) Michael Toy, Ken Arnold, and Glenn Wichman Rogue (UC Berkeley, 1981) Roy Trubshaw (1978), MUD First online multiplayer game, developed at Essex University for the DEC PDP-10

15 Adventure

16 Rogue (Michael Toy, Glenn Wichman & Ken Arnold)

17 MUD & Temple of Apshai

18 Big Bang Theory & MUD

19 Computer platforms 1976: Steve Wozniak & Steve Jobs finish Apple I, marketed for $ : Apple II released. Color graphics (~$1500) 1979: Atari releases Atari 400 and 800

20 Apple I & II

21 Computer platforms 1980: Jack Tramiel announces the intention to build a $300 home computer 1980: Commodore VIC 1001 color computer 1981: Rebranded VIC-20 sells for $299, : Commodore 64 announced for $ ,000 Commodore VIC-20s shipped 600,000 Apple computers 1981: IBM releases the IBM PC (~$1500)

22 The First Arcade Games 1971: Nolan Bushnell turns Spacewar! into the world s first coinop arcade videogame Bushnell founds Atari in 1972 First product: PONG

23 PONG (1972)

24 The Growth of Arcade Games copies follow, as well as more arcade games : 30 videogames by 11 manufacturers : 57 new games 1976: 53 new games

25 Evolution of 2D Shooters Koster, R A Theory of Fun for Game Design. Paraglyph Press.

26 Arcade Innovations Shark Jaws (Atari 1975) featuring animated characters

27 Arcade Innovations Night Driver (Atari 1976) first person driving game

28 Arcade Innovations Space Wars (Cinematronics 1977) featuring vector graphics

29 Arcade Innovations High score list in Asteroids (Atari 1979)

30 Arcade Innovations Galaxian (Namko 1979) first ever color arcade game

31 Arcade Innovations Dragon s Lair (Cinematronics 1983) with laserdisc system, advanced graphics

32 Video Game Crash of 1977 TONS of Pong clones TONS of poor console systems Too many competitors Didn t end until Space Invaders (1978), which ultimately influenced Shigeru Miyamoto (Mario creator)

33 Golden Age of Arcade Games Space Invaders (Taito 1978) is a huge success in Japan and U.S. Japanese government has to quadruple Yen production because of coin shortage First arcade game licensed for a home console (Atari VCS) Pakkuman パックマン (Namco 1980), named Pac-Man in U.S. Donkey Kong (Nintendo 1981)

34 Arcade Success In 1982, the arcade videogame industry makes three times as much money as the movie business!

35 Meanwhile 1966 Ralph Baer (Sanders Associates) describes a TV based videogame system Home TV Game. Patent application in 1968 Licensed by Magnavox in 1971 Magnavox Odyssey home videogame system released in Atari starts developing a home version of PONG, out by Christmas in 1975.

36 Magnavox Odyssey

37 More home systems Channel F (1976) first programmable videogame system Copies follow 1976: RCA Studio II 1977: Atari VCS (1982: Atari 2600) 1978: Odyssey2, Bally Professional Arcade 1979: Intellivision 1982: ColecoVision, Arcadia 2001, Atari 5200, Vectrex

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39 going strong Sales in videogames rise from $950 million to $3.2 billion dollars 25% of U.S homes have (at least) one system 200 games available for Atari

40 until the Crash of 1983 End of 2nd generation of console video gaming Low end computers > video game consoles Why buy your child a video game and distract them from school when you can buy them a home computer that will prepare them for college? Too many competitors Poor games (E.T.; Pac-man), media coverage Pac-Man for Atari 2600 (1982) E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

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46 3 year gap and then

47 Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) Often credited for single-handedly saving the gaming industry (1985) Shigeru Miyamoto s Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, Dragon Quest Hironobu Sakaguchi final role-playing game, Final Fantasy (1987) Not so final most successful (current) RPG franchise

48 Isometric Games ( ) Parallel Projection Popular technique that used 2D sprite and tile-based graphics to represent 3D environments e.g., Marble Madness (1984) Zaxxon(1982)

49 Tetris/Тетрис (1986) Alexey Pajitnov, Dmitry Pavlovsky, Vadim Gerasimov, Academy of Science USSR Timeless; instant accessibility and simple gameplay rules system Winner of nine Guinness World Records including Most Ported Video Game and Game With the Most Official and Unofficial Variants

50 16/32-bit Consoles & PCs Arcade games decline in popularity Super Nintendo a.k.a. SNES (1990) Sega Mega-Drive a.k.a. Sega Genesis (1988) Neo Geo (1990) 8-bit Nintendo Game Boy (1989) Development of new genres with increasing performance, especially on PCs: First-Person Shooter (FPS) Real-Time Strategy (RTS) Turn-Based System (TBS) (Revamped) Role-Playing Game (RPG)

51 First-Person Shooter (FPS) Wolfenstein 3D (1992) Doom (1993) Myst (1993) Quake (1996)

52 Real-Time Strategy (RTS) Command & Conquer (1995) Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness (1995)

53 Turn-Based Strategy (TBS) Civilization II (1996) SimCity 2000 (1994)

54 Super Nintendo (SNES) Donkey Kong Country (1994) Super Metroid (1994) Earthworm Jim (1994) Chrono Trigger (1995)

55 64-bit Consoles Console Wars: Round #1 Sony PlayStation (1995) Nintendo 64 (1996) Microsoft Xbox (2001) GameBoy Color (1998) vs. PlayStation Portable (2004)

56 N64 / Xbox / PS1

57 Mario 64 (1996) GoldenEye: 007(1997) Super Smash Bros. (1999) LoZ: Ocarina of Time (1998)

58 PlayStation

59 and the Xbox

60 What is the targeted demographic of game developers? A: Boys and girls aged 8-15 B: Women aged C: Single white males aged 8-34 D: Men aged E: Families (adults and children)

61 What is the targeted demographic of game developers? Single white males aged 8-34

62 Actual Average Age of Game Players?

63 Actual Average Age of Game Players 37 (up from 34 a few years ago)

64 Entertainment Software Association (ESA) Average gamer is 37 years old and has been playing for 12 years 82% percent of gamers are 18+ years of age or older. 42% of all players are women Women 18+ years represent a greater portion of the game-playing population (37%) than boys age 17 or younger (13%) 29% are over the age of 50, up from 9% in % of gamers play games with other gamers in person 91% of the time parents are present at the time games are purchased or rented

65 Kinect (Released Nov. 2010) 8 million sales in the first 60 DAYS Guinness World Record as fastest selling consumer electronic device in history

66 Xbox One One of the most powerful computing systems ever made (5 Billion transistors)

67 Xbox One X 4K gaming: $500, Nov. 2017

68 Playstation 4

69 A Closer Look at Gaming

70 Computer games and game players: Why A lot of research into this, especially learning psychology. Two (related) often asked questions: 1. Why does someone voluntarily do the same repetitive task in a game over and over? 2. How can this enthusiasm / keenness / determination / focus be transferred to learning situations (or other thing we care about)?

71 and here s why (Question 1) Because games are difficult. In addition to completing the game, there is the challenge of figuring out what to do and how to do it i.e. mastering the game. They present a challenge (like crosswords, sudoko). They appeal our curiosity. Often a game presents instant feedback to the player on his or her actions.

72 The learning curve of a good computer game is: not too easy (will get bored) not too hard (will get frustrated) something that opens up new parts of the game (and provides other rewards ) in return for in-game skill development. encouraging a sense of just one more go in the player.

73 Learning using computer games

74 Computer games in learning: how? Games are widely used as educational tools, not just for pilots, soldiers and surgeons, but also in schools and businesses. Games require players to construct hypotheses, solve problems, develop strategies, learn the rules of the in-game world through trial and error. Gamers must also be able to juggle several different tasks, evaluate risks and make quick decisions. Playing games is, thus, an ideal form of preparation for the workplace of the 21st century, as some forward-thinking firms are already starting to realize. The Economist, August 4, 2005

75 Computer games in learning: where Major part of software market for schools Large numbers of computer games developed with curriculum relevance in mind: Audited against national and state curriculum Tested by teachers and educators Mainly in primary schools (age 4 to 12) but increasingly in secondary Smaller number of schools use COTS (Commercial Off The Shelf) games such as Zoo Tycoon for cross-curricular learning.

76 Examples of computer Games in Education Historical simulations Planning and architecture Problem solving (instant response) Economics and financial management Literacy (major success with Myst) Physics (gravity, vectors, acceleration) Chemistry Cultural studies and religion Cross-curricula games tend to be very popular

77 Zoo Tycoon Build a zoo and populate it with animals Stay on budget Pay for feed, staff, animals, vets bills Used in schools for: Math Economics and finance Biology Ethics (should animals be caged?) Planning and design

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79 Game simulators allow residents to gain handson training before operating on patients U.S. Army uses games for combat training and victims of Post- Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Games for Corporate and Military Training

80 Scratch - Programming environment that leverages interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art Fold It! - Harnessing gamer s collective intelligence for understanding how proteins fold Games for Advancing STEM Sciences

81 BudgetBall - designed to increase awareness of the national debt and promote fiscal responsibility EnerCities - first Facebook game about energy resources and the balance between people, planet and profit Games for Economic and Environmental Sustainability

82 3rd World Farmer - players learn to contend with disasters, wars, poor medical care, and unfair prices Raise the Village - Players purchase virtual goods, which are delivered to the real Kapir Atiira village in Uganda Games for Global Conflict and Social Development

83 Computer Games in Health Pain relief and distraction Rehabilitation Surgery skill increase Diabetes awareness Easing carpal tunnel syndrome Mental health and sharpness Acting out domestic and social situations Social and communication development

84 Games for Health Dance Dance Revolution and similar installed in many schools and colleges in the US (every school in West Virginia).

85 Zumba Fitness With Xbox 360/Kinect

86 Online Gaming Where things get really interesting

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89 Massively Multiplayer Online Games Hundreds or thousands of players in one online world, simultaneously Ultima Online (1997) Asheron s Call(1999) Dark Age of Camelot (2001) Ragnarok Online (2002) EverQuest Online Adventures (2003) World of Warcraft (2004) Guild Wars (2005) Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (2008) Rift (2011) Star Wars: The Old Republic (2011)

90 Who s playing what? (thru 2006)

91 Who s Playing What? (thru 2012)

92 Online Games with > 1M Subscriptions (thru 2014)

93 Second Life Growth (thru 2012) (an order of magnitude less than WoW)

94 Single Game Worlds (thru 2015)

95 World of Warcraft World of Warcraft is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). You explore, and team up with people to complete quests, elevating your status.

96 Predicted and Actual WoW Subscriptions Over Time

97 Mobile Games

98 Where is the Money?

99 Game Revenue

100 US Gaming Revenue

101 What s happening cognitively? Socially & materially distributed cognition. Collaborative problem solving, multiple problem spaces. Coordination of people, (virtual) tools, artifacts, & text. Constellation of literacy practices across multimedia, multimodal attentional spaces (Lemke).

102 What s happening cognitively? Empirical model building (exploits, mods). Negotiation of meaning & values within community. Authoring of identities within & beyond the community.

103 Information searching within the game Textual clues rare inside the game Clues are often abstract or symbolic Often a time-critical element for finding information ( must work out how to do X before Y happens ) Clues are often recursive: Do A to find B to give to C who will give you D etc Gamer can thus mentally keep track of: several things that need to be done status of current objectives people places information items

104 Social Activism Inside WoW

105 The Warrior Revolt of 2005

106 War of Internet Addiction

107 Other Uses of WoW

108 Second Life Its currency system (Linden dollar) pegged to real world currencies Furniture, clothes, art, buildings, libraries being built by individuals and groups of people IBM and others buying islands and running training courses for their staff 800,000+ active accounts, and ~3,100 businesses set up within real estate

109 IBM Virtual Career Fair (Oct. 2013)

110 IBM Virtual Career Fair (Oct. 2013)

111 Demographics of the Games Industry Art and Design: 91% M; 9% F Programmers: 98% M; 2% F Sr. Management: 95% M; 3% F Sales/Mrkting/PR: 74% M; 26% F *From Chicks and Joysticks: An exploration of women and computer gaming, commissioned and published by ELSPA 2004 (the last time these data were publically available)

112 Computer Gaming and Gender

113 In the beginning

114 Later The Dead or Alive ladies

115 Or

116 Or

117 How are Women Depicted in Pink and fluffy Hyper-sexualized Computer Games? Poorly and inappropriately clothed Conflating seduction with threat Dead sexy A femme fatale Evil and dangerous A seductress with blades for hands, both castrating and phallic

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119 Tomb Raider & Lara Croft

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122 But there are positive portrayals too The Boss Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater Alyx Vance, Half-Life 2

123 Other positive portrayals Zelda/Shiek Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Samus Aran, The Metroid Series Lightning Final Fantasy

124 And some progess

125 Result of Gendered Gaming? Proliferation of male genres FPS, horror, pornographic, sports simulations Magazine ads targeting male gamers A possible reason for the dramatic decline in the participation of women in computing in general Computer-generated women often exploited as sexual objects Virtual sex in games, in which computergenerated women are exploited

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127 Exploitation of Virtual Women

128 They re just bits, right? So should we care? If so, why?

129 Is anything wrong with this ad?

130 How about this one?

131 Or this one?

132 Or this one?

133 Exploiting Women to Sell Technology is not a New Phenomenon

134 Gaming and Racial Stereotypes

135 Games and Racial Stereotypes

136 Innovative Gaming What s Next (or now)?

137 IndieGames Bastion (2011) Flower (2010)

138 Indie Games

139 The Last of Us

140 Blending the Real & Virtual

141 Google Glass & Oculus Rift

142 HTC Vive

143 Oculus Rift Screenshot

144 Sinful Robot

145 Alternate Reality Games (ARGs)

146 Augmented Reality (AR) Blends real world and digital information (called co-registration ) User sees digital text and objects and hears digital sound as is they were part of the world around them In AR, the real world is enhanced by adding digital objects

147 Early Mobile AR Gaming

148 Pokémon-Go

149 Pokémon-Go

150 What s Next? you decide

151 Links 16c Ip7M QmI