My Thoughts on Ender's Game

I enjoyed reading Ender's Game. I had seen the movie on DVD last year which probably made reading the book a little easier for me even though there were differences between the movie and the book. Andrew "Ender" Wiggin is a six year old boy genius being trained in Battle School by the International Fleet (I.F.) to become a commander and save the world from buggers during an anticipated Third Invasion. Each chapter of the book starts with a conversation between two adults, typically I.F. officers; then it gets into the meat of each step of Ender's training. Here you have a young boy who was only allowed to be born as a "third" child so he could be given to the I.F. As a third child, he was lonely and bullied not only by his older brother Peter, but by kids at school. Like Peter told Ender at one point, "You're a Third, turd, You've got no rights." Ender just wanted to be a normal kid who did kid stuff like playing with friends; however, he would soon find out that wasn't meant to be the case.

 A few things really struck me in this book. One was that I was glad that Ender enjoyed a good relationship with his sister Valentine. This was the one person that Ender really loved and cared about and she loved and cared about him. So when the I.F. needs Ender, who is now ten years old, to continue on his mission, they use or you could say force Valentine to convince Ender to save mankind and make a difference in the world because they know he can't say no to his sister. Another thing relates to human behavior - Ender's struggle between good and evil. Ender showed real feelings and emotions, and he did things that he might not have otherwise done in order to survive. It was clear that Ender did not want to wind up like his dangerous and mean brother. There were many times, like when Ender hurt a bully named Stilson, that he would cry and believe he was just like Peter. Then there is the manipulation by the adults. Ender's relationship with the I.F. officers especially Graff shows that although they liked Ender, they manipulated him to get the results they needed. Technology was also used to play mind games with Ender like when he looked in the mirror and saw Peter's face looking back. However, the biggest example of manipulation was when they made Ender believe that the last battle is a simulation of the future battle with the buggers when in fact it was the actual Third Invasion. This definitely reminded me of what I said in my blog on eXistenZ - it raises the question of what is real and what isn't. Ender thought he was playing a virtual reality game, but it was real. You could feel the devastation that Ender felt when he realized he had been manipulated; he cried to Mazer Rackham, "I didn't want to kill them all. I didn't want to kill anybody! I'm not a killer! You didn't want me, you bastards, you wanted Peter, but you made me do it, you tricked me into it!"

 It is sad that Ender missed out on his childhood and he can't go home to Earth because Peter will control him. However, he can finally be happy and find peace by making his own choices and doing what he believes is right. Full circle now shows that he is Andrew Wiggin, speaker for the dead, and he's intent on rebuilding the bugger community again. And he can do it with Valentine by his side.

 A good story. But one, just like eXistenZ, that makes you wonder about the technological future of gaming.

 

eXistenZ

My Thoughts on eXistenZ

 

Strange and weird are two words that come to mind if I am going to describe my reaction to the movie eXistenZ. This movie was definitely not about your typical video game. In fact, as Allegra said at the beginning of the movie, it was about an entirely new game system. One of the things that made this strange and weird was that the power source for this virtual reality game system was the human body (nervous system); the gamepod which looks like a wiggly piece of flesh is inserted into a hole in the player's back.

 
I enjoy playing video games and using different systems. Playing video games provides a temporary escape for me to relieve stress and forget about all the things on my to do list for awhile, but at least I know that I am in control of what I play and when I want to quit playing. Control was something that Pikul didn't always seem to have like when he was rude to people and especially when he was eating the "special" and said "I find this disgusting, but I can't help myself." Playing this type of virtual reality game would cause me stress because I wouldn't like the feeling of losing touch with reality, and  this movie definitely raises the question of what is real and what isn't. When I start playing a video game, I prefer to know as much about what I would be facing in the game ahead of time. In this movie Pikul has to enter the game being unaware of the goal; Allegra tells him that he has to play the game to find out why he is playing the game which to me is a scary proposition. At the end of the movie, you see that it was a game within a game, but you are still left to wonder "Are we still in the game?" when the real video game designer and his assistant are shot dead by Pikul and Allegra.

It is clear that the future of video game systems and video games will become even more technologically advanced. We are seeing that with the graphics in the new consoles and the emergence of Oculus Rift. As Allegra said, "the possibilities are so great." No matter where video game systems and games go down the road, I think I will stick to my traditional game systems. That way, I will always be able to know if I am still in the game.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well...DO games "count?"

Gaming is an important part of people's lives; I know it is for me and for so many others (consider the billions of  dollars the industry rakes in). When I was younger, I played computer games like Zoo Tycoon and Rollercoaster Tycoon. The chance to use my imagination and build zoos and amusement parks was so cool. Then of course, there was the first handheld gaming system, Game Boy that provided endless hours of enjoyment. Now, I mostly play video games utilizing the gaming systems: X-box, Playstation, Wii. Video games allow you to have fun and escape from reality. You can be part of a battle (yes, sometimes a violent one) or you can imagine you are on a football field, a basketball court, or on the ice playing hockey with the pros. You can have alone time or engage in social interaction like with X-box Live. I mean chatting with and "battling" people in the U.S. and other countries is fascinating. I enjoy playing video games and love the creativity involved that sometimes I think the best job in the world would be to design video games.

 One aspect that I am becoming familiar with because of this Digital Humanities (DH) class is alternate reality games or ARG for short. CNET defines alternate reality gaming as "...an obsession-inspiring game that blends real-life treasure hunting, interactive storytelling, video games and online community..." ARG is definitely a different way to play games from the traditional video games. Dr. Jane McGonigal, a Game Designer and Inventor for the  Institute for the Future describes the difference, "... traditional gaming is designed to help people escape from reality, alternate reality games are actually designed to make reality more engaging..." Interested in knowing what are the "5 Most Insane Alternate Reality Games?" Click on the link to find out.

http://www.cracked.com/article_19346_the-5-most-insane-alternate-reality-games.html

 

I have talked about how gaming can be fun and provide social interaction, but it can also promote thinking. Jeremy Antley wrote an article titled "Games and Historical Narratives" published in the Journal of Digital Humanities (Spring 2012) which describes games particularly video games as visual digital objects that "can be platforms for building, and not simply consuming, knowledge." There are universities that teach courses on this subject.

 There is much debate on whether games are considered part of the digital humanities. In his book "The Emergence of the Digital Humanities" (2014), Stephen E. Jones comments that his one problem with the DH field is that it has ignored games. I believe that DHers need to see that gaming belongs not just as part of the discussion, but part of the work. As the field continues to emerge, that is the likely scenario.

 One more thing that I took note of in my research is that Dr. McGonigal believes game designers are on a humanitarian mission and her #1 goal in life is to see a game developer win a Nobel Prize in Peace or Medicine.

Well...DO games "count?" I would instead ask, How can they not?

 

Broken Image

This is a broken picture.

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