Not Just Another Clone

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In many of today’s video games women are viewed in a negative light, whether they be overly sexualized, weak, or the victims of violence; however, Star Wars Battlefront 2 helps to push back against this more traditional way of viewing women in video games. While Star Wars Battlefront 2 does not explicitly deal with race it certainly makes some comments about gender portrayal in video games, akin to some of the racial and gender comments made by Anna Everett in Power of Play.

As Everett says, “An area of growing concern is the role of games in the learning experiences and environments of youth,” which is perpetuated by the stereotypical and over sexualized ways women are viewed in video games (141). Traditionally in video games, women are viewed through a sexual lens and/or as weak, disposable characters, which is emphasized in GTA where “[. . .] women remain marginal and generally figure as props, bystanders, eye candy, and prizes to be won” (Everett 148). This description that Everett provides is similar to my experience of female characters in any video game I have played or watched. It is in this area that Star Wars Battlefront 2 is vastly different from the countless video games that help perpetuate these stereotypes.

In the campaign mode of Star Wars Battlefront 2 the player plays as an Imperial trooper, Iden Versio. When the player first starts the campaign mode he or she will almost immediately notice that the main character, and the only human character the player can use is a women. Unlike other female characters in video games Iden Versio is the protagonist, and the player cannot select a male lead if he or she wants to. Additionally, Versio is in no way sexualized. She has the same uniform as her fellow imperial troopers, and when she removes her helmet her face appears like that of a normal human woman.

The initial load screen for campaign mode featuring Iden Versio

Another interesting feature is that Versio is a commander within the Imperial army, she is privy to information that her subordinates are not, and she leads important, dangerous missions. While Versio is not quite an example of “femme disturbance” in the manner that Amanda Phillips discusses the term with Bayonetta, she is an example of a woman breaking into the male dominated arena of warfare (111). While Star Wars Battlefront 2 takes place in a fictitious universe with a contrived plot, it takes an important step forward in confronting the stereotype of women in video games.

This is a photo of Iden Versio without her helmet

Source: Not Just Another Clone

The Art of Murder

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disclaimer: This game is different from the game I had chosen as the console game in the first round of game logs. I realized I hadn’t play the game enough to get a good grasp on it and it would be awhile before I am able to play it again.

Hitman: Blood Money is extraordinarily juicy game that has absolutely terrible immersion. Rather than playing through a series of maps or advancing through different areas, Blood Money forces the player to on several missions that often have nothing to do with the previous one. First, I have to talk about perspective. The game is naturally set in third person which already eliminates most of the immersive element. The objectives for each levels are explained by a disembodied authoritarian figure, similar to a Bond girl feeding information into 007’s mic. There are extensive cut-scenes filled with details and narration that take away from any realistic depictions.

While the actual framing of the game is fairly poor, one of the good immersive aspect is the gameplay itself. Although we are given who to kill and why we are killing them, there are numerous ways we can do it. The game doesn’t show you the best way to sneakily assassinate somebody or where any of the weapons and shortcuts are. What a player does, excluding the killing of the target, is pretty open ended. You don’t have to kill any civilians or non targets, but are given the option to. Most of the time you are allowed to use any weapons you want and you must complete a series of task efficiently through a series of trial and error. While there are plenty of diegetic sounds, the game would not be completed without dramatic music whenever you alert a bunch of guards or the glorious sounds of “Ave Maria” during the final sequence as you slaughter all those who betrayed you. Although it is not most immersive game in an aesthetic sense, the choices and freedom that you are given while playing makes up for all the shoe-horned cut-scenes.

Source: The Art of Murder

Dark Souls? More like Mod Souls

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When starting up Dark Souls for the very first time on a PC, it quickly becomes very apparent that the game was not initially intended to ever be ported over to PC. The control scheme for the mouse and keyboard is exceptionally terrible and seems to have been created with no previous thought. If players did not have an Xbox or PlayStation controller they could connect to their PC, they could kiss their dreams of playing Dark Souls goodbye. Certain areas of the game are so horribly optimized (an issue that consoles also experienced but to a lesser extent) that the framerate is barely able to maintain a constant 30 frames per second and often drops far below that. In short, the base PC port is a terrible experience that many eager PC players were initially disappointed with.

Keyboard layout for PC players

On September 19th, 2012 the PC Dark Souls community rejoiced. An individual that used the name Durante released the father of all Dark Souls mods, DSfix. DSfix allowed players to actually change graphics settings that were causing the game to run poorly. The player was finally given the opportunity to mess around with different settings such as the motion blur, anti-aliasing, rendering width and height, and much more to their individual likings. Unfortunately, for players who are not as savvy, modifying the settings to their liking might seem a little more intimidating because the modifications are presented in the form of a text document. Mistyping just one setting might make the entire game unplayable.

Text document where the modifications take place

Luckily other individuals have made this process easier for players by creating their own modifications that aim to make the base modification’s interface much more user-friendly. User Morten242 created their own mod which they named UI for DSfix which creates an interface that allows the player to modify their version of Dark Souls with clear separations between each section.

Interface that Morten242’s mod creates for the user

The ability to mod Dark Souls is what allowed for the founding of a dedicated fanbase to the series within the PC community as discussed in the Postigo piece. The DSfix mod essentially worked as a massive patch that addressed most of the foundations within the design flaws present in the PC port of the game. They were able to bypass and improve on many of the issues that were present in the base port and in doing so, could finally just enjoy the game itself.

Source: Dark Souls? More like Mod Souls

Hit or Miss? Modding in Total War Warhammer 2

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Modding is a prominent feature in Total War Warhammer 2, featuring a steam mod-workshop that was an important part of my second playing experience. The mods, when I first played it after it came out, was flooded by small mods with minimal effect that were not well done. However, now the workshop has a large supply of usable mods that give me freedom to play the game in a more satisfying way. The mods that I enjoy the most often add very little to the game, but rather rebalance Total War Warhammer 2 in a way that improves the asymmetric advantages that each group enjoys. This type of mod should mostly have a dominant interpretation, as it does not modify the intended interpretation of the game. Most of the mods likely also dominant as the tools available for those modding the game are limited to files and models already in the game. Mods that alter victory conditions, or dramatically change the way that the player experiences the gameplay for a group likely are some of the only one’s that do not agree with the intended experience of the game. Steam’s mod workshop is attached to steam, one of the major online game distribution services. This makes it extremely valuable from a convenience perspective, bringing modders and players closer. Total War Warhammer 2 already has a very diversified gameplay experience, as there are many different ways to play the base game. The mods work on several different levels of the game, including character models, statistics, and camera view and using them to design the experience to one’s own liking can result in mods that conflict, and potentially cause crashes as I experienced. My experience with mods has radically changed for the better as the game has been out longer and the modders have had more time. The first time I played Total War Warhammer 2 trying to use the mods currently available was detrimental to the gameplay of the game. Perhaps opening the game to select modders before release would allow the game to maximize modding utility early in the process.

Source: Hit or Miss? Modding in Total War Warhammer 2

INSIDE: THE GAMER, ALONE WITH THE WORLD

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The myriad mounds of pig carcasses–a leitmotif of death–can be seen on the left of the picture. Furthermore, the picture captures the color palette well; it’s not vibrant, obviously.

Inside begins in medias res: all the player knows is that he/she controls a boy in a red shirt who must flee from masked men with guns. From its limited color palette (almost completely and deliberately, monochromatic) to its absence of a narrator and dialogue, the game looks and feels sparse. Nothing extra-diegetic invades or frames the world of Inside; the player, dropped into the world sans instructions or an explicitly established objective, simply plays and experiences the game, slowly immersing him/herself in Inside’s rawness. When I characterize the game as raw, I intend to convey how strikingly the developers have depicted the preponderance and iniquity of death as juxtaposed to the sanctity of life. Chilling and unnerving, gray, dull pig carcasses stacked in heaps serve as a leitmotif, a recurring image of death that populates the already desolate and dark landscapes. But in opposition to the image of death, little bright yellow chicks come and go, following the protagonist around, chirping away. In a world washed in black and gray, the golden animals counteract the great many images of memento mori.

A striking moment where light illumines the otherwise bleak world. Of course, the flock of chicks are following the leader/protagonist.

 

As the chicks must be utilized so as to solve puzzles, they function as a way to keep the protagonist alive; they are life-giving and precious–necessary even, to the completion of the game. This notion of the preciousness of life pervades the protagonist’s every action, from his sonorous steps to his fearful breathing. As the player, the individual who controls and dictates the protagonist’s life, you feel responsible for this apocryphal boy. There is no music to distance the player from the character: you are with him, hearing only what he can hear. This proximity or intimacy makes failure even more significant. The responsive controls cease to function when a bullet pierces the boy’s chest. The child’s death can be felt at the player’s fingertips. And he/she–the player– is the one at fault, the one who has caused the demise of life in a world so bereft of hope as it is.

The colossal weeds dwarf the boy protagonist. How vulnerable and small he must feel in this world.

 

Source: INSIDE: THE GAMER, ALONE WITH THE WORLD

Kingdom Hearts 2: New Perspectives on an Old Favorite

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I thought this class would be a great opportunity to replay Kingdom Hearts 2 before the long-awaited release of Kingdom Hearts 3 at some point this year. On top of having many years of separation from this game, this play-through will likely be a completely different experience for me in that I’m playing the revamped version: Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 Remix for the first time rather than returning to the original Playstation 2 version. This means I am likely to encounter slightly different mechanics, visuals, and bonus story content that I am unfamiliar with.

 Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpYm-frIhJ0. Promotional photo for Kingdom Hearts 2.5 Remix

To start off with, something that has always been unusual to me (and to most people) about Kingdom Hearts is how it blends two incredibly popular and very different worlds with an entirely new one. From the image above, many characters are easily identifiable to nearly any audience: Stitch from Lilo and Stitch, Ariel from The Little Mermaid, Jack Sparrow, Mickey Mouse, Mulan, etc. These core Disney characters are ones that most people either grew up with or had their children grow up with. Similarly, characters such as Cloud Strife and Zack Fair are just as identifiable to an audience of gamers, since they’re both major characters in the iconic Final Fantasy 7. With these familiar characters and franchises in mind, my first question about my replay in regards to our class was to wonder whether or not Kingdom Hearts as a whole is dependent on “Evocative Spaces” as defined by our Game Design as Narrative Architecture reading. In the specific case of Kingdom Hearts 2, I would say no, but the familiar imagery plays a major part in making the game even more strange than it already is.  Since the franchise in general was released out of chronological order, adding two vastly different universes to an entirely new plot line creates seemingly endless plot-holes and points of confusion.

Based on the very beginning portion of KH2, neither the Disney or Final Fantasy worlds do much but fluff up the Kingdom Hearts world. The first two to three hours of the game require that you unwittingly play through a summer vacation simulation from the perspective of a never-before-seen character (Roxas) while receiving flashbacks from the first game’s protagonist (Sora) – it becomes obvious fairly instantly that these two characters are related, but none of the other connections between characters of universes is immediately clear. This being said, it almost seems as though the “evocative spaces” present in Kingdom Hearts are almost pointless to understanding the actual plot.

I’m also interested in how opposite all of these worlds are thematically. In general, based off Jasper Juul’s interpretations of a game’s “fiction”, Disney is very positive, Final Fantasy has a tendency to lean into a darker, more negative zone, and Kingdom Hearts is overwhelmingly vibrant and colorful to disguise an overall depressing plot about darkness engulfing the human heart. Though I don’t believe Kingdom Hearts falls into either the “casual” or “hardcore” game categories by the polarized definitions, I think it’s strange to consider it as somewhere in between – especially since it’s technically a game aimed at a longer audience but is completely stocked with dark themes.

Source: Kingdom Hearts 2: New Perspectives on an Old Favorite

Convolution and Death: The End and Beginning of Eras in Dark Souls III

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As the video game industry continues to evolve, very few games have earned so infamous a reputation as the original Dark Souls game which was released in 2011. What it was infamous for was the intense difficulty through its punishing difficulty,  and convoluted world/plot line. As someone who has invested far too many hours into Dark Souls III on Steam, I can attest to either point. However, it’s easy enough to say how many times I have died or which is the enemy I have died the most to among the many other elements of difficulty that make Dark Souls the cult “hardcore gamer” game. In retrospect, I think the most interesting thing about my first play through of Dark Souls III, I didn’t really care about the plot. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration either to say that I didn’t really know it existed then either. The convolution of the world isn’t mostly shown by the developers in the level design, color palette, or even boss/enemy design; most of the convolution in the Dark Souls series can be derived from both the story and the plot line.

Let me explain exactly what I mean by both story and plot line, an essential theme in all of the Souls games is that the world you live in, or the ideological paradigm headed by the Gods of the world, is dying. You, born of the dark, are to rise above your human caste and choose either to continue the God’s paradigm or start a new one, that of the humans. From that incredibly brief, overly simplified description of the plot, it would be easy to think this some incredibly basic archetype filled plot where choices and outcomes are clear. Hardly so, even though these are the few endings that can be arrived at by the player, the choices that lead them there are not so clear. This is where the story comes in, unfortunately for the player the story behind each NPC which invariably would lead to a different approach by the player is only made clear after the fact. Perhaps now it is a good time to repurpose our definition of convoluted, while in its essence it means a complicated story in this case it is not too hard to think of it meaning something twisted and folded. Both the story and plot overlap and twist into each other over and over again, until ultimately you the player start the games thematic cycle again in bringing your character into the next iteration of the same world.

Source: Convolution and Death: The End and Beginning of Eras in Dark Souls III

Nothing warms my soul quite like Dark Souls:

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Every time I decide to start another playthrough of Dark Souls I have to watch the opening cinematic. The imagery, music, and voice over that are used fit together in such a way that gives the player a clear understanding of the world they are about to experience. It is also the only portion of continuous narrative information that the player will not have to seek out and piece together themselves throughout the entire game. All other bits of world-building narrative information will have to be obtained from conversations held with non-player characters (NPCs) and reading item descriptions.

While there is a general sequence of events that would be ideal to follow, the game does not tell the player what that sequence is. Neither does it limit the player to one specific order to follow. Dark Souls takes full advantage of spatial storytelling as discussed in the Jenkins article because it relies almost entirely on the player’s motivation to explore and persevere in the face of extreme adversity. If the player does not interact with every room, check for false walls in different areas, or talk to NPCs they come across they are potentially missing out on important items or bonfires that give them a chance to level up.

When other games are branded as being difficult they will without a doubt be compared to Dark Souls. While there is some validity to the comparisons – the learning curve in Dark Souls is a lot steeper than most, and there aren’t many games that punish you for attacking an enemy one too many times – I feel like most individuals will misunderstand the developer’s intentions. Dark Souls is not difficult simply for the sake of being difficult.

In the world that Dark Souls creates there are certain individuals who have the Undead Curse (as the name implies, if they die they are simply reanimated) and are marked with the Darksign.

Unfortunately for the Undead, they slowly begin to lose their sanity as time goes on and they can eventually become Hollow (complete loss of purpose and sanity). To most Undead, it is the worst imaginable fate to have and they actively try to avoid going Hollow. The game is intentionally difficult to see if the player truly is the “Chosen Undead”. If it is too difficult and the player gives up, we can consider them to have “gone hollow” and unfit to fulfill the prophecy.

Source: Nothing warms my soul quite like Dark Souls:

2048 Reasons to Zone Out

Lawrence King

2048, Casual Game, App, Android

Lawrence King

Digital Narratives

Sample

February 2, 2018

2048 is a single-player sliding block puzzle game. The game’s objective is to slide numbered tiles on a grid to combine them to create a tile with the number 2048. I’m a fan of this game because it’s the perfect example of a casual game. It’s easy to use, has a simple but not boring concept and most importantly it’s a game I can get lost in and pass the time with.

This game is available in the app store and it’s free. It’s easily accessible and appropriate for all ages. All you need to play it are your fingers, you need to know how to swipe left, right, up and down and you need to know numbers. Even if you don’t know numbers you can have a blast just swiping randomly on the screen until it’s game over. This game is a no-brainer. You don’t have to think excessively and can still have fun while playing it.

Games like these are perfect for a casual gamer who’s just looking for something to do to pass the time. I play this game when I’m on the train, in a waiting room or just bored. I compare this game to working on an assembly line. You’re doing the same task repeatedly, it’s easy enough that you don’t get bored and the more you do it the more you get lost in it. A game like 2048 wasn’t meant to satisfy a need for adventure or conquest like The Witcher, and it wasn’t meant to satisfy your bloodlust like God of War; this game was made to pass the time.

The game is never ending too. Even if you get to 2048 you can keep going and it takes some time to get to 2048. I don’t need to be attached to this game either. I can walk away whenever I want; I just turn off my phone and it’s totally OK; no guilt. Plus, even though you walk away, the game just puts your progress on pause and you can continue it later. Definitely one of the best casual games on the market.

Source: 2048 Reasons to Zone Out

On the Brink of Reality

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When you hear “FIFA,” your mind could go to one of two places: the recently exposed international soccer governing body, or the video game franchise, developed by Electronic Arts (EA). My first game log is an in depth look at FIFA 18’s gameplay, specifically its “realness.”

In Robert Caillios’s 1958 article Man, Play, and Games, he specifies six criterion for “play”: it must be free, separate, uncertain, unproductive, governed by rules, and make-believe. It is necessary to use Caillios’s definition when discussing FIFA because so often I hear, “Do you want to play FIFA?” or “Let’s play FIFA.” Play is always in the conversation with FIFA.

But how much do FIFA’s creators, EA Sports, want this play to be “separate,” and how “make-believe” do they want the game to be?

In my game lab, I played Manager Mode, a feature of the game where you can act as a manager of any team. I chose Watford FC, a mid-table team in the English Premier League. The game asks you to design your manager by choosing a face and an outfit, and allows you to name your manager (I named mine Mattinho Reinikkinhos, my Brazilian alter-ego.)

As a manager, other clubs wanting to buy your players often approach you. On my second day as manager of Watford, Everton FC, another English club, approached me to buy my starting goalkeeper, Heurelho Gomes. When I elected to negotiate with Everton, it sent me to a meeting room, which you can see in the video below.

Instead of simulating the sale of Gomes, EA designed Manager Mode to be as realistic as possible. It sends you to the boardroom to discuss the transfer, and gives you, the manager, complete control of the transfer. In my case, I proposed too high of a transfer fee for Everton’s liking, causing them to back out of the deal.

The other noticeable decision that EA made with FIFA 18 was to make each individual game as close to a real broadcast as possible. In the video below, you can see the introduction to my first game as Watford manager against Liverpool FC. The game goes through showing players in the warm-up, the walkout, the starting lineup, and many other features you would see on an actual Premier League broadcast on NBC.

Screenshot from NBC Sports broadcast of the English Premier League.
Screenshot of FIFA 18 gameplay.

In the FIFA 18 actual gameplay, EA emulates the exact same noise that can be heard on an NBC broadcast. The crowd noise, the commentators (Martin Tyler and Alan Smith), the sound of the ball being kicked—it is exactly the sounds you would hear on a Saturday morning watching a real Premier League game. Additionally, the design of the scoreboard in the upper left-hand corner is identical to NBC’s.

Why did EA decide to make FIFA 18 more “real” than any previous FIFA? Their decisions stand as a direct challenge to two of Caillios’s tenets—that play must be separate and make-believe. Though FIFA 18 is not real soccer, it is the closest “soccer” watching experience to an actual NBC Premier League broadcast. With increasing demands for higher quality graphics and more realistic gameplay in the video game world, EA pushes the envelope of reality with FIFA 18.

Works Cited

Caillois, Roger, et al. Man, Play, and Games in The Game Design Reader. MIT Press, 2006.

Source: On the Brink of Reality