PR-425-01
Dr. Corey Dzenko
October 20, 2016
Midterm Exam So far this semester in my Critical Play class, we have been developing a framework to talk about “values” in video games throughout different game elements. In reflecting back to all the readings assigned so far in this course, the two I enjoyed reading the most was chapter one in Helen Nissenbaum and Mary Flanagan’s book, Values at Play in Digital Games and “Once More With Feeling: Game Design Patterns for Learning in the Affective Domain” written by Claire Dormann, Jennifer R. Whitson, and Max Neuvians. In this paper, I will summarize the authors’ main arguments and put them into dialog with each other. I will also be describing in detail what the video game …show more content…
When linking the video game to Helen Nissenbaum and Mary Flanagan’s book, the first role of customization is presented. The player achieves the ability to modify their skater by changing the hairstyle and clothing. The last role the video game demonstrates from the book is the ethical and political values. The player’s skater establishes ethical values by meeting with other skaters. Although it was little rough in the beginning, the player understands how to get along with other skaters. Iggy plays the role of political values by being the group leader. Iggy also shows signs of power by instructing the skaters to obtain pieces all over Los Angeles to help construct the ranch. In linking the three authors’ story and the video game, the only role being established is the skater’s emotional expressions. As a gamer that played Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland, I had a hard time figuring out how my avatar (skater) was feeling in terrible scenarios. For example, when Iggy went to jail and called my avatar, the facial expressions still looked the same. The only way to solve the avatar’s actual feelings is to listen to the tone of their voice. When I listened to the avatars speaking carefully to each other, this was the time I revealed my actual emotions. If something in the video was actually portrayed to me in real life, I would be either angry or …show more content…
In reflecting back to Claire Dormann, Jennifer R. Whitson, and Max Neuvians’s story, “Once More With Feeling: Game Design Patterns for Learning in the Affective Domain,” I never thought about the facial/emotional expressions in video games such as Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland. In replicating back to Helen Nissenbaum and Mary Flanagan’s Values at Play in Digital Games book, I absorbed information about values determining the player’s choices. This was my favorite topic to discover about for values in video games. In the end, the course benefited me with an insight of video games in deeper