This Master's Thesis by a current BYU grad student (maybe you/I/we could talk to her somehow?) argues that video games help a player identity with a character better than novels or movies.
The Supreme Court officially declared video games as art in a case about 1st amendment rights. So take that, haters.
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| A Screenshot of Actual Sunlight (actualsunlight.com) |
Tomb Raider may have literally saved a kids life--seriously, check this out.
A simple change to Star Wars:The Old Republic helped cure depression.
Actual Sunlight is a "short, interactive story about love, depression, and the corporation" that hits super hard like no other art on depression I've ever seen--even if it looks like Pokemon for the Gameboy Color.
And, of course, my hero Clint Hocking says it all very well in his speech given at an exhibit on video game art.
So there goes--hope that kicks some things into gear for you!
Awesome stuff man, thanks a ton! I definitely think we should get in touch with Ms. Smith, if she's willing to talk to a couple of lowly undergrads. I also think it would cool to send a few emails to some Kotaku writers or something. I'll let you know if there's anything else I find out.
ReplyDeleteWow. I LOVE your thesis, Britton, and some good finds, Paul!
ReplyDeleteI don't know if there are any academic sources on this one, but you may want to take a look at "Spec Ops: The Line." A common theme in Shakespeare is madness and hallucination/self-deception: see, for example, the scene in Hamlet where Hamlet sees his father's ghost in his mother's bedroom. The way it was portrayed in the film, Hamlet is seeing things that simply aren't there.
Anyways, "Spec Ops" deals heavily with madness and hallucination. More than just a major theme, though, it forces the player to experience their character's spiral into insanity by tweaking, shaking, and shattering long-held conventions about gameplay, especially modern FPS gameplay.
Another game that forces the player to LIVE the madness is Eternal Darkness for the gamecube, and, to a lesser extent, Metal Gear Solid for the PS1.
There are tons of other games with emotional impact (Journey (PS3), Bioshock (PC), To The Moon (Indie PC)), but Spec Ops is the one with the most obvious tie to Shakespeare.
(incidentally, if you want to play Journey--one of the most emotional games I've ever played--let me know and we can probably set something up. I'm happy to share.)
Whoops missed a line: when I was talking about Hamlet, I was specifically talking about the Branaugh (sp?) production.
DeleteTo be a little more clear, Hamlet is in the middle of berating his mother when King Hamlet appears. Hamlet stops, mystified, and begins to talk to the ghost, but when Gertrude looks over, the room is empty. The way it's shown in the film, it implies that Hamlet is, well, seeing things that aren't there. This suggests that his madness isn't entirely an act.