I will be looking into the world of sports for the coherent worlds module, the purpose of the research is to look for links between sports as entertainment and how it ties in with digital gaming. To do this I will be gathering quotes from sources and analysing them to find useful resources for the report.
The Olympic Games Athens 1896 - Sydney 2000 - Dorling Kindersly Limited
“Since their rennaissance 100 years ago in 1896, the Olympic games have become the greatest sports events in the world. No matter how many world or continental chamionship wins an athlete may gain, to compete in the Olympic games will remain his or her supreme ambition”
Analysis - In gaming there is always an end goal, an achievable yet incredible feat. Usually with games it is the driving force, the old rule of 'easy to learn hard to master' is always a good way to gauge a successful game design, so long as you goal is to have replay value.
“The origin of the Olympic Games lies in the ancient world in which they were treated as ritual festivals... Victory was of paramount importance, while defeat bringing disgrace for the whole pilos (city-state)”.
Analysis - These games were paramount to the honor of a city-state (or pilos). Winning would make them seem superior to the cities around them, allowing them bragging rights an social prowess over them. With games bragging rights always come with winning, whether against your friend or large-scale competition. Competition is what drives a lot of games and what makes a lot of games fun, especially fighting games...
The Culture of Digital Fighting Games, Performance and Practise - by Todd Harper
“Whenever we arrived at the waterbury Mill I hoarded my quarters and begged my parents for leave to run off the the drugstore to play street fighter”
Analysis - The culture of arcades, the excitement of playing is shown with the eagerness to spend ones money on momentarily thrill.
“It is my hope that, with time, that communities will begin to address those issues and help to share it’s members’ tremendous, exciting energy and drive with a broader world.”
Analysis - This sums up the growing culture of competitive play, many of these people grew up with the games, therefore will bring it’s culture forwards as they age. It is a shared (and isolated) experience and that will never change.
“I learned of events such as Evolution Championship series (EVO) Tournament, where serious dedicated fighting gamers met to battle against each other in competition that had a lot in common with competitive sport”
Analysis - Games have generated so much influence that they now too can be labelled as competitive sport, obviously gaining influence from physical sports.
Referring to Super smash bros online - “ Why were these people playing this way? Wasn’t the random nature of the game—all the potential wackiness and unexpected twists—the fun of the experience?”
Analysis - People always find a way to make something competitive, it is human nature, this is the drive of gaming, to accomplish something, usually wanting to be the best is in mind.
English Cricket - By Neville Cardus
“It is far more than a game this cricket. It somehow holds the mirror up to English Nature. We are not hypocrites, but we try to make the best of things of contrary appeal”
Analysis - Games are rooted in culture, the have a deeper meaning than what is represented by the rules, people crave these pass-times because they become important to us, we create connections with them. Nowadays it is easy to develop connections to games, due to trans-media storytelling it is much easier to become drawn in by a story the player is actually part of. Disney does this well with Kingdom Hearts, using their formulae for storytelling they manipulate it and change it to suit the style of an interactive game.
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