Week 9

Week 9 (4/12 - 4/18)

Reflection:

• This week marked the first of the guest speakers that would come to give a presentation to the class

• The first of these was Philip Penix-Tadsen, who introduced us to some of his work from Video Games and Latin American cultures

• He also showed us the newly made Game Studies major, and I couldn't help but constantly think of how much I would have loved to have that major when I started. I totally would have looked into that major if it existed before.

Notes from the Presentation:

LowDrone

• Website teaching about low riders and drones

• Educates how these are used for tracking and how they relate to the border

• Simulates border patrol

Transborder Immihrant Tool

• GPS to help immigrants cross the border

• Made to cause controversy on places like FOX news

Crossing of the Rio Bravo

• Used at a way to made a bridge between the borders

Border Wall Mural

• A mural showing deportees of people who lived their whole lives in the US but were deported

Seesaw Project

• Envisioned the wall as something other than divisiveness

• Requires users on both sides to function, shows greater unity

All of these are used to bring awareness to the issue of immirgration and deportation as well as to show the wall as something other than divisiveness

Serious Games

That Dragon Cancer

• Made by couple to show their experience raising a child with terminal cancer

• Empathy game

• Edugames / educational games

• Advergames / advertainment

• Newsgames

• Political games

• Training games / simulations

• Health games

• Gamification

• Games-for change

Edugames

• The Oregon Trail

• When rivers were trails

  • Shows the oregon trail from an indigenous perspective

Advertainment

• Aventure D’onofrio

  • Ice cream vendor who goes around selling ice cream

  • Integrated real world commerce to the video game

• Super Monkey Ball

  • Dole logo on all the bananas

Newsgames

• The Michael Jackson Baby Drop Game

• Will Smith slap Chris Rock

• Voter Suppression Trail

Political Games

• Nuclear War

• Balance of Power

• Hidden Agenda

• Howard Dean for Iowa Game

• Ethnic Cleansing (Racist gate game)

• Special Forces

  • Published by military group, Hezbollah

• America’s Army

  • Made by US Army as propaganda

Training Games & Simulations

• Pulse

  • Nurse training simulator

Health Games

• Wii Fit

• Zumba: Burn it up

• Just Dance

Gamification

• Superbetter

  • Game for medical recovery process

• Using game mechanics to change user behavior

Games for Change

• Made to raise awareness about serious topics

• Darfur is Dying

• PeaceMaker

• Gonzolo Frasca

  • Video games can start a conversation in people to change to world

  • September 12th

    • Not a game in the traditional sense

    • There is no way to win

    • The player either shoots the terrorists and makes more terrorists, or doesnt shoot and lets them get away

• Tropical America

Immigration Games

• Some show the process of immigration

• Some are hostile games that are against immigration

• Papers Please

• Sandia Borders High Level Model

• The Migrant Trail

Border

• Made by immigrant to document his parents’ experience crossing the border

Video games can be more than just entertainment

They can use conventional elements to convey unconventional ideas