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Communication Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Communication Technology and New Media

2006

Computer games

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Communication

Screenplay: Cinema/Videogames/Interfaces [Book Review], Marc Ouellette Jan 2006

Screenplay: Cinema/Videogames/Interfaces [Book Review], Marc Ouellette

English Faculty Publications

Recognizing the growing importance (at least for consumers) of video games as a popular form of narrative fiction, Geoff King and Tanya Krzywinska situate their collection, ScreenPlay: cinema/videogames/interfaces as a text which is corrective, informative and explorative. In the first case, the editors sought essays which would move the critical discourse on video games away from the more familiar but reductive debates surrounding the "effects" of video games (especially on children) and their modes of representation (especially of the female form and violence). Indeed, these have become the sine qua non of video game criticism and one feeds the other …


Collaborative Games: Lessons Learned From Board Games, Jose Zagal, Rick Jochen, Hsi Idris Dec 2005

Collaborative Games: Lessons Learned From Board Games, Jose Zagal, Rick Jochen, Hsi Idris

Jose P Zagal

Collaborative mechanisms are starting to become prominent in computer games, like massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs); however, by their nature, these games are difficult to investigate. Game play is often complex and the underlying mechanisms are frequently opaque. In contrast, board games are simple. Their game play is fairly constrained and their core mechanisms are transparent enough to analyze. In this article, the authors seek to understand collaborative games. Because of their simplicity, they focus on board games. The authors present an analysis of collaborative games. In particular, they focus on Reiner Knizia’s LORDOFTHERINGS, considered by many to be the …