ARCADES

Com 427September 26 2013

QUIZ!

1. Which game do Lin and Sun discuss as “one of the most ‘radiating’ game types”, capable of “attracting onlookers, which transforms play into performance?”

A) Call of TwerkingB) Dance Dance RevolutionC) Street Fighter IVD) Minecraft

2. Lin and Sun identify 3 “frames” that arcade participants enact through their interactions with each other and with machines. They name these three frames:

A) small, medium, largeB) window, movie, cameraC) showroom, gymnasium, clubhouseD) conceptual, methodological, epistemological

3. Swallwell: “In Tokyo, ‘Space Invaders’ famously resulted in a shortage of ____________.”

A) 100 yen coinsB) electrical outlets in public spacesC) lunch hoursD) spaceships

4. Swallwell: “The images show how people played games and what they did in these spaces when they weren’t playing games. They remind us just how much of a __________ sport gaming was in the 80s.”

A) non-B) bloodC) masculineD) spectator

BONUS: Which social theorist do Lin & Sun draw on to discuss the “framing” of audience interactions in arcades?

A) Roger CailloisB) Frederick F. FramingtonC) Michel FoucaultD) Erving Goffman

1. Frames

2. The Life of Arcades

3. Moral Panics

4. PLAY and Observation

Erving Goffman: Frames

“Dramaturgical” view of social relations: we’re constantly performing

We adjust our performances based on

social & technological contexts and purposes

Lin and Sun’s Use of FramesTied to expertise: the public display of technological mastery

SHOWROOM

Gymnasium

CLUBHOUSE

“Onlookers assist in enhancing and expanding gameplay when they accept the roles of focused audience members or learning apprentices, thereby turning play into public performance”

“use their gesture repertoires to highlight their positions as uninterested players waiting their turns ”

“the co- appearance of apprentices and masters, conversation between newbies and apprentices, and inter- action among masters, thus forming a sophisticated network of ranked social relations”

GAMING AS SPECTATORIALMedia theorists &

literature scholars: Concern with the ways games are like & unlike film, comics, novels, and other narrative “texts”

We became aware of games largely through arcades – through spaces where video games were something we WATCHED as much if not more so than PLAYED

Arcades introduced the public to gaming – -- and to computation more generally

“In an era of uncertainty about computerisation, early digital games allowed people to develop a familiarity with the information processing routines that would be in demand in the not too distant future” (Swallwell)

MORAL PANICS

http://www.cbc.ca/player/Digital+Archives/ID/1609471695/

“[children] are into the games body and soul - everything is zapping the enemy. Children get to the point where when they see another child being molested by a third child, they just sit back” (C. Everett Koop, US Surgeon General, ‘82)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X74PvB0aBNY

Early 80s: • Arcades introduced the public to video gaming & to computers• Games dominated by cartoon animal mayhem (Donkey Kong, Centipede) or

abstract sci-fi combat (Missile Command, Space Invaders)

Mid to late 80s: • Introduction of NES in 1985• Moral panic: fears around juvenile delinquency• “Like roller skating rinks and other public spaces "for young people only," our

culture seems to have decided that kids are better off when they’re not alone with other kids, and worried parents have been victorious in their mission to rid us of these troublesome spaces for loitering”

Early – mid 1990s: • Street Fighter II: released March 1991• “Renaissance” in arcade gaming focused around fighting games

Early 2000s:• Small revival with rhythm-based games• Nostalgia & “retro” gaming

http://www.theverge.com/2013/1/16/3740422/the-life-and-death-of-the-american-arcade-for-amusement-only

PUBLIC DISPLAYS OF GAMING: A 427 EXPERIMENT

Three game stations: 80’s (Missile Command), 90’s (Street Fighter), 00’s (Guitar Hero)

1. Use your tokens to line up for turns

2. At each station, observe the interactions between spectators, players & gamei. What are the pleasures & frustrations associated with watching?ii. What are the pleasures, frustrations & anxieties associated with playing?iii. How is the “assemblage” of game & machine set up for watching/playing?iv. How is turn-taking managed? How long are turns?v. What are the verbal & non-verbal differences between experts & novices?

3. Based on these observations, what kind of “frames” are in effect at each station?