Blog post 11: Mother and Father Figures in Rise of the Tomb Raider

Bianca Batti writes about mother and father figures in the newly released Rise of the Tomb Raider. She talks about two characters, specifically, whose roles, relationships and interactions with Lara act out as parental roles. Batti believes that often in video games, father figures are often seen as both mentors and protectors and mother figures are constructed as either victims or villains.

(Spoilers ahead.)

Firstly, Batti talks about Jacob, the leader of the Remnants, which is the community that protects the key to immortality (called the Divine Source) for which Lara is trying to find. Initially, Lara is reluctant to trust Jacob, since she has a different goal for the Divine Source. 

The second character is Ana, who is constructed as a mother figure to Lara, having been Richard Croft's partner until he died and she has become some sort of mentor to Lara after the death of her father.

Now as the plot twists, we learn that Ana is not the positive influence on Lara's life as she first seems to be. She is revealed to have been working as a spy, watching Lara's progress in her quest to find the Divine Source.

Ana has been depicted as a liar, a spy and a villain. She is not the good (stand-in) mother that she was initially made out to be. Rather than being reveals as a maternal character who supports and guides Lara, she is selfishly motivated and seeks the Divine Source in an effort to save herself from a terminal illness.

"But what seems especially important, here, is the manner in which Ana’s bad motherhood is used as a means of introducing Jacob’s new role in Lara’s life and of colouring the manner in which we (like Lara) view this role. Indeed, because Lara has found that she cannot trust Ana, she doesn’t know if she can trust anyone, Jacob included."

Jacob's role as a father allows Lara to feel she can trust him. His influence has been characterised as one of guidance and a positive mentor. Batti continues to explain the fatherly role of Jacob:

"In this way, Jacob’s presence in the game shifts, from potential (and potentially untrustworthy) ally to trusted paternal presence, moral figure, and mentor. But, again, this characterization only begins to occur after Ana’s construction as bad maternal presence is revealed, thereby placing Jacob’s influence over Lara in opposition to that of Ana’s. Ana’s negative construction, then, works (at least, in part) in service of Jacob’s positive one, and the conversation between the two seems to perpetuate the narrative lineage of the bad mother and the good father, thereby problematically gendering the roles of parents and mentors."

Batti seems to be disappointed in the lack of positive mother figures in video games and Rise of the Tomb Raider is just another one. From my experiences of playing video game, I've seen plenty of positive father figures, most of them even being the protagonist of the game; such as Joel from The Last of Us, Ethan from Heavy Rain or Delta from Bioshock 2. Most of the time they are portrayed as heroes for their sacrifices and willingness to do anything to protect their family. I honestly can't think of a mother protagonist in a game. They are often side characters such as the mother in Child of Light. She gives her daughter strength to save the kingdom but we don't really interact with her much. Mothers often have minor and simplistic narrative roles. I'd like to see a Mother protagonist lead a game.

This Week in Videogame Blogging:

http://www.critical-distance.com/2015/11/29/november-29th-2/

Bianca Batti: Heroes and Villains: Mother- and Father-Figures in Rise of the Tomb Raider:

http://www.nymgamer.com/?p=12223 

Blog post 10: Clash Between Story and Violence in Video Games

Simon Parkin discusses about how violent protagonists have become increasingly evident with time, given that the graphics of virtual scenes and characters have become more vividly rendered.

In the past, players had to imagine the abstract icons and symbols moving on screen that were represented by monsters and soldiers, but nowadays, these are replaced with targets that have a personality, accent and a race. Players are presented with a gun, shooting targets that hinder the player's progress that are represented in the form of maybe a terrorist or police officer. As the character on screen shoots their targets mercilessly and the body count rises, do we stop to think if there is any reason behind the actions of our protagonist? Simon Parkin explains the flaw in video games of how protagonists are presented and how it clashes with its gameplay causing confusion for the player.

Parkin gives a good example of Crystal Dynamic's approach of the 2013 reboot of Tomb Raider. We have a young Lara Croft on her first expedition aboard a ship, in search of a lost kingdom of Yamatai. The ship is struck by a storm and is shipwreck and leaves Lara stranded on this isolated island. She has no real experience for survival and she seemed to be vulnerable. Her first kill is in self defence, as she struggles to take a gun from her aggressor, she is able to shoot him in the face. The cutscene after shows Lara is sickened by her actions but has this traumatic event weighed on her heavily? Parkin explains that:

"The writing team, however, is unable to reconcile their character’s fragility with the pressing requirements of the design team, who clearly need a parade of bullet-sponge enemy soldiers to stand in the archeologist’s path as obstacles. Five minutes after her first kill, Croft is firing off rounds, seemingly without a moment’s thought. Kids, it turns out, grow up quickly these days."

Playing the game myself, I was confused with Lara's characterisation. In the beginning she is vulnerable and uncomfortable with killing people, but the game designers encourage the player to engage in killing enemies aggressively and use brutal tactics. This let the game down where Lara's character is difficult to understand and identify with.

Parkin spoke to Rhianna Pratchett, one of the contemporary Tomb Raider writers explains that:

 "What's good for the gameplay might not benefit the story or the characters – and some of the folks you end up working alongside don't give a damn about story." Parkin however, argues that: " This is a tragic and outmoded way of viewing the process. Just look at the tonal chasm that now exists between the noble video game character we meet in the cutscenes, and their often indefensible actions, surely a direct result of the siloing of thought."

It is a flaw that game writers and designs are struggling with. When the game is supposed to be realistic, the character needs to be relatable with genuine emotions and a plausible character arc, but the gameplay makes them act like a psychopath.

Nobody complains when Mario jumps on a Goomba and kills it. That is still a violent act but Mario isn't a representation of realism, which makes me believe that the more realistic a game looks, then the more difficult it is to make a character believable.

This Week in Videogame Blogging:

http://www.critical-distance.com/2015/11/22/november-22nd/

Simon Parkin: Tomb Raider and the clash between story and violence in games: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/259613/Tomb_Raider_and_the_clash_between_story_and_violence_in_games.php

Blog post 9: Female Character Design in Video Games

Keezy Young shares her point of view on what makes a great female character design in video games.

Young explains that with female character design, attributes are often slapped on without much thought. 

"If 95% of female warriors wear low-cut boob plates, we can acknowledge that at least some of those designs are probably great, and still argue that the trend is obnoxious—especially since male characters are rarely given the same treatment. This is where a lot of frustration with female character designs comes from. The criticism is about the gendered double standard within trends, about the mismatch between context and design, and about the laziness that many designers fall into in choosing attributes to use in designwork; it isn’t a criticism of sexy designs or “beautiful” characters."

She talks about 8 female characters designs that stand out to her the most in video games. These females aren't over sexualised in their visual design, one of her favourites being Samus Aran:

"Nobody who played the first Metroid knew that Samus was a woman until the very end, when she pulled her helmet off, but it was a purposeful design decision. It was supposed to be a big reveal, and it played on the idea that women aren’t protagonists, aren’t strong, and aren’t expected. Or, at the very least, that if women are present, they’re marked by their gender. The designers knew that players would automatically assume Samus was a man because she bore none of the typical markers of being a woman."

Young believes that there could be more diversity in female characters instead of the generic female body type of large chest, small waist with a fit figure.

League of Legends recent female champions have some interesting designs.

There is Illaoi, who has a bulkier frame. She is more manly and appears to look strong. I don't really see this type of character design much in video games.

Then there is Rek Sai, which is a non-human character design. With the absence of physical feminine characteristics, we straight away assume she is male by default. But the designers slapped on a female gender to is creature. This was a big deal when the character was first released, getting the community talking about this different depiction of a female character. 

There is nothing wrong with emphasising the female figure in design. I do agree that there should be more diversity in female appearances with race, body shape and age in video games.

This Week in Videogame Blogging:

http://www.critical-distance.com/2015/11/15/november-15th-2/

Keezy Young: 8 Great Female Character Designs From A Designer's POV: http://remeshed.com/2015/8-great-female-character-designs-from-a-designers-pov/

Blog post 8: Do games really teach us anything worthwhile?

Naomi Alderman was present at a debate on technology and the future a few months ago and was confronted with the line that: “It turns out computer games merely teach you how to play other computer games.” Alderman  argues that games don't have to teach us anything. She believes that games have experiences to offer that you can't find anywhere else, that no other medium can.

Alderman believes that:

"A novel can let you into a character’s triumph in battle, but only a game can make you feel proud of your victory. A TV show can make you feel disgusted by a character’s avarice, but only a game can make you feel ashamed of your own actions.
[...] Games have that same electric tension you might find in the theatre, but instead of watching the actors, you are both the actor and the audience."

Alderman concludes that games can give you experiences that are unique but games may not teach you life experiences, increase your resilience, raise your IQ or improve hand- eye co-ordination.

In my opinion, I do believe that gaming can teach you a few things. Gaming can improve your hand-eye co-ordination over time. Real-Time strategy games require us to plan, strategise and manage resources. They also require fast analysis and quick decision-making. Simulation games usually try to mimic the real world, such as managing a city. This can teach us management decisions and using resources appropriately. Puzzle games let the players solve intricate problems under time pressure which involves logical thinking. But do these skills apply to real life and are they worthless? Honestly, as an avid gamer, I don't notice these skills impacting my everyday activities.

Games don't give me life altering experiences, but when was that the point of video games? I play games for different reasons. Escapism, challenging myself, being competitive or simply to just lose myself in its world with the art and music. Gaming has been a huge part of my life and its helped me form friendships and has given me years of entertainment. I enjoy games for what they are, not for making me a better person in life.

This Week in Videogame Blogging:
http://www.critical-distance.com/2015/11/08/november-8th-2/

Naomi Alderman:  Playing video games doesn’t make you a better person. But that’s not the point:

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/nov/06/video-games-give-you-unique-experience

Blog post 7: Tone Control Podcast with Tim Schafer

I listened to Episode 12 of Tone Control, where Steve Gaynor talks to the well known game designer Tim Schafer.

They discuss about Schafer's career, starting from when he was fresh out of college and hired by LucasArts as a tester. He then became co-writer, programmer and additional designer for games at LucasArts such as The Secret of Monkey Island and Maniac Mansion: Day of the Tentacle.

Schafer describes his time being at LucasArts as a "Crazy, magical, and happy time. We were really spoilt at the time and worked right out of college, it was great because of the freedom and creative ideas." Schafer talks about being co-writer on Maniac Mansion: Day of the Tentacle saying "It is good to remember how scary it was to lead my first project and how much safer I felt knowing I had a co project leader."

In 2000, Schafer founded Double Fine Productions after he spent over a decade at LucasArts, developing games such as Brutal Legends and Costume Quest.

Schafer talks about his experiences brainstorming ideas for games, pitching the ideas to publishers and thinking of budget whilst creating games. 

I enjoyed listening to the long career of Schafer and the experiences he has had working for LucasArts to owning his own company.

Tone Control, Episode 12: Tim Schafer: 

https://www.idlethumbs.net/tonecontrol/episodes/tim-schafer

Blog post 6: The Nostalgia in Retro Video Games

Remember the days of blowing the dust off the cartridge so the game would work? It gives me that wistful feeling.

I played a lot of video games as a child. The earliest gaming memories I had were playing Sonic the Hedgehog on The Sega Master System. I remember how I'd spend many hours trying to complete every game my dad gave me with my sister. We played games like Alex the Kidd, Ecco the Dolphin and Wonder Boy to name a few.

I received a Game Boy from my parents. My sister got Pokémon Blue and I had Pokémon Red. We spent countless hours playing and trading each other Pokémon. As we grew older we would get  all the other gen Pokémon games — she got Silver, I got Gold and so on. After we both got Pokémon X and Y, I realized that I didn't feel the same sense of joy I did when I was playing Pokémon Gold back in the day. Why do I feel like I enjoy the games of my childhood more so than current games of today? Don't get me wrong, I still love gaming and it will always be a part of me, but there was something special about the old days.

FemHype’s June talks about nostalgia in her childhood gaming experiences:

"I’d be lying if I said nostalgia wasn’t a huge part of the allure for me. However, I think the retro gaming resurgence is due to much more than a collective yearning for the sanctuary of our simple childhoods. When I look at the unabashed joy of retro gamers, I think it’s due to stressing gaming as gaming first and foremost with no strings attached, and very little gimmicks."

I agree with June and I still play my childhood games from time to time, the repetitiveness of it still has its novelty. Maybe it's an attempt to revisit my childhood and the happiness that comes with it.

June talks about the expansive retro gaming market and how the internet is exploding with new content every day. She says how "Her time was spent browsing through countless cartridges, discs, and forgotten trinkets off Amazon and Ebay."

But why do retro games have great replay value? June believes that the single player games in early years have better replayability than games of today, although multiplayer online play is the modern day equivalent. The storylines in older games relied more on atmosphere and worldbulidng. They didn't have the best quality graphics of today to be able to tell stories. They relied on exploration and explication of their worlds, which helped enrich the solitary experience and  furthered immersion for us. 

June concludes that she would like to see a renaissance of retro gaming:

" I would like the resurgence of retro gaming to something like the boom in vinyl and cassettes in music. It’s a community driven by a love of certain formats, styles, and aesthetics. It’s not meant to replace contemporary gaming culture, but rather, exists as a subculture within gaming that is surprisingly thriving right now—a subculture which I’ve decided that for myself, personally, has more substance to it than its contemporary counterparts."

The retro gaming subculture seems to be a larger and growing interest by gamers old and new. Game developers have released titles that are repackaged older games such as Atari Classics, Activision Hits, The Sonic Mega Collection, Metal Slug Anthology and Sega Genesis Collection. I personally own the Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection on PlayStation 3 to play some of my childhood games and I even discovered some retro games that I hadn't even played before! I'm all for the expansion of the retro gaming subculture and for retro games to become more than just a collective memory of video game history.

This Week in Videogame Blogging:

http://www.critical-distance.com/category/this-week-in-videogame-blogging/

June's article Retro Resurgence: Why I Stick to the Nostalgia Subculture:

http://femhype.com/2015/10/14/retro-resurgence-why-i-stick-to-the-nostalgia-subculture/#more-95053

In Response to Nick's Blog: Games as a Two Way Conversation

In Nick's blog he discusses how would single player games make the gameplay more immersive for the player.

He addresses that with single player games, we don't really have any real way to express ourselves with the gameplay or storyline other than playing with the game's tools provided by the game developers.

Nick gives an example of what games could do to make it more of a two way conversation: 
"What if the game tracked how you played and changed certain elements to make it harder for the user to progress through the storyline. Could you imagine if Dark Souls, for example, tracked what enemies you struggled against the hardest and started increasing the amount of those enemies throughout the gameplay? Dark souls is already hard enough. But the gameplay would just be that one step more immersive."

I agree with Nick and would like to see new ways in bringing the player closer to the game. Allowing the player to be able to express themselves and having the game respond differently to each individual, which would make their gameplay experience unique.

Nick's Blog:

http://snickienickie.tumblr.com/

Blog post 5: Super Mario Maker

30 years after the original Mario NES game, Nintendo has released Super Mario Maker, a game where players can create their own Mario levels and other people can play their creations. Nintendo has created a game that allows players to freely create whatever they want. Thousands of Super Mario Bros players have spent millions of hours making Mario levels. But are they of quality? 

Grayson Davis expresses his opinion about the level creations from players:

"I’ve played levels that were clearly the first attempt of a 10-year-old who didn’t appear to have much enthusiasm to begin with. I’ve played levels designed to be as hard as possible without being remotely fair—slogs of unpredictable traps and random deaths. I’ve played levels built around obvious, tiresome gimmicks. Many levels are simply broken, with obstacles much harder or easier than they should be, shortcuts that shouldn’t work, and elaborate contraptions that don’t function as intended."

Grayson Davis doesn’t think that bad designs in videogames are all that bad:

"Bad design isn’t always always without value. On the contrary, Mario Maker is an amazing tool. Much like listening to someone describe their dreams, the Mario Maker experience is a fragmented mess, […]

So video game producers and art directors put them in their creations to draw on that shorthand."

It is interesting to see what players create. Mario maker allows us to take a peek into the inner workings of the creator's mind. It enables us to witness and experience processes of creativity. Grayson Davis has played many creations from Mario Maker and found that:

"Many creators work within the framework of other Mario games, either emulating or subverting those conventions. [...] Other creators try to simulate other genres entirely, making levels that resemble Metroid-style exploration games or bullet-hell schmups.

[...]

We share our thoughts and feelings as they tumble out, and Mario Maker would be a poor creative tool if it tried to corral player expression into a prescriptive formula. It is exciting to consider that, at any point, I can explore levels that are, yes, sometimes mean and ugly, but also far more singular and personal than anything Nintendo will ever make."

After reading about Grayson Davis's experiences with Mario Maker, I think that the game was intended for letting out your imagination, whether the level designs are good or not. Players don't have to follow rules or any fundamentals of level design. They are free to create whatever they want, even if their levels are extremely absurd.

This Week in Videogame Blogging:

http://www.critical-distance.com/category/this-week-in-videogame-blogging/

Grayson Davis article Super Mario Maker:

http://www.videogameheart.com/daily/super-mario-maker/

Blog post 4: The Beginner's Guide Review

The following content contains spoilers.

This week in video game blogging, Critical Distance has posted a discussion on The Beginner's Guide. 

The Beginner's Guide is a narrative video game from David Wreden. From the start of the game we are introduced to Wreden, who is guiding you and giving his interpretation over a collection of games, which were made by his game developer friend who is identified as "Coda". Wreden tells us certain aspects of the game and the process in which they are made and what Coda might have thought or felt whilst making the games. 

Laura Hudson reaction to playing the game for the first time.

"The first time I played the game, I felt ill, even angry after this revelation. It seemed like the game had made me unknowingly complicit in a huge violation of someone's privacy, one that I had no way of undoing. At the time, I was assuming—wrongly, I think—that the game told a true story, rather than a "true" one, that it depicted people and events in the real world rather than inventing characters real enough to make us suspend our disbelief."

About halfway through the game I also felt the same way. When Wreden starts questioning if the games that Coda is creating are a reflection of his emotional and mental status. Coda's games gradually turn darker and more disturbing. This is when Wreden decides to try and help his friend who is in need but ends up breaking his trust instead.  From what I understood, it seems that "Coda" was developing these games as a hobby and didn't want to show these games to the public. Wreden, however,  shows Coda's games to the public without Coda's approval, which ends up destroying their friendship. We learn that this game is about Wreden trying to reach out to Coda and ask for forgiveness even though he knows he is betraying Coda's wishes even by doing so.

Laura Hudson  explains that she replayed the game and has a different perspective of the game.

"The second time through, however, it felt a little different. Rather than a story about the relationship between two game developers, The Beginner's Guide started to read more plausibly as a relationship between a game developer and their audience, and the dangers of projecting too much onto art and the people that create it.

I'm still haunted by that initial feeling of complicity the game made me feel when I learned what was "really" going on, the sickening sense that I had harmed someone very deeply by participating in someone's misinterpretation of a game. This is the moment that left the most indelible mark on me, the one that seemed to say that projecting your own ideas onto an artist and a creative work—or seeking answers from them—is a selfish act, a stifling act, even a destructive one.

...

But as wrongheaded as it might be to assume that every story an artist tells is secretly the story of themselves, it's equally wrongheaded to assume that the best or only way for art to be understood is inside an echo chamber of its own voice. So much of the pleasure and insight I derived the game came not just from the moments when I played it, but the moments where I sought to interpret it, where I spoke about it with others, where I ultimately projected my own ideas about what it meant to me."

After playing the game myself, it left me pondering "what does it all mean?"  I feel that the game can be interpreted in many different ways. Wreden uses The Beginner's Guide to present questions to the player concerning game theory and design. When playing any game, should you consider the creator's based on design choices or should you let the game speak for itself, as you create your own interpretation about a game? 

Wreden seems to think that games can be a window into the mind of their creator. By playing their games, you can find meaning and develop insight into their personality, which can form a connection with the creator.

This Week in Videogame Blogging:

http://www.critical-distance.com/category/this-week-in-videogame-blogging/

Laura Hudson's article The Beginner's Guide is a game that doesn't want to be written about:

https://boingboing.net/2015/10/02/the-beginners-guide-is-a-gam.html

Blog post 3: Games As A Two-Way Conversation

Critical Distance has posted an article written by Laralyn McWillams who discusses player expression. She talks about how multiplayer games are accustomed to allow players a range of emotional expressions such as how people can type in chat window, choose their outfits and customise their appearance, use play emotes and voice chat which are all methods where players can express themselves.

When creating a multiplayer game system that lets players express themselves, it allows them to choose positive or negative expressions.

Laralyn McWillams uses an example for when creating a multiplayer game system that lets players express themselves:

"During the development of Free Realms, we considered a system that would let players rate outfits or even rate each other. We had serious debates around whether that would involve only positive ratings--a thumbs up--or whether you could choose between both positive and negative ratings. We even debated the role of gossip in the lives of kids, and whether our systems should simulate the world that actually existed or the world we wished existed."

Choices like those examples above naturally create and cultivate a culture within and around your game. 

Single player games are also about player expression. Laralyn McWillams explains that a game relies on player input:

"Press the space bar to jump, or click on the Twine option you want to see next. These aren’t just interactions, though. They’re genuine expressions. Players have a motivation for doing the things they do in games: there’s a reason she jumped at that moment instead of firing her weapon or sprinting, and there’s a reason he choose to explore the backyard before the garage."

The "core loop" is a foundation of a game interaction:

Game events open a loop that starts a conversation with the player. When an enemy appears, the player can respond by attacking, fleeing or hiding. The player is given ways to express themselves in reaction to situations that the game presents.

Developers online often talk about player retention or a game's "stickiness"  How likely a player will maintain to continue to play a game for? It is known that social interactions make online games "stickier" whenever those interactions are encouraged and supported by game system,. in addition of social aspects like clans and PvP increase retention. Laralyn McWillams believes:

"One of the reasons social play drives retention is because it better supports player emotional expression. It creates a two-way conversation. We can see other attempts to enable two-way conversation in games like Dragon Age and Mass Effect, where players can choose how they respond to NPCs.

What would it mean in a game like Skyrim if the player could do something as simple as choose a facial expression, and NPC characters reacted to it? How would that change NPC barks as you walk around a city? How would your companion respond?

What if games that don’t have dialogue systems or avatar customization could still feel as personal, responsive, and emotionally connected as a multiplayer game? Would it drive the same virality and stickiness?"

Single player games are also about player expression that we support, understand and choose to respond to in game. We are still creating a culture even when there's only a single player experiencing it. We are cultivating a culture in which players make right or wrong choices with no meaningful way to express how those choices feel. Laralyn McWillams explains:

"Most single-player games start a conversation with players and then leave them emotionally stranded. We handle pivotal character moments in cutscenes, or when they’re in live gameplay we leave players only able to run, jump, or crouch. We’re creating a culture where the expected — and only — response to emotional moments is mute acceptance.

[…]

To that extent, single-player games have a culture of emotional isolation that goes beyond the fact that you’re playing them by yourself. I believe that’s a large part of the popularity of live Let’s Play video feeds: the person playing can finally express the emotions provoked by a game in a setting where someone’s listening — because the game clearly isn’t. Isn’t that a mistake in an interactive medium?"

Laralyn McWilliams is saying that many games could benefit from understanding their players better. We could use information about the players' emotional state to create a better experience. Consider the effect of including that emotional expression in a single player game, How could it be meaningful? How could the game respond to it?

This week in video game blogging:

http://www.critical-distance.com/category/this-week-in-videogame-blogging/

Laralyn McWillams article on player expression:

http://gamasutra.com/blogs/LaralynMcWillams/20150928/254679/Games_As_A_TwoWay_Conversation.php 

Blog post 2: This Week in Videogame Blogging

This week, Critical Distance has posted an article written by Chris Bateman about the forty hour benchmark of a game's 'replayability'. In the past, the majority of video games were often created on the assumption that they would be played for roughly forty hours. Nowadays, games are being made to be played for longer and we are seeing a decline in the forty hour model for making games.

During the early time of consoles with polygonal 3D rendering such as Sony PlayStation and Sega Saturn in the mid-1990s, the context of video games were designed to be played for 8- 12 hours or a total of 40 hours. The forty hour play window became the norm so developers aimed for forty hour content, possibly fearing  negative reviews if the game fell short of the mark. Players that weren't employed full time could easily play forty hours in one week and with the greater number of games being produced, the arrangement of the market for games meant that gamers who played as a hobby could play different games every week if they wanted to.

With the arrival of World of Warcraft, the forty hour model was being challenged in major ways by its increasing popularity. Forty hours meant nothing to World of Warcraft players, which is a game that is played as a hobby on its own.

Nowadays, the forty  hour model seems to decline. Every major commercial game now attempts to capture audiences for at least 200 hours, with the addition of multiplayer modes being the core method of maintaining players to constantly play the same game. Chris Bateman states that...

"The forty hour model was a consequence of selling games-as-products, as boxed content that would be played then thrown onto a pile of completed games (although it turns out that the minority of players finish games). The 200 hour model is a consequence of selling games-as-services, with monetization now an on-going process throughout the time the players are engaged with the title in question."

Chris Bateman suggests that the consequence of longer play windows for games makes it difficult for large game studios to break even than ever before, even though more money than ever before is coming into the game industry. World of Warcraft has forced competitors to give their games away for free due to not being able to compete directly with its critical mass of players and content. Call of Duty requires three large developers working on it to deliver content at a rate that would mean it is not vulnerable for competitors to threaten its dominance. Chris Bateman points out that...

"The big money is no longer out to hold a player’s attention for forty hours, but to hold a player’s attention long enough to get the next game out, or to hold on to groups of players in the hope to pull in a few big spenders, or to hold the player’s attention throughout the year with events crafted to maintain appeal and bring back those who are slipping away into other games. Hobby players – those who commit to a game service over the long term – often play other games on the side, which is a tiny crumb of good news for indies making smaller games. Indeed, at the bottom of the market, there are perhaps greater opportunities for those who make games than ever before, but the lower market is competing for the scraps left over from the gorging behemoths above them, like crabs scuttling about for the tiny morsels that fall to the seabed after the giant sharks have fed."

Chris Bateman concluded that the video games market is ceasing to be a one packaged experience similar to movies and novels. Game studio Bungie has shifted from developing boxed products of Halo to the endless service of the massive multiplayer game Destiny.  The forty hours model is no longer the norm and what matters now is keeping the players playing for as long as possible.

This week in video game blogging:

http://www.critical-distance.com/category/this-week-in-videogame-blogging/

Chris Bateman's article Forty Hours:

http://blog.ihobo.com/2015/09/forty-hours.html

Blog post 1: Battlefield Hardline Review

Battlefield Hardline is the first in the Battlefield franchise to steer into another direction with its single-player campaign. Instead of its usual war zone theme, the single player campaign of Battlefield Hardline was split into episodes with character-driven police procedurals of American cop drama.

Austin Walker's review of Battlefield Hardline shares his opinions about the game and how it compares to police portrayal in TV shows or real life situations. Hardline tries to create familiar elements from police TV shows, but the plot and characterization are often confused and rushed.

In most cases, TV police aren't supposed to kill suspects and in context of the game, Visceral encourages players to be Good Cops. Austin spent nearly all of his time playing Hardline committed to the ideal of using less-lethal force, by stating:

"When things exploded into violence I carefully “zoned” my enemies, drawing them into the short range of my Taser so that I could knock them out instead of killing them." 

The game does encourage the player to play stealthily rather than choosing for a run and gun approach, though the unlock system doesn't appropriately reward you for your stealthy actions. The game rewards you with lethal weapons to shoot your enemies for a more aggressive guns blazing approach to your gameplay.

Marc Price's review of Battlefield Hardline mentions that the game was released to the public at a bad time. In the recent events of issues such as police violence, police brutality, militarized police and racism were brought attention to the public eye during the game's release. These issues may have had an effect on how the audience perceives the game.

Link to Austin Walker's Review:

http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2015/03/battlefield-hardline-reviewcop-out.html

Link to Marc Price's Response:

https://medium.com/@mrprice33/i-m-here-for-the-bang-bang-on-battlefield-hardline-first-person-shooters-and-storytelling-e90715562c88