FTVMS 328 – First Week at a Glance

>>>Define Gamer
“Who’s a gamer here?”

Thinks… Game + Player = Gamer

*puts hand up*

…Or am I.?

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A Little Bit about Me …and My On/Off Relationship with Games~

First Engagement with Videogames: ...9 years old?
Favourite Game Genre: RPGS. RPGS. RPGS.
First Favourite Game: Super Mario 64 – The creative, vast landscape of all the levels in this RPG kept me easily entertained when I was 10 years old. I.e. In Tick Tock Clock – the “pace” of the level depended on what time the clock hands stop on after Mario lands on the clockface. (..Does that make sense?) Unfortunately before I could collect all 150 Powerstars - someone broke the game...Sigh.
First Game I Ever Took Seriously: Final Fantasy X (PS2) by Square Enix. Around 15 or so, friends of mine were hyped into this Final Fantasy phase – (them having older siblings who played it and of it’s awesome-ness)- and I was lent the game to try out… and OMG the graphics during the beginning cinematic sequence totally blew me away O_O and I was caught hook, line and sinker into FF ever since. The depth of detail in the storyline impressed me too. (FF deserves its own blog entry I reckon...)
Last Game I Played & Took Seriously: Final Fantasy XII. Stopped in 2009 due to other commitments and college work. Also the game was too political for my taste. :p

= I am a huge sucker of anime styled RPGS, especially when there are girl superheroes. :D =

A list of games I've either finished, or played for a minimum of 6 hours but couldn't be bothered to finish (…yet):
Nintendo 64: Diddy Kong Racing, Super Mario 64, James Bond, Pokemon Stadium
Computer/ Online/ FB: Earthworm Jim, Neopets, Runescape, Angry Birds, Bejewelled Blitz, Word Scramble… and yes, once upon a time even Farmville and Mafia Wars.
PS2: Kingdom Hearts 2, Kingdom Hearts: Re: Chain of Memories, Final Fantasy X, X-2 and XII
PSP: Loco Roco, Medieval
NDS: Yoshi Island 3, Professor Layton, Warioware, Lost in Blue, Cooking Mama, and other various random games...
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Hmmm…Not a particularly long list for a supposedly “gamer”.

Following the questions Kevin asked- I felt unsure.
Having played games before – I knew I wasn’t a complete “noob” (a term here used to describe an unexperienced gamer) except what exactly qualifies someone as a gamer..? Even more complex is that there are further sub-groups: pro or hardcore, casual. (… There is also EVEN MORE subgroups which I won’t mention here for they are too rude/funny.XD)

This also reminded me of how a previous blogpost on how can we study videogames. “It takes one to know one” - or how bout a gamer to know games... It takes to mind that one must have adequately played a game before he/she can pass judgment in an academic manner.

Furthermore the first reading (kind of) answered this.

> “We should take a multidisciplinary perspective by analyzing the community of shared ideas and concepts.” (*Also see the 7 Problems)
That is, aside from video game academia study, Wolf and Perron suggests we should look at the early writings of computer enthusiasts and hobbyists, trade journals and in house company journals of the 1970s and in recent times. A speculative approach by the Y generation like myself (or “Digital Native”) hopefully will add to the multidisciplinary perspective.
Though I feel slightly *cough* advantageous that I have a little practical game knowledge, I know critically analysing and writing in the flowery academia language on games is entirely different thing – a skill I hope to develop more by doing this course. The blogging thing however, I find is a cool way for us students to share information and discuss videogame theory/culture, and luckily we're allowed to do so informally! *Relief* xD