Diaspora of Games within South Asia and their Future

http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/dec2005/id20051213_158208.htm

The link above is an article to Business Week Online regarding developing video games within India and a recent game and concept that is growing within South Asian computer gaming genres, which is "Indian themed" games such as Emporer Ashoka. This game is about a centries old ruler who united the Indian subcontinet under his rule and is known for his bravery and valor. The problem I see with this type of developing genre is that it feeds into the stereotype of westernized video games and though it may be a successful marketing scheme for already developed nations who might feed on their notions of what is Indian, it definetely is a step back for introducing active participation in mass numbers within the Indian population itself. The concept of historical contextual games which involve active learning of history is an interesting concept but I don't feel that the country is prepared to accept the conept of rewriting history with every unique gaming experience. As far as histry goes, Ashoka has always won and fought with great success in terms of killing men and attaining land, whereas within the game, the outcome is dependent on the player which may make sense as the player will take on the role of Ashoka while fighting, but as I mentioned earleir, even the creators of Resistance made the conscious effort of rewriting the history back to 1892 and in terms of aliens torecreate the context within which the players face. To blatantly allow the recreation of an Indian ruler in a false manner may turn off a lot of potential players within the market of upper middle class Indian city high schoola nd college students who are spending more and more money on entertainment, according to the report. Especiaslly, with the use of the Hindu goddess Kali as a character within the game is a clear statement from the creators that thi game is intended for overseas only and cannot and will not be considered a stepping stone for textual studies within video games for India. The erotic depiction of women within these games has definitely spilled over to the deiction of Kali and her role as villianess will definitely cause strong opposition if released in Indain markets. To place things into context, we haven't seen any games within Unites States which present Christ in an erotic and violent manner without context or within. The interpretation of Kali as violent is analagous to limiting Christ in the figure of the angry teenager who turned over the tables of the sly tax collector as a teenager. Though I understand that mrketing is for overseas, I feel the company is creating a barier betweent itself and the huge market waiting to be profitted from within India itself. The Creators are looking for quick money from where it already exists and not tapping into unknown teritorries where much oppurtunity lies and to be so insensative to the textual value of history and interetextual quality and correctness of the game will defintely effect the company in the future when the genre becomes more specific to Indian games for Indians and they will have to endure much criticism for what South Asian players will see as a compromise of ethical standards for quick money.

LOST...not the show

Understanding Gaming culture is as complicated as programming the games themselves and one of the biggest obstacles in aquiring knowledge about video games and studying the intertextual and peritextual elements of the field is the gaming tradition which is deep rooted in years of experience and breeds generatons of experts and dialogue. Especicially, the current young generation of college and more importantly post graduate students who have began there interaction with video games with the original Nintendo circa 1985 and continue on with their experience with the Nintendo Wii. Their are 22 years of developpment of games, versions, consols, characters, and players, all of which are subject to familiarity as either mentioned directly or indirectly within other games or media types such as cartoons or TV shows. This may be one of the reasons we have finally turned our attenton to textual studies within video games becasue of the numerous years of changes and recorded games and its "accessories" or the peritextual elements which document a developing gaming culture which adds to shaping current social elements and is also a result of today's values. For example, now that the Holocaust is over and even native Germans who once supported the Nazi regime accept its immorality, games like Resistance have come into being. I was first introduced to the game as "it's like WW II except the Nazis are now aliens and the American regiment left but only one troop got left behind." Textually speaking, this refernce may be nothing but a foundation upon which the creators formed their own plot line but when one views this game it is ignorant to ignore the issue of its nature, first person shooters and with that one is automatically linked to the chronology of development of first person shooters and in comparing the old to the latest to the future, a level of familiarity along with DETAILED experience is needed to mention not the obvious but the subtle changes throughout the games as a result of years of tracking these kinds of games. The issue I wish to surface here is the availbalilty and accessability of textual studies of any text in terms of their dependence to the actual work themselves and how such an esoteric group can be prevented from becoming elitists as we sometimes see Shakespeare scholars segregate themselves. There is a potential of a generation of uniqe first time experts on video games to slowly come into being and it is important to be as inclusive as professionally and productively possible to generate meaningful and relevent dialogue to the audience of the textual studes within a specific field as video games to prevent the displacement of the majority of the next generation of players who wil not be familiar with the earlier versions of games or consols and may feel lost in a hopeless effort to reconnect to the foundation of games.

Arcade Adventures

Having studied Arcades this entire week, the group decided to take a field trip to Gameworks and submerge ourselves in that very arcade-like atmosphere to recreate the experience discussed in class, as it had been quite a while since any of us had been to an arcade. The atmosphere of Gameworks had drastically changed from its original modest layout to a full fledged pool area, restaurant, reeption table, and an entire hall reserved for parties and events. This new version of an arcade was short of a country club in the day and after 9:00pm, it was short of a full fledged bar as all children under 21 had to leave the arcade. That very policy guided me to the thought that arcades are no longer for only children as they have generations to enertain. The players of today wait in line with their parents so that both can play the arcade games, as I saw everyone from middle school kids to a senior citizens. This generational inclusion of gaps and thereby removing those gaps is a direct result of arcade culture. Almost every line I was in, there were younger and much older adults and while playing, all seemed to coexist as players surpassing the issues of age. The games had changed but many of the older games were still there and since accessability was there for both generations, there was a sense of familiarity for all players allowing them to bond in a shared experience. Strangers reacted to the scores of people they didn't know and stood behind looking over the shoulders of other players. There was a shared experience made commercial at the arcades and it was evident through the addiction of consecutively swiping cards with points, that players craved that group experience on that larger scale and were willing to continue at any cost. Although, one drawback to the gaming experience was the commercialization of the games which I must note, can only extist in a large group caught in the moment of the game, for the higher level of obstacles and impossibiliy of the games for beginners is remarkably high and the quality of the controls and their lack of precision play a key role in requiring more swipes as well. This I noticed because there were many players, such as Dan and Ryan, who despite their success at these games at home, had much difficulty at Gameworks. I thought I'd use them as relaible references as my gaming skills would not be very telling of the level of difficulty in any of the games as expereince is a prerequisite for succeeding in arcade games. Yes, one thing I learned from this trip is that Arcade games are different than games played at home because, though the same characters and titles, they are more difficult and their accessories of guns and triggers alter the gaming experience entirely. Thus, I motion that arcades belong in their own genre when discussing the sociological context of games as they are a specific location whose sole purpose is to make money via the shared expereince of players.