Digital Games- But are they art?

1. Is it reasonable to consider computer games as art? 

a) How does Adams define art? Do you agree with his definition?

         According to Adams's article " Will Computer Games Ever Be A Legitimate Art Form?", it states that art should have content, idea, aesthetic value and also make you feels things. It is known that art  contains elements of  narrative. An artwork have the meaning or idea which is given by the artists.  Art is representational for expressing some notions and values. So, after seeing an artwork, people may tend to grasp the meaning behind.Also, art should be aesthetic, people can criticize these artworks by following some rules to determine what are beauty and ugliness.

         I agree with Adams's definition of art, because the funtion of a artwork is to express formal beauty and notion.I think art is art since it contains sense of beauty.The combination of some lines and colours cretates the sense of harmony that viewers may feel comfortable and peaceful.These positive feelings are important elements for creating a work of art. Not only formal beauty, content and idea are important too. A work of art should contain some ideas that encourage views to explore it. Through this process, views can really understand a artwork.

b) According to Adams, what is needed for videogames to be considered as art?

          According to Adams, the elements of formal beauty, ideas and contents are fundamental parts to classify videogames as art. Just like the definition of art, videogames that can be considered as art need  to meet the above requirements. First, the images should contain aesthetic value. The combination of all the lines and colours should be harmonious.Second, videogames should contain idea or content rather than produce mere fun. It is important of those games to express positive content that players can receive information after playing of these games. Third, videogames should make you feel things too, players can have interaction with the videogames in some ways to explores the notion behind. For example, some educational games contain this value as they can evoke people to  think about some social issues that really relate them in the real world.

 

Just playing - the ethics of videogames (presentation)

Case study: Death Race ( violent game) 

Platform: Arcade

Publisher: Exidy, 1976

Developer: Exidy  

Death Race, originally named 「Pedestrian 「 The first video game to inspire a great deal of protest and controversy in the United States the first person to put stick figures – a representation of a human being – on the screen and let you do something nasty to them --> arose ethical issue

How to play…

 










This game featured the player as an automobile driver whose goal was to run over screaming 「gremlins」 (「gremlins」 the design team called them) , transforming them into tombstones.

Whoever has run over the most gremlins by the end of the timed game wins.

right or wrong ? -----DEATH RACE

normative ethics (another school of philosophy ) suggests that something is considered immoral or un-ethical if it falls outside the boundaries set by a particular set of rules or codes (i.e., a norm, derived from a given ethical theory)

 According to a philosopher ,Ryan Reynolds
 Does the game have a negative impact on an individual, or society as a whole ?
 Does the game violate any rights or responsibilities?
 Does playing the game make you a bad person?

 Answer :   more harm than benefits -----Death Race ( violent game)

 benefits:   for fun , relieving stress

Negative impacts on an individual or society----DEATH RACE -- run over Pedestrian

For individual : 

violent video games  as catalysts for violent acts

 any relationship between violent video games (and other forms of violent media) and violent behavior is correlational  but not causal (Pinker, 2002)

 「violent video games may be more harmful than violent television and movies because of the interactive nature of the games」

 place the players in the role of aggressor

(One or two players control an on-screen with a steering wheel and

an acceleration pedal, The goal was to run over stick-figure skeletons)

 è then reward themè increase accessibility of aggressive thoughts 

「the catalyst model」

「individuals who have an aggressive personality are more likely to engage in violent behavior during times of environmental strain(i.e., family violence and media violence exposure).Thus, although the environment does not cause violence propensity, times of stress may act as catalysts for violent acts for an individual already prone to them.」  (FERGUSON , RUEDA , CRUZ, FERGUSON, FRITZ ,SMITH ,2008)

 violent video games decrease players』 tendencies toward positive behaviors

~isn』t doing something more productive
~ like learning a new hobby, getting exercise, doing homework, or spending time with the family
~ e.g. affect students 『grades negatively by displacing time spent in other educational and social activities.

For society:

「Computer games …. relate to players who like to explore morals and actions forbidden in society. 「(Sicart,2009)

Break the traffic law-->run over pedestrians at top speed
kill people--> illegal

A safety consultant for the Automobile Club complains that it teaches the opposite skill of evading collisions.

Reuters recently did a report on a British study that claims people who play racing games immediately before driving are more likely to be reckless and aggressive on the road.

the intent of the game was to promote violence
--> a platform to violate the rules

Unethical  game ----Death race

Its violence was abstract in both audio and video

looking completely inoffensive compared to modern standards

 An important case study about violent game 

~shows the change of ethic (compared to modern standards )
~because I』ve seen so much more, and so much worse.」 a game player said
~"Each person's definition of what is ethical changes.「 Jason Della Rocca , the program director of the International Game Developers Association said.

References

1.MacIsaac, Jason . 「A Collision With History」The Electric playground,

 entry posted March 05, 2007, http://www.elecplay.com/feature/11427 (accessed November 24, 2010)

2.   Dang, Jimmy, Lee, Jin and Nguyen, Chau. 「 Playing With Ethics: Video Game Controversy」,

http://www.ethicapublishing.com/ethical/3CH12.pdf (accessed November 22, 2010)

3.  Reynolds, Ryan . 「Playing a "Good" Game: A Philosophical Approach to Understanding the Morality of Games」 IGDA,

entry posted June ,2002, http://archives.igda.org/articles/rreynolds_ethics.php (accessed November 22, 2010)

4.  Good, Owen .」Death Race Remake Recalls First Violent Game Controversy」 Kotaku Australia ,

 entry posted  August 3, 2008, http://www.kotaku.com.au/2008/08/death_race_remake_recalls_first_violent_game_controversy-2/ (accessed November 21, 2010)

5.  「Death Race (video game)」 Wikipedia,

 entry posted November8, 2010, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_Race_%28video_game%29(accessed November 20,2010)

6.   Shawn and Matt 「 Video Games, Moral or Immoral 「High School Journalism,

 entry posted  June 02, 2010 , http://my.hsj.org/Schools/Newspaper/tabid/100/view/frontpage/schoolid/1371/articleid/365069/newspaperid/1347/Video_Games_Moral_or_Immoral.aspx (accessed November 22, 2010) 

 

The Ethics of Digital Games

a)According to the film, what are some pros and cons of playing videogames for individuals and societies?

For the advantages, people can earn money when they become a professional game player.It may be a good job for them because their hobbies are playing video games.Also, the American government create a video game-" American's Army to attract young people to join the national army.This video game is like a military propaganda that help the country to strengthen their military power.
For the disadvantages, playing those violent games may affect people behavior,for example, in the film, the fourteen years old game player killed 8 people, it seems to be the impact of the violent games because playing these games may make people aggressive.Besides, these video games generate unstable condition in the society that some people may affect by these violent game and become killers.

b)According the film, is there any evidence that digital games can encourage aggressive values and anti-social actions in the real world? Do you agree?

The research about the study of human brain when people are playing those violent video games.It suggests that playing violent games may encourage aggressive values in our brains.Also, the case of a student who is affected by the violent video games using gun to shoot people is an important evidence too. It shows that to a certain exent, playing violent video games and aggressive behaviours may have correlation, violent video games affect players' aggressive throughts.

c)Should governments have the right to ban certain games? Why or why not?
I think government should have right to ban these violent video games. Becaause these games helps the spread of the aggressive throughts among the players, this may encourages the occurence of illegal behaviours, for example, steal thing or kill people. This is dangerous for the children to keep this violent video games,since they are not mature to distinguish the ethical problems which are hiding in the games. So, governments should have responsibility to hinder the spread of these viiolent video games.

Technologised bodies in art

Which artist's work do you find the most interesting?
Describe one work by that artist in detail, and explain, what is interesting about it.


I think Kazuhiko Hachiya's Inter Dis-Communication Machine is interesting.
When people wear this machine, they can see the view of the other person.The aim of creating this machine is to question the visual world.
It is interesting because it create a chance for people to exchange their view.Since it is not practical in the reality to exchange our vision.It seems to be impossible to do this.But through the using of this machine, we can share the view of different people.Maybe we can enjoy the scenery of one place without travelling to there.So,I think it is fun to exchange the views of people.
Besides, the design of this machine is interesting too.The use of black and white colours builds up a strong sense of oppoistion. This may wants to strengthen the feeling of individual identity that we cannot exchange our senses with the others in the reality.However, this notion may be contradictary to the idea of the possibility to exchange the visual world.Although it may be contradictary, this notable idea and the use of opposite colours create a good chance for people to think about the meaning of this work.Thus, it is a meaningful work to me.






reference:

http://www.petworks.co.jp/~hachiya/works/shi_ting_jue_jiao_huanmashin.html
http://we-make-money-not-art.com/archives/2005/05/through-the-dev.php

Online Identity

How many online identities do you have ?What are they like?
In what ways are they different to your "in person"identities?
What are some benefits of expressing one's identity online?
What are some risks?


I have 5 online identities, for example,the accounts of  forum, msn, hotmail,yahoo,xanga.They are different because I always avoid using real personal data like real name, birthday or mobile phone number etc.Because it in not safe to post the real personal data on the internet.Some people may easy to steal your personal data online.Also, I will not post my real photo in the internet, it is better to use other picture instead.For the benefits,  we can make more friends and keep contacts with some old friends.

Just playing –the ethics of digital gaming

Who is the artist/maker of the game
The maker of this game is the designer,Howell Ivy and the publisher,Exidy.

What is its name?
This game is called Death Race, the working title is " Pedestrians"

When was it produced/released?
It was produced in 1976.

Describe it in detail
For you, what is interesting/unusual/thought-provoking/aesthetically pleasing/puzzling about this artwork/website/game? [you may choose your own adjectives! These are just some suggestions]. Explain in detail.

This game is a thought-provoking one because it seems to be the first violent game to exist, it raised controversy at that time in U.S. The rules of playing this game is to control the on-screen car to hit the "gremlins" (which look like the stick men and also pedestrians). When  the players drive the on screen car to hit them, they will scream and replace by  the tombstones.These tombstones seem to be the obstacles which challenge the players for getting the higher scores.
It is thought-provoking because it is the first example to show the problem about the ethics of digital game.This game changes people's view on the nature of  video games. It seems that playing game is not for entertainment only, but also for people to break the rules and release their negative feeling.It is known that  many games in nowadays may be developed to satisfy humans desires about breaking the rules to do some illegal things.This is dangerous because these games really have psychological effects on the players which affect them to break the rules in the reality.

What key issue(s) or question(s) does this artwork/website/game raise? Explain these thoroughly, making use of quotations and paraphrases from your readings, and other examples, as appropriate

This game raises the problem of ethic in the society.It was blamed by the American parents as a "sick"game in the 1960s. Because the original title of this game is called " Pedestrians'.In this game, the "gremlins" look like human beings, it seems that  hitting those gremlins is like hitting the pedestrians.Thus, the latent message is evil and violent. Also, the "gremlins" will scream when your car hit them. This "scream" sound is so annoying and makes those children(who have played this game) feeling uncomfortable. Therefore, the society opposes this game as its evil hidden message. 'Death Race' is the first violent game that raises the problem of  the ethics of the video game in the society.



references:
“Death Race (video game).”Wikipedia . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_Race_%28video_game%29 (accessed October 27, 2010).
http://www.arcade-history.com/?n=death-race&page=detail&id=3386
http://www.nerve.com/archived/blogs/the-ten-videogames-that-should-have-been-controversial-part-1
http://www.retrogamer.net/show_image.php?imageID=2833&page=1
http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=7541#ytplayer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLI6AQUMElo
http://www.roguesynapse.com/games/death_race.php

You Tube: “Bus Uncle”

You Tube: “Bus Uncle”



1) How many viewers are estimated to have watched the youtube video?

About 2 million viewers are estimated to have watched this youtube video.


2. How would you rate the video? Is it of high quality in technical terms? Is it interesting aesthetically eg camera angles, use of light, the narrative, and so on? Does it raise interesting socio-cultural issues?

I like this video.
It is not high quality in technical terms. Also, it is not an aesthetic video. It has high hit rate because it raises some social issues .Also, this video reveals our local culture. It is known that many Hong Kong people may feel familiar with these foul languages. Therefore, they may feel interesting towards this video. Also, this event is so ridiculous that many viewers may feel angry after watching this video. This video really attract us to rethink our social situation. It raises the social concern towards the mental health of our citizens. That people in Hong Kong may enjoy the materialistic life but they are weaken in maintaining mental health.


3)Do you think it deserved the attention that it received from the internet community?

I think it is worth to watch this video because it reveals Hong Kong local culture and also raises our concern towards some social problems like mental problems in Hong Kong.


4) 4) Do video-sharing sites such as Youtube enhance or worsen creative culture? Comment.

I think video-sharing sites can enhance the creative culture.
According to an article which called “PROLOGUE :THE LEVELLING, the writer stated that“ They want viable ways to share , to think and work laterally with their peers. They are searching for collaborative ways to get things done.”(Leadbeater,2009)It is known that people in these days love to express their views and share the information on the internet. Someone may share their videos in the video-sharing sites like YouTube. They share different kinds of video like music videos, film trailers, or even their home videos in the video-sharing sites. They are good platforms that everyone in the world can freely upload their video through the internet. Therefore, information can be shared around the world. It is beneficial to the artists, because it can easy to raise the public attention towards his works. Not only for artists, ordinary people can upload their works on these video-sharing sites. For example, the “FUNTWO” phenomenon shows a success example that how can the ordinary people raise the public attention by sharing their works on these sites. This unplanned action can also attract different viewers . Therefore, video-sharing sites really can encourage people to create different works and express their ideas.

References
Leadbeater, C.(2009). We-think: Mass Innovation not Mass Production, xv-xxxv.


Another example of Hong Kong creative video~~~

Screening: “Mission to Earth”

Discussion:“Mission to Earth”
















1)Using “Mission to Earth” as an example, note what is new or different about digital cinema compared to traditional filmmaking? Consider the story and appearance of the film.

The new or difference between traditional cinema and digital filmmaking:
The composition is different from the traditional one. This film shows different scenes on the screen at the same time. It is different from the old one because we only see one scene at one time in the past, but in this film, audience can choose which scene they would like to look at. Therefore, viewers can affect the development of the story. This is so special when compare with the old one.
Besides, the use of color is different from the old one. Since the traditional filmmaking can produce black and white movie only, but in this film, we can see different colors such as yellow , purple ,blue etc. are used. The use of colour has wider range than the traditional one.
For the story, the new one is not coherent, the film is composed of different sequences. But for the traditional one, each sequence has coherent relationship with the others.

2) What other art forms (eg film, digital art, painting, websites etc) does this film remind you of? Explain the similarity.

This film reminds me of the digital art. In the film, some geometric pictures are showed on the screen. These seem to be some digital arts that can be done easily by the use of some tools like photoshop. Also, these geometric figures are similar to some modern art paintings which combining some fields of colours or lines in the pictures.



                  

Josef Albers          

                                         
                                                                                       

                                                                                

Homage to the Square: Soft Spoken, 1969

Josef Albers (American, born Germany, 1888–1976)
Oil on Masonite

Josef Albers, Factory, 1925
Sanblasted flashed glass. JAAF: 1976.6.4
29.2 x 36.2 cm (11-1/2 x 14-1/4 inches)

Digital Photography

First-hand digital photo practice: using photoshop to alter a digital photograph in an artistic and creative manner


**************************************Before*********************************************

**************************************After*********************************************

Discussion





1) What are some photographic effects that can be achieved using digital or analog (darkroom, film, lights etc) technology?




Dodging and burning: both digital or analog technology can achieve this effect. This effect is aim to make a particular area become lighter or darker.

Color subtraction: Achieved by the digital technology.That some colour can be take away from the photo.Then the remain colour can be dominant in the photo composition.

Contrast enhancement(for digital technology): enlarge the contrast between two different colours.

2) What are some photographic techniques that can only be done using digital technology?

The editing of the photo can only be done by using digital technology
For example , use a funtion of White balance to edit the balance of the colours to create a photo with big colour contrast.
Also, Image sharpening can noly be done by the digital one too.By using the digital technology, people can change the texture of the taking photo, the whole photo can be sharpen.



3) What is the difference between analog photography and digital photography?

The former one have different new funtion for adusting the photo.For example,you can adjust the original colour of the photo or you can change the size of your own photo by setting different shotting effects .Therefore, to compare with the former one, the traditional one may have little possibility to crete different effects with photo.Thus, it is more creative for the digital photography.

HERE ARE OUR BEST PRO-WIKIPEDIA ARGUMENTS

Group members:Penny, Maggie, Kyra, Millie, Tina said:
1. Wikipedia can make immediate changes and correction.

>The founder of the Wikipedia tells a fact that a team of elites is always behind the Wiki system in order to monitor the Wiki anytime and anyhere. So, everything on Wikipedia is always work in progress.

evidence: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQR0gx0QBZ4&feature=related

>There is a great number of volunteers from all over the world who always ready to add evidence, links, proof and reference to issues.

evidence: http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Staff

2. The accuracy of Wikipedia is high.

>Wikipedia is more neutral. Because everyone can post what they know or think on the website.

>Encyclopaedia Brittanica may contains some biased information because Brittanica didn't display its rough draft and everything must be checked by a copy editor.

>Also, there are some unaccepttable and minor errors in Brittanica.
evidence: http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2005/jan/26/schools.uk2

Imagine this... Wikipedia or Encyclopaedia Brittanica?

I will choose Wikipedia.

Because everyone can share information through Wikipedia.For example, some knowledge( the information about different cultures) may only be known by some small groups of people in the world. Through the function of  opening sources, the information can spread worldwide as everyone can share the information through Wikipedia.

Also, the  function of opening sources can  encourage the freedom of press as everyone can add their information in Wikipedia. Therefore, even we are under the ruling of the aliens, we can enjoy the freedom of  expressing our thoughts or preserving the valuable information.(because some information may be suppressed by the aliens or some definition maybe changed by them) With the using of Wikipedia, we can preserve our culture or languages.

Besides, Wikipedia can link all the people around the world as different knowledge like cultures can be known through searching in Wikipedia. This is a  good platform or a chance  to connect all the humans.Since Wikipedia is a open-source, everyone can get  updated information through accessing Wikipedia online. Therefore, no need to travel around the world, we can still connect the others and learn different cultures through Wikipedia .

Moreover, the operation cost is low, only some staffs are hired to maintain the operation of Wikipedia. It is known that most of the information is posted by the unknown people who using Wikipedia. Therefore, it is cheap to operate this online open-source. Also, everyone is free to access Wikipedia,  even the updated information can be received freely form this platform.

However, some people may argue that this kind of open-source lacks accuracy. Since everyone can edit the information in Wikipedia, these writers may not specialists, therefore no one can guarantee that these information is right to be posted . But, the function of opening sources allow everyone to edit the posted information, therefore some specialists or even the one who is not specialist can access Wikipedia to correct the information. Thus, the supervision of  the information can control the quality of Wikipedia.

Discussion : Evaluating the effects of the new technologies (Modern Times)

Modern Times 1936 - Charlie Chaplin (dir.)

1) What are the benefits of the new technologies (industrial machinery, feeding machine, closed circuit cameras) shown in the film? Who gains from these technologies?

For the whole production process, the use of these advanced technologies helps us to increase productivity. Since labour force is replaced by some  productive machinery which can create a more efficient production process . It is known that the owner can makes good use of the machinery which is more stable and easier to handle. The employer can maximize his profit by replacing the traditional labour force  with the new machinery . For the workers, their  works become simple and easy, they can easy to handle their works as the whole production process is divided into some small processes.It may not need any high qualified skill to handle thses works.


2) What is the effect of these technologies on the main character’s life/mood/body?

There are some negative effects towards the main character .For example, he faces mental illness as the working environment is stressful( he cannot stop working,he cannot control his body). Also, he lose his job at the end of the film since the position of the workers is replaced by the machinery.The workers are only trained to be skillful on some simple and easy works, they lack special ability to handle the others works. Thus, these unemplyed people may face life difficultities and hard to sustain their life since they only rely on the factory owners to provide they with jobs. Also, he works under the stressful conditon. The workers always monitor by the employer. Any mistakes are forbidden. So, this new production mode affect both mental and physical condition of the workers.


3)What effects does using computers and the internet have on your life/mood/body?

The use of new technologies helps us to work efficiently. For example, we can find updated information through the internet instead of  searching books in the library.Also, it is easy for us to use internet to contact with our friends and family like msn, facebook. Moreover, we can share our thoughts to the others through the internet, for example, we can set up some blogs to share our hobbies to the others. However, the overuse of computer may brings negative effects to our health.We may feel tired all the time .Also, the light from the computer screen will harm our eyes.

Hi~

Hi~ My name is Penny~ My Chinese name is Wong Ka Wai. I'm 21 years old. I am the year 2 student of Visual Studies. My hobbies are reading and drawing...