I was hooked right from the start when I saw the article called Computer Gameplay as Grunt and Reflection by Drew Kopp. I am one to play video games and that is why I chose to blog about this. When I was little, I was obsessed over the 1998 computer game called Detective Barbie. (Yupp, this blog is going to be about Barbie.) In this game, you control Barbie and look for clues and suspects throughout the carnival in order to solve the mystery. Someone has kidnpapped Ken! This was my favorite game. I remember always playing it on my dad's computer in his bedroom with my friend. We were hooked. I would sit there for hours controlling every movement of Barbie in order for her to find all of the clues necessary to get her love Ken back! | |
"With the combination of space and time (co-existence and suc-cession), something causal necessarily happens beyond the base- line inertia of gameplay, but only in conjunction with acts of the player via the game controller." In order to take control of the game and your avatar, you need to know what keys to press to move Barbie around the carnival. You were the one that controlled her every movement from taking pictures of the clues, using the magnifying glass to look for the clues, and using the crime computer to look at the different clues you have found. (Trust me - I do not play this anymore. I do not know where the game is anymore in my house.) | For this game, you need the knowledge of how to work computers and how to operate the computer game. You need to use your skills to maneuver your player around. As you keep playing, as with any computer or video game, you have to learn yourself the rules and necessary buttons to help you win. Computer gameplay is defined as the specific ways in which the players interact with the game. It is defined through the game rules, connection between player and the game, challenges and overcoming them. This is how Detective Barbie comes in. You are interacting with Barbie through the games rules, trying to overcome the challenge of the kidnapping of Ken. |
Drew Kopp talks about the idea of the "mirror." Computer games allow for the "immediate translation of the player's grunts into alien and virtual translation, bringing the player to avoid pain and experience satisfaction." Whatever you want the player to do is what they will do. You are the controller, the manipulator, which then is mirrored onto the virtual player. It is like you are virtually inside the computer. Whatever you want the player to do, the player WILL do. It is your choice. You are the mirror for the game. |