I'm definitely on the affirmitive side of the 'Art'/'Not-Art' divide - I think games are (if not in nature, certainly in content) quite like Films, Books, Television and other media. And I don't think that Grand Theft Auto is a 'murder simulator', but what affect is it really having on the players?
A good friend of mine, a second year psychology student who writes the blog Lexje's Insights, brought up the issue of videogame affect, particularly in regard to frustration and anger generated by games.
A game could be relaxing as it is a recreation etc... But also (especially as i have witnessed a lot of Halo Tantrums) people can get really stressed and angry about what they are playing. One relaxed the other stressed out; the same thing could have 2 different effects on people. Someone probably needs to create some kind of gaming perception scale.
I thought this idea of a 'perception scale' was interesting enough to warrant sharing with my readers. So, putting it out there - what do you think? Should games be ranked according to frustration generated in the player? Can games even be labelled in this way? Should perhaps we be categorising the players (ourselves) somewhere between 'easily frustrated' and 'cool calm and collected, instead?
3 comments:
Hey, love the blog.
I think that the reaction to frustrating games or frustrating parts of games depends just as much on who is playing it as what it is that is causing the frustration.
I find that even just the general mood I am in is a key factor in how I react as well... It would probably take years of recording reactions from thousands of people to get any meaningful data to analyse this. (Sounds like just the sort of thing the internet was made for...)
On a more general note I quite often find that whatever mood I'm in it tends to be exaggerated or exacerbated by the game I'm playing. In other words, if I'm in a positive mood then I'd probably (quite literally) grin and bear anything thrown at me, but if I'm in a bad mood I will probably unconsciously *seek* for things that will frustrate me.
I hope that little bit of rambling makes some kind of sense to you or someone :P
Hey there rjashton, thanks for taking the time to add your thoughts.
I think you're quite sensible thinking of it as 'half and half', the more I think about it the more applicable it seems. Like you say, even a mediocre game can be improved by being in just that right mood, and the reverse is true. I can't think of a particular example, but I'm sure I've played games in a really bad mood and hated them not because they were bad, but they were bad for the mood I was in.
The intersection of games and the gamer's psychology... now that's an untapped field of research.
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