Video Games Studies

week 8 lecture

When the word Video games is mentioned there are a number of people who picture a skinny kid, with thick glasses, who hasn’t seen day light for months, sitting in front of a massive screen clicking and punching away anxiously at a keyboard and mouse. However this stereotype is on the verge of being destroyed as the playing of video games is slowly becoming a part of normal every day life. Even I enjoy a little gaming time although I wouldn’t call my self a geek or game nerd. As gaming is being explored by many people in how it affects society and the benefits of these gaming realities the study of games is becoming more and more popular.

Video Games Studies include a number of types of games such as;

Arcade Games,

Consoles,

Computer Games,

MUDs (fantasy world populated by elves, goblins and dwarfs) and

MMOGs (multiplayer online games).

These sections of video gaming can then be even further divided into subgenres like ‘First Person Shooters’ to Adventure games.

The serious study of video gaming is a relatively new idea but has been approached from angles of discipline that do exist. Two of these angles are Narratology and Ludology. Narratology is the study of video games from the direction of being stories or literary works. Ludology, in contrast, is the study of games with out regard to the story line but rather concentrating on the Game Play elements.