Games in Culture: Games as Cultural Systems

An Introduction to Game Studies: Games as Culture

Chapter 2 Game Culture: Meaning in Games

Page 13. Games as Cultural Systems

In this chapter it was interesting to see how the study of traditional video game culture has differed compared to contemporary examinations. The newer studies focus less on the traditional representation of culture within games, such as historical, military, educational sciences or ethnography and pay attention to the actual 'meaning' of culture. How a game makes players react through graphics, audio or game play and not so much the plot.

Although finding the meaning of culture is quite complex, it was interesting to see some examples from other aspects of life in order to get a greater perspective of the mean. Language itself is a common known form of culture, it distinguishes between different nations and also highlights the lifestyles within it. Like hieroglyphics used ancient folklore imagery as symbols for their language, it's part of their specific culture. However, although language enables us to converse with one another, it is not necessary to use in order to communicate.

It is not the only use of interaction that has 'meaning'. Other than language, we use other ways to communicate, with our bodies or emotions, sounds or imagery. Without words we can engage with small children and animals simply by interacting with them, whether in simple games or playing behaviors.
 

Language is represented as culture within game playing today. However, interestingly it is still not needed to express the 'meaning' of culture within the game itself. With a similar principle, although a game can have a set story and a set amount of dialogue, none of it is needed in order for the player to 'feel' the game. Instead, elements such as audio, graphics and game play all contribute to the 'meaning' of cultural language within a game. Sound can make you react in fear, or triumph. Graphics can make you feel claustrophobic or free. It is these fundamental elements that create the player's own vision of the media, without needing to even know the story. Just by playing through the other forms of interaction, we can establish a meaning to the game.

However, I was intrigued to discover this...'An immersed player can be engaged with the game for hours on end, and yet is is hard to tell precisely what the actual meaning of the game is for this player' (Mayra 2008 p14) This highlights that a gamer finds it hard to verbalize or describe exactly what the game play culturally entails with the plot. Never the less, in the previous examples above, verbal or written language is not needed to express the 'meaning' with a video game. A player can react with unusual facial expressions, random bodily movements or even involuntary sounds simply based around their reactions to the events happening within the game. A game doesn't need to explain to you what it is that is happening, with the use of audio, graphics and game play, a player can figure out the meaning of a game even if they do not know the story. This is known as the 'Silent significance' with gamers in particular. The internal experience from a game can be overwhelming and vast, yet can be hard to describe to an external observer. Being immersed within a game can make you react in all sorts of ways depending on the action, but it can be evidently hard to transfer how you felt during the game play. This is because of a connection between the player and the game that is somewhat subconscious. All aspects such as characters, environments, music and general atmosphere are taken on board subconsciously as not 'major' roles in the game play, but they in fact create the biggest reaction within the player's emotions.

Having subconscious reactions occur in a variety of ways, from the movies to fashion before we even know what the 'concept' entails. For example, we would analyze a fashion by subconsciously putting a dress sense into a category, without little means to the thought behind it. It is a reaction to which we don't have much control over, like our consciousness. That is why it is so hard to explain our feelings towards game play experiences, as a subconscious takes over.

Facial expression of a young gamer whilst playing 'Call of Duty 4'.

Bibliography:

. Google Images: http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/11/18/magazine/20081123-games_2.html

Mayra, Frans. (2008) An Introduction to Game Studies, Games in Culture. In: Game Culture: Meaning In Games: Games as cultural systems. THE MIT PRESS, pp.13-21.