About This Site

Why Study Games

Text Box: I believe that video games are not given their due respect. They should not be written off as a “low form of art.” Art is art whether “high” or “low.” What makes low arts important, is that they tend to be widely distributed. The video games industry is a large and fast-growing industry. According to the Entertainment Software Association, in 2004, 248 million video games were sold at a total of $7.3 billion dollars. 52 console games sold over 500,000 copies in 2004. From 1996 to 2004, sales have increased by over 140 million games sold, worth $4 billion (9-12) My point being, video games are becoming a very popular, and therefore important, pastime. Naturally, it is important to understand such a cultural, economical, and social phenomenon that is art as well as entertainment.

Why a Website

My choice of a website as my platform was simple. The internet offers unrivaled distribution, especially for an undergraduate student. The internet is also the breeding grounds of gamers, one of my key audiences—it is possibly more important for gamers to understand games than for academia.

However, none of this is the true advantage that the internet holds over all other mediums. With a website, one can utilize all other mediums. In my text, I can give an example, and then demonstrate the example through a picture, video, audio clip, or even a simple game. When it comes to studying a visual medium, written descriptions can be insufficient. Online, we are not limited to written descriptions, but can incorporate visual examples as well.

Then of course, there is the hypertextuality of the internet. Online, one can add links for further readings, or (which I love) hyperlink works cited. This adds credibility to one’s work. With a hardcopy of an article, one has to work in order to check references used. Most people don’t do this. Online, if the reference is hyperlinked, a reader needs only to click the link and skim the article. By making one’s work more easily checked, one shows more confidence in one’s work.

Text Box: “they are similar to what rock ‘n’ roll meant to the boomers.” -USA Today

My Goal

My goal is a second reason to use a website; it cannot be achieved through other mediums.

I hope that this website will facilitate a discourse on video games. This is not to assume that people don’t already talk about video games, but that the common person does not talk about them in a more meaningful way. This is why I have set up a forum along with the website. I want people to talk. It is only through the sharing of ideas that we come to good ones.

This is a student ran site, in affiliation with UCSB’s class, FM150VG. This is a student project, made for use by the class and any future video games classes. However, this website is independent of the school. All opinions are those of the author and are not necessarily the opinion of the school.

FM150: Film Genres. VG: Video Games. FM150VG is the study of video games. It is the first and currently only class focused on video games offered at UCSB, though the hope is to make video game classes a more regular thing. New media classes may also look at video games as one of many new mediums.

About This Site