Lab+1

Creating a new discipline for cultural genre irregardless of the context in which the subject is birthed is extremely difficult. As it stands I am under the assumption that Computer Games are considered a sub-genre in the "New- Media" sphere as Espen Aarseth suggests. In order to branch away from the "New-media" genre a great deal of consensus must made by those who claim to be in power of these matters. And often, as the article states the people in charge of these decisions bring with them their own personal biases influenced by the fields they themselves belong too. A sociologist may argue that the online interactive game is simulation. In so far that the simulation provided by the game acts as a mock simulation of real life in the same way that a social network site does. Although the look of the two genres are very different, a "hyper-real" computer visualization where the user roams the world coming across other users vs. a world made up by interface where users exchange pictures and words, to some extent they use the same social tools. In both scenarios the users must choose an avatar. To the sociologist this choice of avatar itself may amount to be of greater importance than the goal of the game. He may argue the social implications of the Internet world by asking how and why avatars are chosen, and what they represent. Since the game happens to be online and deals with user to user scenarios, someone of another discipline will acknowledge the differences it has, but will more than likely compare and link it to other social network type devices. I am merely giving a minisucle example of the type of debates that computer games face in the goal to becoming it's own discipline.

I presume that many theorists will argue that computer games fit in a number of different disciplines, and that they may perhaps be reluctant to allow such a genre to stand alone. But there is hope in that the more we know the more we have to learn. As technologies continue to become more and more surgical and complex, the urgency for speciality is apparent.

I for one agree that computer games deserve it' own field. Studying games in past courses has shown me how enormous the genre really is. Computer games will have a colossal influence in the future. This article is slightly dated and does not even touch on Artificial Intelligence and the enormity of this technology. Artificial Intelligence is changing the world today and it will continue to shape computer games and our way of life in the future.