Blog Post 3: The Interface of the Game

In the weekly reading of McLuhan's The Medium is the Massage, there is a rather interesting statement towards the end of assigned section.

"The instantaneous world of electric informational media involves all of us, all at once. No detachment or frame is possible."

Now a question arises: While can be viewed as true in the time period the book was written in, the late 1960's to be precise, does the phrase still hold true in modern times? And, more so, does this message hold true for the current entertainment medium of video games?

As a fan of video games myself, there is quite an assortment to choose from for discussion within the blog post. For this post, instead of discussing a "traditional" game, I will look at and comment on a somewhat recent game that started on the PC, and proceeded to take the gaming world by storm. The game I speak of is, of course, Minecraft.

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Minecraft is a rather unique game played from a first person perspective. So unique, in fact, I don't even know what to properly classify it as, save for the two obvious elements of "multiplayer" and "adventure." In it, you can manipulate the world however you please. You can say, build a quaint little house for yourself.

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...Or a massive castle.

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Or maybe you're just completely bloody insane and install a series of mods that let you strip half naked while wielding a tiny sword and riding atop a noble unicorn.

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Needless to say, Minecraft is a game of endless possibilities, both online and in single player. As mentioned in the above, still completely bloody insane picture, skilled players are capable of making "mods" for the base game, which add or change existing content in some way, and post them online for other players to download and make use of themselves. This behavior alone I feel helps prove McLuhan's message at the top of this blog entry. In Minecraft, players are always working together in some way, somewhere. As you read, it's incredibly likely a duo of expert builders just made a life-sized replica of the Buckingham Palace in Minecraft and are currently celebrating. Or a trio of bumbling adventurers fell into the same lava pit that has murdered their hopes and dreams for the past week. Maybe a single person just finished updating his popular mod pack, and put it up online for the rest of the player base to finally enjoy.

In Minecraft, detachment from the frame, or from other players, simply isn't a thing. Even solo, you are more than likely to borrow concepts from other players. The fact that Minecraft became as big a thing as it is today proves that McLuhan's point has managed to withstand the test of time.

Blog Entry 2: The Uses of Money

Money is easily the most powerful driving force in the modern world, as it has been for most of recent history, and will most likely continue to remain as such into the foreseeable future. Of course, even as a rather universal concept in function, how different individuals or groups use and think of money can wildly vary. One fictional example is the movie Goodfellas, in which instead of asking for a precise total of money, character Karen Hill instead indicates the thickness of the stack of bills she wanted to go shopping with. Obviously, this isn’t how most people think regarding money. In this blog post, there will be coverage regarding the differences in how an individual student, in this case myself, compared to Pullman natives, professors, as well as other students.

First and foremost, money is always something that I need to be wary of whenever I am required to spend it. A native to the Pullman area would most likely head down to a local grocer and buy various food items, as well as any professor. For myself, I hesitate to purchase even a .20¢ packet of ramen. This is because as a student, I already have very little spending room, with both a minor amount of cash available to me and a current lack of income. Additionally, as a student I have access to the resident dining halls, which allows me to make use of cash deposited into the account by my parents to see me through the semester. This allows me to purchase food whenever I desire, provided I head down at the correct time, while not directly impacting the amount of cash in my bank account. This makes it a bit pointless to purchase anything from a grocery store, seeing as I already possess a means to get similar products.

Secondly, for what money I do spend, I have resigned myself to use it only when I need to purchase a necessity not already available to me. This means I do not bother to spend cash on things such as treats for myself, items for my own personal entertainment, or things I already have access to. This means, unlike most other people, who more often than not occasionally purchase something for themselves despite not truly needing it, I avoid such things due to budget issues. Admittedly, this is a rather difficult concept that I occasionally grapple with, as I am a gamer at heart, but needs go before relaxation no matter what. I must admit though, I was overjoyed to find out part of the DTC 375 curriculum was to purchase one of three games, of which Papers, Please was something I had my eye on for quite some time.

Lastly, as a student, I feel like I spend very little money overall compared to the general populous of students. Sporting events have never been something that’s caught my attention, so I have yet to attend even a single game held on campus grounds. The only times I visit on campus shopping areas like the CUB is when I have no choice left on that day, such as falling asleep prior to dinner, and awakening only after all the dining halls have closed for the day. Even the vending machines strewn about the various buildings rarely see my attention, and even then my rare business tends to only consist of buying a cheap snack to help my low blood sugar, or a caffeinated soda to help keep me up for the next few hours. To say I have a minimalist spending routine would be quite accurate as of this moment, with myself only being willing to doll out for the bare necessities, and nothing more.

…Though I will confess that once I have a source of income and some money to fall back on, I would be much more willing to spend some money of some of the more entertaining aspects available to me.