ICS 131: Social Analysis of
Computerization
Lecture 17:
Computer Games
Are there any questions?
Key Idea
• Games are becoming an important
entertainment medium and cultural artifact.
Games as Entertainment Medium
• Competing with movies, books, television,
theater, musical concerts, etc.
History
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Various predecessors, 1880s-1950s
Spacewar, 1961
First Arcade Video Game, 1971
Pong, 1972
Atari, 1977
Pac-Man, 1980
Doom, 1993
Platforms
• PC Games
• Console Games
• Handheld Games
• Single Player
• Networked
• Heterogeneous
Genres
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FPS
Third person adventure
RPG
Puzzle
Sim
Others?
Game Productions
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Programmers
Modelers
Animators
Game Designers
Marketers
Managers
Sound Designers
Others?
Game Production Process
• Hybrid of animated film and software
engineering processes
• Describe each
Casual Games
• Benefits
• Limitations
Mobile Games
• Benefits
• Limitations
Ducheneaut Reading
• World of Warcraft
• What are its characteristics?
Operant Conditioning
• How does this factor in?
What Do Games Tell Us About
US Culture?
• What games do you play?
• What does this say about people in the US?
• How does it compare to movies?
What Do Games Tell Us About
Other Cultures?
• Non-US games?
• Differences from US games?
What Do Games Tell Us About
the Interactions Between
Cultures?
• Games that cross cultures?
• How do people from different cultures
interact in the games?
Topic for Debate
• Do violent computer games lead to real
world violence?
• Let’s make a list of arguments for and
against
Games for Change
• Conference
• Examples?
• Panel
Topic for Debate
• I think navigation and social skills will be
the two most important parts of game AI’s
in 20 years. Please list five other
capabilities that game AI’s will have in 20
years, and describe the impact that each of
these capabilities will have on the kinds of
games.
Today’s gamers are...
LARSON, CHRISTOPHER THOMAS
MU, NAN
TRAN, CHARLIE
WILKINSON, DAVID HIROSHI
WU, KEVIN KAI
ANGUIANO, ALFRED ALFONSO
AUSTGEN, CAMERON D.
FUJITA, JUSTIN TSUTOMU
LA PIERRE, BLAKE M.
LUZWICK, JAMES ROBERT
OLIVARES, JAMES PATRICK ROBLES
…come on down front!
Next class: Social Relationships
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Collaborative AI
Predictive modeling
Responsive environment
Reasonable unpredictability
Physical interfaces to Ais
Help you find other people
Remember past experience
Artificial Marketers
Emotions
Learning strategies
Deal with unpredictable people
Natural language recognition
Moving across networks