Game Culture

The section of chapter two of the IGS regarding the primary and secondary aspects of gaming was particularly interesting. According to the book, the primary element envelopes areas such as storyline, game-world, and rules, whereas the secondary elements are things like graphics, sound, user interface, etc. While some players look at the whole picture, many tend to play the games specifically for the audio-visual thrill as opposed to approaching the game like a story or piece of artwork.
"The End of Gamers" brilliantly launches games into a void they've been slowly waiting to fill- as that of a medium equal to books, music, film, and art. The amount of things that can be done utilizing games broadens its function within society and eliminates the notion that so-called "gamers" are the only folk who can take advantage of the medium.
"The Hipsters of Gaming" is a fantastic article. It held no punches whilst bashing hipster culture, and then showed how the modern gaming community resembled these trendoids when it came to mass-market casual gaming. According to these gaming-hipsters, gaming mediums such as the Wii have "reduced" gaming to something that everyone can enjoy quickly and cheaply, perhaps viewing it as the McDonalds of gaming platforms. This is of course ridiculous, though; just because something garners much success doesn't mean it's necessarily weak or wrong. However, many "hardcore" gamers tend to make a distinct effort to avoid successful games simply due to their popularity.
"The Place of Culture in Games" hits three major points- the cultures that create games, the games that create cultures, and the cultures within games themselves. The analysis of how certain cultures portray others was particularly interesting, such as how certain Japanese games portray other cultures from a Japanese point of view. He also noted the unfortunate state of non-western gaming environments being used mainly for aesthetic purposes with little or no cultural relevence. Having played Majora's Mask back in 2001, I was able to grasp his point of the game's integration of and commentary on cutural relations. Lastly, the culture created by games was well-described, such as how certain gaming iconographies have taken mainstream and underground cultural routes.