As I had said at the beginning of the practicum assignment, I have been participating in console gaming for quite a while. For this reason I felt it difficult at times to elaborate on my experiences with practicum posts. Rehashing what awesome kill steaks I had in COD or explaining how belligerent I get when I play FIFA seemed pointless. However, as this course has progressed, I have been enlighten of how some of our course concepts apply to online console gaming.
First, I realized I have not been “online” console gaming for that long. I had a PS3 in high school but my parents only had dial up internet. I played some online computer games through dial up such as MOHAA but had to deal with a good amount of lag. I only really started playing PS3 online when I got to college – high speed internet in the dorms (of course my parents got high speed when I left). This shows I was definitely part of a participation gap. Sure, I had enough money to buy a PS3. However I didn’t have the means to convince my parents to get high speed internet. My parents were definitely in that percentage where old people didn’t have internet.
Second, virtual embodiment/space and physical space I found were very connected to online console gaming. If I play Uncharted for 7 hours, I definitely start to feel part of the space. The landscape and interactions are so life like/movie like, you start to lose yourself. I felt this when I saw Avatar – when the movie ends you feel out of place and kind of empty (because Earth sucks.) But of the flip side, if you play any video game for 7 hours you probably have strained eyes, wrists, back, brain, etc. In general, you feel awful. If you want to keep playing though… you buy a pizza… and feel worse.
Third, online console gaming is getting more and more social. Not only can you communicate with people during play, but your play is starting to be linked automatically to things like Facebook and Twitter. This makes it more social and I probably a lot less private.
It looks as if I’m starting to write my practicum paper, so I’ll stop. For some reason though…I don’t feel my video game playing will stop. Ever.
Ryan
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