Brant 1

Actual Video Games with Actual People

Garrett Brant English 1102 Writing for Academic Contexts II March 26, 2014

Brant 2 Video games are a very popular form of media now, more so now than they ever have been in the past. With their increasing popularity, a lot of people choose to believe that video games serve no purpose other than to distract youth and rot the brains of otherwise promising people. However, such people choose to ignore the factual information that video games have much more to them than simply serving as a distraction to younger generations. I myself at one point actually thought about going into making video games for a living, but then later decided that I did not wish to pursue such a course after seeing what it was like to actually produce them. However, had I not done this, video games actually would have then been an incredibly important part of my life, as it is for many others, which will soon be explained. Throughout this paper we will examine the impact of video games on real world environments. More specifically, we will explore how games influence both the individual gamer and the larger companies that produce said media. Literature Review Controlled Chaos First, Id like to take a look at games that are specifically structured around a chaotic environment. The first example is incredibly recent, and is known as Twitch Plays Pokemon, a video stream on Twitch.tv where people watching are capable of inputting commands to control the character for the Pokemon game. Given the mass following that the game has collected in its relatively short life, its no surprise that the actions input into the chat soon made it very hard to actually progress. As its said, there are several thousand viewers and participants at any given moment, and in those groups, there are those who would purposely try to derail the character and stall the progress that can be made.1 Also very interesting, is that after a few days, the anonymous creator of the stream allowed for a style of input to be made, democratic, or

Brant 3 anarchist.1 Because of this, there is a clear division between those who are aiming to progress, and those who want to do the exact opposite, by entering the options of democracy or anarchy, the chat controls which style will determine the actions taken, either those entered most commonly, or each one that the game can process.1 On the topic of the fine line between control and insanity, theres another game: Octodad: Dadliest Catch. This game seems simple enough in retrospect, but once you actually begin to play, the absurdly high level of sensitivity that one gets from any attempt at movement makes it very clear that looks can be deceiving. Regardless of how you decide to play, either with a keyboard, a gamepad, or a controller, you're going to have an intentionally difficult go of things.2 Because of this, the player has to exercise control, both of the character and of themselves, as things become more and more aggravating, much the same way that attempting to be a participant in Twitch Plays Pokemon have a habit of doing. And although these two games are obviously very different, there is a common theme among the two, and that is the way they affect the player. Twitch Plays Pokemon and Octodad: Dadliest Catch both fall into a category of game that can best be described as hilarious to some, but infuriating to others. These two feelings are polar opposites, and yet, both can be observed in anyone attempting to play either game. Playing for a Living Next up is something a little more specific, and may be a new concept to some people. The topic is playing for money, something that seems to be increasingly popular now. First, allow us to look at League of Legends, a MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) made by Riot Games, that in 2013, gave out $8,000,000 dollars in cash prizes to professional teams

1. 2.

When Thousands Play Pokemon Together Mullis, A Hilarious Lesson In Controlled Chaos

Brant 4 competing in a single tournament, with the tournament itself selling out in less than an hour.3 With games like this, we see how overwhelming popularity can lay the ground work for not only a successful company. In addition to this, there are also the players who are able to make a living and provide for themselves by mastering the game. Another fine example of this is Youtube, where those who are entertaining enough can make a living off of playing games, commenting on them, and uploading videos of them doing it to the site. For those unfamiliar, people who make videos and upload them to Youtube, and also enable advertisements on their video, earn a percentage of the revenue from the advertisements shown on their videos. Its because of this content sharing, that people like PewDiePie, who has over 18 million subscribers, are able to make a living.4 For the sake of comparison, PewDiePie has more subscribers and viewers than some pop stars, Rihanna and Eminem, to name two.4 Last but certainly not least, theres a father and son duo who have managed to become increasingly popular on the popular streaming website known as Twitch.5 Twitch is a popular streaming site, and similar to Youtube, plays advertisements while people play games, and gives the people playing a cut of the profits. However, Twitch generates revenue for their streamers in another way, known as the Subscribe button, where users can pay five dollars a month to become a subscriber to a channel, and enables certain benefits if the people streaming choose to enable them.5 The father and son have taken advantage of this, and sit down to play popular FPS (First-Person Shooter) games, with over 120,000 followers.5 Because of this, the father and son more than enough money, both from the advertisements and the subscriptions, to support themselves and treat it as a full time job. The Creators
3. Pereira, League of Legends infographic 4. Sydell, Videos About Video Games 5. Yu, A Father Plays Call Of Duty With His Son

Brant 5 Of course, there have to be people who make the games that people enjoy playing so much, and there are quite a few who take in what seems to be insane amounts of profit every year. But first, allow us to look at a stand-alone developer, for a stand-alone mobile game, Flappy Bird. Flappy Bird was an incredibly simple game played on touch-screen phones, and took in $50,000 in ad revenue a day, that is, before the creator took it down.6 The reason for this is because of the backlash the creator received from several sources, accusing him of ripping sprites (graphics) from the popular Mario franchise, as well as others accusing him of creating a program to run the game and earn money off of nobody playing it.6 On the topic of games and their creators being less than well-received, with the way things are going, Nintendo may be on its way out sometime in the near future as well. Compared to other consoles, Nintendos Wii U was destroyed in sales by the Xbox One and Playstation 4, and if fans of Nintendos popular franchises dont keep playing, the company may not have a leg to stand on for much longer.7 Going back to a smaller developer, theres the creator of Gone Home, a standalone game made by a man who used to work on much larger projects, such as Bioshock, a first person shooter game that follows the tale of a man in an underwater utopian society.8 The developer says he left the big-budget scene to work on more intimate projects, such as this one. And it hasnt affected his success at all, as Gone Home sold over 50,000 copies in its first month.8 Effects on Players Other than providing space and money for jobs in the industry of gaming for the individual, there are also some other effects that games can have on the people who play them. And these effects range much wider than making you laugh or become angry, as we see with
6. Mullis, Creator Of Runaway Mobile Hit Flappy Bird Taking Game Down 7. Sydell, Game Over For Nintendo? 8. Larchuk, A Shift From Enemies To Emotions

Brant 6 Octodad and Twitch Plays Pokemon. Even in Gone Home, where the game is all about exploring the story of a fictional character, with no violence whatsoever, there is a wide range of responses that are meant to be elicited from the player.8 But, the biggest thing to remember is that games effect everyone differently, as there are any number of paths, events, and so on that can be experienced by each person, even if the game itself doesnt change.9 Gee looks at Castlevania in particular, a rather old game, and talks about the way each aspect of the game changes how we see it. Ambiance, mood, feeling, sound, look: These all sound like mere window dressing. But they are a large part of the pleasure the game gives.9 When you take a closer look, all of these ideas are related to each other, in some way. Ambiance affects a mood, a mood elicits a certain feeling, and the look of something can drastically affect all of these, and so on.9 However, the focus here should be on how games make their players feel. Talking about how players feel, theres also notes from my personal observations that highlight even more how video games affect people differently. Throughout three games, there were three very different reactions that I observed while playing alongside a friend of mine in the game League of Legends. Some people responded better than others to the way the game played out, as was shown in some people remaining calm and collected, and others going berserk and just becoming angrier as time went on.10 The Specifics / Entering the Conversation As someone who has both watched Twitch Plays Pokemon and a play-through of Octodad: Dadliest Catch, I can personally say that both are a test of patience and an exercise in restraint. As a viewer, watching Twitch Plays Pokemon was actually rather humorous for a short
9. Gee, Why Game Studies Now?, 3. 10. Brant, Assignment One

Brant 7 period of time, but as time kept moving, I realized just how little progress was being made, and the constant derailment by the people mentioned as wanting to essentially do nothing but have the character run into walls until the end of time began to get rather annoying. After about half an hour of watching this, democracy mode was enabled, as it was the start of the hour. I thought, surely, some real progress can be made now. But then, anarchy was promptly voted back in after about three minutes, causing me to want to do little more than just slam my head into my keyboard. And the reason for this, I believe, is because such sheer amounts of chaos, are good in small doses, and small doses only. When you want to see the character progress, to get through the game, nothing is more frustrating than being unable to do just that, and any gamer is likely to agree. So, when there is a large obstacle that consists entirely of the others meant to be playing the game in an effort to win, its more than just annoying, its tear your hair out aggravating. However, in Octodad: Dadliest Catch, there is a bit of a turnaround. As a viewer, its very funny to watch whoever is playing attempt to progress, but in the case of people playing for others entertainment, (those who stream on Twitch or upload to Youtube and so on) it is painfully clear that it is a very aggravating game. The games controls, which are sensitive to the point of absurdity, which gives the game its comedic value, is evidently incredibly frustrating to deal with, as your progress is repeatedly barred simply because you cant get something to happen slowly and carefully enough, in such a way that everything doesnt come crashing down around you. Both of these games share a part in the bigger picture, which is how video games affect the people who play them, and in the case of Twitch streamers and Youtube uploaders, the people who watch them be played.

Brant 8 Taking a look at Gone Home, which has nothing in common with the other two games in terms of story, genre, gameplay, and so on, there are still many effects that the game has in the way it elicits a reaction either from the player, or the people watching. And, in this case, the effect should arguably be the same, as this game is focused more around a story, which everyone should be able to understand, rather than around the way the game is played, like in the other examples. Because of this, the reactions that Gone Home elicits are much milder, instead of anger or laughter, the games focus is instead on pure emotional responses, such as sadness, happiness, and so on. Going off of this, we look at Gees example of Castlevania, a game that is equally combat focused and plot oriented. As Gee points out, regardless of the fact that the story will not change for each individual, the rate at which they encounter significant events, defeat enemies, and so on impacts the way they look at the game.9 There are also other factors that can affect the way the gamer looks at the game itself, and are common elements in every game, subtle though they may be, which are meant to draw out emotions and feelings in such a way that the player feels what the creator wants them to. Given these examples and some reasoning behind them, theres no denying that each and every game has an effect on the player one intentionally implemented by the developers. However, games also affect the people who make them, usually in the form of profits that allow the person or group to continue producing games. There are several instances where a producer of some variety has had backlash, a more recent one being the creator of Flappy Bird, who took the game down shortly after releasing it for the harassment he got from several sources claiming he was falsely generating profits.6

Brant 9 Of course, Nintendos recent decline isnt because of a bad reputation, its simply because of disinterest. As gamers and their attitudes change and develop, were heading in a direction where action packed and story driven games are the most popular, and given the time some of Nintendos best franchises premiered, its no surprise that theyre lacking in both of these departments. However, in its time, Nintendo has managed to provide a large amount of jobs, flushing extra money into the economy both from its sales and from the employment of its staff. And it is not as if the companies dont do anything for their players, either. Some companies (such as Sony, and more recently, Nintendo) have given out titles for free in the past, and games that have a competitive player base often hold competitions, such as with Riot Games. Of course, winning competitions doesnt go unrewarded, and as mentioned before, Riot Games is rather generous with its prize pool, allowing for the people who pour so much time and effort into mastering their creation to be able to support themselves financially. However, those who win competitions arent the only ones who play games for a living, popular uploaders to Youtube, streamers on Twitch, and other media hosting sites are capable of earning a paycheck via the advertisements that play over their video content. A good example of this is the father and son duo who stream on Twitch and have a rather large following because of their antics on popular FPS games.5 Looking at these, it should be pretty clear why it is that games are so prevalent today video games generate income for businesses, which allows them to employ more workers and fund events such as the competitions previously mentioned. Conclusion

Brant 10 Essentially, what all of this means is that video games are not just the mindless creations and sinks for both time and money that many people believe them to be, as has been pointed out several times by now, games serve a purpose both to the individual and to larger business structures. For individuals, games are both a source of entertainment, whether they play or watch them, and for some, a source of income, whether they make the game or play it for the enjoyment of others. For businesses, games are a financial investment that allow them to take in money and expand, providing work to those who may otherwise not have any otherwise, and potentially grow to be a major contender in the growing market. On top of this, for the players (and in some cases viewers), the game is made in such a way that elicits a specific reaction, fulfilling its purpose of making players feel and think about scenarios unfamiliar to them.

Brant 11 Bibliography Staff, NPR. "Here's What Happens When Thousands Play Pokemon Together." NPR. http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2014/02/19/279682262/heres-what-happenswhen-thousdands-play-pokemon-together (accessed February 25, 2014). Mullis, Steve. "Being An 'Octodad' Is A Hilarious Lesson In Controlled Chaos." NPR. http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2014/02/11/269516983/being-an-octodad-isa-hilarious-lesson-in-controlled-chaos (accessed February 25, 2014). Sydell, Laura. "Hot On YouTube: Videos About Video Games, And Science, Too." NPR. http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2013/12/30/257552199/hot-on-youtubevideos-about-video-games-and-science-too (accessed February 25, 2014). Pereira, Chris. "League of Legends Infographic Highlights Eye-Popping Numbers." IGN. http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/10/18/league-of-legends-infographic-highlights-eyepopping-numbers (accessed February 25, 2014). Mullis, Steve. "Creator Of Runaway Mobile Hit Flappy Bird Taking Game Down." NPR. http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2014/02/08/273662615/creator-of-runawaymobile-hit-flappy-bird-taking-game-down (accessed February 25, 2014). Brant, Garrett. Assignment One. Observational research, University of North Carolina, 2014. Yu, Alan. "A Father Plays Call Of Duty With His Son, Watched By Thousands." NPR. http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2014/02/23/279232816/a-father-plays-callof-duty-with-his-son-watched-by-thousands (accessed February 28, 2014). Sydell, Laura. "Game Over For Nintendo? Not If Mario And Zelda Fans Keep Playing." NPR. http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2014/01/13/262173663/game-over-fornintendo-not-if-mario-and-zelda-fans-keep-playing (accessed February 28, 2014). Larchuk, Travis. "In Gaming, A Shift From Enemies To Emotions." NPR. http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2014/01/07/255247261/in-gaming-a-shiftfrom-enemies-to-emotions (accessed February 28, 2014). Gee, James. "Why Game Studies Now?." James Paul Gee. N.p., 17 June 2009. Web. 14 Mar. 2014. http://www.jamespaulgee.com/node/15.

Brant 12