Theory
Computer science is evolving as one of the most popular disciplines of today's world. And, some departments of computer science is into the studying of the various technical aspects of video games. The study is conducted on the basis of certain theories. The theories which assess the various technical aspects of video games are called theories of video games. These theories actually consider video games as an artistic medium of electronic interaction. Video games are counted as a recent development in humanities. Theories are framed by different school of thoughts and we can refer to two prominent school of thoughts as far as video games are concerned. Let us focus on the two major theories of video games, ludology and narratology.
Narrativists describe video games as a genre of cyberdrama. They believe in the definition of Janet Murray and it was Janet Murray who loved to refer video games as “cyberdrama”. If we go by this theory, then, video games can be taken as a storytelling medium. And, from this conclusion, we can surely deduce that video games have been born out of interactive fiction. According to Murray, we lose our identities in video games and become some other characters and start behaving and reacting like those characters. Thus, video games actually take us all into a different world, the world of fiction. This theory got public support and appreciation and people agree with the aspect that, they identify themselves with the characters of the video games. And, you would also agree with this theory if you have played certain video games like The Last Starfighter, Tron and eXistenZ.
The theory propounded by ludologists differ a lot from the narrativists. The ludologists are called radicals. They want to look at video games as an entertainment option and nothing more than a game. And, video games must be understood in terms of a game and one must be only concerned of its rules and not of ts storytelling aspect. Video games would ignite the spirit of a player in you and no question of becoming a fictional character arises. The famous ludologist, Espen J. Aarseth argued that it is true that video games have got certain plot, narrative structure and even characters but, they are nothing more than a game option. These aspects are simply incidental. The ludologists are not ready to define video games as an offshoot of humanities or arts. Video games cannot be described with the help of the theories of art. The artistic qualities of the video games should not gain prominence as the players are expected to play in the same way for all characters. They should follow the rules of the games and not get emotional with the characters displayed in the video games. The players are not characters but objective individuals.
It has always been difficult to define video games as no one is sure about the origin of video games. We do get two versions of video games from the ludology theory and narratology theory but these theories have not simplified things. The concept of video games is still quite undefined and complicated one.
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