Portal as a required college text(brainygamer.com)
brainygamer.com
Portal as a required college text
http://www.brainygamer.com/the_brainy_gamer/2010/08/portal-booklist.html
15 comments
Hey, the world from Stallman's The Right to Read is finally here. Embrace a DRM'd video game that only runs on non-Free platforms, or fail out of University.
I'm not sure. You can borrow a lab machine, or a friend's machine. Surely it is no worse than a dead tree book - you either have to buy it or find somewhere to borrow it from. Embrace DRM or fail seems like a false dichotomy.
I do agree that this is a worrying trend, and Stallman make a valid point in The Right to Read, but I think the point he is making is that once you have DRM, you can stop people borrowing stuff. That is bad, but we haven't got there yet.
I do agree that this is a worrying trend, and Stallman make a valid point in The Right to Read, but I think the point he is making is that once you have DRM, you can stop people borrowing stuff. That is bad, but we haven't got there yet.
How do you loan someone an XBox Live download or Steam game?
Don't get me wrong, Portal is an awesome game. But he considered Planescape: Torment too, and went with just Portal? Where's Fate/Stay Night or Tsukihime? I can't respect this college.
I do enjoy all of the above mentioned games/VNs, but I think Portal is ideal because of its length. I am doubtful students would have the leisure to finish any of the other games. Also, much as I love them, calling F/sn and Tsukihime "games" is a bit of a stretch. "Multimedia text" is probably more accurate. :-)
Planescape: Torment is significantly longer than Portal. For non-gamers, even, it would be an epic time investment.
* I did not downvote.
* I did not downvote.
It's kind of strange requiring a video game as a required activity for all students. Subjects like reading and mathematics are things taught in grade school and have required proficiency levels before admittance in to university, but there are a lot of people out there who just don't play video games. Portal is not a difficult game for people who play video games on occasion, but people who don't will have an awfully difficult time.
Calling it a "book" is weird, but in the right context, culturally/technically/socially significant games aren't any weirder a required item than, say, films that also meet those criteria, and studying important films has been pretty well established for decades. Portal is a slightly strange choice, though, because of how new it is. I would imagine the course doesn't usually choose books or films from the past 5 years, but instead looks for things that are more classic?
Classic videogames didn't really go for the self-aware pretentiousness that makes Portal a compelling choice for academic study. (I mean that in the nicest possible way: it is a game that knows it is better written than 90% of the stuff on the shelves next to it, and it isn't afraid to hit you over the head with that fact over and over and over again.)
There's quite a bit of stuff from the 80s that is self-aware of videogames as a medium, and is actually studied by academics pretty frequently. Chris Crawford's Balance of Power / Balance of the Planet duo are two that are frequently discussed. Crawford is so sure that his stuff is better than other stuff out there that he's even written several books about why his game design is so great, and other game design is so bad. ;-)
And in terms of academic interest, I think SimCity or Civilization, among a dozen other choices, is far more compelling than Portal, and we also have enough distance to see how games like that influenced their successors. Mostly the choice of Portal smells to me of a university picking a famous recent title in an attempt to stay relevant--- like if they'd picked The Matrix or Inception as the one film to include.
And in terms of academic interest, I think SimCity or Civilization, among a dozen other choices, is far more compelling than Portal, and we also have enough distance to see how games like that influenced their successors. Mostly the choice of Portal smells to me of a university picking a famous recent title in an attempt to stay relevant--- like if they'd picked The Matrix or Inception as the one film to include.
Mostly the choice of Portal smells to me of a university picking a famous recent title in an attempt to stay relevant
I don't see how you can get that from the article. It explains pretty clearly the specific topics they're going to emphasize, and how Portal ties in with the rest of the course.
What's nice about Portal is that it has such clear elements, that it gets people to see things they ordinarily wouldn't look for in a game. It's a great introduction to the idea that games can engage humanity.
For starters, it's got great set design, sounds, and music. The characters are studies in their respective types. The set shows a clear progression from clean "lab"-style environment to broken-down warehouse style (both well-executed) and then back again, with a gradual transformation between styles that mirrors the transition of the protagonist's relationship with her environment. The game also raises lots of different issues: the morality of experimenting on humans, the possible emotional nature of AIs, the effectiveness of various incentives (like curiosity, or guilt) and disincentives (like "death", more guilt, or pessimism).
I really would not have any trouble writing a humanities paper on this game, there's a lot going on. It's not the best video game ever, but I think it's good to start with a super-accessible game like Portal because so many people don't take games seriously.
I don't see how you can get that from the article. It explains pretty clearly the specific topics they're going to emphasize, and how Portal ties in with the rest of the course.
What's nice about Portal is that it has such clear elements, that it gets people to see things they ordinarily wouldn't look for in a game. It's a great introduction to the idea that games can engage humanity.
For starters, it's got great set design, sounds, and music. The characters are studies in their respective types. The set shows a clear progression from clean "lab"-style environment to broken-down warehouse style (both well-executed) and then back again, with a gradual transformation between styles that mirrors the transition of the protagonist's relationship with her environment. The game also raises lots of different issues: the morality of experimenting on humans, the possible emotional nature of AIs, the effectiveness of various incentives (like curiosity, or guilt) and disincentives (like "death", more guilt, or pessimism).
I really would not have any trouble writing a humanities paper on this game, there's a lot going on. It's not the best video game ever, but I think it's good to start with a super-accessible game like Portal because so many people don't take games seriously.
That seems to be mostly missing the point of games as a medium, though--- everything you're discussing is what a novelization of Portal might have been about. In that case, why even pick a game at all? To me at least, the interesting aspects of games as a new form of media are the things that you couldn't imagine one-to-one translated into a novel, like experimentation, interactivity, exploration, rule systems, etc.
I do agree that it's easy to write humanities papers about games from a purely narrative direction, but it's a hallmark of the not-games-focused humanities academic usually--- the literary theorist or film scholar who wrote a paper about a game as if it were a novel or a film. That kind of work is thankfully getting much less common than it was 10-15 years ago.
I do agree that it's easy to write humanities papers about games from a purely narrative direction, but it's a hallmark of the not-games-focused humanities academic usually--- the literary theorist or film scholar who wrote a paper about a game as if it were a novel or a film. That kind of work is thankfully getting much less common than it was 10-15 years ago.
The narrative wouldn't work the same if it were a novel or a film. To take a simple example, watching someone else being reluctant to incinerate the Weighted Companion Cube would only work as part of a screwball comedy. If you have to do it yourself, it's still a funny situation but it feels a bit different.
And if you want to focus on the game, there is an interesting game mechanic, too.
And if you want to focus on the game, there is an interesting game mechanic, too.
Agreed. I spent a long time looking for a loophole... especially since that's the first level with a broken wall.
Yup, totally forgot that stuff. A book or movie can change your ideas or emotions, and performance art might even change the way you think about the space around you. But it's still just presented for you to accept or ignore. On the other hand, by the end of Portal, you've had four solid hours of practicing these new ideas! Portal actually changes your skill set as you play it. Portal's genius, to me, was matching the development of the player's skill and abilities right along with the character's relationship to her environment. Aligning the situations in the game to match the changes in my neurons was super-impressive to me.
One issue with games is that anything older than about 2000 is going to look really dated, potentially distracting students from the substance of the game.
The Longest Journey or Deus Ex may be good choices that qualify for that criteria. But they are longer than Portal, and their aged graphics can make them unappealing.
Who said "book"?
Well the blogpost here says it’s “on the booklist”. Otherwise, you’re right, it’s not clear who exactly it is that _delirium thinks called this a “book”. (Note: “text” and “book” are quite different terms. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Text_%28literary_theory%29)
Also, _delirium: this is a brand new course, so it has no “usual” reading list to compare.
Also, _delirium: this is a brand new course, so it has no “usual” reading list to compare.
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Now, I'm fortunate enough that I can afford the necessary hardware (a relatively high-end PC) to play Portal. What about those who cannot? Is their performance in the course automatically degraded simply because they don't have the outside job/rich parent necessary to get the PC or XBox?
Computer labs usually have decent hardware, and are free for students to use. That should work as long as they can get the administrators to allow Portal on the computer lab machines.
A lot of colleges/universities require/provide laptops to students. They also usually have computer labs.
My campus has been archiving movies and video games and music for years now. You can play many, many old games, and current ones too.
They have special rooms with a capable machine set up, and you check in. Or, apparently for some, you can check OUT a game console to play the game at home.
Additionally, I can run Portal satisfactorily on my $250 computer. Not that this makes it accessible to every single person- some people cannot afford $250- but the number of people unable to play will be drastically reduced in the very near future.
Should money be associated with these things? If you feel the answer is 'no', remember that books cost money to buy, and so do movies. It is a bit harder to rent a video game and PC at the library, but we're getting there.
(It is important to remember that while culture may be free, the medium is not. It is also important to remember that 'Library' just means 'Someone else is paying', albeit at a reduced cost.)
They have special rooms with a capable machine set up, and you check in. Or, apparently for some, you can check OUT a game console to play the game at home.
Additionally, I can run Portal satisfactorily on my $250 computer. Not that this makes it accessible to every single person- some people cannot afford $250- but the number of people unable to play will be drastically reduced in the very near future.
Should money be associated with these things? If you feel the answer is 'no', remember that books cost money to buy, and so do movies. It is a bit harder to rent a video game and PC at the library, but we're getting there.
(It is important to remember that while culture may be free, the medium is not. It is also important to remember that 'Library' just means 'Someone else is paying', albeit at a reduced cost.)
Seems like a waste of time to me (to require in a class setting), but then again it is a liberal arts college.
germane
I love this; the notion of non-book texts (usually film) is also one my colleges have worked on in developing our freshman seminars.
But, and I hate to bring this up, but I wonder how differently this idea would play at a college that was not all-male. I've attended a lot of CS education talks that have a strong tension between "games are a way to engage students" and "games are way less engaging for girls than boys". This is a different context, of course, but I'm still curious.
But, and I hate to bring this up, but I wonder how differently this idea would play at a college that was not all-male. I've attended a lot of CS education talks that have a strong tension between "games are a way to engage students" and "games are way less engaging for girls than boys". This is a different context, of course, but I'm still curious.
Well, at least it takes less than 5 hours to finish, which is a lot better than some books I've read for school.
I appreciate the idea, but I have a major issue with it. I personally get motion sick from playing various kinds of first person games. (The problem first showed up for me with Doom.)
Judging from videos I've seen, Portal would be exactly the kind of game that I can't comfortably play. Normally that is not an issue because I don't have to play games I don't like. But if they get a kid like me in the class, how will they deal with it?
Judging from videos I've seen, Portal would be exactly the kind of game that I can't comfortably play. Normally that is not an issue because I don't have to play games I don't like. But if they get a kid like me in the class, how will they deal with it?
People are excused from "required" activities for all varieties of physical and psychological conditions... I am sure that it would be no different here - an alternative assignment being the likely resolution.
Honestly, this is cool, but also a travesty. Portal is in no way on the same level as some of those other works of literature, and certainly not enough time has passed to see if it survives the years of literary criticism that will be required to tell if it ever should be. It seems like a move that simply panders to . . . well, whoever is pandered to by moves like this.
I disagree. I think Portal is on the same level as a great work of literature. As an aspiring game developer myself, I feel one could analyze Portal as "the perfect game" in exactly the same sense that a classic may be described as "the perfect novel". That's not to say it's the greatest or cannot be topped, but that it took an idea, explored it to its ultimate depths, combined it with supporting elements, and finished up strongly. That there is a Portal 2 in development is immaterial: Portal 1 stands on its own as a self contained work, and in that sense I think it is very much like a great novel.
Unlike a great novel, automatic updates have changed the ending sequence to better lead into the sequel- a trend that we will likely see more frequently in the future. Does that interfere with a work being "perfect"?
I don't think it does. Just because it's perfect doesn't mean it can't be made better, or that it can't be modified to better suitit's enviroment.
The gameplay, dialog and story that made it so fantastic remain, and the modifciation, if anything, shows how powerful and different it's medium is. Being able to modify a work after it's been delivered is a very new concept, but I don't see how it harms the work. Of course, we do have the special editions of Star Wars, that many people see as a negative thing, but I think new ways for the creator to interact with his work are a good thing.
Passage would be a much better option: http://hcsoftware.sourceforge.net/passage/
It's very short (5 minutes,) free, and you don't have to worry about anyone in the class not having enough skill to complete it.
It's also communicates in a way that only a game can. The rules of the game themselves are most of what gives it its expressive power, not the narrative or the visuals.
It's very short (5 minutes,) free, and you don't have to worry about anyone in the class not having enough skill to complete it.
It's also communicates in a way that only a game can. The rules of the game themselves are most of what gives it its expressive power, not the narrative or the visuals.
Huh, not quite what I expected for what Portal could have been used for. In my mind, Portal (especially in the commentary mode) would serve better as a model of quality assurance, testing, and architectural design than as a work about the human condition.