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MuttersomeTaxicab

Toukiden is a helluva game.

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Untitled, for now.

By MuttersomeTaxicab 3 Comments


So, I'm looking at taking a poke at some Game theory stuff. Been reading a bunch over the past year, mostly cultural criticism, but that Games of Empire book put out by Western last year has had the wheels turning. Mostly thinking of grand strategy games as tools of imperialism (or something.) 
 
Though, it begs the question, if I'm looking at stuff like Victoria 2 and Lionheart (both made by non-American dev teams) - is that really outright cultural imperialism? Or just the world stage projecting their perceptions onto the boogeyman of the West?
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MuttersomeTaxicab

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Edited By MuttersomeTaxicab
@ahoodedfigure said:
"when you say Game Theory here, do you mean actual "game theory," or theories on game design? "

Ah, I should've been more clear. I'm actually talking about a cultural studies approach to the study of video games, rather than theories on game design or a mathematical approach to analysing/charting/etc. behaviour in given situations. 
 
I have a background in English studies that started with literature, but moved to a more interdisciplinary angle after my Masters - generally in response to heated debates going on right now in academia over whether it makes sense to still have "English departments" in universities. 
 
Which is to say: the question of whether video games are capital-A Art is rendered moot, considering there is no stable definition of the term 'Art' - insofar as it's proscribed by the cultural predilections of a given historical moment. A more useful way of looking at video games is in terms of their status as cultural artifacts: What do they say about us as a culture at this given moment: cognitively, artistically, discursively, blah blah blah.
  
Though, theories on game design would probably fit in with that stuff as well, since decisions made by dev teams are sometimes predicated on their own cultural context. It's kind of like how Europa Universalis III had to be partially reworked for the Divine Wind expansion pack, because the methods they had modelled to handle diplomacy were designed in the context of Western relations at that moment in time, which couldn't be easily (or at least accurately) replicated in the East. 
 
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ahoodedfigure

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Edited By ahoodedfigure

when you say Game Theory here, do you mean actual "game theory," or theories on game design?

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MuttersomeTaxicab

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Edited By MuttersomeTaxicab

So, I'm looking at taking a poke at some Game theory stuff. Been reading a bunch over the past year, mostly cultural criticism, but that Games of Empire book put out by Western last year has had the wheels turning. Mostly thinking of grand strategy games as tools of imperialism (or something.) 
 
Though, it begs the question, if I'm looking at stuff like Victoria 2 and Lionheart (both made by non-American dev teams) - is that really outright cultural imperialism? Or just the world stage projecting their perceptions onto the boogeyman of the West?