Rhetoric & Technical Communication
Rhetoric & Technical Communication
Aaron A. Toscano, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Dept. of English

Resources and Daily Activities

  • Charlotte Debate
  • Conference Presentations
    • Critical Theory/MRG 2023 Presentation
    • PCA/ACA Conference Presentation 2022
    • PCAS/ACAS 2024 Presentation
    • PCAS/ACAS Presentation 2021
    • SAMLA 2024 Presentation
    • SEACS 2021 Presentation
    • SEACS 2022 Presentation
    • SEACS 2023 Presentation
    • SEACS 2024 Presentation
    • SEACS 2025 Presentation
    • SEWSA 2021 Presentation
    • South Atlantic MLA Conference 2022
  • Dr. Toscano’s Homepage
  • ENGL 2116-014: Introduction to Technical Communication
    • April 10th: Analyzing Ethics
      • Ethical Dilemmas for Homework
      • Ethical Dilemmas to Ponder
      • Mapping Our Personal Ethics
    • April 12th: Writing Ethically
    • April 17th: Ethics Continued
    • April 19th: More on Ethics in Writing and Professional Contexts
    • April 24th: Mastering Oral Presentations
    • April 3rd: Research Fun
    • April 5th: More Research Fun
      • Epistemology and Other Fun Research Ideas
      • Research
    • February 13th: Introduction to User Design
    • February 15th: Instructions for Users
      • Making Résumés and Cover Letters More Effective
    • February 1st: Reflection on Workplace Messages
    • February 20th: The Rhetoric of Technology
    • February 22nd: Social Constructions of Technology
    • February 6th: Plain Language
    • January 11th: More Introduction to Class
    • January 18th: Audience & Purpose
    • January 23rd: Résumés and Cover Letters
      • Duty Format for Résumés
      • Peter Profit’s Cover Letter
    • January 25th: More on Résumés and Cover Letters
    • January 30th: Achieving a Readable Style
      • Euphemisms
      • Prose Practice for Next Class
      • Prose Revision Assignment
      • Revising Prose: Efficiency, Accuracy, and Good
      • Sentence Clarity
    • January 9th: Introduction to the Class
    • Major Assignments
    • March 13th: Introduction to Information Design
    • March 15th: More on Information Design
    • March 20th: Reporting Technical Information
    • March 27th: The Great I, Robot Analysis
    • May 1st: Final Portfolio Requirements
  • ENGL 4182/5182: Information Design & Digital Publishing
    • August 21st: Introduction to the Course
      • Rhetorical Principles of Information Design
    • August 28th: Introduction to Information Design
      • Prejudice and Rhetoric
      • Robin Williams’s Principles of Design
    • Classmates Webpages (Fall 2017)
    • December 4th: Presentations
    • Major Assignments for ENGL 4182/5182 (Fall 2017)
    • November 13th: More on Color
      • Designing with Color
      • Important Images
    • November 20th: Extra-Textual Elements
    • November 27th: Presentation/Portfolio Workshop
    • November 6th: In Living Color
    • October 16th: Type Fever
      • Typography
    • October 23rd: More on Type
    • October 2nd: MIDTERM FUN!!!
    • October 30th: Working with Graphics
      • Beerknurd Calendar 2018
    • September 11th: Talking about Design without Using “Thingy”
      • Theory, theory, practice
    • September 18th: The Whole Document
    • September 25th: Page Design
  • ENGL 4183/5183: Editing with Digital Technologies
    • August 23rd: Introduction to the Class
    • August 30th: Rhetoric, Words, and Composing
    • December 6th: Words and Word Classes
    • Major Assignments for ENGL 4183/5183 (Fall 2023)
    • November 15th: Cohesive Rhythm
    • November 1st: Stylistic Variations
    • November 29th: Voice and Other Nebulous Writing Terms
      • Rhetoric of Fear (prose example)
    • November 8th: Rhetorical Effects of Punctuation
    • October 11th: Choosing Adjectivals
    • October 18th: Choosing Nominals
    • October 4th: Form and Function
    • September 13th: Verb is the Word!
    • September 27th: Coordination and Subordination
      • Parallelism
    • September 6th: Sentence Patterns
  • ENGL 4275/WRDS 4011: “Rhetoric of Technology”
    • April 23rd: Presentation Discussion
    • April 2nd: Artificial Intelligence Discussion, machine (super)learning
    • April 4th: Writing and Reflecting Discussion
    • April 9th: Tom Wheeler’s The History of Our Future (Part I)
    • February 13th: Religion of Technology Part 3 of 3
    • February 15th: Is Love a Technology?
    • February 1st: Technology and Postmodernism
    • February 20th: Technology and Gender
    • February 22nd: Technology, Expediency, Racism
    • February 27th: Writing Workshop, etc.
    • February 6th: The Religion of Technology (Part 1 of 3)
    • February 8th: Religion of Technology (Part 2 of 3)
    • January 11th: Introduction to the Course
    • January 16th: Isaac Asimov’s “Cult of Ignorance”
    • January 18th: Technology and Meaning, a Humanist perspective
    • January 23rd: Technology and Democracy
    • January 25th: The Politics of Technology
    • January 30th: Discussion on Writing as Thinking
    • Major Assignments for Rhetoric of Technology
    • March 12th: Neuromancer (1984) Day 1 of 3
    • March 14th: Neuromancer (1984) Day 2 of 3
    • March 19th: Neuromancer (1984) Day 3 of 3
    • March 21st: Writing and Reflecting: Research and Synthesizing
    • March 26th: Artificial Intelligence and Risk
    • March 28th: Artificial Intelligence Book Reviews
  • ENGL 6166: Rhetorical Theory
    • April 11th: Knoblauch. Ch. 4 and Ch. 5
    • April 18th: Feminisms, Rhetorics, Herstories
    • April 25th:  Knoblauch. Ch. 6, 7, and “Afterword”
    • April 4th: Jacques Derrida’s Positions
    • February 15th: St. Augustine’s On Christian Doctrine [Rhetoric]
    • February 1st: Aristotle’s On Rhetoric, Book 2 & 3
      • Aristotle’s On Rhetoric, Book 2
      • Aristotle’s On Rhetoric, Book 3
    • February 22nd: Knoblauch. Ch. 1 and 2
    • February 29th: Descartes, Rene, Discourse on Method
    • February 8th: Isocrates
    • January 11th: Introduction to Class
    • January 18th: Plato’s Phaedrus
    • January 25th: Aristotle’s On Rhetoric, Book 1
    • March 14th: Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Women
    • March 21st: Feminist Rhetoric(s)
    • March 28th: Knoblauch’s Ch. 3 and More Constitutive Rhetoric
    • Rhetorical Theory Assignments
  • ENGL/COMM/WRDS: The Rhetoric of Fear
    • April 11th: McCarthyism Part 1
    • April 18th: McCarthyism Part 2
    • April 25th: The Satanic Panic
    • April 4th: Suspense/Horror/Fear in Film
    • February 14th: Fascism and Other Valentine’s Day Atrocities
    • February 21st: Fascism Part 2
    • February 7th: Fallacies Part 3 and American Politics Part 2
    • January 10th: Introduction to the Class
    • January 17th: Scapegoats & Conspiracies
    • January 24th: The Rhetoric of Fear and Fallacies Part 1
    • January 31st: Fallacies Part 2 and American Politics Part 1
    • Major Assignments
    • March 28th: Nineteen Eighty-Four
    • March 7th: Fascism Part 3
    • May 2nd: The Satanic Panic Part II
      • Rhetoric of Fear and Job Losses
  • Intercultural Communication on the Amalfi Coast
    • Pedagogical Theory for Study Abroad
  • LBST 2213-110: Science, Technology, and Society
    • August 22nd: Science and Technology from a Humanistic Perspective
    • August 24th: Science and Technology, a Humanistic Approach
    • August 29th: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem (Science), Ch. 2
    • August 31st: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem (Science), Ch. 3 and 4
    • December 5th: Video Games and Violence, a more nuanced view
    • November 14th: Boulle, Pierre. Planet of the Apes. (1964) Ch. 27-end
    • November 16th: Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. 1818. Preface-Ch. 8
    • November 21st: Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. 1818. Ch. 9-Ch. 16
    • November 28th: Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. Ch. 17-Ch. 24
    • November 30th: Violence in Video Games
    • November 7th: Boulle, Pierre. Planet of the Apes Ch. 1-17
    • November 9th: Boulle, Pierre. Planet of the Apes, Ch. 18-26
    • October 12th: Lies Economics Tells
    • October 17th: Brief Histories of Medicine, Salerno, and Galen
    • October 19th: Politicizing Science and Medicine
    • October 24th: COVID-19 Facial Covering Rhetoric
    • October 26th: Wells, H. G. Time Machine. Ch. 1-5
    • October 31st: Wells, H. G. The Time Machine Ch. 6-The End
    • October 3rd: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem at Large (Technology), Ch. 7 and Conclusion
    • September 12th: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem (Science), Ch. 7 and Conclusion
    • September 19th: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem at Large (Technology), Prefaces and Ch. 1
    • September 26th: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem at Large (Technology), Ch. 2
    • September 28th: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem at Large (Technology), Ch. 5 and 6
    • September 7th: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem (Science), Ch. 5 and 6
  • New Media: Gender, Culture, Technology
    • August 19: Introduction to the Course
    • August 21: More Introduction
    • August 26th: Consider Media-ted Arguments
    • August 28th: Media & American Culture
    • November 13th: Hank Green’s An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, Part 3
    • November 18th: Feminism’s Non-Monolithic Nature
    • November 20th: Compulsory Heterosexuality
    • November 25th: Presentation Discussion
    • November 4: Hank Green’s An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, Part 1
    • November 6: Hank Green’s An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, Part 2
    • October 16th: No Class Meeting
    • October 21: Misunderstanding the Internet, Part 1
    • October 23: Misunderstanding the Internet, Part 2
    • October 28: The Internet, Part 3
    • October 2nd: Hauntology
    • October 30th: Social Construction of Sexuality
    • October 7:  Myth in American Culture
    • September 11: Critical Theory
    • September 16th: Social Construction of Gender and Sexuality
    • September 18th: Postmodernism, Part 1
    • September 23rd: Postmodernism, Part 2
    • September 25th: Postmodernism, Part 3
    • September 30th: Capitalist Realism
    • September 4th: The Medium is the Message!
    • September 9: The Public Sphere
  • Science Fiction and American Culture
    • April 10th: Octavia Butler’s Dawn (Parts III and IV)
    • April 15th: The Dispossessed (Part I)
    • April 17th: The Dispossessed (Part II)
    • April 1st: Interstellar (2014)
    • April 22nd: In/Human Beauty
    • April 24: Witch Hunt Politics (Part I)
    • April 29th: Witch Hunt Politics (Part II)
    • April 3rd: Catch Up and Start Octavia Butler
    • April 8th: Octavia Butler’s Dawn (Parts I and II)
    • February 11: William Gibson, Part II
    • February 18: Use Your Illusion I
    • February 20: Use Your Illusion II
    • February 25th: Firefly and Black Mirror
    • February 4th: Writing Discussion: Ideas & Arguments
    • February 6th: William Gibson, Part I
    • January 14th: Introduction to to “Science Fiction and American Culture”
    • January 16th: More Introduction
    • January 21st: Robots and Zombies
    • January 23rd: Gender Studies and Science Fiction
    • January 28th: American Studies Introduction
    • January 30th: World’s Beyond
    • March 11th: All Systems Red
    • March 13th: Zone One (Part 1)
      • Zone One “Friday”
    • March 18th: Zone One, “Saturday”
    • March 20th: Zone One, “Sunday”
    • March 25th: Synthesizing Sources; Writing Gooder
      • Writing Discussion–Outlines
    • March 27th: Inception (2010)
  • Teaching Portfolio
  • Topics for Analysis
    • A Practical Editing Situation
    • American Culture, an Introduction
    • Cultural Studies and Science Fiction Films
    • Efficiency in Writing Reviews
    • Feminism, An Introduction
    • Fordism/Taylorism
    • Frankenstein Part I
    • Frankenstein Part II
    • Futurism Introduction
    • How to Lie with Statistics
    • How to Make an Argument with Sources
    • Isaac Asimov’s “A Cult of Ignorance”
    • Judith Butler, an Introduction to Gender/Sexuality Studies
    • Langdon Winner Summary: The Politics of Technology
    • Oral Presentations
    • Oratory and Argument Analysis
    • Our Public Sphere
    • Postmodernism Introduction
    • Protesting Confederate Place
    • Punctuation Refresher
    • QT, the Existential Robot
    • Religion of Technology Discussion
    • Rhetoric, an Introduction
      • Analyzing the Culture of Technical Writer Ads
      • Rhetoric of Technology
      • Visual Culture
      • Visual Perception
      • Visual Perception, Culture, and Rhetoric
      • Visual Rhetoric
      • Visuals for Technical Communication
      • World War I Propaganda
    • The Great I, Robot Discussion
      • I, Robot Short Essay Topics
    • The Rhetoric of Video Games: A Cultural Perspective
      • Civilization, an Analysis
    • The Sopranos
    • Why Science Fiction?
    • Zombies and Consumption Satire
  • Video Games & American Culture
    • April 14th: Phallocentrism
    • April 21st: Video Games and Neoliberalism
    • April 7th: Video Games and Conquest
    • Assignments for Video Games & American Culture
    • February 10th: Aesthetics and Culture
    • February 17th: Narrative and Catharsis
    • February 24th: Serious Games
    • February 3rd: More History of Video Games
    • January 13th: Introduction to the course
    • January 20th: Introduction to Video Game Studies
    • January 27th: Games & Culture
      • Marxism for Video Game Analysis
      • Postmodernism for Video Game Analysis
    • March 24th: Realism, Interpretation(s), and Meaning Making
    • March 31st: Feminist Perspectives and Politics
    • March 3rd: Risky Business?

Contact Me

Office: Fretwell 255F
Email: atoscano@uncc.edu
Video Games & American Culture » February 3rd: More History of Video Games

February 3rd: More History of Video Games

Plan for the Day

  • Canvas Posts—due Fridays at 11:00pm
  • What is American Culture? Essay
  • Workshop next week will be on Google Docs (trying something new)
  • Revisit Introduction to Critical Theory
  • A History of Video Games
  • A Critical History of Video Games

What is American Culture? Essay

In ancient pre-pandemic times, we would bring in paper copies of our drafts and exchange them with a classmate. I was fully committed to receiving paper-based assignments until mid-March 2020. Now, I only accept essays electronically. Also, in order to reduce the communicable potential of COVID-19, I want to limit student interactions, so the “workshop” is going online. In lieu of a Weekly Discussion Post for next week, you’re going to review a classmate’s draft via Google Docs. You will share the draft with your classmate and me.

  • Post your drafts on Google Docs (see email from 2/9) by 5:00pm on Friday, February 11
  • Provide thoughtful comments to your classmate by 5:00 pm on Monday, February 14

Remember, this is in lieu of the 250-word response, so I expect your comments to be comparable, but you don’t have to comment extensively. Don’t focus on grammar and mechanics; instead, try to reflect on their ideas.

Definitely address the following:

  • In your own words, summarize the author’s argument. If there isn’t one, explain they need one.
  • Comment on the appropriateness of the cultural values the author identifies.
    • If they are appropriate, mention that but also offer places for the author to expand.
    • For example, the author might state, “Instant gratification is a major American value embodied in such technologies as self-checkouts, drive-thrus, and even credit cards.”
    • Your response: After an assessment of the above value’s relevance you might write, “Instant or immediate gratification may also be embodied by this or that practice.”
    • Consider providing other media example that reproduce this value.
  • Assess the “objectivity” of the author’s explanation: do they rely on taste/conviction, or are they providing an opinion?
    • Tastes and convictions
    • Opinions
    • Theories/Laws
    • Facts
  • If applicable, assess whether or not the value might be more of a subcultural value as opposed to a prevailing one.
    • A subculture’s values might provide a good analysis of American culture by defining them against prevailing ideology.
    • However, that might be harder to do, so the reader should let the author know whether or not the value needs more description to reflect the “essence” of American culture.
  • Anything else?

The Assignments Page has the requirements for your final essay, but here are the requirements for this draft:

  • Typed, double spaced (except heading), 12 pt font
  • 1-inch margins all around
  • Page numbers (anywhere)
  • A title other than “What is American Culture?”
  • At least three (3) pages (4000 & 5000 levels)

Notice that these are less than what’s required for your final essay due 2/17.

Do not pad your essays with long quotations to meet the page requirement. In fact, all quotations are in addition to the length requirement. I’m not sure why you’d need long quotations for this essay, but I figured I ought to mention this.

While I’m on this subject, Wikipedia is a fine place to start research, but do not end there…don’t cite Wikipedia.


Introduction to Critical Theory

These links provide overviews to help you formulate questions for future work. This isn’t the end of the critical theory discussion; it’s a beginning (notice I didn’t write the beginning).

Let’s start with two theories important to cultural studies:

  • Postmodernism
  • Marxism

Technological Determinism

Simply put, technologies tell us much about the society(ies) from which they come. This is a cultural studies approach to technology, so, as usual, definitive conclusions will be hard to nail down.

Before we get any further, we should consider the difference between these two concepts:

  • Social Construction of Technology
    • Technologies represent the values of the culture from which they came.
    • The culture demands these technologies based on often prevailing values.
    • The values are often hegemonic and, in late capitalism, manufactured.
  • Technological Determinism
    • Claiming technology alone shaped an aspect of society.
    • Narrating the history of technology as an uninterrupted, linear progression to the present–often implying or explicitly stating that the “best” technologies were created.

Lynn White (1966), a proponent of the technological determinism perspective, used this horseshoe nail proverb to introduce a chapter in his book.

Consider the following “narratives” about DVDs

  • After VHS tapes became obsolete, DVDs allowed consumers to bring films and TV shows into their homes before streaming services became available.
  • As consumers sought more access to films and filmmaking, the home video market began to supply them with VHS and Betamax tapes that they could play in the comfort of their own homes. Similarly, the music industry responded to this demand by providing records, 8-tracks, and cassettes to consumers.

History in Video Games

In order to focus more on culture rather than the video game industry’s revenue (which I’m not claiming is unimportant), I want us to consider the popularity of war games, specifically games based on actual wars. I’m sure everyone is familiar with Call of Duty’s WWII games; however, are you familiar with these WWII-based games:

  • 1942 (Campcom 1984)
    • Atari 2600 Gameplay
    • Notice the difference between the above and the cabinet graphics.
    • A cabinet is the arcade unit for video games. Here’s a nice image.
  • 1942: The Pacific Air War (MicroProse 1994)
    • PC/DOS Gameplay
  • Battlefield 1942 (EA 2002)
    • PC Gameplay (with voice over that mentions LAN parties)
  • Battlehawks 1942 (Lucasfilm Games 1988)
    • PC/DOS Gameplay
  • Patton vs. Rommel (EA 1986)
    • PC Gameplay
    • Interestingly, this is a show using a video game engine (so to speak) to show the tank action while witnesses provide voice overs.
  • 1942: Deadly Desert (HandyGames 2004/2016)
    • Gameplay for 1943: Deadly Desert

There are plenty more WWII-based games, but I selected a theme for the above games. It might also be important to note the films about WWII as well. I’m not sure how we’d categorize 1941 (1978), though. I’ll be testing your history knowledge…by the way, D-Day was June 6, 1944, so that’s why I haven’t listed Saving Private Ryan (1998) or Band of Brothers (2001).

Questions to Ponder

  • Think about non-WWII-based entertainment. What’s one war that comes up quite often?
  • Why do war films often garner rave reviews and critical acclaim?
  • Some video games allow you to choose to be American or German or Japanese (sometimes British and Russian)
  • Any comments on that significance for gameplay?
  • For a film-related comparable situation, one might explore Flags of our Fathers (2006) and Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)–both directed and co-produced by Clint Eastwood.

Egenfeldt-Nielsen, Smith, & Tosca’s Ch. 4 “History”

We won’t cover every game mentioned, but there are some highlights from the chapter I definitely want to address. We will spend lots of time on cultural values–consumerism, individualism, collectivism, phallocentrism–so let’s begin by discussing the rise of video games. Many histories begin with Spacewar!, move onto early consoles and arcade games, and then focus on the home markets for games from the late-1970s to the present. What public gaming trends or practices have you observed?

  • p. 63: “The 1960s had seen the commercial proliferation of war games, tabletop games of strategy where maps, dice, and figures were used to simulate battles, allowing players to recreate historical conflicts.”
  • p. 65: “characters grow by accumulating ‘experience points,’ which are often acquired by fighting and picking up treasure; similarly, many games revolve around simple missions (also called quests)…”
  • p. 66: “[RPGs tap] into our desire for spectacle and our thought-provoking willingness to submit ourselves to strange and arbitrary rules for the sake of entertainment.”
  • p. 69: Nolan Bushnell knew “people would pay money to play such games in the right setting.”
    • His company, Atari, did what all employers do…
    • “This would be the first of many conflicts between the often laid-back culture of game creators and the very different atmosphere of corporate America.”
    • Time permitting, I have an example of reading corporate culture(s).
  • pp. 75-76: The 1980s–consoles and PCs
  • p. 78: Merchandising–“Pac-Man was quickly licensed to appear on merchandise—from towels to T-shirts—at no extra cost to Namco”
    • “…with the astounding success of character-based cuteness it seriously challenged the powerful sci-fi templates that had long dominated the industry.”
    • What else does cuteness sell?
    • Example of cuteness
  • pp. 82-83: Strategy games require time and patience, which makes them a more mature type of entertainment.
  • p. 86: A matured media–“…early filmmakers sought to enhance the legitimacy of their medium by associating it with already admired forms of expression, particularly classical theater…”
    • Consider the evolution of video games. Although this is still the case today, early video games got inspiration from other texts (Tolkien, Dungeons & Dragons, science fiction, etc.). Now, films are based on original video games.
    • Any comments on consumerism?
  • p. 89: “process-oriented games were unthinkable in a fast-paced arcade but seemed made for home computers. Indeed, quick and intense arcade-like experiences are usually anathema to process-oriented games, many striving for realism, while some focus more on recreating the physical experience of dealing with a real-world system…”
  • Simulation Games
    • Lots of submarine simulation games
      688 Attack Sub (EA 1989)—Play Online!
      The Hunt for Red October (Commodore 64/Amiga 1987)–based on the Tom Clancy novel (1984) that became a film and launched the Jack Ryan universe
    • Flight Simulators–Notice the categories of these video games…
      Microsoft Flight Simulator (MS 1986)—check out this video!
      F-117A Stealth Fighter (MicroProse 1992)—PC/DOS Gameplay
    • SimCity 2000 (Maxis 1993)—Gameplay montage
  • p. 95: LAN parties!
  • p. 96: “[Lara Croft] was both a favorite icon of the era’s girl power movements and an academic object of desire for cultural studies of various persuasions.”
  • Their making a subtle remark here, but we’ll hold off…not saying they’re wrong.
  • p. 97: “[The 7th Guest (1993)] was technically ambitious as its graphics were digitized film clips populated by real actors. This was impressive to many but bought at the price of limited flexibility in terms of player actions.”
    • Let’s watch some gameplay and consider the experience. Comments, please.
  • p. 107: “Also in 2007, Assassin’s Creed wowed console and PC audiences with its detailed animation and convincing recreation of twelfth-century city life…”
  • Let’s look at that recreation.
  • p. 109: New decade, same concept from Scorched Earth to iShoot
  • Shareware was a way independent games got out pre-ubiquity of the internet
  • p. 114: Angry Birds (Rovio Mobile 2009) “has a cast of characters residing comfortably in the borderland between cuteness and utter madness.”
    • Consider the evolution of the video game industry…there’s a new Angry Birds film coming out.

By the way, Guglielmo Marconi actually put into place the first “online” game when his wireless allowed ships at sea to connect, offering players on different ships the ability to play chess through Morse code (Lyle, p. 5843). You actually have him to think for much of the things you like about global communication systems.


Thinking Critically about Video Game Histories…

You will hear me talk some smack about this book, but it is a good introduction to the mainstream discussions surrounding video games, including mainstream academic discussions. In short, it’s a wealth of information and worthy of our attention. However, three recurring issues will appear: 1) the lack of critical technological awareness, 2) the limited understanding of “cultural studies” and analysis, and 3) the downplaying (ignoring, in fact) of gender issues. I will definitely address the issue one and two today, and we’ll return to the third issue throughout the semester. As a preview, re-read the quote from Espen Aarseth about not noticing “the dimension’s of Lara Croft’s body” (p. 13). Aarseth, the Editor-in-Chief of the peer-reviewed journal Game Studies, is actually the norm in wanting to not discuss representations of women in games. I know another editor of a different journal who feels that way too, but I digress…

Critical Technological Awareness

As I’ve mentioned, I privilege a social construction view of technology, so I want us to think critically not about how we use technology but more so about how technology uses us. Sometimes we may conclude we’re zombies, sleepwalking through a hi-tech world; other times we may conclude we’re well-trained robots, performing roles in a hi-tech consumerist world. Most likely their are other conclusions, but, in order to think critically about our hi-tech world, I offer as critical technological awareness “looking beyond a socially constructed artifact’s assumed practical benefit and critiquing its effects and development” (Toscano, 2011, p. 14).

I will readily admit that Egenfeldt-Nielsen, Smith, & Tosca’s Ch. 4 excites me. I love reading about video games I played, and I have great nostalgia for this entertainment media. In fact, my nostalgia is often bittersweet (but I risk oversharing). Although I find their history well done (it isn’t easy to be so thorough without reading like a laundry list of games), what I mainly take issue with is the narrative’s advocacy of technological determinism and, especially later in the chapter, focus on game sales as the pillar of cultural value. Consider these instances where their narrative appears to assume technological advancement was the main (if not sole) reason for video game evolution:

  • p. 73: “some designers most likely lacked the skill or resources to actually produce a state-of-the art action game.”
    • While the authors do immediately claim, “and no doubt for other reasons” in the very next sentence, the above focus on “skill” and “resources” makes it appear as if the future state-of-the-art game was the inevitability of technological advancement.
    • Instead, the entire industry was a reflection of the growing demand of entertainment (including distraction), specifically immersive experiences that adhered to the values of consumerism, competition, and storytelling (which is rather important for a discussion on adventure games).
  • The 1990s (p. 93): “In the technology arena, the personal computer…awoke fully as a hardcore gaming platform, due to major advances in sound and graphics hardware.”
    • “…the spread of network technology and the rise of the Internet created both explosive growth and broad diffusion…”
    • “…the CD-ROM as a software storage medium simultaneously destroyed the floppy disk and swiftly increased the size of a typical game.”
  • These statements, although they do reflect the change in practices surrounding gaming, use the logic of technological determinism. These advances stem from planned obsolescence, which made consumers buy newer products. Then, video games advanced to meet consumer demands.
    • I realize the above may sound like splitting hairs, but it’s a subtle yet monumental difference between privileging technological determinism or critical technological awareness.
  • p. 101: “Rapidly increasing hardware capability created the possibility of ever-more technically ambitious games…”
  • Absolutely…again, this is subtle, but the bigger picture cultural studies approach recognizes the value of consumerism demanding more advanced games.

Here’s a video of the technical evolution of the Wolfenstein franchise (1981-2009). Of course, Wolfenstein: New Order (Bethesda Softworks) came out in 2014.

Return to Hyperreality

Hyperreality: (Baudrillard) “creation of media, film, and computer technologies have come to be more real for us, and interact more fundamentally with our experiences and desires, than…realities of nature or spiritual life” (Malpas, p. 125).

We’ll cover this more later, but I thought I’d bring it up here:

Related to the myth of individualism is the assumption of realism. Video games are not actually realistic, but, in a culture that prefers the fake to the real, video games provide an excellent example of what Umberto Eco calls hyperreality. Although Eco was observing holography in the early 1970s when he investigated the American cultural landscape, video games are a new incarnation of being more real than real. Eco notes, “in America, a country obsessed with realism, where, if a reconstruction is to be credible, it must be absolutely iconic, a perfect likeness, a ‘real’ copy of the reality being represented.”[Eco, 4] Extending Eco’s observation to video games helps readers understand how gamers base realism on previous technologies’ abilities to render graphics. Newer video games only seem realistic or real because “the genealogical relationship makes newer war games seem more realistic than they are.”[Colishaw] This also follows technological determinism because the technology drives realism for the audience. Additionally, considering previous games less realistic could contribute to planned obsolescence, which pushes users to adopt the newest gadgets, which keeps the industry very profitable.

Toscano, Aaron A. Video Games and American Culture: How Ideology Influences Virtual Worlds. Lexington Books, 2020: 85.

Video Games Reflect the Culture from which They Come

If we were in a sociology class, we’d need to be more careful about using “social, society, and culture” interchangeably. This is the English Department, and we get the final say on definitions, so we’ll be a little looser with the above terms. Video games and all cultural texts do not come about in a vacuum devoid of social demands. Cultural values (which can be manufactured) demand solutions, techniques, and entertainment that reflect those cultural values. Of course, this isn’t to say all values and artifacts monolithic, but we can find prevailing reasons for cultural reproductions. Egenfeldt-Nielsen, Smith, & Tosca actually note that “pen-and-paper role-playing games (RPGs)….did not develop in a cultural vacuum (few things do) but rather were the result of a remarkable convergence of popular trends and interests in the early 1970s” (p. 63, emphasis added). No one created a role-playing game outside of the social (possibly biological) demand for entertainment. However, Egenfeldt-Nielsen, Smith, & Tosca often equate “cultural significance” as the marketability and success of a product rather than the hegemonic values pervasive in a society. Popularity may beget popularity, but what makes something popular? While I’d be 100% unable to defend a position that claims all artifacts derive from hegemonic cultural values, I would be willfully ignoring the prevailing reproductions mediated by prevailing cultural ideology. Let’s examine the following quotations regarding Egenfeldt-Nielsen, Smith, & Tosca’s view of “cultural studies”:

  • p. 63: “…[Monopoly] rewards nothing as much as bold capitalist perseverance, and is a fascinating example of how games can reflect cultural values or trends.”
    • Clearly, capitalism came first, and Monopoly, released in 1935, became popular during the Great Depression. What other reading (interpretation) can we find?
    • Learn more about the goal of Lizzie G. Magie’s Landlord’s Game (1924; 1904).
  • After all, there are clear differences between Lords of Conquest (EON 1986) and the original Civilization (MicroProse 1991).
    • But what do they have in common? Consider that there are tons of these strategy games. Why are search activities popular?
    • What it looks like to win Civilization after growing your empire!

The Fetish of Authenticity

Delving into the intricacies of psychoanalysis is beyond the scope of this class (although we will definitely discuss catharsis and phallocentrism), so consider fetish to be something an observer really wants. I would like us to explore and discuss the need for authenticity in video games specifically but also in entertainment generally. What do these phrases mean?

  • Based on a true story
  • Inspired by actual events
  • Historical recreation/ reenactment
  • Relive the [event] of…

Even though we just had a discussion on wanting the fake or hyperreal, we now are discussing all the aspects of “authentic” that might not be, well, authentic. The word simulacrum is important.

Next Class

Read Ch. 5 and 6 for next week, and have your 3-page drafts shared on Google Docs.


Works Cited

Brian Cowlishaw, “Playing War: The Emerging Trend of Real Virtual Combat in Video Games.” Magazine Americana, January 2005, http://www.americanpopularculture.com/archive/emerging/real_virtual_combat.htm.

Eco, Umberto. “Travels in Hyperreality.” In Travels in Hyperreality. Translated by William Weaver, 1–58. San Diego: Harcourt, 1986.

Egenfeldt-Nielsen, Simon, Jonas Heide Smith, & Susana Pajares Tosca. Understanding Video Games: The Essential Introduction. 4th Edition. New York: Routledge, 2020.

Lyle, E. P., Jr. The Advance of ‘Wireless.’ World’s Work, 1905: 5842–5848.

Malpas, Simon. The Postmodern. London: Routledge, 2005

Toscano, Aaron A. “Using I, Robot in the Technical Writing Classroom: Developing a Critical Technological Awareness.”
Computers and Composition, vol. 28, no. 1. (March 2011): 14-27.

Toscano, Aaron A. Video Games and American Culture: How Ideology Influences Virtual Worlds. Lexington Books, 2020.

White, L., Jr., Medieval Technology and Social Change. New York: Oxford University Press, 1966.

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