Benjamin A. Railton's Blog, page 90

November 30, 2022: Video Game Studying: Pac-Man

[On November 29, 1972, Atari debuted Pong, one of the earliest and most influential video games. So this week I’ll AmericanStudy Pong and four other groundbreaking games—I’d love the responses and nominations of gamers and noobs alike in comments!]

On three of the many ways Namco’s smash 1980 launch helped changed the game(s).

1)      Character: Arcade and video games had certainly diversified in the decade or so since the release of yesterday’s subject Pong, with the biggest hits in the years before Pac Man arrived space shooters like Space Invaders and Asteroids. But one thing that no game had quite featured until the little yellow dude was a recognizable and marketable main character, one who could become the mascot and (literal) face of the game and franchise. That focus allowed the game to include another innovation: cutscenes in between levels, brief mini-movies featuring that main character in wacky adventures. It allowed for hugely successful sequels like 1981’s Ms. Pac-Man that would not have been possible without a distinct character at the heart of the franchise. And it paved the way for many of the most popular video games and franchises of all time: the Mario Brothers, Sonic the Hedgehog, Kirby, the Angry Birds, and more.

2)      Artificial Intelligence: One of the game’s vital coding innovations was that the enemies—the four cute but deadly “ghosts” (Blinky, Inky, Pinky, and Clyde, natch) who pursue Pac-Man as he tries to eat all those delicious dots and fruits—were programmed with artificial intelligence and could respond to the player’s moves. I don’t imagine it was the most sophisticated such AI—Ex Machina this wasn’t, that is—but nonetheless, even the idea that every time you played Pac-Man, you could have an entirely different experience depending on your own choices and what effects they had on the ghosts’ behaviors was a profoundly new element to video gaming. I talked in Monday’s post about the flexible and interactive qualities to video games; of course that was somewhat true even with the Pong’s of the world, but adding artificial intelligence in this way (and at any level of complexity) really began to illustrate the possibilities for that kind of player-game interactivity.

3)      Winnability: That artificial intelligence and its promises of constantly evolving gameplay certainly contribute to a sense of Pac-Man as a particularly replayable arcade and video game, one that grossed over $1 billion in quarters (!) in its first year of release. But another important element was Pac-Man’s seeming yet elusive sense of winnabililty; as Atari’s Chris Crawford put it in an 1982 interview with Byte magazine, “An important trait of any game is the illusion of winnability ... The most successful game in this respect is Pac-Man, which appears winnable to most players, yet is never quite winnable.” Indeed, Pac-Man was designed to have no final level, although apparently if a player beats 255 consecutive levels, a bizarrely split-screen and supposedly unbeatable 256thfinal level does appear. Even that strange, glitch-like detail, however, would only add to that sense of potential yet also ephemeral winnability, making playing Pac-Man again and again that much more appealing. Which, for nearly forty years now, is just what gamers have done.

Next game tomorrow,

Ben

PS. What do you think? Other video games you’d highlight and analyze?

November 29, 2022: Video Game Studying: Pong

[On November 29, 1972, Atari debuted Pong, one of the earliest and most influential video games. So this week I’ll AmericanStudy Pong and four other groundbreaking games—I’d love the responses and nominations of gamers and noobs alike in comments!]

On two lesser-known and telling moments in the history of the first blockbuster arcade game.

While I’m sure video game historians would point to many moments and games as possible origin points for the genre, some as that hyperlinked timeline indicates from as early as the 1940s, there’s no doubt that high on any such list would be Atari’s 1972 arcade release Pong. Debuting on this date 50 years ago, Pong would quickly become a national and worldwide phenomenon, helping establish the viability of video game arcades in commercial spaces (and then eventually in spaces all their own), contributing (if in a complex way on which more in a moment) to the successful launch of the first home gaming system (the Magnavox Odyssey), spawning numerous sequels and copycat games, and generally changing the landscape of not only gaming and technology, but also entertainment, social spaces and interactions, and childhood. If that seems like an awful lot to attribute to one video game, well, that was the remarkable power of those two white paddles and that frustratingly bouncy little white ball. Indeed, I would say that only Star Wars measures up to Pong when it comes to 1970s popular culture landmarks that have influenced the next half-century of American and human life.

That overall influence is pretty well-known, but in researching this post I learned about a couple of a lesser-known and equally telling moments in Pong’s early history. For one thing, the game was the subject of a 1974 lawsuit from Magnavox (and its parent company Sanders Associates). In May 1972 Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell had attended a Magnavox event and seen a demonstration of the company’s own table tennis game, and he himself later admitted that seeing the game prompted him to ask his own employee, engineer Allan Alcorn, to make a table tennis game for Atari; as Bushnell put it, “The fact is that I absolutely did see the Odyssey game and I didn't think it was very clever.” Despite protesting innocence from any patent infringement, Bushnell and Atari decided to settle out of court with Magnavox, with the case concluding in June 1976. I can’t really weigh in on the merits of the lawsuit; the two games do look pretty similar to me, but I suppose all table tennis games, especially in that very early era of game design, would likely seem similar. What I can say, however, is that the subsequent history of video games has been defined again and again by competing games and systems, a trend very much foreshadowed by Pong’s controversial relationship to Magnavox table tennis.

The other telling moment is far less weighty than a lawsuit, but just as socially significant I’d say. In describing why and how Pong became such an arcade hit, Bushnell would later note, “It was very common to have a girl with a quarter in hand pull a guy off a bar stool and say, 'I'd like to play Pong and there's nobody to play.' It was a way you could play games, you were sitting shoulder to shoulder, you could talk, you could laugh, you could challenge each other ... As you became better friends, you could put down your beer and hug. You could put your arm around the person. You could play left-handed if you so desired. In fact, there are a lot of people who have come up to me over the years and said, 'I met my wife playing Pong,' and that's kind of a nice thing to have achieved.” This is of course another important side to the flexible and interactive qualities of video games that I highlighted in yesterday’s post—while of course many games can be played solo (not Pong, though, at least not in its first arcade iteration—it was two-player only), there is a fundamentally social element to gaming, and perhaps especially to arcade gaming. The art is often created, that is, through a communal experience, and one that, as Bushnell’s quote illustrates, links to other communal experiences like social interactions, friendship, and romantic relationships. All part of what Pong helped initiate as well!

Next game tomorrow,

Ben

PS. What do you think? Other video games you’d highlight and analyze?

November 28, 2022: Video Game Studying: Grand Theft Auto

[On November 29, 1972, Atari debuted Pong, one of the earliest and most influential video games. So this week I’ll AmericanStudy Pong and four other groundbreaking games—I’d love the responses and nominations of gamers and noobs alike in comments!]

Forgive me for focusing this post less on GTA itself and more on broader gaming topics. But that seemed like a good way to begin this week’s series, and plus I’ve never played any of the GTA games (and welcome comments from those who have). So to wit, here are three aspects of video games that a focus on GTA can help us discuss:

1)      Their Effects: The elephant in the room when it comes to GTA, and really all violent video games for that matter, is the question of their potential effects on (especially) impressionable young players. From what I can tell, the first GTA featured mostly just cartoonish car violence; it was with the series’ fifth game in particular that the stakes were significantly raised, with players for example having the ability to rob and kill prostitutes after sleeping with them (and, it seems, being rewarded by the game for choosing to do so). I don’t believe that any form of art (which games on, on which more in a moment) can or should be directly correlated with any particular effects on their audiences; it’s nowhere near that simple. But at the same time, it’s worth noting that unlike most other art forms, video games ask their audiences to make many of the choices themselves, and it would be disingenuous to suggest that choosing to kill a woman is the same as watching a character do so in a film (for example). So while I don’t believe a game like GTA makes its players more violent, it does at times ask them to act violently in troubling ways that are worth recognizing and critiquing.

2)      They’re Art: Perhaps it’s now widely accepted that video games are an art form; certainly disciplines like Fitchburg State’s groundbreaking Game Design Major have that idea as a key starting point. But I’m not sure that the communal conversations about games tend to incorporate that definition, as it seems to me that they are still often seen more as a combination of toys (and thus more appropriate for children than any other age bracket) and distractions(and thus taken less seriously than other cultural forms and media). Obviously any definition of art is open to interpretation and argument, so I can’t claim with absolute authority that video games are an art form (although I believe very strongly that they are). But I will say that narratives which treat games more dismissively lead directly to less thoughtful and helpful engagements with questions like the ones I raised in point one, to perceptions of games as (for example) simply delivery systems for violence rather than an art form featuring artistic subgenres that include violence as a key element (just as actionand horror films do, to name two other such art forms).

3)      They’re Flexible: If we do see video games as an art form (as I do), what differentiates them from most other such forms (other than Choose Your Own Adventure books, I suppose!) is that they are interactive, depending on the choices of their audience members (who of course are far more than just audience members) for how their stories and thus their art are ultimately created. I know that’s a well-known point, but I have a specific and surprising GTA anecdote related to it. When my sons were relatively young, a babysitter took them to his house and let them play one of the GTA games on his gaming system. I was initially horrified when they told me this, but then they described their game play at length, which involved all sorts of driving craziness and silliness (driving into swimming pools, trying to drive off bridges onto moving trains, etc.) and relatedly only self-directed violence (seeing what would happen if they climbed to the top of a tall crane and jumped off, for example). Not exactly the highest form of art, perhaps, but far different from a game focused on killing others. In this case, at least, the game’s flexibility had allowed my sons to make it their own in a silly but also, I would argue, very significant way.

Next game tomorrow,

Ben

PS. What do you think? Other video games you’d highlight and analyze?

November 25, 2022: Thanks-givings: Young Voters

[For this year’s Thanksgiving series, I wanted to highlight briefly but thankfully a handful of the things for which I’m thankful here in late 2022. Add yours for a truly thank-full crowd-sourced weekend post, all!]

I can’t really say this any better than Will Bunch did in his Philadelphia Inquirer column, but I’ll second that emotion very fully: the youngest cohort of voters came out en masse for the 2022 midterms, voted for some of the most important issues facing them and their world, and genuinely helped preserve American democracy. You best believe this AmericanStudier is hugely thankful for them, and for all the young people who continue to give me hope for the future despite, well, all the things.  

Crowd-sourced post this weekend,

Ben

PS. So one more time, with feeling: what are you thankful for?

November 24, 2022: Thanks-givings: Fantasy Football

[For this year’s Thanksgiving series, I wanted to highlight briefly but thankfully a handful of the things for which I’m thankful here in late 2022. Add yours for a truly thank-full crowd-sourced weekend post, all!]

No, not for me—I know my obsessive self too well, and know that if I started down the fantasy football road I’d soon enough be spending every free moment checking out the differentials between that one third-string running back and that other third-string running back. It’s my sons who have become fantasy football fanatics over the last few seasons, and while I will occasionally offer my advice about their latest trade offer or waiver wire signing, they know infinitely more than I do about the whole process and pretty much all NFL players as a result. And that last part is what I’m so thankful for—while I certainly enjoyed the stage of their lives where they were learning a lot about sports from watching and talking about it with me, I enjoy significantly more still the chance to watch with them not only as full equal partners in sports fandom, but as perspectives from whom I consistently learn more than they do from me. I’ve loved watching sports with them for their whole lives, but this latest stage is my favorite to date, and I’m very thankful for how much fantasy football has to do with that!

Next Thanks-giving tomorrow,

Ben

PS. What are you thankful for?

November 23, 2022: Thanks-givings: Andor and Willow

[For this year’s Thanksgiving series, I wanted to highlight briefly but thankfully a handful of the things for which I’m thankful here in late 2022. Add yours for a truly thank-full crowd-sourced weekend post, all!]

So I gotta start this Thanks-giving post by noting that it’s a bit of a weird one, for two reasons: more obviously, because the new Willow streaming series doesn’t drop for another week; and more subtly, because my sons and I have been too busy this Fall to watch more than the first couple episodes of the new Andor streaming series. I’m pretty darn sure we will love both when we are able to watch them in full, but of course I can’t say definitively that I’m thankful for shows we haven’t yet watched. Or can I? Turns out I can, because—and yes, I know full well all the critiques of Disney and giant corporate cultural overlords and oversaturated existing properties and etc. etc. etc., and I would echo many of those concerns in many cases—I am profoundly grateful to live in a time when some of the cultural works and worlds that most defined my childhood continue to expand and evolve, and I can share those expansions and evolutions with my sons. There most definitely is too much of a good thing, and at times recently the Star Wars universe has begun to move in that direction for me—but it ain’t there yet, and for now I remain profoundly thankful for both these shows and what they represent.

Next Thanks-giving tomorrow,

Ben

PS. What are you thankful for?

November 22, 2022: Thanks-givings: Purple Carrot

[For this year’s Thanksgiving series, I wanted to highlight briefly but thankfully a handful of the things for which I’m thankful here in late 2022. Add yours for a truly thank-full crowd-sourced weekend post, all!]

I haven’t written much in this space about my 2018 decision to become a vegetarian (most of the time; I lapse on occasion), and the reason I suppose is that it was and remains deeply personal—not just in the sense of it being about me and my health (although yes), but also and especially because I was inspired to do so by my sons (who were vegetarian first and have been more consistently committed to it than I). I’d never proselytize others to do the same, although my sons are more willing and very able to make that case (my younger recently wrote an amazing 10th grade English persuasive essay on the topic). But I will tell you this: if you’re like I used to be, you probably think that meat substitutes and alternatives leave a lot to be desired. I thought that right up until the start of COVID lockdown, when I decided to use a free trial of Purple Carrot’s vegan delivery service. It didn’t take long for me to realize how wrong I had been about vegan food; it didn’t take much after that for my older son to join me in cooking the PC meals, a tradition we have continued to this day and that’s become one of my very favorite things in my whole life to date. So for many, many reasons, I’m hugely thankful for Purple Carrot!

Next Thanks-giving tomorrow,

Ben

PS. What are you thankful for?

November 21, 2022: Thanks-givings: Bruce’s Soul

[For this year’s Thanksgiving series, I wanted to highlight briefly but thankfully a handful of the things for which I’m thankful here in late 2022. Add yours for a truly thank-full crowd-sourced weekend post, all!]

Look, obviously any new Springsteen album is an occasion for serious gratitude around these parts. But I’ll admit that when I first heard his new record, Only the Strong Survive, would be all covers, I was a bit bummed, since his songwriting is one of my favorite things about him (a strikingly long and very competitive list). But when he talked in that hyperlinked video about why he wanted to focus on his voice, and why he chose the soul classics from the 60s, 70s, and 80s as the vehicle through which to do so, it made a lot of sense. When I heard his stunningly beautiful and moving cover of The Commodores’ “Night Shift,” it made even more sense. I think that’s still my favorite of the album’s 15 songs, but there too there’s plenty of competition. I needed this album in November 2022, and I dare say we all do. That’s most definitely something to be thankful for!

Next Thanks-giving tomorrow,

Ben

PS. What are you thankful for?

November 19-20, 2022: Lily Hart’s Guest Post on Voices of the River

[Lily Hart is the Digital Manager at the nonprofit Confluence and coordinator of the Voices of the River Journal. She is also a first year PhD student at the University of British Columbia.]

Last night, I celebrated the launch of a new journal focused on the history, living culture, and ecology of the Columbia River system, through Indigenous perspectives. Voices of the River is an accessible journal of stories, research papers, poetry, and art designed to elevate Indigenous perspectives in our understanding of our region—the greater Columbia River system—and our nation. As the Digital Content Manager at the publisher, the nonprofit Confluence, I have had the honor of acting as the managing editor for this publication. 

 

Confluence is a community supported nonprofit that connects people to the history, living cultures, and ecology of the Columbia River system through Indigenous voices. Wework through five completed art landscapes, educational programs, and public gatherings in collaboration with northwest tribes, communities, and the celebrated artist Maya Lin. You can find more about us and our history here. This project is an extension of our work in public gatherings, education programs in schools, and our Digital Library, which features interviews, documentary shorts, photo galleries, and research papers on various subjects exclusively from Indigenous perspectives. 

 

This 30-page journal is supported by a generous grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. It features articles by the authors pictured above from left to right: Rachel Cushman (Chinook) and Chance White Eyes (Oneida), Sean Smith (Chinook), and Emily Washines (Yakama). The Journal also includes works by Carlee Wilson (Chinook), poetry by Ed Edmo (Shoshone-Bannock), and first-person narratives from Linda Meanus (Warm Springs/Celilo) and Confluence Founding Board Chair Antone Minthorn (CTUIR), with accompanying art by Tommy Greyeyes (Navajo). For me, it has been such a pleasure to work with the authors of all these pieces, as well as the graphic artist Tommy Greyeyes.

Confluence recognizes that the idea of “peer review” is part of the Western academy, which as it has been shown time and again, is part of upholding imperial goals.1 While some of the articles (research intensive) in the Confluence Journal, are technically categorized as “peer reviewed” for the purpose of qualifying as a academic journal we attempt  a decolonial approach to the process.. 

In this spirit, Confluence aimed for the process of what is called “peer review” to be a positive one, aimed at helping the author improve the article and helping the editor make edits, rather than subject an author to many many rounds of revisions or act as a gate-keeping mechanism. One of the ways I saw this emerge was through the thoughtful engagement authors had with each other’s articles. We held meetings with all the authors together, so they could give each other feedback and build community along the way.  I just sat back and watched them engage with each other—thoughtfully and creatively. 

 

The Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg scholar Leanne Simpson writes of “Aanjigone,” the Nishnaabe concept “that one needs to be very, very careful with making judgments and with the act of criticism. Aanjigone is a concept that promotes the framing of Nishnaabeg values and ethics in the positive.”2 This idea is what frames Simpson’s approach to writing and academia. 

 

Simpson writes that:

 

 “Critique and revelation cannot in and of themselves create the kinds of magnificent change our people are looking for...To me it means we need to be careful with our criticism. We should not blindly follow the academy's love affair with criticism, ripping apart other Indigenous academics' work-with whom we probably have more in common than virtually any other academics in the world. Instead, we should highlight the positive within each other's work, and save our criticism for the forces that continually try to rip us apart.”3

 

On Friday, November 18th, the journal officially launched with a party at the Oregon Historical Society. We held a panel with four of the authors—Rachel Cushman, Chance White Eyes, Sean Smith and Emily Washines—mingled, and sold journals. The journal can be purchased here. This was the first time some of us met in person, and a moving culmination of almost a year's work.

1. Linda Tuhiwai Smith, Decolonizing Methodologies:Research and Indigenous Peoples (London, UK: Zed Books, 2012).

2. Leanne Simpson. Dancing on Our Turtle's Back: Stories of Nishnaabeg Re-creation, Resurgence and a New Emergence. (Winnipeg, MB: Arbeiter Ring Pub., 2011), 54-55.
3. Ibid.

[Holiday series starts Monday,

Ben

PS. What do you think?]

November 18, 2022: Public Art: Murals

[On November 13, 1982, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was unveiled in Washington, DC. So for its 40thanniversary, I’ll AmericanStudy the Wall and four other unique examples of public art. Share your thoughts on these & any other public art projects you’d highlight!]

I could tell you all about the 50 stunning murals highlighted in this Parade piece featuring an exemplary mural from every state. Or you could go click through the gallery yourself, and be inspired by the individual artists, communal visions, collective memories, and aesthetic power of this most social form of public art. You know what I’m gonna recommend!

Also, on Twitter Leslie Frost reminds me of the amazing New Deal post office murals!

Newest Guest Post this weekend,

Ben

PS. So one more time: What do you think? Other public art projects you’d highlight?