Reflections on GHAC

At first impression, I thought that the Games History and Context module was going to be little more then a rehash of the Games Reviewing module that we studied in semester one. However it quickly became apparent that the two modules were sufficiently different and ultimately not really alike at all. Games Reviewing was more English language based whereas GHAC goes, I feel, more in depth about the games themselves.

I enjoyed in particular the way that we were encouraged to look at games and consoles “off the beaten track.” For example when having to study a Japanese game to compare to similar games made in the west, I looked at a puzzle game on an obscure console known as the WonderSwan. Having to research into these lesser known machines and games is a good thing as it enhances your knowledge of the games world beyond EA games and Grand Theft Auto, and beyond PlayStations and Xbox’s.

Another task which I really enjoyed was to have a look back at some of the early games developers/publishers and to write about how they influenced the games industry. This gave me the opportunity to the study the bitmap brothers, whose game Speedball is one of my favorite of all time. Therefore it was cool to go back and look at what else they made and how the company grew.

One criticism I would make about the module is that there seemed to be no consistency to what we were studying. One week we may be looking at FPS games and then all of a sudden next week it would be obscure Japanese games, then the week after we would be having an in depth look at the business of videogames. It felt to me like the module was a bit thrown together in that respect and so could perhaps have been better structured in that respect. However at least the module never got stale as we were constantly looking at something new, so it did at least keep things interesting. As well as this, it seemed a lot of the time like in class we would go off on a tangent and not really stick to what we were supposed to be studying.

Overall all however, I thought that GHAC was a very good module in terms of broadening our knowledge of the games industry and I really did feel like I learned a lot from it. Having a weekly assignment was, I feel, a good move as it meant people couldn’t get complacent or lazy with the work and meant that we could move onto another topic next week with something fresh to study.

The Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game genre was born in 1978 with the introduction of entirely text based fantasy style adventure games ran on private servers. These games were known as Multi user Dungeons. (Or MUDS) While there were several different MUDs available at this time, they shared many basic interface elements - for example, a player would usually navigate his or her character around the game world by typing in compass directions.

Obviously then, the first big difference between the MMORPGs of today and the MUDs of old is the complete shift from text based to graphics based. You now have direct control of the character through mouse and keyboard, whereas before you would be given a set list of things you could do and you would then pick which option you wanted, for example choosing whether to go north or south. Eventually, it became possible to download artwork which accompanied your game, but you still were relying mostly on the text to play the games.

At some point in history the technology became available to allow the kind of direct control of you player that was already available in offline games. The first graphical MMORPG was Neverwinter Nights which went live on AOL for PC owners in 1991 and ran through 1997. However, the game cost $6 an hour to play, a fairly substantial sum of money especially when you consider how slow the internet connection would have been back in 1991.

Nowadays it is usual to pay on a monthly basis, with the average game costing between 8-10 pounds a month, considerably cheaper then the MUDs. This is mainly due to the improvements in technology making the games more accessible to the masses and with the faster computers of today the games are more affordable.

Overall I believe that there is a significant difference between the experiences offered through MUDs and MMORPGs. Through my own experiences it seems that MUDs are more about being the character. As you have no graphical representation on screen for others to see, you have to make them believe who you are through talking and acting like you character. On the other hand, in an MMORPG such as World of Warcraft, this role playing behavior isn’t needed as much as you can play the game like you play any other character. It isn’t necessary to act like you character as your avatar allows other players to see just who you are in the game.

Afterburner!

Take a look around your local arcade and wherever you are, you are guaranteed to see a lot of similar machines. Time Crisis, Daytona USA, Virtua Fighter and maybe House of the Dead. These seem to be the usual suspects in every arcade I have ever visited. However, if you are lucky, tucked in the corner and possibly gathering dust you may just see an old Afterburner cabinet.

Originally released by Sega in 1987 after the success of the Tom Cruise film Top Gun, Afterburner was a hit in the arcade. The cabinet was a hulking behemoth which surrounded the player and immersed them in the game with surround sound speakers and a tilting motion which moved the whole cabinet whenever the player moved the control stick.

With Afterburner, the player was in control of an F14 Tomcat jet fighter gunning down waves of enemy planes while avoiding incoming fire. Throughout each stage the player could refuel and restock on missiles through landing on aircraft carriers. The fast paced action and emphasis on shooting rather then being an intense flight sim meant it proved to be a success for Sega who moved on to create a sequel, as well as several home versions.

I feel Afterburner is an extremely fun game which adds a lot to the genre of flight sims. It showed that they can be fun when played in small doses, as opposed to the long and drawn out affairs of super realistic flight sims on the home computers. Whereas the PC flight sims all required a significant investment of a players time to get good at, Afterburner provided instant thrills in the arcade enviroment.