Videogames 10 - Playing games: alternatives to the mainstream

Note: in order to fit everything in and not to give you way too much work, we've skipped a theorist (Clay Shirky). We'll be coming back to him later on, i.e after the lockdown, when we do online media, so don't worry. His theory is quite similar to Henry Jenkins. 

Catching up

If you have not done so already, please make sure you have all nine previous videogame lessons completed and published to your blogs! 

You can find a complete index of all the lockdown lessons by clicking here.

Playing games 

Mushihimesama and The Silver Case are two examples of non-mainstream and independent videogames that could not be any more different than the Assassin's Creed franchise. They would make excellent counterpoints to slot in to your exam!

For the A-level media studies exam, we have been asked to explore the Assassin's Creed franchise. Hopefully by now you should feel pretty comfortable about the prospect of talking about this game series in the exam. If that thought stresses you out, then remember if a question on the videogame industry does come up, you'll only be talking about it for 12-15 minutes!

However, it would be excellent if, in the exam, you were able to provide a counterexample to Assassins's Creed. In order to do this, you are going to have to play some games!

Task: find and play a game that isn't part of the Assassin's Creed franchise. Try and make sure that it is as different from the Assassin's Creed franchise as possible, and answer the questions below

This might be trickier for some people than other people. Right now I have four different consoles from four different eras hooked up to my TV, but I'm a massive nerd. Here are some tips and suggestions:

• Play a game on a console you already own
• Play a game on your phone: if you have a smart phone, you almost certainly will have a game already installed on it. If not, you can go on the App Store or whatever and download the first big selling free game you can find
• Watch a video of someone playing a game that you don't own
• I have uploaded two videos of me playing and talking about two of my favorite independent games, so click here to learn about The Silver Case and click here to learn about Mushihimesama
• Ask someone in your household if you can borrow one of their games, and get them to recommend one
• Watch someone in your household play a game. Ask lots of annoying questions

Once you have found a way to play/watch a game being played, you can have a stab at answering the following questions:

Task: find and play a game that isn't part of the Assassin's Creed franchise. Try and make sure that it is as different from the Assassin's Creed franchise as possible, and answer the questions below

• What is the narrative style of the game? (non/linear? Equilibrium? Disruptions?)
• What genre (s) can you identify? (paradigms, iconography, hybridity etc.)
• How are we as an audience interacting with the game?
• Does the game appeal to a mainstream or a niche audience? How?
• What is the preferred reading of the game? 

Make sure that all ten videogame lessons are uploaded to your blog before the end of the week!