Things to Get Me for Festivus

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09 December 2005

Things to Get Me for Festivus

Not video games!

Half-Real: Video Games between Real Rules and Fictional Worlds by Jesper Juul

Smartbomb: The Quest for Art, Entertainment, and Big Bucks in the Videogame Revolution by Heather Chaplin and Aaron Ruby

Everything Bad is Good for You: How Today's Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter by Steven Johnson

I'll end up buying these books for myself, I'm sure. *mutter* You cheap bastards. (That was a joke. I do not require or expect Christmas presents. :-P)

19:56 | Permalink | E-mail this post

Everything bad is good fails to acknowledge that we may be subject to greater media complexity but are still increaisngly retarded wqhen it comes to interaction and applying/using knowledge.
Its not that good, TV and games make us thick.

Posted by Anonymous | 12 December, 2005 06:31

Could you explain your opinion? In what way do TV and games retard our ability to interact (what kinds of interaction?) and how we apply and use knowledge?

I've read the reviews of Everything Bad Is Good For You, which are positive in the main, and it appears to serve as a vindication of sorts for gamers. I am interested in other opinions of the book.

Posted by Anonymous | 12 December, 2005 08:27

All it says is that media patterns/programs are more complex. Which they had to be in order to differentiate, and captivate what it doesnt say is that this means nothing in itself.
Though media is more complex, we are fundamentally still suspect to its isolated nature and we do not learn how to implement this complex media. (if indeed we can learn anything from it, all I learnt from Tekken was how to play Tekken)

I would call it nothing more than retina burn.
Seriously read if it you want but I failed to see its value.

Posted by Anonymous | 13 December, 2005 06:48