Research Assignment #2

After spending some time playing the variety of games posted on the class wiki, it is becoming increasingly harder to examine them and coin certain ones games and others not. Each of the links shows a graphic and animated "game" used for entertainment purposes - some more complex than others - but each is justifiably in some way a "game."

Samarost, in my opinion, is the least game-like of the lot. There are graphic and imagery, but I had trouble finding a goal and a specific win/lose scenerio - it seemed more just like click around and see what happens instead of a storyline.

The Goat in the Gray Fedora I found to be very much a game - with graphic, characters, and a specific goal in mind. It was possibly the most complex and innovative out of the options.

Collapse was very much a game, but as the previous articles stated, a game in a different way than "Gray Fedora." The goals were much less complex, and much less engaging.

Mr. Picassohead was less of a game, in my opinion, and more so a way to just kill time and have fun. Although the graphics and concept were enjoyable and clever, it's more of a dress up exercise than a game with a goal and rules to follow. There is no storyline.

Finally, FunkyTruck4wd was also a game, with rules, directions, and goals. Although not as complex as "Gray Fedora" and more on par with "Collapse," it follows the conventions of those types of games than with "Picassohead" and especially "Samarost."

After playing these games, I turn back to my already unsure answer on what is a video game, and continue to try and explore that. All of these games, in some form, meet standards that would be considered "video game," although some of them are clearly not very game-ish. Samarost made no sense to me - but it was somewhat user-controlled and had graphics to technically it is a video-game, but not at the same complexity level and as up the gamer as "Grey Fedora" or "Collapse."

My answer still remains the same, I suppose - video games are anything that can be played through some sort of console that use a video card and have some set of game-like rules and story - even if it's a loose story.