Reading Response to Alexander Galloway reading
Chapter 1 of Alexander R.
Galloway’s Gaming: Essays on Algorithmic
Culture Volume 18 examines the overall functionality of video games.
Galloway describes video games as an overall application of actions. The action
from the gamer is known as operator actions and the action from the software is
known as machine actions. When these two separate types of actions are
combined, the result is a highly interactive full-fledged tableau vivant. I
found it particularly interesting when Galloway exemplified, via Super Mario
Bros, that operator actions are like locating a power up and machine actions
are boosting the player’s health. This example highly showed the cause and
effect of player actions vs. game response.
Before reading this, I had never thought about the duality of actions in
my favorite video games. I now understand more fully that when I score a three
pointer in NBA 2K12, there are two actions occurring rather than the simple
swoosh of the net.
The other part of Galloway’s essay
that I enjoyed was his explanation of diegetic and non-diegetic action. He used
a graph to explain the spectrum between the narrative and non-narrative aspects
of a video game. He goes further to explain how some acts represent a diegetic
action but are of no real importance to the plot. In the online World of
Warcraft, your character can stand in the middle of Stormwind City while the
setting changes and other characters pass by but generally no important actions
will occur. This is what is known as an ambient act. However, in most video
games, pressing the pause button is not an ambient act. It is a temporary
complete suspension of the software. It is important to recognize the
difference between these two examples because actions continue in the
background for the former while actions are stopped in the latter. Overall,
Galloway’s essay provided insight into the not always visual actions of video
games. Although his essay did become more technical as it progressed, I would recommend
it for reading to a video game enthusiast.
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| WoW character in Stormwind City |
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