How do you choose the next computer game you want to play?

[Lexicus]

Yeah he already said tv as a medium was dying too.

I mean, is he wrong about that? TV is dying, and it's being killed by the internet. There was actually a really good term I encountered recently, "meta-medium".

The source of that was a quite excellent interview about Facebook:

DD: But also, like Marshall McLuhan, he insisted that we need to understand what is essential to each kind of medium. And he was talking about what was essential to television, which is entertainment. Facebook alone is so many things to so many people that it seems hard to pinpoint what is essential to Facebook.

SV: One of his insights into television was that it had become what he called a “meta-medium.” Postman defined a meta-medium as a medium that contains and structures and defines all other media, all previous media. He made a convincing argument that the emergence of television changed radio. Facebook is a meta-medium, as well. The experience of being on Facebook is the experience of encountering video that resembles television, it also means you encounter text, it means you encounter photographs, poetry occassionally. It is a site, though not the only site, for encountering this variety of media and expression. It performs similar roles to television in that sense, but it is a very different experience than television. It’s important, as Postman guides us, to pay attention to the specific nature of Facebook. In chapter one of my book I do an almost phenomenological dive into the experience of using Facebook. What does it mean to watch that flow of your news feed scroll up. What are the items you see? What does that say about you and your world? What is the feeling you get, as you do that? My opposition to Postman at the time, between 1999 and 2002, was based on a vision of digital media that seemed to have the promise of openness, of democracy, and of depth. If you remember back in those days—maybe I wasn’t so far from Mark Zuckerberg in this—I saw the rise of blogs, independently produced websites, of communally edited platforms, as being extremely exciting and potentially empowering. I shared that optimism in the early days of this century that we could build digital systems that were going to render Postman’s arguments irrelevant, or quaint, or dated. Turns out that Facebook basically revived the importance of Neil Postman’s work.

 

[civvver]

I mean, is he wrong about that? TV is dying, and it's being killed by the internet. There was actually a really good term I encountered recently, "meta-medium".

The source of that was a quite excellent interview about Facebook:

I suppose it depends on what you mean by tv. If you mean traditional network tv like ABC, NBC, CBS then yes, but people watch internet shows on their tv. What's the difference between a netflix or hulu original and an fx or amc original which can also be streamed with their apps? You don't need regular cable to get cable networks even, you can get sling or hulu or something delivered via the internet.

So saying tv as a utility is dying is accurate, but tv as a medium? Hell no, it's never been stronger. There are tons of well received and popular shows out there right now and tons of content creators besides the old big networks. It's just a silly thing to say imo.

 

[sophie]

I don't watch tv, but I do watch abc/nbc/fx/etc. shows on a tv, just with a ps4. But I don't watch tv.

This statement turned into a large argument between me and the rest of my family.

 

[Lohrenswald]

lately I've just like started a bunch of random games and not getting through them

sticking to a game and beating it is the real problem I have lol
It's kinda hard when like, I can forget things I was supposed to do and such (and a few of them I'm afraid I might even have forgotten the controls)

I'm afraid I'm one of those tools with a bloated steam library

Also regarding "dumbing down", I'm sort of for it
I don't want to waste countless hours trying to figure out how the stuff's supposed to work

 

[Arakhor]

I probably have getting on for 1000 games, whether in hard copy or on various digital platforms. The key is to only install games you're actually planning to play.

 

[Lohrenswald]

The key is to only install games you're actually planning to play.

I do do that but like, I kinda have a hard time getting through them

Guess I could force myself to have tops 5 or something installed

 

[Lexicus]

I suppose it depends on what you mean by tv. If you mean traditional network tv like ABC, NBC, CBS then yes, but people watch internet shows on their tv. What's the difference between a netflix or hulu original and an fx or amc original which can also be streamed with their apps? You don't need regular cable to get cable networks even, you can get sling or hulu or something delivered via the internet.

So saying tv as a utility is dying is accurate, but tv as a medium? Hell no, it's never been stronger. There are tons of well received and popular shows out there right now and tons of content creators besides the old big networks. It's just a silly thing to say imo.

Well, when I think of tv I think of tv-as-utility rather than what you seem to mean by tv-as-media. I don't consider it "watching tv" when I have a show streaming on one of the monitors my computer is hooked up to.

 

[civvver]

Yeah but media is the plural of medium, which is what was said, tv is a dying medium, not over the air and cable tv are dying utilities.

I guess it's all your perception. But basically episode format scripted series is what I'd consider the medium of tv. That is certainly not dying. The facebook stuff you linked is more like interactive videos or user created content, or not scripted stuff/reviews/reality stuff. A lot of people watch youtube reviewers etc. Although there's not a huge difference between say Angry Joe video game reviews and a game review show on g4 network on cable.

Anyway, games, I usually trend towards familiarity or games that are easily accessible. Unfortunately I just don't have time to figure out stuff like victoria. I did figure out the original civ1 with no manuals or anyone who knew the game. A friend gave it to me on disk and I just played it. I used to build no buildings cus maintenance is bad! But now I don't have time, I just need to play for 30 mins and call it a day.

 

[Lexicus]

Yeah but media is the plural of medium,

Mistake on my part

 

[Cassius Critzer]

There are more programs to watch but with smaller audiences and driven by niche marketing and based upon a pay to watch model. The television as a medium is aimed at advertising and since that is superfulous to all by the very old senior citizen, then it is dying. And since it cannot compete due to FCC restrictions, it will die.

One of the controversies at Cannes is that Netflix movies are NOT considered cinema as they were never seen in a theatre. Thus they cannot be awarded. And the same sorts of arguments go with serialized dramas on Netflix that were broadcast on television. Take the Handmaid's Tale on hulu. Is it television? Nope. It is serialized drama.

The giant audiences of yesterday for an indication of success have evaporated. So you have some well written show like the Americans which has psychopaths as protagonists commiting any number of heinous crimes as Communist infiltrators, and the average American will not tune in as the protagonist is missing and an anti-hero of the worst sort is in their place.

And that affected software in gaming and will continue to do so. And are these highly regarded games by mass appeal actually innovative and creative and worthwhile? No. They are not.

Regarding space based games, a very clever game could be assisting other species in various ways and have almost no conquest, but would have hundreds of unique stories. What is not needed is just glitter for planets but no complexity of anthropology and society.

But that would be a thinking game in which a measured response would not overly interfere but allow the encountered culture to trade knowledge and be benevolent and enlightening.

Now on the Android, not only are there ads on games but downloadabe content so while initially free, many pay to play, and so they are different than standard gaming and that began with DLC through the Total War series post Medieval 2.

Gaming has a vicarious element and is often about changing history. But if there are no heroes, do you really want to emulate some warlord monster in conquest? I think not.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

There are more programs to watch but with smaller audiences

Thanks, I needed a laugh.

This is perhaps the most superfluous statement in support of the basic arithmetic process of division that I've ever encountered. More programs to watch means smaller audience per program. Who'da thunk it?

 

[Arakhor]

Moderator Action: Let's get back to one's choice of computer games, please.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Anyway, games, I usually trend towards familiarity or games that are easily accessible. Unfortunately I just don't have time to figure out stuff like victoria. I did figure out the original civ1 with no manuals or anyone who knew the game. A friend gave it to me on disk and I just played it. I used to build no buildings cus maintenance is bad! But now I don't have time, I just need to play for 30 mins and call it a day.

I can relate to this. Somehow picking up a new game that I actually have to learn how to play is just not fun anymore.

 

[Cassius Critzer]

This is nonsense. There is an audience of billions for any medium like computer gaming. The audience is not strictly domestic. The US population in 1975 was 216 million. The US population today 326 million. So today's consumers are not restricted and could and should have larger audiences. On top of which, there are even less restrictions as one need not exclusively support one program but any.

If computer games are excellent, one need not play a limited number particularly with GoG and Steam.