Prior to registering for DMS 448 I never had the opportunity to indulge in rhetoric or even discussions regarding video games in school. Having the opportunity here at the University at Buffalo’s media studies department makes me extremely grateful and appreciative. Since I was young kid I have always been intrigued by various different aspects of video games. I have always been intrigued by the effect of gaming algorithms, story-telling narratives, and historical factors. To actually notice these same aspects being addressed in game studies helped me understand video games from a broader perspective. Dr. Cody’s lecture style gave me exposure to scholarly excerpts, content, and debates about the games we all know well and love. His discussions throughout lectures actually helped me develop my own opinions about gaming as a media, and the various political aspects that I never paid much attention to before. According to TreaAndrea M. Russworm “In my experience, so many of our students come to video games classes with the expectation that we are going to transcend the discussions about “identity politics” and “political correctness” that are fodder for Internet forums and bifurcated online debates. Our pedagogical approaches to games should absolutely be more rigorous and comprehensive than these types of discussions, but in demonstrating that we are invested in the serious scholarly treatment of games” (Russworm). I admire Russworm’s take regarding this issue, because she reminds me of how Dr. Cody’s course holds the same rigorous agenda when addressing the gender and culture aspects of video games. Whenever we partake in discussions we intertwine our opinions with scholarly evidence that generates our credibility. I agree that it’s quite essential for educational institutions to continue to treat game studies rigorously, because it should be perceived the same way other forms of media does.  

Furthermore, TreaAndrea M. Russworm continues to mention that “while scholarship that is invested in the representation of characters and in overt themes in story and plot are essential to game studies and must continue to flourish, we also know that gamic systems are influenced by things like algorithmic bias and that even the most seemingly abstract digital simulator is both encoded and decoded ideologically” (Russworm). This statement does a great job conveying the reality of video game production. Although the reasoning behind some scholarly game studies is based on characteristics of narrative, it’s essential to notice the root of most game production. Every code and every algorithm is controlled by developers and the individuals behind the scenes at organizations such as Activision, 2ksports, and Rockstar games. We mentioned earlier in the semester the impact of 2k’s Bioshock and the hurtful representation of women that was caused by the coding joke by one of the developers. This made me open my eyes to the potential bias that could’ve been imposed on games all along. It’s also important to emphasize the impact of the biases of game production, because if we’re not careful we can be allowing discriminative actions to occur. When we let things like this blow out of control it can lead to community of problems for various different cultures and genders.

Works Cited:

1. Race, Gender, and Sexuality in Video Games, ed. Jennifer Malkowski and TreaAndrea M. Russworm (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2017), 4