#4 (Environments and Story Arcs)

McLuhan has a few main ideas about environments: how they were, during the time of print technology, and how they are now, during our age of electric technology. "Environments are not passive wrappings, but are, rather, active processes which are invisible," he states (McLuhan 68).

 McLuhan also believes that "anti-environments, or countersituations made by artists, provide means of direct attention and enable us to see and understand more clearly" (McLuhan 68).

So what is an anti-environment? Simply something "that raises the unconscious environment to conscious attention" (Alice Rae).

In Jonathon Degann's Game Theory 101 the most important component of a successful game is Story Arc. That is, a beginning, middle and end which turns the game into an "adventure in which the players and the pieces are characters." I don't think this is hard advice to follow; in fact, I think most people enjoy a good story, which typically has a story arc.

If McLuhan is correct, then video games themselves are environments. Many of them are antienvironments, like the Stanley Parable, a game that directs the user's attention to itself as a video game. So what could our environments in video games, combined with the story arcs (or lack thereof, in few cases) tell us about our society right now? Increasingly, games like the Stanley Parable mock the established, invisible environmental rules established for first person games. We can see an increase in antienvironment games, which play with environment including such accepted, basic rules such as Story Arc.

Perhaps we have started to understand the rules we have created for our video games, for our virtual realities. Perhaps we are moving into new territory, developing games which question the environments we have created, allowing us to "see more clearly" our real-world, offline environments.

It may be a stretch, but I wonder if by manipulating the environments in video games, we are beginning to become aware of the invisible, "active processes" in our world now. Maybe manipulating our virtual environments will show us how we can change the environments in our society today.

Post #3 (McLuhan meets Skyrim)

Skyrim.

I freakin' love this game. Whoever invented this magical realm of dragons and medieval war really knew which type of alternate reality I'd like to live.

McLuhan argues that "[t]he instantaneous world of electric informational media involves all of us, all at once. No detachment or frame is possible" (52).

The way I play Skyrim, on my PC, I can both agree and disagree with him.

I am connected with the Steam/Skyrim community when I play the downloadable content available on Steam. Players can make content, and it gets rated and uploaded by other players. Overall, I believe that such a connection with other users greatly improves the quality of my gaming experience. In this way, McLuhan is correct in that I cannot completely disconnect from the Skyrim community.

However, without such content, I feel like I am completely detached from the real world as well as the electric world when I play Skyrim. I'm in my own world. I don't know how McLuhan could argue that when I am playing I am somehow connected with people, that "everyone" is involved.

In my opinion, playing Skyrim is almost exactly like a book. Because it's a first-person game, the perspective is fixed. McLuhan says with the book came "[t]he private, fixed point of view became possible and literacy conferred the power of detachment, non-involvement." Skyrim only offers a private point of view, and not even a fictional one, so perhaps McLuhan was only referring to non-first-person technologies.

Post #2: [Almost] All Forms of Payment Accepted Here

I work at one of the many coffee shops Washington State Dining Services owns around campus. Most people know where this building is; Lighty, also known as the French Administration building (I don’t know why), usually features in every student’s college experience at some point. I serve drinks and sandwiches to a constantly-flowing stream of customers, mostly comprised of students and faculty.

The employees come in two breeds: outrageously cranky or incredibly friendly. Many of them work in the Financial Aid office, constantly desperate for caffeine and headache-relief.

But more importantly, all customers can be divided into the three forms of payment we take: cash/check, Cougar Card/ RDA, or credit/debit (minus American Express). My job as cashier (plus making food and drinks) allows me to witness firsthand the forms of payment people use. Many students use RDA and Cougar Cash; because faculty can’t access RDA (Resident Dining Account) they can use Coug Cash instead. Many staff personnel who use Coug Cash have very old, dated cards, which still somehow work on our system. We swipe their retro, faded, flimsy cards and send them on their ways. Some cards are so old they require extra swipes for the machine to properly read them.

However, many faculty and students use cash to pay for their drinks and breakfast sandwiches. In fact, I always joke that this is as good a place as any to get rid of extra cash. Sometimes I get handfuls of germy change, which I usually never bother counting because it’s a pain.

I wonder if my frequent handling of cash-bacteria is the reason I’ve been sick lately. Hmm.

Personally, I like using a combination of Cougar Cash (you get a discount!) and normal cash, but also debit if I’m really low on the other forms of money. My credit card also works as a debit card, as it links to an online account I can access any time.

In the old days (as of like, 2 years ago) Lighty Cafe used to only take cash and Coug Cash/RDA. The other day I had a customer who came up to me at the cashier.

She asked me, “Do you take credit card?”

I was like, “Oh yeah! Except for American Express.”

“For how long?”

“About two years, now.”

She flipped out, exclaiming, “What? No way! I didn't know that! You guys never told us!!” She was very distressed that no one had informed her we now accept other forms of payment.

I was amazed that this lady, who clearly hadn't visited our cart in over two years, could be so irritated at something so silly. It's just coffee, lady, if you needed to use your card for coffee so badly you should have read the signs posted everywhere that tell you that we now accept your form of payment.

But reactions like this are normal; mess with people’s money or routine in any way, and you must be willing to suffer the consequences. Food services can be a thankless job indeed.

So for now, the place I work accepts nearly ALL forms of payment, making it quite accessible for both students and staff. Maybe my managers should have sent an email to everyone belonging to WSU. Yeah. They'll be sure to do that next time we change anything to do with money...