Potpourri III

Cap’n Crunch is known infamously as the cereal that cuts up the roof of your mouth. But I cannot stop eating it tonight. It reminds me of the CD-ROM that came in boxes of the cereal for a few months in the 90s: Cap’n Crunch’s Crunchling Adventure. It was a surprisingly awesome promotional game in which you trained a creature called a Crunchling to defeat the evil Crunchium Theives. Crunchtastic! As a bonus, you could insert the CD into a CD player and listen to a story about the Crunchlings narrated by the good captain himself. It was probably the best prize to ever be included inside of a cereal box.

Another delicacy that I am sampling tonight is the “apple pear” which is apparently actually an Asian pear that has apple-like qualities. It is delicious.

I went into BigLots! looking to see if they had any wireless keyboards. They did, and I bought one, but a wireless Bluetooth speaker also caught my eye. This is somewhat frivolous as I already have wired speakers, but the allure of transmitting sound across the room proved too much. So far I really like it. I am slowly coming to terms with the fact that this Christmas season, I am spending an awful lot on myself. Pros: joy. Cons: it makes me more materialistic.

Speaking of materialism, I think I am finally okay with idea of receiving a tablet. We are donating to charities already, and I need to give myself a break. Not buying a Nexus 10 is not going to save someone’s life.

Tonight I plan on watching Another Earth. Brit Marling gave a sharp performance in Sound of My Voice, so I am expecting good things from her here.

Two of my friends have worn cardigans around me. I have jumped on the bandwagon.

Just like the Lochtepus.

I had a one dollar credit towards mp3 purchases at Amazon. I purchased My Head is an Animal by Of Monsters and Men, since it was on sale for $3.99. I am not crazy about the album, but I figure that if I can find three songs on it that I really enjoy, it will be worth the money. Their sound reminds me very much of The Head and the Heart and songs like “Little Talks” include sweeping soundscapes, but I have not found the lyrics to be anything to write home about.

Of Monsters and Men - My Head is an Animal: Amazon | Google Play | iTunes

To the Moon (2011)

Roger Ebert once said that videogames, by their nature, could never truly be art (see the comment beginning with “Roger if you don't really consider games as art then would be it be fair to say…” and Ebert’s pithy response for a real treat (use Ctrl+F, kids!)). The resulting internet firestorm brought forth some interesting counterarguments. There was a lot of back and forth—too much for me to link to everything, so I’m not going to try.

Ultimately, I found some of Ebert’s arguments to have merit—like the idea that the mechanics of goal-and-reward-based gameplay are not conducive to artistic expression—but he misses the larger picture. In recent years, we have seen videogames that forgo traditional gameplay in favor of experimental interactive experiences.  Even outside of artsy (yes, artsy) indie games, there exists a genre which encourages the creative process (something which, as Will Wright points out, can bring strong emotions of pride when a player succeeds and guilt when they fail).

Anyway, this is all kind of a roundabout way of me saying that, yes, To the Moon is art. I will cede that the way in which it is art—essentially eschewing gameplay in favor of creating an interactive story—actually gives some credence to Ebert’s arguments about gameplay mechanics—the game had to become less game-like in order to successfully tell its story. Nevertheless, it utilizes what gameplay it does have to move the plot along and takes advantage of videogame elements to tell the story. I will also admit that upon misty-eyed completion, I wondered how the story would work in cinematic form. Whether it suffers from its choice of media is unknown. To the Moon did not need to be a game, but since it is, it makes the most of the art form.

The story itself deals with themes of loss, memory, relationships, and loneliness. The premise, which is better explained by this video than by me, raises some interesting questions about whether our actual experiences are as valuable as the memories we take away from them.

The main character’s narrative is told in reverse chronological order as the memory technicians jump back through memories using “mementos”—specific objects linked to different points in the character’s life. Most of the gameplay takes the form of exploring and finding significant objects within the memories. I confess that I found parts of “Act I” repetitive and slightly boring, but the plot was interesting enough that I retained the desire to play through. The game is around 5 hours long, by Steam’s estimation, and I completed it in three sittings.

I found To the Moon to be an enjoyable, cathartic experience. To quote my friend, who introduced the game to me on facebook, “Anyone who has ever been remotely interested in games as interactive storytelling should definitely check out To The Moon…”

To Spore or Not to Spore?

I love the game Spore. Not for the gameplay—the innovative, in depth elements of the game were neutered by EA/Maxis when it was released—but for the creative potential. There cannot be many other games with its level of user generated content and such an emphasis on creation.  That potential for creation is expanded upon by the Galactic Adventures expansion pack, which allows the player to create and share games with customizable objectives that can be combined in countless ways.

Even though I have trouble uploading my creations to the server most of the time, I still love the process of creating a playable story. But I sometimes wonder, am I wasting my time? Instead of creating in-game, should I be creating from scratch in the real world by drawing or writing?

The part of me that really enjoys the game insists, no I am not wasting time. Spore is but a medium, like pottery or charcoal or words, and the creations are still, well, creative. I also kind of look at it as “practice” creating—a fun, relaxing way to charge my creative batteries. Viewed in this light, playing Spore is actually a positive thing.

However, as with all games, there is a danger of being sucked in and losing track of time. Maybe moderation is the best approach…

(I went back and forth between writing this and playing Spore.)