#game environments

Resident Evil 4 (2005)

Mother’s Cradle & Various Locations

Maybe I just need to double check what a valley is, but I recall a lot more flat space, less water and at least four more large shopping malls being in the valley’s I know.  I kid, but really The Nibenay Valley is a pretty small space in the grand scheme of The Elder Scrolls Oblivion. Like it’s closest neighbor, the aforementioned by this blog Blackwood, Nibenay Valley is dominated by the large river running through it and the way that shapes both the environments and the things you can find there! 

I was unfair to the concept of a “valley” earlier.  Even though Nibenay Valley doesn’t really fit the description of one I expect, it doesn’t make it any less of a well defined environment in the context of the game.  Bordered by foothills and focused around the Niben river down the middle Nibenay Valley has a personality all it’s own through the things you can find within it.  Though castle ruins and light signs of civilization are nothing new for someone exploring Cyrodiil, they remain effective mood setters.  I like to imagine that so frequently dot the river were once critically important in less peaceful times to defend an important shipping route. they may be disused ruins now but, they once had a purpose to the valley.

I gotta be honest on this one, kinda seems like you guys were trying to run aground here.

Along the river itself you can find sights ranging from quaint bridges (check for trolls), shipwrecks (check for the ghosts of trolls) and even a magical grove with a unicorn in it (check for a surprisingly large amount of Minotaur’s).  Not even making that last one up!  When Oblivion wanted to lean into being a bit of a generic fairy tale environment they didn’t hesitate!  As I said before, The Nibenay Valley is a pretty small area.  It’s dwarfed by it’s next door region “The Nibenay Basin” but it manages to pack in more than enough personality in the limited space it has.  Just, again, check for Trolls and Minotaurs, because maybe that’s the reason all those forts were abandoned?  The hordes of Trolls and Minotaurs specifically.

The extent of my gaming involves solitaire card game on my laptop.  I cannot honestly say that I can understand the online gamer, but I do understand the community aspect of getting together with people to play games.   Maybe a tad old fashioned but I get together with my friends and family for game nights on a regular basis in the real world.  The benefits of these events are the social re-enforcement and building of relationships that happen during the night.  True we do already have a standing relationship, but this gives us a chance to connect and strengthen the bonds.  I assume that online environment games such as EVE Online serve pretty much the same purpose but on a larger scale.

Amanda’s comments in the discussion gave me a more in-depth understanding of online gaming communities with her explanation about the support and validation from the individuals involved and how they have carried these relationships into the real world.  In marketing these are considered our reference groups and they are people we either aspire to be like or have an influence over our behaviour. With things like gaming our peers would have a greater influence on us than any other reference groups such as our families.

Further reflecting the real world, online games facilitate bonding and conflict between players in the actual game environment.  The gaming environments have several levels of governances and as described in ‘The lawless frontiers of deep space (2014) paper they consist of the rules implemented by the designers of the platform when constructing it and include the contract that the players have to agree to if they wish to participate.  Secondly the actual rules of the game and lastly the conduct of the players within the gaming environment, all these will influence the players perspective of the game.

According to the 2016 Video Game Statistics & Trends Who’s Playing What & Why (Lofgren, 2016) 48% of women and 50% of men play online games, and 49% of all Americans play games.  Interestingly in the same report 58% of adults (32% game players and 26% gamers) who play games think that there is too much violence in the games, pointing out one of the negative aspects of the gaming environment and presenting a concern about children’s involvement.

However, despite common beliefs, most gamers are fully grown adults, the average Australian gamer is 32 years old, and a significant portion of them have been playing for over a decade.  The number of men and women involved in the gaming environment is approximately a fifty-fifty split.  Whether you are for it or against it, with 95% of the Australian households having a gaming device the future for gaming is only going to get better as the next generation grow up with gaming in their life. (Dominguez, 2012)

References:

de Zwart, M & Humphreys, S 2014,' The Lawless Frontier of Deep Space: Code as Law in EVE Online', Cultural Studies Review, vol. 20, no. 1, pp. 77-99.

Lofgren K 2016, 2016 Video Game Statistics & Trends Who’s Playing What & Why, <https://www.bigfishgames.com/blog/2016-video-game-statistics-and-trends/>, Viewed: 25 Jan 2018

Dominguez J 2012, New statistics reveal the face of Australian gaming, The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper, <http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/games/blog/screenplay/new-statistics-reveal-the-face-of-australian-gaming-20120801-23g49.html>, Viewed: 25 Jan 2018

Images:

Benji 2016, One thing everyone needs while online gaming, Image, <http://uac.ac/one-thing-online-gaming/>, Viewed: 26 Jan 2018

While sidequests still very much only involve collecting items, I’m trying to write better stories for them this time. Finishing sidequests will have effects on the map such as adding scenery or opening new areas.