Thoughts on Indie Game the Movie

         Indie Game the Movie was better than I expected. The movie personally made me feel a connection with the game designers. I wanted them to succeed as if they were my own friends wanting to achieve their dreams. I think that the designers themselves pointed out why Gee is wrong in trying to pinpoint an exact method to studying games. Blow didn't like how the gamers were interpreting Braid, but I think that's because everyone sees games differently and experiences them differently (this is similar to the discussion about Castlevania being played differently.) So this shows how even through studying games, the creator's reason for creating them may not be what is perceived by the player. There isn't one correct way of analyzing.

          One thing I noticed about these games was that none of the games had those stereotypes that mainstream video games have. All of the games looked appealing to both men and women and also to people of every race. Leonard's statistics would not support an argument that these games follow the stereotypical/gender issues that the other games have. Although they are a little different, they appeal to a wider audience.

           Something I wanted to say in class about Leonard's article was how the videogame series "The Sims" helps to break the stereotypes created in games. This game can appeal to both men and woman because the characters in these games are created by the gamers themselves. As the player, you can choose the race of your sim, the gender, and the body structure. This gives everyone the chance create their ideal character. If the men want a character with large breasts they can control that through the game and similarly women can control if their male characters are muscular or not. I think this game actually shows how games can be a positive influence. Even though parts of the game are ridiculous, the game actually shows the players the responsibilities of running families.

 I think this article from PBS.com also adds to the discussion we were having in class. It was written by an MIT professor and has a good explanation (in my opinion) on why these so called "facts" are just myths. http://www.pbs.org/kcts/videogamerevolution/impact/myths.html Just something cool I thought the class might want to check out.