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Portal as a required college text

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Re: Portal as a required college text

#21

Post by mattezell »

btilly wrote: post #20

I appreciate the idea, but I have a major issue with it. I personally get motion sick from playing various kinds of first person games. (The problem first showed up for me with Doom.) Judging from videos I've seen, Portal would be exactly the kind of game that I can't comfortably play. Normally that is not an issue because I don't have to play games I don't like. But if they get a kid like me in the class, how will t…

People are excused from "required" activities for all varieties of physical and psychological conditions... I am sure that it would be no different here - an alternative assignment being the likely resolution.

Re: Portal as a required college text

#22

Post by houseabsolute »

Honestly, this is cool, but also a travesty. Portal is in no way on the same level as some of those other works of literature, and certainly not enough time has passed to see if it survives the years of literary criticism that will be required to tell if it ever should be. It seems like a move that simply panders to . . . well, whoever is pandered to by moves like this.

Re: Portal as a required college text

#23

Post by sliverstorm »

quanticle wrote: post #4

Now, I'm fortunate enough that I can afford the necessary hardware (a relatively high-end PC) to play Portal. What about those who cannot? Is their performance in the course automatically degraded simply because they don't have the outside job/rich parent necessary to get the PC or XBox?

My campus has been archiving movies and video games and music for years now. You can play many, many old games, and current ones too.

They have special rooms with a capable machine set up, and you check in. Or, apparently for some, you can check OUT a game console to play the game at home.

Additionally, I can run Portal satisfactorily on my $250 computer. Not that this makes it accessible to every single person- some people cannot afford $250- but the number of people unable to play will be drastically reduced in the very near future.

Should money be associated with these things? If you feel the answer is 'no', remember that books cost money to buy, and so do movies. It is a bit harder to rent a video game and PC at the library, but we're getting there.

(It is important to remember that while culture may be free, the medium is not. It is also important to remember that 'Library' just means 'Someone else is paying', albeit at a reduced cost.)

Re: Portal as a required college text

#24

Post by phaedrus »

houseabsolute wrote: post #22

Honestly, this is cool, but also a travesty. Portal is in no way on the same level as some of those other works of literature, and certainly not enough time has passed to see if it survives the years of literary criticism that will be required to tell if it ever should be. It seems like a move that simply panders to . . . well, whoever is pandered to by moves like this.

I disagree. I think Portal is on the same level as a great work of literature. As an aspiring game developer myself, I feel one could analyze Portal as "the perfect game" in exactly the same sense that a classic may be described as "the perfect novel". That's not to say it's the greatest or cannot be topped, but that it took an idea, explored it to its ultimate depths, combined it with supporting elements, and finished up strongly. That there is a Portal 2 in development is immaterial: Portal 1 stands on its own as a self contained work, and in that sense I think it is very much like a great novel.

Re: Portal as a required college text

#25

Post by gommm »

Groxx wrote: post #9
[deleted] wrote: post #3

[deleted]

It still boggles me that that's Ebert's position. I've played plenty of games which were significantly better narratives than the vast majority of movies I've seen, much less that's out there. A good game can be far more immersive and emotionally powerful than a book or movie, unless you've set yourself up to not notice it.

I'd agree if you said some book or movies... But I can't find any game (or movies) that is as immersive as a great book...

Re: Portal as a required college text

#27

Post by moultano »

Passage would be a much better option: http://hcsoftware.sourceforge.net/passage/

It's very short (5 minutes,) free, and you don't have to worry about anyone in the class not having enough skill to complete it.

It's also communicates in a way that only a game can. The rules of the game themselves are most of what gives it its expressive power, not the narrative or the visuals.

Re: Portal as a required college text

#28

Post by patchwork »

moultano wrote: post #27

Passage would be a much better option: http://hcsoftware.sourceforge.net/passage/ It's very short (5 minutes,) free, and you don't have to worry about anyone in the class not having enough skill to complete it. It's also communicates in a way that only a game can. The rules of the game themselves are most of what gives it its expressive power, not the narrative or the visuals.

I never win this game.

Re: Portal as a required college text

#29

Post by DLWormwood »

Huh, not quite what I expected for what Portal could have been used for. In my mind, Portal (especially in the commentary mode) would serve better as a model of quality assurance, testing, and architectural design than as a work about the human condition.

Re: Portal as a required college text

#30

Post by jacobolus »

Qz wrote: post #14
_delirium wrote: post #2

Calling it a "book" is weird, but in the right context, culturally/technically/socially significant games aren't any weirder a required item than, say, films that also meet those criteria, and studying important films has been pretty well established for decades. Portal is a slightly strange choice, though, because of how new it is. I would imagine the course doesn't usually choose books or films from the past 5 year…

Who said "book"?

Well the blogpost here says it’s “on the booklist”. Otherwise, you’re right, it’s not clear who exactly it is that _delirium thinks called this a “book”. (Note: “text” and “book” are quite different terms. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Text_%28literary_theory%29)

Also, _delirium: this is a brand new course, so it has no “usual” reading list to compare.

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