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Home , Arcadia 2001, Atari 5200, Cinematronics, RCA Studio II, Shark Jaws, Tennis for Two

IWKS 2300 Fall 2019 A (redacted) History of Gaming John K. Bennett How many hours per week do you spend gaming? A: None B: Less than 5 C: 5 – 15 D: 15 – 30 E: More than 30 What has been the driving force behind almost all innovations in computer design in the last 50 years?

A: defense & military B: health care C: commerce & banking D: gaming have been around for a long time…

Senet, circa 3100 B.C. 麻將 (mahjong, ma-jiang), ~500 B.C. What is a “Digital ”?

• “a software program in which one or more players make decisions through the control of the game objects and resources in pursuit of a goal” (Dignan, 2010) 1.Goal 2.Rules 3.Feedback loop (extrinsic / intrinsic motivation) 4.Voluntary Participation McGonigal, J. (2011). Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World. Penguin Press Early Computer Games Alan Turning & Early Chess-Playing Programs

• In 1948, Turing and David Champernowne wrote “Turochamp”, a paper design of a chess-playing computer program. No computer of that era was powerful enough to host Turochamp.

• In 1950, Shannon published a paper on entitled “Programming a Computer for Playing Chess”*. The same has also been used to play blackjack and the stock market (with considerable success). *Programming a Computer for Playing Chess Philosophical Magazine, Ser.7, Vol. 41, No. 314 - March 1950. OXO – Noughts and Crosses • PhD work of A.S. Douglas in 1952, University of Cambridge, UK • Tic-Tac-Toe game on EDSAC computer • Player used dial control to select appropriate square OXO – Noughts and Crosses EDSAC (1949) Tennis for Two • Tennis For Two (1958) by William Higginbotham, Brookhaven National Laboratory • Demonstration of trajectory calculation • Based on analog, rather than digital computing Tennis For Two (1958) Spacewar! • Spacewar! (1962) by Steve Russell, MIT • Demonstration of DEC PDP-1 computer • Huge success, Spacewar! later installed with every shipped PDP-1 • Spread around ARPAnet Spacewar! (1962) Text Based Gaming • Gregory Yob (1972), Hunt the Wumpus (Basic) • William Growther (1976), Adventure (PDP-10) • Marc Blanc & Co. (1980) Zork (Apple II, TRS- 80) • Michael Toy, Ken Arnold, and Glenn Wichman Rogue (UC Berkeley, 1981) • Roy Trubshaw (1978), MUD • First online multiplayer game, developed at Essex University for the DEC PDP-10 Adventure Rogue (Michael Toy, Glenn Wichman & Ken Arnold) MUD & Temple of Apshai Big Bang Theory & MUD Computer platforms… • 1976: Steve Wozniak & Steve Jobs finish Apple I, marketed for $666.66 • 1977: Apple II released. Color graphics (~$1500) • 1979: releases Atari 400 and 800 Apple I & II Computer platforms… • 1980: Jack Tramiel announces the intention to build a $300 • 1980: Commodore VIC 1001 color computer • 1981: Rebranded VIC-20 sells for $299,95 • 1982: Commodore 64 announced for $595 • 750,000 Commodore VIC-20s shipped • 600,000 Apple • 1981: IBM releases the IBM PC (~$1500) The First Arcade Games • 1971: turns Spacewar! into the world’s first coin- op arcade videogame • Bushnell founds Atari in 1972 • First product: PONG (1972) The Growth of Arcade Games • …copies follow, as well as more arcade games… • 1971 – 1973: 30 videogames by 11 manufacturers • 1974 – 1975: 57 new games • 1976: 53 new games Evolution of 2D Shooters

Koster, R. 2005. A Theory of Fun for Game Design. Paraglyph Press. Arcade Innovations • Shark (Atari 1975) featuring animated characters Arcade Innovations • Night Driver (Atari 1976) first person driving game Arcade Innovations • (Cinematronics 1977) featuring Arcade Innovations • High score list in Asteroids (Atari 1979) Arcade Innovations • (Namko 1979) first ever color Arcade Innovations • Dragon’s Lair (Cinematronics 1983) with laserdisc system, advanced graphics Crash of 1977 • TONS of Pong clones… • TONS of poor console systems… • Too many competitors • Didn’t end until (1978), which ultimately influenced Shigeru Miyamoto (Mario creator) “Golden Age” of Arcade Games • Space Invaders (Taito 1978) is a huge success in Japan and U.S. • Japanese government has to quadruple Yen production because of coin shortage • First arcade game licensed for a home console (Atari VCS) • Pakkuman (パックマン) ( 1980), named Pac-Man in U.S. • Donkey Kong ( 1981) Arcade Success • In 1982, the arcade videogame industry makes three times as much money as the movie business! Meanwhile… • 1966 Ralph Baer (Sanders Associates) describes a TV based videogame system Home TV Game. • Patent application in 1968 • Licensed by Magnavox in 1971 • home videogame system released in1972 • 1974 Atari starts developing a home version of PONG, out by Christmas in 1975. Magnavox Odyssey More home systems… • Channel F (1976) first programmable videogame system • Copies follow… • 1976: RCA Studio II • 1977: Atari VCS (1982: ) • 1978: Odyssey2, Bally Professional Arcade • 1979: • 1982: ColecoVision, , ,

1982-1983 going strong… • Sales in videogames rise from $950 million to $3.2 billion dollars • 25% of U.S homes have (at least) one system • 200 games available for Atari …until the Crash of 1983 • End of 2nd generation of console video gaming • Low end computers > video game consoles • “Why buy your child a video game and distract them from school when you can buy them a home computer that will prepare them for college?” • Too many competitors • Poor games (E.T.; Pac-man), media coverage

Pac-Man for Atari 2600 (1982)

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

3 year gap and then… Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) • Often credited for single-handedly saving the gaming industry (1985) • Shigeru Miyamoto’s Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, Dragon Quest • Hironobu Sakaguchi – role-playing game, Final Fantasy (1987) • Not so final… highly successful (current) RPG franchise “Isometric” Games (1982-1989)

• Parallel Projection—Popular technique that used 2D sprite and tile-based graphics to represent 3D environments • e.g., Marble Madness (1984)

Zaxxon(1982) Tetris/Тетрис (1986) • Alexey Pajitnov, Dmitry Pavlovsky, Vadim Gerasimov, Academy of Science, USSR • Timeless; instant accessibility and simple gameplay rules system • Winner of nine Guinness World Records including “Most Ported Video Game” and “Game With the Most Official and Unofficial Variants” 16/32-bit Consoles & PCs • Arcade games decline in popularity… • Super Nintendo a.k.a. SNES (1990) • Mega-Drive a.k.a. (1988) • (1990) • 8-bit Nintendo (1989) • …Development of new genres with increasing performance, especially on PCs: • First-Person Shooter (FPS) • Real-Time Strategy (RTS) • Turn-Based System (TBS) • (Revamped) Role-Playing Game (RPG) First-Person Shooter (FPS) Wolfenstein 3D (1992) Doom (1993)

Myst (1993) Quake (1996) Real-Time Strategy (RTS)

Command & Conquer (1995)

Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness (1995) Turn-Based Strategy (TBS)

Civilization II (1996)

SimCity 2000 (1994) Super Nintendo (SNES) Donkey Kong Country (1994) Super Metroid (1994)

Earthworm Jim (1994) Chrono Trigger (1995) 64-bit Consoles • Console Wars: Round #1 • PlayStation (1995) • (1996) • (2001) • GameBoy Color (1998) vs. PlayStation Portable (2004) N64 / Xbox / PS1 Mario 64 (1996) GoldenEye: 007(1997)

Super Smash Bros. (1999) LoZ: Ocarina of Time (1998) PlayStation… …and the Xbox Kinect (Released Nov. 2010) • 8 million sales in the first 60 DAYS • Guinness World Record as fastest selling consumer electronic device in history • One of the most powerful computing systems ever made (5 Billion ) (March 2017) Xbox One X • 4K gaming: $500, Nov. 2017 Playstation 4 (Nov. 2013) Playstation 5 (Nov. 2020?) A Closer Look at “Gaming” What is the targeted demographic of game developers? A: Boys and girls aged 8-15 B: Women aged 15-25 C: Single white males aged 8-34 D: Men aged 15-25 E: Families (adults and children) What is the targeted demographic of game developers?

• Single white males aged 8-34 Gamers Actual Demographic Entertainment Software Association (ESA2017) • Average male gamer is 32 years old • Average female gamer is 36 years old • 70% percent of gamers are 18+ years of age or older. • 45% of all players are women • Women 18+ years represent a greater portion of the game-playing population (33%) than boys age 17 or younger (17%) • 11% are over the age of 50 • 65% of gamers play games with other gamers in person • 90% of the time parents are present at the time games are purchased or rented Computer games and game players: Why A lot of research into this, especially learning psychology. Two (related) often asked questions: 1. “Why does someone voluntarily do the same repetitive task in a game over and over?” 2. “How can this enthusiasm / keenness / determination / focus be transferred to learning situations (or other thing we care about)?” …and here’s why (Question 1)

• Because games are difficult. • In addition to completing the game, there is the challenge of figuring out what to do and how to do it i.e. mastering the game. • They present a challenge. • They appeal our curiosity. • Often a game presents instant feedback to the player on his or her actions. The learning curve of a good computer game is: • not too easy (will get bored) • not too hard (will get frustrated) • something that opens up new parts of the game (and provides other “rewards”) in return for in-game skill development. • encouraging a sense of “just one more go” in the player. Learning

…using computer games Computer games in learning: how? “Games are widely used as educational tools, not just for pilots, soldiers and surgeons, but also in schools and businesses…. Games require players to construct hypotheses, solve problems, develop strategies, learn the rules of the in-game world through trial and error. Gamers must also be able to juggle several different tasks, evaluate risks and make quick decisions…. Playing games is, thus, an ideal form of preparation for the workplace of the 21st century, as some forward-thinking firms are already starting to realize.” The Economist, August, 2005 Computer games in learning: where • Major part of software market for schools • Large numbers of computer games developed with curriculum relevance in mind: • Audited against national and state curriculum • Tested by teachers and educators • Mainly in primary schools (age 4 to 12) but increasingly in secondary • Smaller number of schools use COTS (Commercial Off The Shelf) games, e.g., Zoo Tycoon, for cross-curricular learning. Examples of Computer Games in Education • Historical simulations • Planning and architecture • Problem solving (instant response) • Economics and financial management • Literacy (major success with Myst) • Physics (gravity, vectors, acceleration) • Chemistry • Cultural studies and religion Cross-curricula games tend to be very popular Zoo Tycoon • Build a zoo and populate it with animals • Stay on budget • Pay for feed, staff, animals, vets bills • Used in schools for: • Math • Economics and finance • Biology • Ethics (should animals be caged?) • Planning and design

■ Game simulators allow residents to gain hands-on training before operating on patients

■ U.S. Army uses games for combat training and victims of Post- Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Games for Corporate and Military Training ■ Scratch - Programming environment that leverages interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art

■ Fold It! - Harnessing gamer’s collective intelligence for understanding how proteins fold

Games for Advancing STEM Sciences ■ BudgetBall - designed to increase awareness of the national debt and promote fiscal responsibility

■ EnerCities - first Facebook game about energy resources and the balance between people, planet and profit

Games for Economic and Environmental Sustainability ■ 3rd World Farmer - players learn to contend with disasters, wars, poor medical care, and unfair prices

■ Raise the Village - Players purchase virtual goods, which are delivered to the real Kapir Atiira village in Uganda Games for Global Conflict and Social Development Computer Games in Health • Pain relief and distraction • Rehabilitation • Surgery skill increase • Diabetes awareness • Easing carpal tunnel syndrome • Mental health and sharpness • Acting out domestic and social situations • Social and communication development Games for Health • Dance Dance Revolution and similar installed in many schools and colleges in the US (every school in West Virginia). Zumba Fitness (shown w. Kinect) Online Gaming

What this means has changed over time …

Massively Multiplayer Online Games • Hundreds or thousands of players in one online world, simultaneously • Ultima Online (1997) • Asheron’s Call(1999) • Dark Age of Camelot (2001) • Ragnarok Online (2002) • EverQuest Online Adventures (2003) • World of Warcraft (2004) • Guild Wars (2005) • Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (2008) • Rift (2011) • Star Wars: The Old Republic (2011) Who’s playing what? (thru 2006) Who’s Playing What? (thru 2012)

http://users.telenet.be/mmodata/Charts/ Online Games with > 1M Subscriptions (thru 2014) Second Life Growth (thru 2012) (an order of magnitude less than WoW)

http://users.telenet.be/mmodata/Charts/ Single Game Worlds (thru 2015) World of Warcraft World of Warcraft is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). You explore, and team up with people to complete quests, elevating your status. Predicted and Actual WoW Subscriptions Over Time

Warlords Battle of for Classic Draenor Azeroth Mobile Games Show me the Money…

Sources: https://www.wepc.com/news/video-game-statistics/#video-gaming-industry-overview https://www.statista.com/statistics/453634/game-developer-gender-distribution-worldwide/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/276601/number-of-world-of-warcraft-subscribers-by-quarter/ http://www.theesa.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/EF2018_FINAL.pdf Top Game Revenue By Country

32% 41% Platforms Downloadable Content… DLC Market “Best” Games • 27.5% of video games sold in United States in 2016 were shooter games. (ESA, 2017) • Overwatch is the most talked about game in 2016 with 75,000 online articles mentioning the game. (Statista, 2017) • With a metacritic* score of 97/100, Super Mario Odyssey and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, are recognized as the best games of 2017. (MetaCritic, 2017) • With a 99/100 metacritic score, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is the best game ever. (MetaCritic, 2017) • 52% of PC gamers in China are playing PUBG. (Newzoo, 2018) • 29% of PC gamers in France are playing Fortnite. (Newzoo, 2018) • Texas Holdem Poker has the most number of fans as of March 2018 with a count of 65.35 million fans. (Fan Page List, 2018) *https://www.metacritic.com/game Best Sellers (2018) Revenue By Category (2016) Best Sellers (PC Games) Best Sellers (Console Games) Mobile Gaming Best Sellers (Mobile Games - iPhone) Best Sellers (Mobile Games - Android) Browser-Based Games F2P MMO Games Highest Revenue eSports Global Markets eSports Global Revenue Platforms Watching Games (?) Watching Games (?) What’s happening cognitively? • Socially & materially distributed cognition. • Collaborative problem solving, multiple problem spaces. • Coordination of people, (virtual) tools, artifacts, & text. • Constellation of literacy practices across multimedia, multimodal ‘attentional spaces’ (Lemke). What’s happening cognitively? • Empirical model building (exploits, mods). • Negotiation of meaning & values within community. • Authoring of identities within & beyond the community. Information searching within the game • Textual “clues” rare inside the game • Clues are often abstract or symbolic • Often a time-critical element for finding information (“must work out how to do X before Y happens”) • Clues are often recursive: Do A to find B to give to C who will give you D etc… • Gamer can thus mentally keep track of: • several things that need to be done • status of current objectives • people • places • information • items Social Activism Inside WoW The “Warrior Revolt” of 2005 It’s Hard to Revolt in a Digital World Controlled by the Revolt’s Target “War of Internet Addiction” • WoW players in China were diagnosed as “Internet addicts”; several cures were proposed, including electric shock. • “Teenager Escort” software installed to block information considered to be too violent or pornographic. • Sparked clever on-line protests, e.g., WoIA WoW on SNL Second Life • Its currency system (Linden dollar) pegged to real world currencies • Furniture, clothes, art, buildings, libraries being built by individuals and groups of people • IBM and others built islands and run training courses for their staff • 800,000+ active accounts, and ~3,100 businesses set up within “real” estate IBM Virtual Career Fair (Oct. 2013) IBM Virtual Career Fair (Oct. 2013) Computer Gaming and Gender Gender Distribution of the Games Industry (2004) • Art and Design: 91% M; 9% F • Programmers: 98% M; 2% F • Sr. Management: 95% M; 3% F • Sales/Mrkting/PR: 74% M; 26% F (Average 15.5% F, skewed toward sales) *From Chicks and : An exploration of women and computer gaming, commissioned and published by ELSPA 2004 (the last time these data were publically available) Gender Distribution of Game Developers Worldwide from 2014 to 2017

https://www.statista.com/statistics/453634/game-developer-gender-distribution-worldwide/ In the beginning… Later…

The Dead or Alive ladies Or… Or… How are Women Depicted in Computer Games? • Pink and fluffy • Hyper-sexualized • Poorly and inappropriately clothed • “Conflating seduction with threat” • “Dead sexy” • “A femme fatale” • “Evil and dangerous” • “A seductress with blades for hands, both castrating and phallic”

Tomb Raider & Lara Croft

But there are positive portrayals too…

“The Boss” Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

Alyx Vance, Half-Life 2 Other positive portrayals …

Zelda/Shiek Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Samus Aran, Lightning The Metroid Series Final Fantasy And… some progess Result of Gendered Gaming? • Proliferation of “male” genres • FPS, horror, pornographic, sports simulations • Magazine ads targeting male gamers • Offered as a possible reason for the dramatic decline in the participation of women in computing in general • Computer-generated women often exploited as sexual objects • “Virtual sex” in games, in which computer- generated women are exploited

Exploitation of Virtual Women They’re just bits, right? • So should we care? • If so, why? Is anything wrong with this ad? How about this one? Or this one? Or this one? Exploiting Women to Sell Technology is not a New Phenomenon Gaming and Racial Stereotypes Games and Racial Stereotypes Innovative Gaming…

What’s Next (or now)? IndieGames

Bastion (2011) Flower (2010) Indie Games The Last of Us Blending the Real & Virtual… Google Glass & Oculus Rift HTC Vive Oculus Rift Screenshot Sinful Robot Alternate Reality Games (ARGs) Augmented Reality (AR) • Blends real world and digital information (called “co-registration”)

• User sees digital text and objects and hears digital sound as is they were part of the world around them

• In AR, the real world is enhanced by adding digital objects Early Mobile AR Gaming Pokémon-Go Pokémon-Go What’s Next?

…you decide Links…

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOfll06X16c • http://www.engadget.com/2014/01/06/valve-steam- machines-specs/ • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vm12cwIp7M • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaaHcH9nQmI • http://zspace.com/