Unit Operations

An Approach to Videogame Criticism

Ian Bogost (Professor, Georgia Institute of Technology)

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English

MIT Press
25 January 2008

Cultural studies; Popular culture; Computer games: strategy guides

Series: Unit Operations

"In Unit Operations, Ian Bogost argues that similar principles underlie both literary theory and computation, proposing a literary-technical theory that can be used to analyze particular videogames. Moreover, this approach can be applied beyond videogames- Bogost suggests that any medium-from videogames to poetry, literature, cinema, or art-can be read as a configurative system of discrete, interlocking units of meaning, and he illustrates this method of analysis with examples from all these fields. The marriage of literary theory and information technology, he argues, will help humanists take technology more seriously and hep technologists better understand software and videogames as cultural artifacts. This approach is especially useful for the comparative analysis of digital and nondigital artifacts and allows scholars from other fields who are interested in studying videogames to avoid the esoteric isolation of ""game studies.""The richness of Bogost's comparative approach can be seen in his discussions of works by such philosophers and theorists as Plato, Badiou, Zizek, and McLuhan, and in his analysis of numerous videogames including Pong, Half-Life, and Star Wars Galaxies. Bogost draws on object technology and complex adaptive systems theory for his method of unit analysis, underscoring the configurative aspects of a wide variety of human processes. His extended analysis of freedom in large virtual spaces examines Grand Theft Auto 3, The Legend of Zelda, Flaubert's Madame Bovary, and Joyce's Ulysses. In Unit Operations, Bogost not only offers a new methodology for videogame criticism but argues for the possibility of real collaboration between the humanities and information technology."

By: Ian Bogost (Professor Georgia Institute of Technology)
Imprint: MIT Press
Country of Publication: United States
Edition: 1
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 178mm, Spine: 13mm
Weight: 431g
ISBN: 9780262524872
ISBN 10: 0262524872
Series: Unit Operations
Pages: 264
Publication Date: 25 January 2008
Recommended Age: From 18 years
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

CONTENTS: Acknowledgments vii Introduction Sample Chapter - Download PDF (51 KB) ix I From Systems to Units 1 Unit Operations Sample Chapter - Download PDF (80 KB) 3 2 Structuralism and Computation 21 3 Humanism and Object Technology 31 II Procedural Criticism 4 Comparative Videogame Criticism 49 5 Videogames and Expression 55 6 Encounters across Platforms 73 III Procedural Subjectivity 7 Cellular Automata and Simulation 93 8 An Alternative to Fun 111 9 The Simulation Gap 129 IV From Design to Configuration 10 Complex Networks 139 11 Complex Worlds 153 12 Critical Networks 171 Notes 181 Bibliography Sample Chapter - Download PDF (96 KB) 215 Index Sample Chapter - Download PDF (40 KB) 239

Ian Bogost is Ivan Allen College Distinguished Chair in Media Studies and Professor of Interactive Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology, a Founding Partner at Persuasive Games LLC, and the coauthor of Newsgames- Journalism at Play (MIT Press, 2010).

Reviews for Unit Operations: An Approach to Videogame Criticism

Bogost challenges humanists and technologists to pay attention to one another, something they desperately need to do as computation accelerates us into the red zones of widespread virtual reality. This book gives us what we need to meet that challenge: a general theory for understanding creativity under computation, one that will apply increasingly to all creativity in the future. Not only that, but we get an outstanding theory of videogame criticism in the mix as well. Highly recommended. --Edward Castronova, Department of Telecommunications, Indiana University, author of *Synthetic Worlds: The Business and Culture of Online Games*