My favorite reading out of this week’s lot was “Games of Empire.” Since learning about Second Life I have thought that the game was very interesting, and this reading affirmed my suspicion. I especially liked how the author called out the game for being “much like the first” life, because the in game experience is just as saturates with materialism and consumerism as real life is.

The discussion of the origin of videogames was also very interesting. I think that the authors description of the industries ties to the cold war was great, as was the discussion of the industries beginnings. The boom and bust of different companies, and especially the success stories like Activision were very fun to learn about. The author also mentions how videogames, from the get go, attracted an eccentric group of freelance programmers who worked in their Silicon Valley offices with unconventional corporate practices. (12) This idea was especially entertaining because this is exactly the way that we look at Silicon Valley today.

Witheford and de Peuter’s discussion of gender in video games, although not my favorite part of the text, was also interesting. I am of the belief that anyone with 100% of their brain believes that women are just as capable as men, end of story. It is always disappointing to learn of situations in which women are marginalized and assumed to have less capability; however, the immaterial labor section addresses women in video games in a different way. The example of the Sims, who had a majority female staff was very refreshing (21).

How to Do Things With Videogames also contained some interesting material. I have always thought of video games as being virtually the same as watching Television. Bogost gives example after example of video games that teach people things, and by using tools like art and physical vibration help them feel and understand things in ways that would not be possible with other mediums.