UNIT OPERATIONS: AN APPROACH TO VIDEOGAME CRITICISM.UNIT OPERATIONS Unit operations A structure of logic used for synthesizing and analyzing processing schemes in the chemical and allied industries, in which the basic underlying concept is that all processing schemes can be composed from and decomposed into a series of : AN APPROACH TO VIDEOGAME CRITICISM by Ian Bogost. MIT MIT - Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press/243 pp./$35.00 (hb) Though not a gamer myself, the evergrowing culture surrounding videogames drew me to this book. I expected Unit Operations to provide a visual criticism of the art of videogames; however, this book offers an educated look into the history on which gaming is built and a model of critique for the role videogames will play in the future. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Ian Bogost's approach to videogame culture in Unit Operations is certainly academic. Gamers posting reviews on the Internet found this voice to be exclusive, and almost paradoxical due to videogame's roots as a subculture subculture /sub·cul·ture/ (sub´kul-chur) a culture of bacteria derived from another culture. sub·cul·ture n. entertainment. Bogost's claim from the beginning is to compare literary criticism to computation so it is no surprise he pulls his views from historical resources. He introduces the reader to the best of the philosophers, sociologists, psychoanalysts, media theorists, and computer developers in a way that dissolves heady discussions and simplifies theory. Bogost touches on many subjects within Unit Operations, comparing ludology (the study of gaming) and narratology Narratology is the theory and study of narrative and narrative structure and the way they affect our perception.[1] In principle, the word can refer to any systematic study of narrative, though in practice the use of the term is rather more restricted (see below). , unit operations and system operations, and the need for the humanities to intersect In a relational database, to match two files and produce a third file with records that are common in both. For example, intersecting an American file and a programmer file would yield American programmers. with science and technology at earlier stages than the finished product of the videogame--even suggesting the restructuring of university departments. Bogost believes in "... criticism's ability to vault videogames toward a status higher than entertainment alone" (xiv), and suggests that "videogames, like art of all kinds, has the power to influence and change human experience" (89). Unit Operations crosses intellectual borders--especially in Bogost's range of examples in both high and low art forms: from The Sims to Charles Baudelaire and The Terminal (2004, by Steven Spielberg Noun 1. Steven Spielberg - United States filmmaker (born in 1947) Spielberg ) to Marshall McLuhan Noun 1. Marshall McLuhan - Canadian writer noted for his analyses of the mass media (1911-1980) Herbert Marshall McLuhan, McLuhan . This book would make an ideal text for an introductory or interdisciplinary humanities course. |
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