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Wilhelmsson, U. (2001). Enacting the point of being: Computer games, interaction and film theory. Unpublished thesis PhD, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. 
Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard (16/05/2008, 08:29)   
Resource type: Thesis/Dissertation
BibTeX citation key: Wilhelmsson2001
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Categories: Game Design
Keywords: Affordance, Cognition, Ecology, Interaction
Creators: Wilhelmsson
Publisher: University of Copenhagen (Denmark)
Views: 22/784
Abstract
Enacting the Point of Being – Computer game, interaction and film theory is concerned with the cognitive processes of the human body/mind system while playing computer games. The main theoretical framework consists of George Lakoff and Mark Johnson’s experientialist cognitive theory and James J. Gibson’s ecological approach to visual perception. The work of Hugo Münsterberg is briefly introduced and discussed, as are some important scholars that have taken on a cognitive approach to the study of film: David Bordwell, Noël Carroll, Joseph D. Anderson, Edward Branigan and Torben Grodal.The main findings and results of this work could be best described as follows: While playing computer games, we establish a point of being within the environment of the game. We do so by incorporating a Game Ego function in the game. The Game Ego has its primary basis not in the visual point of view but in the possibility to act and behave within the environment. There is a tactile motor/kinesthetic link between the game player and the Game Ego that makes this possible.

Therefore this work contains elaborate discussions on the point of view concept as the basis for subjectivity, identity, and identification compared to the idea of a point of being. The terms "interaction" and "interactivity" are accordingly thoroughly discussed.

Lakoff and Johnson’s emphasis on the basic level categorization processes of mind goes well together with Gibson’s ideas on affordances and constraints. When playing a computer game, the affordances and constraints of the environment are important and they function at a basic level of categorization. The computer game environment is interactable. It is manipulable and is there for the game player to actively take part in. The mapping of concrete motor actions onto abstract metaphorical concepts of the human mind is thoroughly discussed and contextualized within this dissertation. Keywords that describe the present work are the tactile motor/kinesthetic link, the Game Ego and the point of being.
Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard  
Notes
Makes use of Gibson's The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception and his theory of affordances.

Chapter 6 deals with sound although there is some discussion of sound in earlier and later chapters.
Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard  Last edited by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard
Quotes
p.69   "The game player is the manipulator of the environment."   Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard
Keywords:   Ecology Interaction
p.111   "By this I mean that when we hear a sound we render a visual representation of that sound. If any sound will produce a visual response then it is very obvious why language is so full of visual metaphor."   Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard
Keywords:   Visualization
p.111   "Sounds also have affordances. They reveal something about the objects producing the sound. To exemplify, we might perceive sounds as ”dense” or ”light” suggesting that there are qualities that constrains or permits locomotion. A ”dense” sound might be conceptualized and understood as ”a wall of sound”. We can not walk through walls if they do not have openings, and openings afford locomotion as Gibson shows. What I mean is that a sound that we understand as ”dense” does not afford locomotion in the same way as a ”light” sound. When creating sound-scapes either as stand-alones or to merge with images, this is important to notice. One might create a ”big” and ”massive” sound that have some ”openings” in it. It also the case that a ”dense” sound might be so powerful that it is unpleasant to get any closer to it. That is to say, it does not afford locomotion in the direction of the sound source."   Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard
Keywords:   Affordance
p.114   "Visualization is a human internal act of cognition. Sounds are shapes in the environment of man and other animals."   Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard
Keywords:   Visualization
p.115   "I do believe that we do make us an image of how someone looks through such
things as the vocal timbre for instance."   Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard
Keywords:   Visualization
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